by G. Bailey
It’s no secret the dark fae queen hates the light fae king, but I thought they at least made it work for Corvina. It’s been months since I found out who she is and now it’s personal. Corvina is my sister.
Once I get out of here and find my guys, I need to find the keys Kaelah showed me at the Fountain of Mene and stop the titans. It’s the only way to stop them. I wish the gods or Kaelah had chosen someone better than me. Anyone other than me. I can’t stop the royal fae from starting a war. It’s clear I’m powerless and alone. No more than a dot in their way or a toy to amuse Eva.
“Victorious indeed,” Narah drawls, her crimson lips tilting into a smirk. “Then what are we standing here for? The king awaits our presence. Come. We must go and pay him the respect he deserves.”
Eva mirrors the queen’s smile, though it’s not quite as venomous. “He’s already in the throne room.” Her eyes flick to me and then back to Narah. “Shall we say hello? My sister is just dying to meet him.”
The Dark Fae Queen chuckles and turns around, the train of her dress whipping around her heels.
Eva follows suit and Ronan tightens his grip on me before hauling me in her wake. Just as we reach the gilded doors, another door at the end of the hall opens and more fae prisoners are ushered inside, some are nobility and consorts while others are clearly palace servants. They all look equally terrified. The shackles latched around their ankles and wrists clang as a court of Dark Fae with heads that ever-burn herd them through the hall.
I’ve read about the Courtlins creatures in the Book of Zorya but they’re even more terrifying to look at in person. It’s rumored that Narah cursed them for betraying her, and now that I’ve met the fae in question, I believe it.
There’s a darkness within Narah I have never seen in the Enchanted Forest before. It would make sense since she is the Dark Fae Queen, but I can’t believe she’s also Corvina’s mother. When Scott told me, I thought he was joking, but now that I look at the queen, I can see the similarities. Except, any light the queen once possessed was clearly passed down to Corvina. Her mere presence alone makes the darkness glimmer.
“It is time,” Narah says, sliding Eva a veiled glance as they stop in front of the doors. With a wave of Narah’s hand, tendrils of dark magic seep out from her and kick the doors open.
My eyes land on King Ulric first and foremost. He stands in the middle of the room and lifts his head high, holding himself with the utter grace and dignity of a ruler always in control. From his long white hair to his surprisingly disheveled robes, his beauty far succeeds the paintings and sculptures I have seen of him. Even that one time I saw him at a distance at the ball, and he looked right through me, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful he is. How can it be possible that this fae is my father? He’s a descendant from gods, and despite his distressed appearance, he embodies it perfectly.
Behind the king, standing in front of a portal upon the Throne of Helios, is my friend Corvina Charles. She clutches the king’s crown to her chest, her features completely ashen. I’m hidden by the other prisoners and part of me is thankful because I don’t want her to see me imprisoned like this. I pray to Selena that she steps through the portal and escapes before things turn even uglier.
Hurry up, Vina.Get out of here!
But my friend, no sister, freezes and watches Narah glide into the room. Everything from the moment she enters happens too quickly. One minute she is walking toward them and the next she’s in front of King Ulric.
A strangled cry escapes me when I watch her plunge the dagger into his stomach. Every fiber in my body screams at me to run and help him, but Ronan holds me like a twin vice, even when I try to thrash and kick him. I’m powerless as I watch Narah kill my father. Nineteen times she stabs him, and nineteen times my heart shatters into a million little pieces. She then drops him to the floor and turns to us as the king bleeds out at her feet.
“Your king is dead,” she shouts clearly and confidently. “Princess Eva is the Queen of Helios and my future heir to the Throne of Luna. All will bow to us or die.”
At first, the light fae merely glances between themselves. A few of the females weep tears for their king, but mostly they start to get on their knees one by one. Anger and a sense of betrayal flood through me at the sight of them.
