Queen of Midnight: A Dark Fae Fantasy Romance (Court of Lies Book 3) Read online

  Olivia Hart

  Queen of Midnight

  A Dark Fae Fantasy Romance

  Copyright © 2021 by Olivia Hart

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  First edition

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  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  War Report 1

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  War Report 2

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  War Report 3

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  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

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Epilogue

  Bonus Chapters

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Aurora

  Thousands of years ago

  In a world of gray, the dragon landed with a boom. Not made of glittering midnight scales, nor gleaming white, she was the Ancient One. The one who had led the dragons when they brought magic to the world. A pale gray, her body seemed almost transparent in the dim light.

  The land here was barren, a strip of nothing that separated the land of twilight and the realm of dawn. Stone and sand lay under the magnificent creature who had given magic to the Fae.

  Risna stood beside me, her black leather dress and body covered in scars from wars long past. Wings that looked like they were taken from the starlit sky rose over her shoulders, the only part of her that did not bear scars. She wore a necklace of teeth, trophies of her kills. The small bones that had been woven into her braid were another display of her prowess.

  “Why were we summoned, Sister,” she whispered.

  “I cannot see it, Risna. Even my power does not allow me to see the path of dragons.” She reached her hand out, and I took it. The Ancient One had lived long before our world was created, long before anything. Unlike her brethren, she was not covered in scales made of magic. She was magic.

  “You are the hearts of your realms,” the Ancient One said through labored breath. “I have grown old, daughters of darkness and light. The time of dragons ruling this world is done, for they are as fickle as Fae, yet none of them can hold the world together as I have done for all these thousands of years.”

  I felt Risna’s hand tighten around mine as the sadness and weariness of the Ancient One’s voice replaced the silence of the world. “You will become the rulers of this land. You will become the conduits for your realms, letting the power of the dead return to the land and its people. You are already the hearts of your realms. Now it is time to become their souls.”

  I looked at Risna and felt her twitch. Anger rose inside her as it always did when someone tried to command her. It was not necessary, for as always, I would take command. She was the sword, and I was the speaker. They had been our roles for our entire lives.

  “Why do you not give this task to one of your children, Ancient One? They are stronger. They are older. We struggle to lead our own people. How would we ever command dragons?”

  She shifted, finding a more comfortable position on the rocky ground, her massive body curling around a large stone. Her eyes focused on us. One orange, and the other teal. “Yes, this is why you must rule. When I pass into the void, there will be no one that the dragons fear. Only a binding law will stop the inevitable war between the two sides. Dragons are not all that different from you, tiny Fae. But when dragons go to war, worlds die, and this cannot happen.”

  My mind was filled with scenes of flame as a world burned. All the people. All the animals. All the plants. Everything burned. With a single breath, a city fell to flames, and thousands of lives were snuffed out in an instant.

  I glanced at Risna and felt her hand shake as her mind was filled with the terrors in that scene. As the scene passed from our minds, she stood up slightly taller, and her jaw tightened.

  “You command us to become the rulers of this world, Ancient One,” Risna said with a shaking voice, “but your children will never listen to ones as weak as us.”

  “They will not, Dark One. You will not hold command over my children, but they will not interfere in the affairs of the Courts. Every dragon has vowed this already. You will rule the world, but you will not rule them.”

  “How will we be the soul of the world?” I looked into her orange eye and felt her pain. Her body was fading. Even an immortal being such as her couldn’t live forever. I turned to Risna and saw that she’d recognized the Ancient One’s pain as well.

  “By using my body, Child. I have been the conduit since the beginning, and only my body will allow the flow of power from the dead to fill the world once more. I have held this world in place, and my body will continue to do so. Though neither of you could do this on your own, together it is possible.”

  I knew that my sister had already made her decision. Always, she was willing to be the shield against her people’s foes. “And if one of us shall fall?” I asked.

  “Then another will be born. You will know her from her wings. Midnight for the twilight realm. White for the realm of dawn. She will tie herself to the remnants of my body just as you will.”

  The dragon finally rose up on her haunches and stared at us. Her orange eye stared at me, and the teal at Risna. “This is not a request, Daughters of Darkness and Light. You will do this because there is no one else. I have held this world together for too long, and it is time that I found rest in the void once again. Be one in your rule of this world, for there will be no one that can challenge you.”

  The Ancient One’s pain filled the world as she breathed out a final roar. Rising up on her back legs, she slammed her front legs down onto the earth. Tears fell from my eyes as I watched the creator of the Fae breathe her last breath. Dust rose around us as she crushed the very stone under her claws, and our vision was clouded for just a moment.

  A single command filled my mind. Drink of me and bleed for me to become the soul of the world.

