Dark, p.1
Dark, page 1
CONTENTS
Pronunciation Guide
Content Warning
A Choice Of Light And Dark Playlist
***
I
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
***
II
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
***
III
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
***
IV
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
This book is written in American English.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by an electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author. The only exception is a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright 2024 by The Lehotzky Group LLC
First paperback edition June 2024
ISBN 979-8-9883620-5-0 (paperback)
ISBN 979-8-9883620-4-3 (e-book)
Book cover and interior art by Beholden Book Covers
Edited by Kaitlin Ugolik Phillips
Published by The Lehotzky Group LLC
www.laceylehotzky.com
MORE BY LACEY LEHOTZKY
A Choice of Light and Dark
Chained
Light
Dark
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Agrenak - AG-ren-ak
Aress - AH-ress
Béke - BE-k
Blire - B-lire
Cazius - KAZ-ius
Drazen - Dray-zen
Domi - do-mi
Endre - EN-dre
Északi - EE-sah-kee
Este - esh-te
Félvér - fell-ver
Izidora - iz-i-dawr-uh
Kazimir - kaz-imir
Kaztar - kaz-tar
Kirigin - ki-ri-gin
Kriztof - KRIS-tof
Liliana - lil-i-ana
Radence - RAY-dense
Ruslan - ROO-slahn
Ryza - RYE-zah
Telivér - tell-i-ver
Vaenor - VAE-nor
Vadim - vaa-deem
Valynor - VAL-noor
Vasvain - vas-vain
Vaszoly - vaas-o-ly
Vlisa - vlis-a
Viktor - vik-tor
Zalan - ZA-lan
Zekari - zek-AR-i
Zheka - zeh-kah
Zuriel - ZUR-iel
CONTENT WARNING
Dark is suitable for audiences of 18+. It contains scenes that sensitive readers might find disturbing. Your mental health matters, and you should make the choice with which you feel most comfortable.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of trigger warnings, and you can check the author’s website for the most up to date list.
Trigger warnings: Flashback of rape and sexual assault, gruesome torture with gore, kidnapping, stalking, nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, graphic violence, and mentions of physical, verbal, mental, emotional, and child abuse. The explicit sexual content in this book contains group sex scenes, orgies, anal play, impact play, breath play, and more.
A CHOICE OF LIGHT AND DARK PLAYLIST
Hunting Season - Ice Nine Kills
Watch The World Burn - Falling in Reverse
There’s Fear In Letting Go - I Prevail
Werewolf - Motionless in White
Masterpiece - Motionless in White
No Masters - Bad Wolves
I Will Not Bow - Breaking Benjamin
Fallen Angel - Three Days Grace
Infinite - Silverstein, Aaron Gillespie
Riot - Three Days Grace
TRIALS - STARSET
Don’t Stay - Linkin Park
Face Everything And Rise - Papa Roach
Say You’ll Haunt Me - Stone Sour
Last to Know - Three Days Grace
Without You - Breaking Benjamin
Pain - Three Days Grace
Whispers in the Dark - Skillet
Take Me Back To Eden - Sleep Token
Whatever It Takes - Stephen Stanley
To everyone who realized they were not, in fact, fine.
***
Silence greeted the group of Iron Fae as they entered the hewn cave. The air was still, like the mountain was holding its breath, waiting for the scene it knew would unfold. The tallest and broadest of the group stalked forward, nostrils flaring as his keen senses caught the metallic scent of blood.
“Spread out and search,” he growled, drawing black flame into his palms.
The heavy footfalls of his soldiers broke the silence as they fanned out around him, hugging the walls of the living area that looked like it had been used only hours before, though its former occupants were nowhere to be found. He waited, heart racing, jaw clenching, until one of his soldiers shouted, “They’re dead!”
“What do you mean ‘They’re dead’?” Banishing the dark fire, he stomped deeper into the cave, the smell of metal becoming almost unbearable in the stagnant air. Pools of ruby greeted him along his path until he stood before an ocean of blood and piles of bodies shoved against the cave’s carved walls.
Deep blue eyes met his from across the red pools, dark brows pinched slightly together, giving a warning look. “Ruslan…”
“Don’t, Drazen,” Ruslan snapped, scanning the dark floor for signs of what had happened. “Can we get some more fucking light in here?” His neck was growing tight and hot, and he cracked it, vertebra by vertebra, to relieve some tension.