I root my feet to the spot, refusing to get on my knees. My only instinct is to reach my father and try to heal him. I need to do something. Tears leak furiously from my eyes, and the moment I lift my leg to kick Ronan between the legs, Eva grabs my hair and drags me to the front of the prisoners.
“But I thought you wanted to meet our father?” she hisses, grabbing my jaw between her fingers and forcing me to look at him. My anger is replaced with panic at the sight of the pool of blood around him. He’s dying. My biological father is dying before I’ve even had the chance to meet him. “I suggest you say hello while you can. Go on now. Don’t be shy.”
Eva replaces her hold on me with magic. An invisible, dark force snakes into my body and forces me to my knees beside the king. His blue eyes cut through me and his blood-covered lips part, letting out a struggling breath. He tries to speak, to say something, but only blood comes out.
A scream claws its way from my own lips. I’ve always wanted to meet my biological father, but not at the moment of his death. The cruelty of all this has me screaming even as Eva’s scathing laugh and the sound of Corvina’s portal closing carries to my ears. I hold the king in my lap, his blood soaking through my clothes. Again he tries to open his lips and fails until eventually, a single word comes out.
“D-daw…n….”
My screams turn into sobs as I press my forehead to his. “Yes, it’s me. I’m home, Father. I will avenge you and protect the city. I will save our people from her!”
His lips spread into a weak smile before his eyes close and he no longer moves within my grasp. Slowly his body transforms into feather-light stone and cracks spread over him like a shattered sculpture.
Eva stands beside us, her stiletto heel pressing into our father’s chest, and with that touch alone the stone caves in on itself and he shatters into a pile of gold dust. The particles float around me and lift to the air in the form of butterflies that slowly vanish.
My grief twists into a molten rage that sends me flying to my feet and tackling Eva to the ground. For the short time in which I have the upper hand, I slam my fist into her face. Blood pours from her nose and mouth and fragments of her features break like porcelain. I keep going, needing to see more of her blood… needing to kill her. If not for the wolf seizing my ankle and dragging me off her, I’m sure that I would’ve.
The wolf hauls me back and pins me down to the floor with its gigantic white paw. Ronan helps Eva off the ground while Narah, now sitting on the Throne of Helios, merely chuckles and smiles at me. Despite all of this, I’m glad Corvina is safe and went through the portal. I just hope she didn’t see her… our father die in my arms.
“I am not done with her yet!” Eva’s shriek bounces off the walls around me. She shoves Ronan aside and wipes her cracked and bleeding face with her sleeve, her incinerating eyes burning into me. “This one is still of use. Stand down.”
The wolf slackens its hold on me but doesn’t move away. Its saliva dribbles onto the floor beside my cheek as it snarls at me.
“You will never be queen,” I scream back, craning my neck to glare up at her. “All the fae in the forest will see you hanged for what you’ve done! No one will bow to you. No one will ever love a monster like you, and no matter what it takes, I will see that you suffer for what you’ve done.”
A sickening snarl tugs at Eva’s lips. “Oh, really? And just how are you going to do that, sister?”
“Because I’m from the House of Dawn,” I say, my own snarl spreading into a smile laced with unwavering conviction, “and the House of Dawn never surrenders.”
Her smugness falls off her face like melted snow. She glances at the white wolf, her face now considerably paler, and
swallows hard before giving them a series of orders.
As Ronan drags me up and pushes me out of the throne room behind the wolves, I make a silent vow that I will do whatever it takes to get out of here and find the Titan keys. But more than that, I will avenge my parents, and help my sister, Corvina, win the upcoming war. With Selena as my witness, I will destroy Eva and then claim the throne that now belongs to me.
I’m the rightful Queen of Helios, and no psycho bitch is going to take that away from me.
Not anymore.
The End For Now. Pre-Order the final book here.
New to the Shadowborn World? Buy the first book in Corvina Charles’ journey at the elusive Shadowborn Academy!
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Excerpt from Shadowborn Academy (Dark Fae Academy Series: Book One)
Buy here.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
My fate is in the dark,
And my shadow there is real…
The darkness likes to play in this world.
