What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)

by Harper L. Woods

“You know what it is to go without. I see it in your eyes. It’s a need, a hunger that never fades,” the gnome said, reaching out a tiny hand to stop the brush from scrubbing. The bristles pricked his skin, the wounds seeming too large on his hand. “Not many Sidhe would treat a human with the reverence you just showed. Even less would deign to speak to a gnome. Let alone a Sidhe who is the mate of a Prince.” His hand left the brush, and I resumed my cleaning. My gaze fixated in on the bristles against the metal, on the crystal-clear task in front of me that did not involve the complications of those around me. “You’ve given them hope,” he said, his voice going distant as he looked out at the throne room and the Faeries who had resumed their work. “That is not something the Llaidhe have had in a very long time, Princess.”

“What did you think they called those of us who are Fae but not Sidhe? We are the Llaidhe,” he said, his voice hardening at the end. “The worthless,” I said, my jaw clenching as fury made every muscle in my body tense.

“Take off her collar, pet,” someone in the crowd called. A soft murmur of agreement came throughout the room. “Let us see who is still standing when you fight someone who can fight back!” Tilting my head to the side, I raised my brows in a challenge. A grin played at my lips, because Malachi and I both knew who would emerge victorious from such a fight. He swallowed, winding his whip back around his arm.

“May The Mother guide you peacefully to the meadows of Folkvangr,”

The earth seemed to tremble; the ground seemed to shift. As if it too recognized the monster that simmered in my blood.

It wasn’t natural to have that distance now that I’d accepted what he was to me. I wanted to live the rest of my life held within the safe haven of his arms. He was the only being in this world who had ever managed to make me feel protected without suffocating me. The only one who encouraged me to accept the parts of me that terrified others. The only one who loved me, monster and all.

again. But his scent filled my lungs, the smell of home settling inside my soul.

“Those Summer Fae in the valley need to have something to change in order to access their magic. They are Sidhe; their magic is limited. But yours is as endless as the depths of my love for you.” He raised a hand to my chest, pressing the flat side of his palm against the skin over my heart.

“You summon it from within. You’ve wasted far too much of your life looking for answers in the world around you when you’ve had them within you all along. Nothing around you can tell you what you are, min asteren. Only you can make that choice,” he said.

“I’ve no need for twisted lies from the mouth that spit on my mate. Do you think I take kindly to those who treat my future Queen as if she is dirty?” I asked, my head tilting to the side. My mate’s pleasure echoed down the bond, as if she could sense that I was on the verge of granting her the revenge she was due.

This was the mate I’d waited centuries for. A queen of death and carnage.

“Such a feral little mouse,”

“The Shadow Court mourns the darkness. Other courts may celebrate with dancing and revelry. We grieve with blood and death,” she explained, her lips curving with pure malice.

For immortal beings, sometimes the feuds between us felt no better than the tantrums of children. We approached Tar Mesa too slowly for my liking; then the horses would require stabling and care when we finally arrived.

“In order to keep the boundary between the Court and Tartarus in place, the Fae must pay a sacrifice to the Primordial Ubel in order for him to agree to uphold it,”

“We sacrifice seven lives to Tartarus every seven years. It is necessary, else things slip through the wards containing the prisoners of Tartarus. It has been … difficult since the Veil was constructed. We’ve gone far too long without paying a Tithe, and this will be the first Solstice since the Veil fell—”

Humans had been sacrificed to the Veil for over a century. Humans were sacrificed to Tartarus even longer. It never stopped amazing me just how little any of the creatures in this world valued human life—as if our ability to reincarnate changed any of the heartbreak left behind for loved ones to experience.

“Seven is a magical number to the Fae and witches alike. So each Tithe year, two of the Courts must present two sacrifices instead of one. They rotate. This year it will be the Winter Court and Summer Court, Twyla and Rheaghan.”

“One of these days, she’ll allow me to tear you limb from limb. I greatly look forward to the way you’ll scream.” “And one of these days, I’ll cut off your cock and feed it to you, Malachi. I have no interest in your screams,” I said, tilting my head to stare up at him through my lashes as I smiled sweetly. “Only your silence.”

“You are more beautiful than all the stars in the sky, min asteren,” he said, his voice dropping low as he held my gaze.

“You overstep, Mab. These games cross a line,” Rheaghan said, scolding his sister as he glanced over at us. “That seems to be the norm for her, does it not?” I asked, glaring at her. “You are a prisoner. Remember your place and, for once, remain silent,” Mab ordered, spearing me with a glare. “Funny. Even as a prisoner, she has more queenly tact than you ever did, dear sister,”

It was a curse, as if the sacrifice was hunting her through her life, waiting to claim the soul that was promised. But I was the God of the Dead, and I would not bow to death.

