Sundered by Fate: Dark M/M Demon Fantasy Romance, page 1
Sundered by Fate
Shadowbound
Book Three
Vera Winters
Copyright © 2024 by Vera Winters
Winter Woods Publishing
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.
Created with Vellum
Contents
Content Note
Also by Vera Winters
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
Chained by Duty
Also by Vera Winters
Sundered by Fate
Shadowbound, Book Three
A broken bond. A corrupted court. A shadow threatening everything.
Returning to Astaria as a hero should have been triumphant, but Aric Solarian finds only suspicion and betrayal waiting for him. As magical anomalies tear reality apart and his visions of a tortured Malekith grow more intense, Aric discovers disturbing signs of corruption within the heart of his own realm.
Lord Regent Valerian's secretive research and King Aster's mysterious illness point to darker forces at work. When the enigmatic demoness Sylthris slinks through Aric’s visions, Aric must question everything he thought he knew about both human and demon realms.
With his magic evolving in unexpected ways and his connection to Malekith haunting his every step, Aric races to uncover the truth behind the shadow in the court. But as ancient powers stir and loyalties splinter, he finds himself caught between protecting his homeland and saving the man he loves.
Can Aric expose the dark forces corrupting his realm before it's too late? Or will the price of uncovering the truth cost him everything?
Content Note
This book contains fictional descriptions of torture, graphic violence, and sexual situations with dubious consent and significant power imbalances.
Also by Vera Winters
Shadowbound
Bound by Shadows
Trial by Fire
Sundered by Fate
Chained by Duty (coming February 2025)
The Starlight Sanctum
Starlight and Shadows
Clockwork and Conspiracies
Ballads and Battleaxes
Ledgers and Leylines
Hexes and Haberdashery
Tomes and Tribulations
Pretense and Prophecies
Don’t miss out on new releases, bonus stories, and more! Join Vera Winters’ mailing list to get notified when new books release.
One
When Aric crested the familiar hill, his heart nearly stopped.
Thornhaven lay sprawled below, nestled in its valley like always, and yet—
His knees weakened at the sight of it. After so long in the demon realms—months of darkness and labyrinthine halls, of bladed decor and throne rooms heaped with obsidian spikes—even the quaintly crooked buildings of his old human home overwhelmed him. He splayed a trembling hand against the gnarled oak's trunk and caught his breath, shoulders hunching beneath his ragged demon leathers.
It was all so normal, too normal—the marketplace stalls clogged with bartering shoppers, the temple's spire craning towards the morning sun—and Aric closed his eyes, willing himself back to this present. All around him, the amber waves of wheat rustled in a morning breeze; nearby, the lazy Trickling Brook murmured over smooth river stones.
But there was something wrong here that he couldn't place—not exactly, anyway. A niggling, maddening absence of something: No siege weaponry lined the outer rim of city gates that looked made for aesthetic and nothing else; no crenelated walls bristling with archers shuddered as creatures scraped at them from below.
If not for the gnawing hole where some intangible sense should have been but wasn't, he might even have believed that everything truly was peaceful here. As if, like when he'd dreamed inside that strange magic field on the other side of the portal that seemed to know his deepest longings better than he knew himself, he could return to this land as if nothing had ever happened.
Aric swallowed back bitterness as sharp as ash on his tongue and pushed away from the tree's embrace. It wasn't real—not really. But it would do.
Aric couldn't forget the mission that had brought him back here. Steeling himself, he reminded himself of all the crucial information he'd gathered in the demon realm: everything from their military strategies to secrets about their magic and technology. The humans needed to be warned about the demon invasion and change their warding protocols.
And then there was the alarming anomaly he'd witnessed, a destabilizing force at the intersection of both realms that threatened to unravel the very fabric of reality. He still didn't know exactly how the new weapon was involved, but he couldn't dispel the nagging fear that its power had far more dangerous consequences than anyone suspected.
There was also—there was also Malekith. They'd become entangled in ways Aric still struggled to comprehend. What kind of hell would Malekith face now before the Sovereign, after allowing Aric to escape? Aric had given up everything for their impossible alliance—a truce born from blood and fury and love—he couldn't accept that it had all been in vain.
Every shadow seemed to hold a threat, every shudder of the wind a reminder of what could happen if he failed. He couldn't allow himself to wallow in fear, not now when so much was at stake.
He tugged at his tunic's collar until he no longer felt its weight against his throat and skirted around the emerald fields of wheat that surrounded Thornhaven like a fortress wall, heading for the back gate with far too little confidence or stealth. He'd have to find some way into the city. Someone here who would hear him out about the danger looming over them all.
