Page 1 of The Edge of Darkness

PREVIOUSLY, IN THE LIES OF MORTALS

It began with an invitation.

Auren Everton’s skills with a sword were not particularly fit for a lady in the human realm, but they earned her a well-known name, and secured her a spot in the king’s tournament, where she competed for a place in his prestigious Guard.

After prevailing as a finalist, alongside another fierce competitor named Silas, she was favored to duel against the crown prince in a final show of skill. But the prince had never been defeated before, and not only did Auren best him, but she wounded him in the process. It was an embarrassment that he simply could not overlook, and in return, he sent his men to enact his revenge. However, their attempt only served to draw out the power that had been lying dormant within Auren—a power that even she did not know she possessed.

Forced to flee the castle, and aided only by her appointed guard, Weston, she quickly found herself at the footfalls of The Veil—the magical boundary between her realm, and that of the fae. A boundary that no human was able to cross . . .

Until her.

Her power allowed her through The Veil, and for the first time in over a thousand years, a human stepped foot into the fae realm.

As fate would have it, the fae were in the midst of Lumeri, their celebration of light—the very power that Auren would soon command. But the territory she had crossed into belonged to a rather unfavorable High Lord, Killian, and it was his cousin, Breck, who found her just after she entered their lands.

Killian saw Auren as a thing of amusement—a challenging enigma that he was determined to figure out and use to his advantage—while Breck, on the other hand, was inspired by her, and quickly formed a deeper and far more emotional attachment. Both of them had their fascinations, and neither were thrilled when another male, one with darkness in his veins and shadowfire at his fingertips, took a particular interest in her as well.

His name was Niall, a powerful High Lord who was feared by most, and kept a close-knit group of warriors at his side. Despite having been warned against him, Auren was drawn to him, and try as she might, she could not deny the thrumming in her chest, or the thrill that went through her whenever he came near.

Niall was intrigued by her as well, so much so that he went against his own norms and chose to linger in Killian’s territory, helping Auren navigate her new power and pursuing the growing connection between them.

While they were distracted by the strange pull toward one another, and the realm busied themselves with Lumeri, an ancient relic had gone missing from Killian’s court. With Auren’s suspicious arrival, Killian was certain the two events were related. But before he could apprehend her, Niall staked his claim, and took her to his territory in the mountains.

To Calledan.

There, she was under his full protection, and that of his Trium: Aremis, his second-in-command; Roirdan, the commander of his armies; and Remic, the Dionach. The three males had sworn fealty and loyalty to Niall as his brothers in arms, and all three quickly became like brothers to Auren—Remic, most of all.

Niall worked with Auren on wielding and controlling her powers, and together, they journeyed to each of the other courts’ Lumeri celebrations, where it became clear to Auren that the things she had been taught about the fae were all wrong, and that the lies of mortals went deeper than she thought. There was true glory and splendor in the fae realm, but there were also corrupt agendas at work, and her arrival was the event that had set everything into motion.

She had learned that her entry into the fae realm was more than just fortuitous. She was destined to fulfill an ancient prophecy, and her god-given power was the force capable of overthrowing the fallen god, Lyceius, who had rebelled against Karios and brought his evil agenda upon the realms.

As time passed, Auren’s power grew stronger, and so did her connection with Niall. She was his mate, and their love was a force like no other. They were light and dark, a perfect balance. Together, along with the Trium, and friends and trusted allies Maeson and Morah, they had become a symbol of hope for some, but a dangerous threat to others.

On a fateful trip to the Desert Court, Auren, Niall, and Aremis found themselves poisoned by the traitorous High Lord, Ramil. Auren and Aremis managed to escape back to Calledan, but not before Niall was taken prisoner.

And so, the next step in Auren’s journey began.

With enemies exposing themselves and drawing closer, and her mate locked away in chains, she and the rest of the realm would soon discover just what she was capable of.

MANY MILLENNIA AGO

Across the cosmos from Gaia sat a dark, cold world. Skotos, as it was called, was naturally cast in an eternal darkness, and inhabited by witches, wraiths, and jinn—spirit-like beings whose forms could transition from the physical to incorporeal whenever they wished. Every living being on Skotos thrived in the shadows and gloom, feeding on the chaos that stretched throughout its expanse.

Skotos’s god-king, Erebus, the primordial god of darkness, ruled in splendor over his sphere of never-ending night. His power was unmatched in its dark glory; a form of shadowed flame; a thing to be feared by the other gods that made up the panel of rulers beneath him. The others often kept their distance from Erebus, but there was one goddess who was drawn to him.

And he was drawn to her.

Achlys was her name. A unique and fickle goddess, Achlys was fleeting in form—similar to the jinn—often keeping to the form of the very thing she commanded: a death mist. She was the final presence before death. A soul-collecting mist that would come to envelope every being upon their last breath. When she remained in her physical form for long enough, she would spend her time with Erebus, and eventually, the two fell in love.

Erebus was enraptured by her. She was the calm to his chaos. A love like no other.

They had two daughters, Torin and Skadi. Fierce goddesses, each with their own governing power.

But Achlys often grew tired of inhabiting her physical body, and longed to be in her fleeting form. She would often vacate the physical realm, leaving her daughters to navigate life on their own, sometimes for years on end, for she could not be separated from her true nature for too long.

Erebus, lonely without his love’s continuous presence, gave his daughters places at his side.

His first daughter, Torin, the goddess of witchcraft, used her power to create a race of witches—cunning, lethal creatures, who carved out an impressive existence in the cold mountain forests of their world, bedding the jinn in order to further their bloodlines.