“My star, I would plunge the world into eternal darkness if it meant one more moment with you like this. Nothing else matters.” “Until chaos reigns,” I murmured, our bond warming beneath the words.

It would always be his choice. He’d lived for centuries, an eternity, where choice had been taken from him. Where he’d been forced to do things, to tolerate the touch of others, against his will. I would never take that from him.

“You taste like the night sky, min asteren,” he groaned, forcing me to my knees so that he could fuck me as he yanked me backward and whispered in my ear. “Like raw, untouched power. Like ice running through my veins with the cool sweetness of twilight berries.”

“Cradthail non Beathor isn’t something to be taken lightly. It is said that this is where life first began. That this is the place where Khaos stood when he created the moons and stars in the sky, when he created life itself, and the Void for all souls when they die,” my mate said, leaning down to murmur the words against the top of my head as we made our way down the steps carefully. The Cradle of Life.

“My mate is my home,” I whispered to her, unable to tear my gaze off those eyes.

“Take what is yours and come home,” she said. The memory of that gleaming black gem, of the crown Mab didn’t deserve to wear, flashed through my head. The rage followed—the illogical drive to tear it from her skull and make it mine. I couldn’t shake those thoughts, couldn’t get that unending pit of rage to go back to sleep within me. It was a fire, consuming my every thought, as I took a single step away from the woman in front of me. Her snakes slithered closer, reaching out with fangs descended—

“I’m broken,” I murmured, feeling Caldris’s arms tighten around me. He pulled back, his eyes meeting mine as the first tear slid free from my eye. It fell onto the pillow as he leaned forward, kissing the top of my head. “I think we all are, in our own ways,” he said, the words a soft assurance. He didn’t try to convince me that I wasn’t. He didn’t try to heal me. He just held me, loved me—jagged, broken pieces and all. “I love you,” I said softly, snuggling into his chest as he pulled me tighter. His scent filled my lungs, the steady throbbing of his heart reminding me of home. This was where I belonged, not the cove that called to me even now. “And I love you, min asteren.

“You can’t protect me from the monsters in my own head,”

“The labyrinth,” I said, echoing her words. I knew what one was, of course, having heard of the legends of the King’s infamous labyrinth at the palace in Ineburn City. A twisted maze of rose bushes meant to make it impossible to find the correct path to the palace; it served as protection for the royals tucked safely within. Only a select few knew the way through the path. “I’ll cut it down if I must, to find my way through.” “It isn’t the maze itself that you should fear,” Nila said, shaking her head sadly. “It’s the Minotaur who calls it home. I can’t remember the last time someone came out alive.”

The hands of Fate were playing with the spinning wheel, maneuvering the pieces into place before my bloodline could be revealed, but the Cove had shifted something in me—awakened something—only to plunge it into the depths of slumber.

Disgust rippled down the thread between us, his shame an echo of what I’d hoped he’d never have to feel again. What they’d forced him to do wasn’t his fault, and I focused my attention on his face, willing him to see that I did not blame or judge him for those actions in his past. They’d taken from him, and if I survived that maze, I would be sure to take back. His gaze softened as I held it, understanding and love spilling over his features.

He was the shadows beneath the moon on the coldest of nights, and the comforting embrace of a lover after sunset.

I shook my head again. “I can’t,” I protested. “You can,” she said, touching her forehead to mine. She leaned forward, her eyes spearing mine as my lip trembled. “It is you. It’s the most terrifying part of you, but it’s also the most beautiful. All you have to do is let it out.”

“She cannot use you for evil if you do not allow it. Knowledge is power, but do you really think anything she does is stronger than you?” Fallon asked, her voice a low murmur. “You have lived in fear of what you are. You have suffered the pain of suppressing yourself to protect the world. When will you learn that you are not our destruction, Estrella? You are our savior.”

“I’m not strong enough for this.” “Then lean on the people who love you. Take what you need from us,” she said, raising a hand. The golden thread I recognized as our bond thrummed between us, glowing steadily as I opened myself up to that part of me once again.

Allowing my magic to touch me, feeling it upon my skin, I realized why it had always felt so hollow. It was abandoned. Forgotten. Feared. When all it wanted was love. But how could I have loved it when I, myself, didn’t understand what that love meant? It hadn’t been until Caldris made me see. Until Fallon stood by me and made a vow to protect one another. Until Imelda confessed the truth of my brother, of her place in my life, and witnessing the way she loved Fallon with everything she had … and feeling that love extend to me.