The space was illuminated moments later with the fire his soldiers cast into the air, heating the chamber around them and cooking the cold bodies lining it. Crouching down, Ruslan studied the footprints leading to and from the red ocean. The oldest markings led forward, a set of seven large boots whose outlines were nearly dried on the stone. The newest led backward and down another hall, though there was an eighth set of smaller footprints, bare of any shoes.
The way he rose off the ground was predatory, sucking the air from the lungs of his regiment as they waited with bated breath to see what their volatile commander would do. Without a word, he stalked forward, and they hurried behind, holding the firelight high for him. Sweat dripped down his forehead as Ruslan followed the twists and turns until he reached a cavern so dark and so deep, that the light of dozens of males barely broke through.
Another body slumped there, lines of blood indicating he had been dragged by two of the intruders.
Ruslan stepped into the middle of the space, a war playing out in his mind as he tried to wrap it around what he was seeing. Iron chains wound haphazardly against the stone floor, the shackles on the ends broken open and gaping like a snake’s mouth prepared to strike. Further away, a thin, worn mattress disregarded him, and even further, a stone tub turned its back on him.
There was no sign of the mate he’d waited for twenty-one years to claim. Red and black coated his vision as he lost control, horns protruding from his skull and hands morphing into talons. He released a roar so violent it shook pebbles loose above them, creating a rainshower of rock. The firelight faltered as his soldiers covered their bare heads.
Stomping down the hall, he followed the tiny footprints until he reached the lip of the cave, staring down as the brilliant sun rose over the Agrenak Mountains. His second roar was violence incarnate, vocalizing twenty-one years of anguish, and even the mountains dared not interrupt his rage, allowing the sound to echo among their peaks until his throat was raw and bloody, and he felt more lost and broken than he ever had before.
I
1
Béke Day One
Light blinded me momentarily before pain speared through my middle, tearing me apart from the inside. I took a staggering step forward, plunging my foot into the ankle-deep snow in the courtyard of Ryza Citadel in the Iron Realm, as I laid eyes upon the male I had loved first.
Kazimir was haggard, with a thick beard and grown-out black hair that made him look like he’d been living in the woods since we’d parted. His deep emerald green eyes held none of their prior sparkle, even when our eyes co llided across the snow-dusted ground and the rest of the world dropped away. The bruises that marred the spaces beneath his eyes were not the most alarming change in him; it was the oily aura that surrounded him, as if he’d fallen into a pit of tar and not quite managed to free himself of the sticky substance when he’d escaped.
The Goddess’s Prophecy came screaming back to the forefront of my mind, and doubt threatened to drown me as the words played like a haunting tune.
“The ones that are part of all will be born under a full moon
Her white light will fill the land
But her mates darkness will rise
Kings will fall
Rivers will run with blood
There is a choice
Follow the light
Descend into the dark
The harrowing pass decides it all”
Darkness bled through every pore in Kazimir, and as I reached my empath magic out to brush against his mind, I beheld thickly coiled black ropes caging it in. With horror, I recoiled in on myself, shifting toward Ruslan instinctively, and returned to the present moment.
The guests arriving for Béke, a two-week celebration of peace between realms, had dismounted, handing their reins to waiting stablehands, while a handful of footmen trotted toward a carriage, opening the door and assisting four females down the steep steps.
“Liliana!” I cried out when the long chocolate-brown locks of my best friend peeked out of the carriage. Her seafoam green eyes popped up in recognition of my voice, a wide grin spilling across her face as she dropped the hand of the Iron Fae male helping her onto the snow-packed ground and sprinted toward me. Forgetting the two males whose eyes were locked in a staredown, I threw my arms wide and embraced my friend.
“Izidora! I’ve missed you so much,” she breathed in my ear, her bubbly voice hitching.
Ruslan hummed his amusement beside me, causing me to hold my friend at arm’s length and look at the second male I loved. Her eyes shone like a mirror of my own, and I quickly introduced them. “Liliana, this is King Ruslan of the Iron Realm.”
Her greedy eyes drank in his frame before she dipped into a polite curtsey. “Pleased to meet you, Your Highness.”
Ruslan's signature smirk returned, his smoky eyes dancing as he looked at the Night Fae female. “The pleasure is all mine, Lady Liliana. I hope to get to know you better in the coming weeks.” Then, he turned his attention to our other guests, and my cheeks flamed as I realized Liliana and I had forgone all protocol in our excitement.
