What lurks between the f.., p.1
What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone), page 1
About the Author
Adelaide Forrest is a USA Today & Amazon Top 10 Bestselling author of dark and gritty romance, such as the Bellandi Crime Syndicate and Beauty in Lies series. Adelaide fell in love with books at a young age and quickly discovered her love for writing soon after. She wrote short stories and then delved into full-length fiction at ten-years-old. Since then, she's created over 350 book ideas and hoarded them over the years. When she isn't writing, she can be found spending time with her two young children, dog, and cat. She enjoys traveling, chocolate, chai tea, and most importantly, being with her family.
Also by Harper L. Woods
Of Flesh & Bone Series
What Lies Beyond the Veil
What Hunts Inside the Shadows
What Lurks Between the Fates
Harper L. Woods
www.hodderscape.co.uk
First published in Great Britain in 2023 by Hodderscape
An imprint of Hodder & Stoughton
An Hachette UK company
Copyright © Harper L. Woods 2023
The right of Harper L. Woods to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Cover image: Map Illustration © Abigail M Hair
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
Paperback ISBN 978 1 399 71176 0
eBook ISBN 978 1 399 71174 6
Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.hodderscape.co.uk
For the survivors who rise like the stars.
Contents
About the Author
Also by Harper L. Woods
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About What Lurks Between the Fates
Trigger & Content Warnings
Prologue
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
Glossary of Terms
Hierarchy of the Gods & Fae
About What Lurks Between the Fates
Once, I’d chosen my mate instead of freedom.
For weeks, we retraced our steps back to Mistfell and the lingering shadow of the Veil at the boundary between realms. Traveling through the kingdom, I denied the evidence in front of me, unable to fathom that I wasn’t the lost princess of Faerie. Instead, it is Fallon who must fear the consequences of her heritage. Which leaves me with a single, unanswered question.
Then, I awoke, caged high above the throne of the Queen of Air and Darkness.
Mab is the Queen who keeps all of Alfheimr held squirming within her clawed grasp. She uses the children of Faerie to sustain the magic granted to her by the cursed gem atop her crown, which has carved her from the girl she once was into a dark vessel, obsessed with power. She thrives on cruelty, and wields our love as an instrument for pain.
Now, I’ll play the games of the Fae.
I’m a curiosity, my presence an enigma that was never foreseen. I may not be Mab’s daughter, yet she still keeps me close, as she forges me into a weapon against humans and Fae alike. Mab may not own me yet, but she controls the life of the man I love. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to see him freed.
Even if I have to become the villain to do it.
Trigger & Content Warnings
The Of Flesh & Bone series is set in a medieval style world where human women are subservient to their male counterparts. The world is a dark dangerous place for women, particularly those who do not conform to societal standards and the purity culture that determines how they live.
The Fae realm of Alfheimr is even darker and the violence in this world gets darker and more graphic with each book. There is murder, torture, and elements of assault.
As such, some elements may be triggering to certain readers. Please proceed with caution.
– Religious purity culture
– Verbal & physical abuse (NOT the male lead)
– References to grooming behavior & assault of a minor by an authority figure (NOT the male lead)
– References to past physical and sexual abuse
– Ritualistic sacrifices
– Suicide
– Suicidal thoughts & ideation
– Graphic death, violence, & torture
– Attempted sexual assault (NOT by the male lead)
– Graphic sexual content
– Flesh-eating creatures
Prologue
Caldris
One of the twin moons flickered as my mate blinked rapidly. She swayed in place as stars shot through the darkness, cruising toward the earth as if the Primordials themselves wept upon all of Alfheimr. My nails dug into the flesh above my heart, feeling the snake that coiled around that beating flesh pull tighter. Mab’s gaze sat heavy upon me, her command bearing down on my soul as I pushed myself to my feet.
I did not feel the pain of the wounds already inflicted upon me—only the pain of that flickering bond between Estrella and me. Her consciousness faded slowly as I watched. The pain blooming at the side of her head made my own throb in response.
Mab squeezed her fingers tighter, driving me back to my knees with a strangled roar. For centuries, I’d suffered beneath her hand, compelled to obey her whims and commands. I’d always thought them a burden, a torture unique to the Queen of Air and Darkness.
But nothing could compare to the pain of kneeling helplessly as Ophir lifted Estrella into his arms, then hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack. Her eyes connected with mine for a brief moment before they went hazy, and I knew the woman I loved could not see me any longer as the darkness pulled her under. Tears pooled in the shocking green of those unseeing eyes, the color all the more vivid for it, before they shuttered and she was lost to me completely.
