Shield of Winter (Nalini Singh)

Berkley titles by Nalini Singh

Psy-Changeling Series

SLAVE TO SENSATION

VISIONS OF HEAT

CARESSED BY ICE

MINE TO POSSESS

HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE

BRANDED BY FIRE

BLAZE OF MEMORY

BONDS OF JUSTICE

PLAY OF PASSION

KISS OF SNOW

TANGLE OF NEED

HEART OF OBSIDIAN

SHIELD OF WINTER

Guild Hunter Series

ANGELS’ BLOOD

ARCHANGEL’S KISS

ARCHANGEL’S CONSORT

ARCHANGEL’S BLADE

ARCHANGEL’S STORM

ARCHANGEL’S LEGION

Anthologies

AN ENCHANTED SEASON

(with Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy, and Jean Johnson)

THE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS CAT

(with Lora Leigh, Erin McCarthy, and Linda Winstead Jones)

MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS

(with Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook)

BURNING UP

(with Angela Knight, Virginia Kantra, and Meljean Brook)

ANGELS OF DARKNESS

(with Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Sharon Shinn)

ANGELS’ FLIGHT

WILD INVITATION

Specials

ANGELS’ PAWN

ANGELS’ DANCE

TEXTURE OF INTIMACY

DECLARATION OF COURTSHIP

WHISPER OF SIN

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

penguin.com

A Penguin Random House Company

This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

Copyright © 2014 by Nalini Singh.

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.

BERKLEY® is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-60520-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Singh, Nalini, (date-)

Shield of winter / by Nalini Singh.—First edition.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-425-26401-0

I. Title.

PR9639.4.S566S55 2014

823'.92—dc23

2014000522

FIRST EDITION: June 2014

Cover hand lettering by Ron Zinn.

Cover design by George Long.

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

Berkley titles by Nalini Singh

Title Page

Copyright

Cast of Characters

Splintered

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Hope

CAST OF CHARACTERS

In Alphabetical Order by First Name

Key: SD = SnowDancer Wolves; DR = DarkRiver Leopards

Abbot
Arrow, teleport-capable telekinetic (Tk)

Aden
Arrow, telepath (Tp)

Alice Eldridge
Human scientist, placed in forced cryonic suspension for over a century, now living with SD

Amara Aleine
Psy member of DR, former Council scientist, twin of Ashaya, mentally unstable

Anthony Kyriakus
Member of the Ruling Coalition, former Psy Councilor, father of Faith

Ashaya Aleine
Psy member of DR, former Council scientist, mated to Dorian, mother of Keenan, twin of Amara

Ben
SD pup

Brigitte
Empath (E), home base: Amsterdam

Carter Hirsch
Father of Ivy

Chang
Cardinal empath (E), home base: research station in Kenya

Concetta
Empath (E), home base: Paraguay

Council (or Psy Council)
The former ruling Council of the Psy race, no longer extant

Cristabel Rodriguez
Arrow, sharpshooter

DarkMind
Neosentient psychic entity and dark twin of NetMind

Dechen
Empath, home base: Tibet

Devraj Santos
Leader of the Forgotten (Psy who defected from the PsyNet at the dawn of Silence and intermingled with the human and changeling populations), married to Katya Haas

Dorian Christensen
DR Sentinel, mated to Ashaya

Faith NightStar
Psy member of DR, gift of Foresight (F), mated to Vaughn, daughter of Anthony, cousin to Sahara

Gwen Jane
Mother of Ivy

Hawke Snow
SD Alpha, mated to Sienna

Indigo Riviere
SD Lieutenant

Isaiah
Empath (E), home base: Niue

Ivy Jane
Empath (E), daughter of Gwen Jane and Carter Hirsch

Jaya
Empath (E), home base: Maldives

Judd Lauren
Psy member of SD, Lieutenant, mated to Brenna, uncle of Sienna, Toby, and Marlee

Julian/Jules
DR cub, son of Tamsyn, twin of Roman

Kaleb Krychek
Cardinal Tk, leader of the Ruling Coalition, former Psy Councilor, psychically bonded to Sahara Kyriakus

Keenan Aleine
Psy member of DR, child, son of Ashaya

Kit
DR Soldier

Lianne
Empath (E), home base: Kuala Lumpur

Lucas Hunter
DR Alpha, mated to Sascha, father of Naya

Marlee Lauren
Psy member of SD, child, daughter of Walker Lauren, niece of Judd Lauren

Mercy Smith
DR Sentinel, mated to Riley

Ming LeBon
Former Psy Councilor, military mastermind, cardinal telepath (Tp)

Naya Hunter
DR cub, daughter of Sascha and Lucas

NetMind
Neosentient psychic entity said to be the guardian and librarian of the PsyNet, twin of the DarkMind

Nikita Duncan
Former Psy Councilor, part of Ruling Coalition, mother of Sascha

Patton
(deceased), Arrow, teleporter (Tk-V), trained Vasic

Penn
Empath (E), home base: Scotland

Pure Psy
Fanatical and violent pro-Silence group

Riley Kincaid
SD Lieutenant, mated to Mercy

Roman/Rome
DR cub, son of Tamsyn, twin of Julian

Ruling Coalition
Formed after the fall of Silence and of the Psy Council. Composed of Kaleb Krychek, Nikita Duncan, Anthony Kyriakus, and the Arrow Squad

Sahara Kyriakus
Unclassified designation, psychically bonded to Kaleb Krychek, niece of Anthony Kyriakus, cousin to Faith

Sascha Duncan
Psy member of DR, cardinal empath (E), mated to Lucas, mother of Naya, daughter of Nikita

Sienna Lauren
Psy member of SD, possesses lethal psychic abilities (X), mated to Hawke, niece of Judd

Tamsyn
SD Healer

Tatiana Rika-Smythe
Former Psy Councilor

Teri
Empath (E), home base: Houston

Vasic
Arrow, teleporter (Tk-V)

Walker Lauren
Psy member of SD, telepath (Tp), father of Marlee, brother of Judd

Zaira
Arrow, in charge of the covert Arrow compound in Venice

Zie Zen
Psy elder, telepath (Tp)

Splintered

THE SILENCE PROTOCOL
has been the defining aspect of the Psy race for over a hundred years. Conditioned not to feel emotion from childhood, they are known for their icy practicality, acute mental abilities, and adherence to strict codes of behavior. It is all they know and all they’ve been since the inception of the Protocol . . . until now.

The twilight of 2081 will be forever remembered as the time when Silence fell in a crash of violence brutally leashed by the furious abilities of the most powerful Psy in the Net. With the fall comes a hush across the world, as the Psy race seeks to understand who they are in this new reality where emotion isn’t a crime punishable by a vicious psychic brainwipe, and the heart is no longer an organ simply used to pump blood. For though Silence was a deeply flawed construct, it existed for a reason.

Insanity, blood-soaked death, murderous aggression, this is who the Psy were before Silence. No other race, it is said, bred more vicious, more intelligent, or more sadistic serial killers. But worse was the clawing madness that destroyed so many of them, saints and sinners alike, until it became known as the flip side to their incredible psychic gifts.