“Welcome to the Iron Realm. I am King Ruslan, and this is my mate and future queen, Princess Izidora of the Night Realm. We are glad you could join us, not only to celebrate Béke but also our upcoming wedding and coronation, taking place the day after the end of the feast. We hope you’ll extend your stay to celebrate with us.”
If the news shocked any of the attending nobles, none let it show on their bland expressions. Even the Night Fae kept their expressions neural, if not a touch hostile, especially from Kazimir as his attention flitted between Ruslan and me. King Azim had died only the day before, so there was no way any of them knew of Ruslan’s elevated status prior to this very moment. But court politics was a game well played by all in attendance, and I had no doubt that they’d whisper about the changes once they were out of earshot.
Liliana jabbed me in the side with her elbow, and I shot her a look that said, ‘we’ll talk later.’ My attention was pulled by an elegant female with platinum hair flowing loosely over her shoulders who was clapping her hands together. “I do love weddings!”
A lithe male with white hair proffered his hand to Ruslan. “King Ruslan, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am King Airre of the Crystal Realm, and this is my mate, Queen Immonen.” He trained his blue eyes on me, and I offered my hand to him. He grasped it, planting a formal kiss on the back. “Princess Izidora, you are even more beautiful than High Lord Kazimir described. I do hope to learn more about you both in the coming weeks.”
My cheeks flamed, though I offered King Airre a polite smile after a cursory glance to the male beside me. Ruslan seemed unfazed by King Airre’s flattery, his attention pointedly fixed on Kazimir during our exchange. The corner of Ruslan’s lip twitched up as if he was goading Kazimir into saying something about me or his newfound status as king of the Iron Realm.
“As do I.” A dark-skinned female stepped forward, and I curtsied to her as Ruslan lifted her hand. Queen Viktoria’s beauty was striking, her colorful ensemble a bright and cheery distraction from the tension that floated around us like falling snow.
Kazimir’s eyes bored into me, but I kept my gaze firmly on the monarchs of the Day Realm. The tug around my middle became insistent enough that I spared a glance behind them, my gaze colliding with two emerald orbs that held a touch of something foreign, something that made me want to glance away as quickly as I could.
“Queen Viktoria, King Consort Geza, I look forward to making your acquaintance as well,” Ruslan acknowledged with an air of formality. “Drazen will show you to your rooms. After such a long journey, I’m sure you’d like to freshen up before the opening ball tonight.”
“That is most kind of you, King Ruslan,” Queen Viktoria remarked. “I am quite tired from our travels.”
Drazen, Ruslan’s cousin and closest confidante, stepped forward, beckoning the travel-weary monarchs into the halls of Ryza Citadel. I dipped my head politely to the passing Crystal and Day Fae in their respective entourages, until another forceful tug on my middle yanked my gaze to the approaching Night Fae.
Viktor and Vadim, Liliana’s brother, led the party, followed by a familiar pair of Night Fae, with Endre and Kazimir bringing up the rear. The way Endre repeatedly glanced at Kazimir sent my stomach plummeting to the cold ground. Kazimir’s eyes never left me, sending shivers down my spine as they approached.
The males swept into deep bows before Ruslan and myself, though by the set of each of the Nighthounds’ jaws, I understood they were displeased in their display. Ruslan made no move to return the gesture, and tension rolled off of him in thick waves that clawed at my shoulders. Tapping into the clear crystal in my chest wrapped in white flames and moonlight, I released a tendril of my empath magic, siphoning his fear.
“King Ruslan, thank you for having us at this year’s Béke,” Viktor began, though his voice was tight. “We are representing the Night Realm at this year’s feast. I am afraid we are also road-weary, so we’ll have to do introductions later.”
“Of course,” Ruslan replied haughtily, glancing briefly at Viktor before ghosting his hard gaze across the rest of them. “Drazen will show you the way.”
“I’ll see you later, promise,” I whispered to my friend, who nodded and strode toward her brother as he passed. Kazimir’s mouth opened for a fraction of a second before closing again, Endre yanking on his arm to lead him along behind the rest of the Night Fae. My body felt that acute ache once he rounded the corner and disappeared into Ryza Citadel.
I blew out a long breath, looking at the male who still stood beside me as our entourage dispersed. His smoky eyes were filled with anxiety, the emotion resonating through our connection even more deeply. “We’re okay,” I reassured him, knowing that his worst fear of being abandoned was screaming at him to do something to save himself.
“Promise?” His raspy voice was no more than a whisper, and for a moment he reminded me of one of our first times together, when he allowed me to see the vulnerable child that still lived inside him.