Aric's world narrowed to a fist of ragged breaths, the bone-deep tremor of weariness that shivered through his every limb as he forced himself to move. The gatekeepers barely looked up as he trudged into Thornhaven, and the earth-smoke, jasmine and oil scent of the demons washed away under the heady perfume of salt and spices from nearby market stalls.
It was a balm and an assault all at once: from the jangle and grind of wagons careening along cobbled streets to the lively chorus of chirping songbirds fluttering overhead, the world clamored for his attention at every turn. And oh, that aching hum; he'd almost missed it, like a part of him. The constant thrum of magic that laced through his veins—a subtle current pulsing beneath the surface of everything here.
Yet it was only once the initial dissonance faded—only when he'd adjusted to these new rhythms and cadences—that he finally allowed himself to see the lurking darkness in their midst.
The scorch marks pocking storefronts like angry welts; the burnt stench hanging heavy over everything, thick as fog; buildings boarded up against some unseen foe. Aric's heart clenched with panic he had no right to feel. He couldn't see anything outright sinister here. Perhaps things truly had changed after he left. Or perhaps this was something darker in wait—an invisible specter haunting them all, even if only he could sense its presence.
As much as he wanted nothing more than to lose himself in this mundane world, Aric knew he couldn't afford to be lulled into complacency. If the demonic Sovereign's plans had advanced already . . . The thought choked him with terror.
Ignoring the curiosity in townspeople's eyes (no doubt fixed on his tattered clothing), Aric veered deeper into Thornhaven's heart.
Every shred of this normalcy around him was why he'd come so far, risked so much.
Everything he'd sacrificed in his quest to defy the Pureblade Order, who'd have put him to death rather than let him counter the demons' rising tide. Every chance he took when delving into demon magic, the rituals and wardings he'd glimpsed as he walked their realm with Malekith at his side. The hatred and distrust he'd swallowed down even as it festered inside him like poison.
He'd done it all for them—the people of Thornhaven, of Astaria, of every town like this one, so they could live unthreatened and unafraid. But now, their joy and peace seemed almost alien after everything he'd endured to safeguard them. Everything he'd given up—
This was not where Aric was meant to be. Not anymore.
He still didn't know what Malekith wanted from him—why the demon prince had been willing to sacrifice so much to help him escape. Aric could guess some of it. Whatever allegiance Malekith swore to the Sovereign of the Demon Court, whatever promises he gave when swearing fealty to their gruesome plans—Malekith had given no small piece of himself away, either.
And whatever had drawn Malekith to Aric in the first place . . . Aric knew better than most just how consuming such needs could become.
The demons would never relent in their desire to own him, one way or another—
Even more than the ruin these humans might heap on themselves as they continued their reckoning with the demons' threat.
Doubt and fear gnawed at Aric like a gnawing itch, spreading thick through his veins and leaving dread in its wake. But those doubts didn't matter—not now. What mattered was stopping these demons before they tore apart everything Aric held dear.
Aric stopped at last before a bakery and took a shaky breath of hot bread and herbs baking in clay ovens out back.
Then let go.
The distant toll of bells pricked through the buzz of Thornhaven's market square, and Aric's heart jolted to a sudden stop.
A scream shattered the air, high and ragged as glass.
Aric whirled just as a wave of panic swept through the crowd—a tide that yanked townsfolk from the stalls like flotsam, tearing them away in all directions. Some rushed for the gates, others ducked into alleyways, and still more staggered into the nearest sheltering shadow.
All of them, doing anything to get away.
A squad of armed guards sprinted towards the gate Aric had entered by—young men and women in motley armor, brandishing swords and spears with determined desperation.
"Protect Thornhaven!" one of them shouted, and Aric's stomach dropped at the raw fear in her voice. "Defend the wards!"
Aric froze as they hurtled past him, caught in a paralysis of dread and helplessness. There was nothing he could do here. Nothing but blend into the crowd of fleeing townsfolk and pray—
Then he caught sight of it. The silhouette rising from beyond the gate—dark as smoke, its red eyes blazing.
Aric's limbs moved before he made a conscious decision to follow the guards—before he remembered that this was the world he'd sacrificed everything to protect.
He knew what needed to be done. How many times had he fought these creatures? He knew their strength, their weaknesses, the dread and hatred they commanded wherever they went. He could save this town—and prove that all he had endured had been worth it.
But all that stopped in his throat as if he'd been seized by some ghastly spell, one he couldn't bring himself to break. There were more guards now—struggling for weapons, struggling for breath—and they ran straight towards danger with grim resolution painted across their faces. Surely they didn't need him. Surely they didn't want him back.