It also likes to deceive.
In the Enchanted Forest, secrets thrive and one girl desperately needs to find answers before it’s too late.
That girl is Corvina Charles, a powerful Shadowborn—a human who touched dark magic and became something else.
Something dangerous.
At the age of eighteen, Corvina and her best friend are swept away to the Shadowborn Academy, the one place where magic and darkness coincide.
It’s also where pupils go missing, teachers don’t play by any rules, the therapist is hot, and boys with dark magic love to seduce your soul.
With death becoming a game at the academy that not even the Dark or Light Fae seem capable of winning, Corvina’s love life should really be the last thing on her mind…especially when one of the boys just so happens to be her teacher!
Shadowborn Academy is a Dark Reverse Harem Paranormal Fae Romance for 18+. In this world, not even the shadows can be trusted…
The moonlight bleeding through the trees creates flickering shadows that dance around me. I should be afraid of them like all the other children are, but I’m not. These shadows are safe. They’re not like the ones watching me from the treetops, waiting to snatch me off the ground.
No, these shadows are different.
They’re my friends.
The faeries hiding in them follow me like they always do when I come into the Enchanted Forest. I can’t see them but I can hear them giggling and whispering in my ear. They flick my dark curly hair over my shoulders and play with the ribbons on my light blue dress, then the frills of my white socks with the little bunny rabbits on them. It’s their way of saying hello and it makes me giggle as I skip through the forest, humming to the song Mama always sings to me before I go to sleep.
Mama and Papa warned me not to follow these faeries. They said they’re not like the rest and I’ll be in deep trouble if I ever go out to play after dark. That’s when the faeries come out. They sing to children like me and promise us things beyond our wildest dreams, but nobody ever sees them again once they follow the faeries into the forest. Mama said it’s because they gobble them up for supper. I don’t believe her. I mean, how horrible would that be? I don’t think we taste very nice.
Pitch said the real reason the children don’t come back is magical.
He told me that they grow wings and go to live with the faeries. He said I can do that, too, once I make my wish. I’m so excited. I can hear him singing to me and I start humming along to his favourite song, the one about the raven and the wishing well. I follow his voice, excited to play with him again and eat snacks and tell each other stories. No one else can see or hear Pitch apart from me and the faeries. Although we’re the same age, he doesn’t look like any of the boys from my village. He’s extremely pale with glowing amber eyes and long ebony hair that sways around him like the shadows do in here. I know he’s different and that’s why I like him.
That’s why I’m following him.
Now that it’s my eighth birthday, Pitch is going to let me make a wish in the well he sings about. He says only special humans—the chosen ones—get to make a wish here. Sometimes he says funny things like that and I don’t understand him. All I want is a pair of shiny blue shoes, the same ones as my dolly. Pitch says the faeries are going to give them to me, and then I’ll finally have the same outfit as my little dolly.
The faeries guide me to the edge of a clearing which is bright from the moonlight shining down. I wave goodbye to them, even though I can’t see where they are, then I continue humming and skipping after Pitch.
I can see him now, sitting on top of the well, and my heart soars as I race through the clearing. Once I reach the well, he lifts me onto the stone with him. It’s wide enough that the two of us can stand together without falling into the hole.
“It’s time to make your wish,” he says, and my stomach fills with butterflies. “Are you ready to be born again?” I don’t know what he means by that; I just want the lovely shoes. I nod anyway, and Pitch smiles at me. “Then close your eyes.”
When I do this, I hold my breath, too excited to breathe.
My heart feels like it’s going to burst out from my chest. I feel dizzy and sick and excited.
“Do you remember what we talked about?” Pitch asks quietly. “What you do once you make your wish? It’s very important that you don’t forget that part.”
“I won’t forget,” I tell him firmly, peeking through my eyelashes. “Can I say it now? Can I make my wish?”
He giggles and lets go of my hand. “Go on, Corvina. Make your wish and make it count.”