The bond snapped shut between us, like the closing of windowpanes in the harsh winter breeze. I stared at her temple where Ophir had struck her; the bruise blooming darker as I watched. I pushed against that metaphysical window, hoping to throw open the shutters and feel through the chasm between us for any sign of life. It lingered there, her mind trapped in the total darkness that only unconsciousness could bring, but her heart still beat in tandem with mine.
She would sleep for a time but wake soon enough. I couldn’t determine if that was a blessing or a curse, knowing what awaited her in the Court of Shadows with the queen who would use her to punish me for the secret I’d kept.
Mab summoned the shadow realm once again, allowing Davorin to step through with Fallon. She didn’t make a move to fight as he walked into the shadows with her. Her gaze connected with mine for only a moment before she looked back at Estrella, her face twisting with regret.
We’d all been so fixated on Estrella being Mab’s daughter, so convinced by the evidence of her powers, that we’d never stopped to consider the alternative. I couldn’t imagine what was racing through Fallon’s mind, what she must be feeling with the sudden realization that she was the very thing we’d feared for Estrella.
And she didn’t have a bit of magic to show for it—that we’d seen, anyway.
Several of Mab’s children chained my wolves, snapping muzzles around their mouths while she used her control over them through me to force them still. I growled low in my chest, feeling more wolf than man as the cwn annwn were pulled through the shadow realm.
Imelda looked at me, her eyes filled with regret. We’d both failed them. Both failed to prepare them for what was coming and failed to deliver them to safety, as we’d promised. She closed her eyes for a moment, forcing herself to step away from where Fallon had stood. She went to where Estrella’s mother wept silently, holding the wound on her face with quiet resignation. Whatever her experience had been in Mistfell, she never moved to fight for her daughter.
She knew it would be pointless and would only lead to her death. A death that Estrella and I had only just managed to distract Mab from claiming.
Imelda took her, wheeling her chair through the snow to put some distance between the Queen of Air and Darkness and the only one of us who had any chance at freedom.
“Take her to my mother,” I whispered as she passed me to stand with Holt and the Wild Hunt. Her nod of affirmation soothed the frayed part of me that hadn’t been able to save my mate.
At least I could give her human mother a safe place to live out her life, even if Estrella never saw her again.
“Do try not to have too much fun without me, boys. I need him alive still,” my stepmother said, her lips curving upward as her dark eyes shone with malice.
Mab stepped through the shadows next, disappearing into Tar Mesa as Malachi lingered at the edges of my vision. He didn’t demand my attention in the final moments where I could see my mate before his brother led her through to the Court of Shadows, allowing me to fixate on the sight that would forever stain my memories.
“Ophir!” I roared, flinching back from a kick to my face from one of Mab’s more enthusiastic children. Malachi scolded him for interrupting the moment, but the blow had never landed in truth anyway, only skimming my nose. “I will feed you your own intestines if you hurt her. Mab cannot always be there to protect you.” I coughed, spitting blood from the previous beating on the snow. From the injuries that would blend into new ones shortly enough.
“Perhaps you should be more concerned with what I have planned for you. Mab won’t hurt your mate just yet. She likes her victims aware when she plays with them,” Malachi said, chuckling beneath his breath as he closed the remaining distance between us.
He and his twin brother, Ophir, had been the fascination of Alfheimr when they’d been born all those centuries ago. Twins were unheard of among the Fae with the witch’s curse upon us. Naturally, Mab had felt compelled to add them to her collection, a rarity she needed to own for herself. Whereas many of her children were decent Fae—twisted by the bond forced upon them as children—the twins were demented, cruel things. They didn’t require Mab’s bond to behave in ways that should have horrified any living creature, because they enjoyed it.
Ophir stepped through the shadows, vanishing with the love of my life as the rest of Mab’s guards ushered the Fae Marked and humans who had joined us on our journey to follow. They struggled as they were led by their chained hands, being treated as prisoners in ways we hadn’t allowed.
They’d always thought of us as captors, and we were, to some extent, but not all villains were created equal. Some thrived off of suffering and lived to hear their victims’ screams.
There was only one creature in this world who could force me to do harm, and one more who could motivate me to do anything if it meant keeping her safe.
Neither could make me enjoy the suffering of innocents.
Malachi stepped forward, closing the distance between us as he pulled his iron blade from its scabbard. He ran his thumb along the sharp edge as he stared at me. “What should I do with you? It is so rare that Mab allows me to be the one to remind you what happens when you disobey her.”
