White Heart of Justice

Praise for

FIERY EDGE OF STEEL

“Archer delves deeper into the enticing and magical world of
Dark Light of Day
in this original and clever urban fantasy . . . Excitement and action leap from the pages as Archer's skill with description pulls readers fully into her magical world.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“An astounding adventure tale. Archer's unique world, where Lucifer's army triumphed at Armageddon, is filled with adherence to strict laws that keep an uneasy peace between races . . . A really fresh and fascinating series!”

—
RT Book Reviews
(4 stars)

“Archer has a great ability to keep the story moving along through characters' dialogue and through her imaginative and unique world . . . World-building is incredibly detailed and consistent.”

—
Rabid Reads

DARK LIGHT OF DAY

“A spectacular debut novel.”

—Faith Hunter,
USA Today
bestselling author

“There is a fresh new voice in urban fantasy, and she has a unique take on Armageddon . . . With her unusual heroine, Noon Onyx, Archer has created a brilliant character who struggles against fate to find her place in the world. Set against the backdrop of university life, there is an abundance of adventure, mystery, and passion!”

—
RT Book Reviews
(4 stars)

“A great debut from the urban fantasy world. Ms. Archer is now down on my ‘never miss' author list.”

—
Night Owl Reviews

“Very original and enjoyable.”

—
Rabid Reads

“A fascinating story line . . . Archer has created a dark world that will grab your attention from the very start.”

—
The Reading Cafe

“Coming of age/new adult set in a dark world where demons have won . . . An interesting and unique take on demons and angels . . . A lively and engaging fantasy which twisted some elements in a refreshing way!”

—
The Book Pushers

Ace Books by Jill Archer

DARK LIGHT OF DAY

FIERY EDGE OF STEEL

WHITE HEART OF JUSTICE

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

WHITE HEART OF JUSTICE

An Ace Book / published by arrangement with Black Willow, LLC

Copyright © 2014 by Black Willow, LLC.

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.

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For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC,

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-13967-1

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Ace mass-market edition / June 2014

Cover art by Jason Chan.

Cover design by Lesley Worrell.

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.

Many thanks and much gratitude to:

Lois Winston, my agent, who excels at both pep talks and plain speaking.

The team at Ace who helped make this book happen: Jessica Wade, senior editor; Michelle Kasper, senior production editor; Mary Pell, copy editor; Isabel Farhi, editorial assistant; Lesley Worrell, art director; and Jason Chan, the cover artist.

Joan Havens, for helping with the Latin. As with
Fiery Edge of Steel
, I took some liberties with the translations, so any errors are entirely my fault.

Roxanne Rhoads, owner of Bewitching Book Tours, who helped with promotion and publicity for the first two Noon Onyx books and will hopefully do so again for this third.

All of the bloggers who interviewed me, allowed me to guest blog, spotlighted the series, participated in cover reveals, reviewed the books, and/or helped to spread the word in other ways—you are all amazing! Your enthusiasm and support is more appreciated than you could ever know.

My family and friends, for their endless encouragement and understanding. (Writers working under deadline pressure have been known to be cranky or sometimes simply absent.)

Marion L., Lonnie M., Matt A., Monica H., Jen S., Dianne T., Kate C., and everyone else who bought extra copies of the books to share with others—you are awesome!

My readers: Without you, the world, the character, her stories, and this series would only exist in my imagination. Authors need an audience for their work to be complete. We write to entertain, to provoke thought and emotion, to create something that can be shared. We write for
you
.

If you like
White Heart of Justice
, please consider reviewing the book wherever you hang out online. These days, writing a review is one of the most effective ways you can help an author whose work you like and want to see more of. Even a sentence or two can make a big difference in whether or not the book is discovered by someone else who might like it.

For a glossary, discussion questions, and other extras, please visit my website at jillarcher.com.

Prologue

I
can't be with you anymore.
That's what she'd said. Six words that had become sixty then six hundred then six
thousand
 . . . sixty thousand . . . six
million
 . . . reverberating in his head, bouncing around inside his brain, driving him absolutely mad. There were no other words. No other memories. Only that last one of
her
. Standing at the edge of the oozy stew of the destroyed keep's moat, flanked by two Angels, one preternaturally beautiful, the other full of purpose. The same purpose
he'd
had until those six words stripped him of it.

Flying out, he'd barely cleared the wreckage of the keep. His heart beat against the walls of his massive chest, and his monstrous wings beat against the infinite, empty sky, but the beats were slow and grew slower still. Slower. Until finally . . .

Stop.

He made it across the river and then dropped like a ten-ton stone, crashing into the brush, breaking tree limbs and a wing. He lay there amongst the blackening scrub refusing to shift back into human form.

Man's thoughts were unwelcome.

In time, the
rogares
came. Water wraiths. He killed them all. And then sickened by the smell of blood and meat he couldn't—
wouldn't
—consume, he left his nesting place. By then, the wing had healed, but unnaturally, so that flying straight was impossible. For days, he traveled in circles, never getting far. It wasn't just the wing. The yearning to return to her was nearly unbearable. The emptiness inside of him an abyss.

Was she still in the Shallows? If he could just . . .

But then he remembered the Angels. And the look on her face when she'd said the six words. And the feelings in her signature. She'd need more than mere weeks for them to abate. She might need months. Hopefully, not years. Years meant nothing to him, but they did to her. And then the reminder that her time was more precious than his drove his yearning to a new level of ferocity. Ruthlessly, he tamped it down. He realized then that it might be best to return to man's thoughts. After all, she was a woman.

And he wanted her back.

I

T'was so, he stroke me with a slender dart,

Tis cruell love turmoyles my captive hart.

—OVID,
AMORES
1.2, as translated by Christopher Marlowe