Darker Woods

For as long as I can remember, I've had to hide who I am. What I am. They had me play the sheep. They had me blend in. They marked me and sealed my power. Now I have my freedom, because everyone who's ever wanted me confined is dead. I could have changed it. I could have altered the course of fate. I could have saved the unseelie queen. I didn't. Vlari has always known her place: as far away...

Ten years ago, there was a battle, a curse, and a princess. It sounds like a fairy tale. It isn't. Still deep in her eversleep, powering the wards of the last fae sanctuary, Vlari has one adversary to fight: time. Time for the folk to gain the weapons they need to fight against the invaders. Each passing day, she's less likely to awaken. Drusk has ceased to hope she ever will, until something...

My lips hitch up an inch as the hulking, slender man bends down to whisper in my ear. "A divided kingdom without a leader is weak. You will fall. You will fail. You will all die without my kindness, little girl." He expects me to falter, shiver, and drop my gaze to the ground like the flock of gentry buzzing around him. My eyes widen in feigned dismay. "Kindness? Why did no one think to tell me...