Shadowbound
PRAISE FOR
OF SHADOW BORN
“Fans of Sylvan’s Shadow World series won’t be disappointed by this tale. The saga of vampire mates Miranda Grey and David Solomon is one roller-coaster ride featuring complex plots, intrigue, and devastating emotions. Sylvan is slowly revealing more of her overarching conspiracy plot, promising spellbinding drama to come!”
—
RT Book Reviews
“This series is getting more interesting by the book.”
—
Mystifying Paranormal Reviews
PRAISE FOR
SHADOW’S FALL
“Dianne Sylvan is truly a remarkable storyteller. With the ability to bring her characters to life and make their hearts pound with action, readers will salivate for the next installment of the Shadow World series.”
—
Nocturne Romance Reads
“The third Shadow World urban fantasy is a great, exhilarating entry with several stunning twists, including a fabulous, shocking cliff-hanging climax . . . Fast-paced with backstabbing and betrayal,
Shadow’s Fall
is superb.”
—
Alternative Worlds
“
Shadow’s Fall
is an exciting, well-executed third installment to Ms. Sylvan’s wonderful Shadow World, and I now wait impatiently for the fourth installment.”
—
Smexy Books
“Exceeded my expectations since the last book! It was awesome and mind-blowing.”
—
Mystifying Paranormal Reviews
“Sylvan continues to impress with her ability to wring emotions from her readers and give us the right balance of action and romance . . . It’s the true talent of a writer who can have her readers feeling the same things as her characters along with them, and Sylvan’s highly developed characters do just that.”
—
SF Site
PRAISE FOR
SHADOWFLAME
“I absolutely loved this book! . . . Fans of vampire books everywhere, I have found the next big thing, and it is the Shadow World series by Dianne Sylvan. The twists and turns that Sylvan placed in this book kept me flying through the pages . . . Queen Miranda is one of the strongest female characters I have come across, and hands down this series is going to be sensational! I cannot rave enough over this one . . .
Shadowflame
gave me all the high-impact action, romance, and gore that I want in a book.”
—
Fresh Fiction
“Dianne Sylvan’s writing is captivating. She creates a world that will suck you in from the get-go. Her writing style is fluid and unrelenting.
Shadowflame
follows the same near-flawless writing style that book one did . . . I enjoyed the suspense and Dianne Sylvan’s creative way of keeping readers on their toes.”
—
Nocturne Romance Reads
“Miranda was the sort of heroine I enjoy reading about; she didn’t just suddenly fall for David, she made him work at gaining her trust . . . The overall book was refreshing.”
—
Night Owl Reviews
“If you thought
Queen of Shadows
was fantastic, you are going to be blown away by
Shadowflame
. . . Dianne really knows how to rip your heart out and get you feeling everything the characters are feeling as you read.”
—
Urban Fantasy Investigations
“Dianne Sylvan has truly created a vampire world that I would want to be a part of for years to come . . . A phenomenal book from beginning to end.”
—
Mystifying Paranormal Reviews
“Dianne Sylvan is the queen of emotional storytelling. She takes the story exactly where she thinks it needs to go, even if it’s not pretty . . . I loved it.”
—
The Spinecracker
PRAISE FOR
QUEEN OF SHADOWS
“Sylvan’s powerful debut is packed with startling action, sensual romance, and delightfully nerdy vampires . . . [Her] compelling take on vampirism, her endearing characters, and a complex, unabashedly feminist plot will have readers hungry for a sequel.”
—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“
Queen of Shadows
pulled me in . . . Dianne Sylvan’s rich, dark, sexy reimagined Austin is filled with people I want to visit again and again . . . Sylvan’s got voice, doesn’t miss a beat, and rocks it all the way to the last note . . . Looking for a new addiction? Go no further.”
—Devon Monk, national bestselling author of
Stone Cold
“Dianne Sylvan has created an original take on vampires that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I’ll be looking for her next book with great anticipation. She’s a skilled and talented storyteller who definitively knows how to deliver one hell of a book!”
—Angela Knight,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Master of Darkness
“Dianne Sylvan is an incredibly talented writer. She draws the reader not only into the story but into the very marrow of someone who is starting to question their grip on reality . . .
Queen of Shadows
concludes with a great flourish, leaving the reader euphoric.”
—
Sacramento Book Review
“Well written . . . The relationship between the empath and the vampire makes for a strong Shadow World thriller that will enthrall the audience with a sense of awe, as supernatural Austin comes across [as] realistic through the filters of the flawed lead protagonists.”
—
Alternative Worlds
“My favorite book of 2010 so far . . . Moving, well written, suspenseful, and sensual, this is a novel you won’t want to miss.”
—
Fantasy Literature
Ace Books by Dianne Sylvan
QUEEN OF SHADOWS
SHADOWFLAME
SHADOW’S FALL
OF SHADOW BORN
SHADOWBOUND
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) LLC
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
USA • Canada • UK • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • India • South Africa • China
A Penguin Random House Company
SHADOWBOUND
An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author
Copyright © 2014 by Dianne Sylvan.
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group.
ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-14328-9
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Ace mass-market edition / April 2014
Cover art by Gene Mollica.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Version_1
Contents
Praise for Dianne Sylvan
Ace Books by Dianne Sylvan
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
PART ONE: The Eight of Pentacles
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
PART TWO: The Ten of Swords
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
To my mother: for golden summers, Jell-O fingers, and endless slumber parties; and for knowing I was your daughter the first day we met
Prologue
TEL AVIV, 2003
The earth shook.
There was nothing to do but run.
Avi did not run. His sword flashed in the night, and he and Elite 7, the only other survivor of the Prime’s personal guard, fought back-to-back, keeping the enemy busy while the others escaped the Haven. There seemed to be a thousand of the adversary, their blood spattering the pristine walls and centuries’ worth of treasure passed from one Signet to the next. Whoever was behind this would have a lot of stains to wash out of his new carpets.
“Go!” Elite 7 shouted. “Get the women to safety! I will hold them off!”
He wanted to protest—there would be no leaving this hallway for 7 if Avi left him to fight alone—but they both knew the mind of their Prime, and knew that in the absence of a Queen, he valued his wife and her two sisters above all else in the Haven. The Prime would want them delivered to the safe house, and he would not have trusted anyone to the task but his Second.
“For God’s sake, Avi, go!”
He caught Elite 7’s eye.
“Shalom aleichem,”
he said.
Elite 7 smiled at his old friend. They had greeted each other the same way for eight years . . . and said farewell the same way, too.
“Wa-laikum as-salâm.”
He returned the smile. Only then did he run.
The world was on fire—smoke was thick in the air, leaving his lungs burning as he crossed the compound amid flying crossbow bolts and flaming arrows. Servants, Elite, anyone caught by surprise would be cut down mercilessly . . . and they had
all
been caught by surprise. No one, not even the intelligence operatives he had trained himself, had any idea this was coming. Their Prime had ruled for four decades without a single challenger—more than any other leader could say in this part of the world.
The women’s apartment was on the far western side of the main building. He angled away from the Haven’s main concourse and took a side corridor the enemy wouldn’t know about unless they had memorized every meter of the property’s layout.
Before he could reach the door, a sword swung toward his throat; he spun around, meeting it with his own blade, hitting hard enough to knock the weapon out of his opponent’s hand. Another quick stroke took the invader’s head.
He looked up and saw three more coming toward him. “I do not have time for this,” he said.