Bound by Shadows: A Dark MM Fantasy Enemies-to-Lovers Romance (Shadowbound Book 1) by Vera Winters

Author:Vera Winters [Winters, Vera]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Winter Woods Publishing
Published: 2024-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

The Whispering Woods lived up to their name as Malekith and Aric rode through them on their way back to the Ebon Spire. The thick canopy overhead muffled the daylight, casting the forest in an eerie half-gloom. Around every corner, whispers twisted through the trees—wordless whispers, chants in demonic tongues, and pleas, too, all too human ones that slithered through Aric’s ears and wormed into his mind. They dripped with sweet poison far deadlier than any of the blooms that surrounded them, and stung with far crueler barbs.

The ground beneath them was soft and spongy, and Aric couldn’t shake the feeling that it was swallowing up their horses’ hooves with each step. Aric wished they could have returned in a carriage, as they’d taken to Darioth’s estate, but Malekith had insisted on traveling swiftly and without drawing attention. And so they rode on skeletal horses that seemed to move with an unsettling grace, their empty eye sockets fixed on the path ahead. He tried to focus on the rhythmic sound of their progress, but it was too easy to imagine it as something else—the slither of a serpent, the gnash of teeth.

Aric shuddered and tried to push away the memories of his time at Darioth’s estate. The humiliation of his public punishment still burned in his veins, the cruel visions Malekith had forced upon him haunting his every waking moment. And yet, even more unsettling were the brief flashes of vulnerability he’d glimpsed in Malekith, the fleeting moments of connection that hinted at a deeper complexity lurking beneath Malekith’s calculated façade.

As they rode on in tense silence, Aric couldn’t shake the sense of foreboding that grew with every passing mile. He knew that their return to the Ebon Spire marked a turning point, a plunge into an even darker and more dangerous chapter of his captivity. The knowledge he’d gleaned from Malekith’s tutelage whispered at the edges of his mind, a double-edged blade that promised both power and damnation.

Lost in his troubled thoughts, Aric almost didn’t notice when they crested a hill and the woods gave way to a valley below. But the sight that greeted him jolted him out of his reverie.

A massive war encampment sprawled across the valley floor, a seething mass of demonic soldiers and twisted war machines. Thousands of figures clad in black armor moved with brutal efficiency, their formations precise and deadly. Siege engines belched gouts of flame and smoke, while grotesque siege beasts strained against their chains, their howls echoing off the rocky cliffs. The very air seemed to throb with barely restrained violence, a palpable aura of malice that set Aric’s teeth on edge.

Malekith must have sensed his unease, for he turned to regard Aric with a sardonic smile. “Impressive, isn’t it? The might of House Ixion, poised to strike at the heart of your precious human realms.”

Aric swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly dry. “Is that why you brought me here? To watch you decimate my people firsthand?”

“Perhaps.” Malekith’s expression turned contemplative. “Or perhaps I wanted you to see the futility of your resistance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.