Yolanda Olson Boeken

He was from the wrong side of the bayou. A place where voodoo was revered and fallen angels whispered. I didn't care. I loved him from the first time we played together, and I love him still. I haven't seen him in so long. I went back to New Orleans when I could. I never stopped thinking about him. My bayou boy with the heavy Cajun accent. I just didn't know that the happy little boy had turned into such a different man. I didn't know that he had been looking for me too. I didn't know a lot of things. But finding out was much worse than staying in the dark.

The ... Beatrix It's getting closer and the time for change is now. He thinks I don't know his plan with all of this, but he's not as smart as he seems. I've watched him long enough—dealt with how high in esteem he holds himself, and that will be his downfall. He won't hurt us. He can't hurt us. The winds are starting to shift in my favor, and I'll make him beg for a mercy he won't receive.The ... LakynStupid kids.Both of them. They think they're so brilliant, that I don't know that they've been plotting against me since we took to the road, but I've got a little weapon that neither of them are even aware of yet.The little perfect princess thinks that when we reach the end, it'll be over.But for me? That's when the fun will finally begin.The ... Ichabod I'm torn in two. My loyalty for Beatrix is unshakable, but Lakyn ...He's starting to make me feel wanted—truly wanted, and he's helping me stand on my own two feet. I love Bea, but she's never done this for me before. He's opening my eyes to how she only thinks for herself and how the world will crumble beneath her heel when she snuffs out another life over her birthday candles. But will it be mine? Am I the one thing standing in her way of everything she's ever wanted?

I don't like the shadows or the darkness that they hide though it's all I've ever known. Fear resides there—lurking and consuming what little is left of me. I’m intimate with my demons. I know their game, but I cannot master it. I've been running for a long time but there's only so far to go before they catch me and force me into a devious dance so dark that there’ll be no turning back.And that's why I need him. That’s why I came home.My brother’s my salvation from this malevolence. He's taken inventory of my skeletons and knows how to calm the rage when it washes over me like a typhoon, drowning me in pain and regret. But August doesn't know the monster that I've become. I’m afraid of what he’ll do if he finds out. He's my salvation and I refuse to lose him.Not because I got carried away.And certainly not to her.Because my older brother has plenty of demons too.And one of them is sleeping in his bed.