Forever with The Fae King
Bailey Dark
Copyright © 2019 by Bailey Dark
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
BLURB
“I will always love you. Truly. You will always have my heart. You set my soul on fire, Verity.”
In the culmination of this epic series, Verity and Altair must travel with allies and enemies into the Ether to confront their greatest adversary yet.
Verity is uncertain her skills will be enough to defeat the evil that awaits them. She’s lost everyone important to her already, and now she risks losing Altair, the only love she’s ever known.
The only thing on Altair’s mind is Verity’s safety, but he knows she’ll risk her life to make sure they defeat the Shades. Plagued on all fronts by enemies and scheming, survival isn’t certain, and neither is victory.
But even if they make it out alive—fate may never let them be together.
Contents
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
Epilogue
New Series from Bailey Dark
About the Author
Also by Bailey Dark
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Chapter 1
Verity
The dagger in my arm is decorated with an ornate handle, covered in small jewels and precious stones. For all the blood smeared on the hilt and blade, its beauty can't be diminished. I stare intently at one of the jewels on the grip, green like a serpent's eye, and hold my breath. Pain flashes through my arm, tickling the nerve as it hovers beside the dagger. Blood drips thickly from my arm, down the tip of the blade protruding from the other side of my arm.
Around me, Moritz and Erzur argue as she snaps about my stupidity. The witches watch in silence, eyes glittering. I hear Altair speaking to me, but it's fuzzy and distorted, so I just nod my head in response. Thal doesn't talk as he lifts my arm gently. I hiss as pain flares up my arm and to the tips of my fingers. His brows furrow together apologetically, but he moves my arm to eye level and lets my blood slip down his fingers.
“I have to remove it,” Thal murmurs gently. His voice is the only one that penetrates the haze around my mind.
Serus curls in my lap, hissing at everyone and everything. He lashes out at Thal as he reaches for the hilt. His claws rake over Thal’s hand, drawing blood. “Don’t touch her,” he hisses, eyes wide and ears back.
I reach for my familiar, trying to soothe him. “Serus,” I pant. “Let him pull it out.”
“We’ll heal her as well as we can,” Altair says. His voice is low, filled with barely hidden fear. I hold his voice close to me, repeating the short, simple phrase over and over in my mind to bring myself peace.
“Scratch me again, cat, and I’ll flay you,” Thal threatens, wiping the blood on his palm away.
“Thal,” I say, voice breaking as I struggle to remain sitting up.
Wordlessly, his hand wraps around the hilt. I whimper as that simple move shifts the blade in my flesh. Serus’s hackles raise, and he hisses furiously. Grimacing, Thal rips that dagger out of my arm without warning. I scream shrilly and blood arcs through the air, it's almost pretty. I let my body collapse in on itself then, and my vision blurs as pain rides me.
“Verity,” Thal says. “Verity?”
I hear a soft scuffling and then familiar knees in my vision. Altair bends low, dipping his face to mine. His hazel eyes are filled with concern and I wish I could lose myself in them, even as blood pumps out of me. He gently shifts me until my injured arm comes into view. The witches surround me and I feel the air tremble with their magic. Cleo draws her own blade over her palm, bolstering her magic with blood the way all Bloodbane do.
Together, the Bloodbanes knit my skin, using my Fae heritage and their magic to speed up the healing process. Altair crouches close by, and I feel his fingers play over mine as if he would take hold of them. But in such close sight of Erzur, and after what happened last night, I know he won’t. I breathe deeply, letting the magic lull the pain away from me.
After what feels like hours, the witches are finished, and they step away. I catch sight of Cleo and imagine I see her cold eyes filled with something like worry. But then I blink and the emotion is gone. Altair’s arms support me, lifting me from the sandy floor to prop me against a pillar. I see Sadal watching me stonily, but his shoulders are stiff with fear and I know he knows what I saw. He knows just how terrifying the Shades are more than anyone else.
“What happened?” Altair asks gently.
I study his face, his sharp jaw, full lips, and the lights in his eyes. “The Shades, they laid a trap for me in the second level of the Ether,” I say breathlessly.
“It is called the Second Stratum,” the old witch says.
“They were there, and I think they knew I was coming,” I continue. “One of them attacked me. I got flustered, and the dagger went deeper than I meant it to.”
“You said you found a way to trap them,” Erzur says impatiently. “Tell us more about that.”
“Give her a moment,” Altair snarls, his eyed locked on the thin scar on my forearm.
I stretch out a hand to brush over his hand but stop mid-air. Inhaling sharply, I pull my hand back. “I’m alright now.” I turn to Erzur, hiding a scowl. “A creature told us of a being in the Third Stratum. This being is powerful, more than the Shades, and has been