“I think you’ve already made your point,” Imelda said from behind me, ignoring Holt’s attempts to quiet her.
It comforted something in me to know that my best friend would protect the witch, keeping her from interfering in things she could not change. I glanced back at her, watching as he grasped her around the waist and pulled her struggling frame against his side.
“Quiet, Witch,” he warned, his voice dropping low as he leaned down to murmur the words against the side of her head.
Imelda shuddered, squirming in his grip to get free. “Unhand me, Huntsman.”
“You don’t know Caldris very well, do you?” Malachi asked, touching the edge of his iron blade to my neck. My skin heated beneath the touch, melting away until his blade touched the sinew of muscle. “No, I think something much more severe is in order for his treachery in keeping this secret from our queen.”
I gritted my teeth, glancing toward Holt where he stood with Imelda and guarded Estrella’s mother.
“Get them to Twyla,” I said.
He was duty-bound to follow Mab’s command as they related to his position as leader of the Wild Hunt, but that didn’t infiltrate the rest of his life. He was free to do as he pleased as he went about his duty, and he’d clearly claimed the witch as his. Since she had no loyalty or affiliations within Alfheimr, he would care for her as long as she allowed him to do so.
Mab’s ownership of me made Estrella Mab’s property by extension, and I’d never hated the snake wrapped around my heart more than I did in that moment.
Holt held my gaze for a brief moment, then glanced toward Estrella’s mother and finally nodded. He led the Wild Hunt to their horses, taking Imelda’s hand and guiding her to follow him. He settled the witch upon his skeletal steed in front of him, ignoring the way she struggled against his hold even in the moments where her fear should have driven her to seek safety, in whatever form it came.
Aramis hoisted Estrella’s mother up onto his horse in front of him, helping to support her when she swayed slightly.
“I should take your head for the way you ignore me even now,” Malachi said, demanding my attention as the Wild Hunt departed for the Winter Court. For the capital in which I’d been born but had no memory of ever residing in.
Catancia.
“It will grow back,” I said, forcing a smile to my face.
My blood coated my teeth from my beating, thick and viscous, making my smile grim and disturbing. The pain of being beheaded was but a shadow compared to the fact that it would take me time to heal that wound.
Time I didn’t have to waste while my mate would be in Mab’s clutches without me to protect her.
“You’re right about that, and you would remain blissfully unaware of each hour that passes. I cannot allow you to return to Tar Mesa quickly and ruin our fun too soon, but I want you to be in agony for every hour she is with us. I want you to suffer, wondering what we’ll do to her when she wakes,” Malachi said, pulling the sword away from my neck. He tapped it on the ground twice, the edge sinking into the snow before he lifted his leg and pressed a boot against my chest. He kicked me backward, watching as his minions moved to pin me to the snow.
“One of these days, I will return this kindness,” I said sarcastically, snarling up at him as he raised his sword above his head.
He brought it down across my elbow, severing my forearm from my body with a single swing. Pain clenched my teeth together, throwing my head back as he repeated the motion with the other arm. The wound sizzled from the iron upon my flesh, and I watched through dazed eyes as he wiped my blood off his sword on the leathers of my armor.
Then he slid it back into his scabbard, pulling a simple long dagger from his thigh. He placed a foot on either side of my body, lowering until he hovered just over me.
“Goodbye, Caldris. I very much look forward to getting to know your pretty mate while you sleep,” he said, shoving the dagger into my upper arm. The burn of iron lit me aflame from the inside as he left the long dagger there, pinning me to the snow and the frozen ground beneath.
I lifted my other arm to touch it, trying to reach for it to pull it free even though there were no fingers to grasp it with. So long as the iron was in my body, it wouldn’t heal. One of his minions grappled my arm back to the ground, stabbing through my bicep and pinning me there as well. He spat on me as he stood, turning toward Tar Mesa and calling to the shadows that would take them home.
Each one followed until the last of Mab’s children stepped up, leaning over me with his iron dagger. He used it to nudge my chin higher, glaring down at me cruelly as he touched the tip to the front of my throat.
He held my eyes intently, slowly pressing the blade forward until the tip penetrated my throat. I gasped for breath, and the sound came out wet as my mouth filled with blood. He pushed forward slowly, spearing me alive until the hilt of his dagger touched my Adam’s apple. Only then did he step away, following after the others and leaving me to bleed out, unable to heal myself.