The clamorous echoes crashed over Aric—iron tolling; blade against shield—but beneath it all came another sound—a voice in Aric's mind, ringing like a bell struck too hard:
Demonfire and vengeance; love against desolation—
He shuddered fiercely enough to send pain flaring in his tender wrists from his bones upwards—
"Please," came the shout of another guard. Yet all his senses screamed at him now: "A warband! They're coming! We can't hold back the tide alone!"
Aric's pulse thudded in his ears with such a clamor—drowned out by that terrible cry; sucked dry until all left was aching emptiness—that it took him several heartbeats longer than it should've done before he realized:
Not just guards' cries filled this air but demonic ones—the spectral howl of mournful wraiths—
There were too many warriors here now gathered under Thornhaven's shadowy shroud; yet nowhere near enough if even their strongest defenses weren't enough anymore—
He couldn't let them face this alone—not after everything.
Aric's decision came with the force of a battering ram, slamming into his chest and knocking the air from his lungs.
It felt good. It felt too good, and that terrified him.
His magic flared to life inside him, a rush of magic that sang in his veins and roared in his ears. After so long—far too long—trapped in the demon realms, shackled by restraints designed to keep him weak and pliant, the freedom was almost overwhelming. His body strained to contain it, his muscles taut and trembling as if he'd been dipped in liquid lightning.
He couldn't control it all, couldn't harness it yet; but he could focus it enough for this moment—to let the flames dance around him like the stars he'd missed so much; to let their searing heat burn away his doubt.
The townsfolk cried out in alarm as shadows coalesced around Aric's hands, black as pitch against his tawny skin. Some fell to their knees, others staggered back, and still more gawked at him with open fear—but he couldn't spare them a thought now. His entire world narrowed to the demons approaching Thornhaven's gates, their eyes glowing like ember coals from the depths of the hells.
With a fierce gesture, Aric slammed his hands together—and then thrust them out before him.
The magic tore from him with a noise like breaking glass; but there was no time for self-recrimination now—not while he still remembered how to shape it. Tendrils of shadow lashed out from his fingers to weave into a barrier, slamming into place between the demons and the guards who'd been charging toward them. For an instant, there was nothing; only Aric's own labored breathing, filling his ears with rushing static as he struggled against the siren's call of magic—
Then everything snapped back into place, colors brighter and sounds sharper than ever before.
Aric threw himself into the fray, a wild grin stretching his cheeks as his magic roared through him like wildfire. He danced between the guards and townsfolk, weaving between their ranks with effortless speed and grace. Each movement was a carefully choreographed spell, drawing in the power from the ley lines beneath them all before releasing it in a furious burst.
Golden fire sprang from Aric's hands, consuming demons with their hungry flames without so much as singeing the cloth of the humans' clothing. Aric heard gasps and cries of alarm at the sight—but he had no time to reassure them. The wave of demonic energy pounding against his barrier was all that mattered now. He had to hold it, had to drive these creatures back and protect Thornhaven's people.
The demons surged forward again, and Aric called upon his magic with a roar, sending a pulse of energy out that rippled through the air like a shockwave. He raised one arm high, golden flames dancing along his forearm as he chanted an incantation—a mixture of human words and guttural demonic syllables he'd learned from Malekith.
A warding sigil flared into existence before him, blindingly bright even in the daylight, and then slammed into the demons' ranks with an explosion of sound and light. The creatures shrieked as it burned through their shadowy forms, slicing through their defenses with ease.
Aric grinned at the sight—the spell working just as he'd hoped—but he didn't allow himself to celebrate for long.
The battle raged on around him: screams and clangs ringing off cobblestones; shadows clashing against firelight as humans scrambled out of the way or leaped forward, weapons raised—
But Aric was in his element now. He ducked between two guards locked in combat with one of the wraithlike creatures—the young woman from before—and hurled a blast of golden flames that shattered its form apart like glass.
Her eyes widened at the sight—but she quickly nodded her thanks before turning back to her own opponent.
"Stay with me!" she shouted over her shoulder as she slashed at another demon with her dagger—a bold move for such a young girl—and Aric felt something warm unfurl inside him at her bravery.
He moved to her side as more demons surged toward them; their crimson eyes glowed like embers in the night even as they bore down on him with claws outstretched—
And suddenly Aric was back-to-back with this girl he'd never met before, fighting together against all odds.
They moved in tandem—her small form darting forward to strike at one demon's legs while Aric's magic flared outwards to engulf another; her dagger arcing up toward a looming creature while his flames licked around its body like caresses—
Aric found himself laughing breathlessly at this unexpected camaraderie—at the exhilaration coursing through his veins despite knowing full well they might not survive this day—