“It was never about me,” I sighed, the realization forcing a scoff from my lungs. All my life, people and Fae alike had feared me and treated me as a terrifying God. I’d been told of the things I could achieve if I could only be freed. When, in truth, I was who I had to be in order to stand at Estrella’s side. In order to reach her and protect her, to guard and guide her on her journey. “I am here for you. I am here to help you reach your full potential and to give you the boost you need to fight. Mab will not stop us from bonding to keep me complacent. She’ll do it to keep you controlled. She’ll do it to keep you small when you are meant for so much more.”

“I am going to love every moment of watching your journey, Estrella Barlowe,” I murmured, touching a thumb to her tense bottom lip. It softened in response, allowing me to lean down and touch my lips to hers. “And when you’ve finished molding the world to your desire, I’m going to have a portrait of your creation hung on the walls of Catancia. I’ll make you stand before it, make you look at what you’ve done—and I will be the first of many to tell you I told you so.”

A lesser being would buckle under the weight of all that pressure. But Estrella would rise like the stars in the evening sky.

“A creature crafted from the darkness itself. All the stories state that Khaos crafted it from the night sky to be a gift for his wife, Nyx, when he created her from the stars. He meant it to belong to the one true queen,” Rheaghan explained, guiding me forward. “The one true queen of what?” The woods seemed less alive than they had when I’d danced through them earlier. Whether it was the near death of such a beautiful creature, or the shift toward danger, I couldn’t know. Rheaghan’s stare felt heavy on the side of my face as we walked. “Everything.”

“Then why would it show itself to me?” I asked. “The Primordials have been missing for centuries. Perhaps they’ve hidden themselves within human vessels,” Rheaghan said as he swept a tree branch out of the way. He’d clearly been speaking with his sister following the revelation of the night before—her accusation that I was something impossible.

Within that storm of darkness was only the thirst for power—hungry and insatiable. It was never satisfied, never content as it tore through my skin and bled me, taking anything it could. I refused to give in to that, to allow that nightmare to win. I sank not into the monster inside of me, but to the thread that connected me to Caldris. Focusing on that pulsing warmth—on that love—I shoved back at the shadows surrounding me.

“Only you, min asteren, could summon the shadow realm so easily. It took me decades to master. Others take centuries, if they ever manage,” Caldris explained, reaching down to take my hands. “Particularly when your room is shielded against such things. She’ll know you broke through her shields.” “I didn’t break them,” I said, my lips twitching. “Just altered them to allow me to pass.” “Devious little thing,” he said, his voice twisting with pain and affection as he looked toward his door.

“You are my reason for every breath. The reason every day I have spent as a prisoner has been worth it. Because it brought me to you.”

“They thought it was me who could rise up to fight Mab, but it isn’t. If it hasn’t happened for centuries, it isn’t going to now. You are Alfheimr’s only hope for salvation—” “Then let it burn!” I snapped, whirling around to glare at him. My chest heaved with my heavy breaths as his shocked stare met mine. Never before had I spoken the traitorous thoughts in my head; had I told him just how much I was willing to ruin my soul for him. “What good is it if it doesn’t have you?” He blinked at me rapidly, as if he couldn’t quite believe the words I’d spoken. I’d always wanted to save every life. To protect the weak from those who sought to break them. “You don’t mean that,” he said finally, raising his brows as he shook his head subtly. “I didn’t understand when you said you would let the world die if it meant I could survive the wreckage. I hadn’t let myself love you … not like this,” I explained, stepping toward him slowly. My bottom lip trembled, this confession feeling different from all the others. “But I do now.” I reached up, cupping his cheek as he stared down at me. “I would sacrifice everyone if it meant I had you,” I said, pulling his face down so that I could brush my lips against his. “So do not ever ask me to leave you. Never again.”

“You escaped the prison of your room because you wanted my cock?” he asked, but his feet had already moved, bringing him closer. He paused in front of me, staring down at me as he reached out with a single hand. His thumb stroked my cheek, making a single sweep over my skin as he curled his fingers beneath my chin. “Not just your cock,” I said, nearly breathless. He’d barely touched me, barely even shifted his attention away from our argument. But even still, heat gathered between my thighs. “I want your mouth too.” That stunning grin spread across his face. “I’ve created a monster.”

“I’m your monster,” I said as he pulled back, the words quietly torn from the depths of me and an echo of what he’d once said to me. It felt like an admission—like telling him my deepest secret of the creature who lingered there. I’d tried not to look too closely at her, at the mix of scales and darkness and flesh that comprised her very being. She wasn’t human, but she wasn’t an animal either. And though her eyes were larger and gleamed with golden light … Her face was mine.

“I see all of you, Estrella. There is nothing left that you can hide from me, and there is no corner of you I do not love with every thread of my being,” he murmured, his eyes so intent on mine that I forgot how to breathe.