I let out an excited squeal, then I scrunch up my little face and think really hard because I don’t want to mess this up.
—Hello faeries! Please can I have the same shoes as my dolly? You know, the sparkly blue shoes with the pretty bows on the silver buckles? I would like them very much. Thank you.—
With my wish uttered, I open my eyes. Pitch is gone just like he said he would be and I’m alone on the well. I look down into the tunnel of darkness stretching before me. A loose pebble falls away from the edge and drops into the well. It takes forever to splash through the water at the bottom, and I gulp, my palms turning sweaty against my dress.
For my wish to come true, I need to go down there.
Pitch said he’ll be waiting for me and that the faeries will even give me wings so that I don’t hurt myself. I’ll be just like the other children who followed the faeries into the woods and lived happily ever after. Maybe I’ll even be able to see my friends, Bella and Michael and Agnes.
We’ll all be faeries together, like we used to talk about.
I turn around and spread my arms out like wings, smiling at the thought of seeing my friends from school again. Taking a deep breath and holding it in my chest, I close my eyes and fall down into the well, praying that Mama and Papa were wrong about the faeries, and about Pitch, the monster hiding under my bed…
Before I plunge to my death, I wake up with a gasp for air, clutching my thin bedsheets in my hands. Pitch wasn’t waiting for me. There was nothing but pain and misery at the bottom of that stupid well and my innocent ass didn’t know any better back then.
I fell into magical darkness, and as everyone here tells me, that’s when I became a shadowborn.
But that’s not the part that haunts me every night in my dreams. Oh, no. It’s what happened after the pain and misery—after I drowned in all the magical water, my eight-year-old body absorbing it like it was sugar and I was a starving kid. When my heart started beating again and I opened my eyes, I lay floating on my back as the moon drew closer and closer to me. I remember crying and thinking I had been turned into a bug instead of a faery, but it was just the water healing my shattered bones and floating me up to the surface.
The second my feet touched the earth again, my power exploded and I destroyed everything in a five-mile radius, including all the houses and the people inside them.
Including my parents.
And the only living thing was me, covered in ash, lying on the forest floor as the sun rose into a blood-red sky.
Talk about a birthday to remember.
After that, I was picked up by the Shadow Wardens, protectors of the magical world, and thrown in a shadowborn foster home with all the other children that are like me. Only they didn’t kill hundreds of people and not one of them in here see their powers like the curses they really are.
“You having those dreams again?” Sage asks, sitting up on her bed next to me and staring at me, the moonlight highlighting her beige skin and curly pink hair that isn’t at all messy even though she just woke up. Sage Millhouse is the only bit of this foster home that I’ve ever cared about and I’m certain it’s the same way for her. We came here on the same day, two scared kids who wanted nothing more than to escape this hellhole and the new powers we have. Sage got her power the way most of the kids here did, by being bitten by a shadowborn in their animal state. One bite is enough to infuse any soul with shadow magic, and all it took for Sage was a bite from a fox in her garden.
The fox was never seen again, and Sage nearly died, only to survive and be taken from her parents to come and live here.
The foster home is full of those stories, and it’s the main reason I don’t talk about my past.
“Always.”
It’s all I need to say for Sage to get off her bed and head out of the room. I follow her, the old wooden floorboards creaking under my bare feet with each step. Sage holds the timber door open and we head outside into the garden. The cool air is refreshing for only a second before it’s nothing but cold nipping at my skin.
“Ready?” I ask her as I stare up, the darkness and shadows comforting me like they always do.
Sage doesn’t reply, though I’m unsurprised as she isn’t one for words. That’s why I like her. I watch her bright purple eyes as she disappears in a cloud of black smoke. The darkness. It’s become a blanket of sorts to people like us. As the blackness fades away, there is nothing more than a hawk sitting on the ground, its lavender eyes staring up at me. I grin as I close my own silver eyes and do the next best thing in the world.