  As the dust settled, and our vision returned, two Thrones stood where the Ancient One’s legs had been. One of obsidian. One of white mar
ble. Her feet. In them, lay bowls of black and white liquid. Her blood. Beside the bowls, small daggers lay. One, a crystalline orange. The other, a crystalline teal. Her eyes.

  The Ancient One was gone. The creator of the world. The protector of all the living creatures. The mother.

  And she’d given my sister and I the task of replacing her. How could anyone expect two simple fairies to hold an entire world together? How could we ever rule a world? We were struggling to keep our own people from strife, and now we were to rule everyone?

  I looked at Risna. “We’ve been given our task, sister,” she said softly.

  “It is a terrible burden, Risna. We’ll never be able to lead normal lives. Forever, we will have to put the world first. No matter how much we hate it, we won’t be able to let someone else hold the burden for us.”

  “And who would you give this task to?” she answered. “You are the wisest of the Light Realm. I am the strongest of the Dark Realm. Who would be the better choice?”

  I turned away. “Why must we be punished by this burden? Why must we be the keeper of sorrows?”

  “Because there is no one else,” she said as she moved to the obsidian Throne. “I cannot force you to make this sacrifice, sister,” she said. “But I will not let someone else carry the burden when the task has been given to me. Let us rule this world together, sister. Let us not forget that though we will be the keepers of sorrow, we will also be the keepers of joy.”

  I turned to look at Risna, and though tears fell from my eyes, I stepped towards the marble Throne. She did not wince as the blade slid across her wrist and blood poured onto the obsidian.

  I took a breath and did the same, giving my body to the world. Then, we both picked up our bowls of liquid, the bowls of the Ancient One’s blood. Putting the bowl to my lips, I let her power flow into me.

  And the world became ours. Ours to rule. Ours to protect. Ours to guide.

  Ours to serve.

  Chapter 1

  Seraphina

  The Sister stood in front of me. A massive raven that was as tall as I with blood-red eyes. The smell of ash and rot was everywhere. A child’s body lay broken under her, and crimson coated her beak.

  Her body reflected in the thousands of mirrors that filled this place, her connection to the other worlds.

  None of it mattered to me. Only the pain that rose up from a soul wound that would never heal filled my thoughts. Tears fell from my eyes to the stones at my feet with soft splashes as the Sister turned her attention away from her sacrifice.

  “To rid yourself of the pain of your loss, you will need to use the crystalline blade,” she said. “You must draw the memories from you. It will not heal the wound, for the soul does not heal. You will pull every memory of your husband with the blade just as you would cut away diseased flesh.”

  “This blade was created from the very soul of the world, and only it and its sister can perform this ritual. The blade will be of no use to you after this, for the memories will be held within it, and when you release the blade, you must never touch it again, lest the memories find their way back into you.”

  I had to stop this pain. No matter the cost. A memory of Nicolai’s touch flashed through my mind, and the knowledge that he was gone forever was once again forced through me.

  Another memory of him replaced it. A dark room. Two blades of silver. Swift cuts across the wrists. The night that we bound our souls together forever. I fell to my knees as the pain of loss flowed through me with no outlet. I could never fix this. I could never find a way to replace him.

  Only Nicolai had seen the light inside me. Only he had weathered my coldness to show me the warmth of the world. He’d been weak, and he’d been unimportant, but he was strong enough to teach me. He was important to me. He was my everything.

  And I would never see him again. I would never feel his touch. I was alone. Forever.

  “Anything, Sister,” I cried out as the pain overwhelmed me once again. “Take anything from me. I’ll never have him back, so take the memories from me. They bring nothing but pain.”

  My tears ran over my lips, and I could taste the saltiness of them. Another memory flashed through me. Laying on a beach, the sun beating down on us in the Mortal Realm. He held me down, his body covering me, and he pressed his salty lips against mine.

  Sitting up, his black hair covered in gray sand, he gave me that smile that had won me over and said, “What do you want to do now that you’ve caught me forever?”

  “I want to live, Nicolai. I’ve survived for so long, but now I want to live. I want to see the worlds all over again. I want to experience it all with you.”

  “Even raise children?” His hand ran over my stomach, and I felt how much he would enjoy one.

  “I’d give you anything you want.”

  His hand moved to my cheek and he smiled down at me. “You’ll be a great mother, Sera.”

  I tried my best to push the memory aside, and I looked up at the Sister. “How do I draw the memories out?” My jaw tightened as I did my best to focus on her, on the gore, on the death that filled the air. The things that were nothing like my husband.

  “Pierce your breast until the blade pricks your very heart. Then you must think of Nicolai. The strongest memories you have of him. The ones that hurt the most. And you mustn’t try to escape them. Let the pain fill you, and then, when you feel as though you cannot bear even one more moment of it, you must draw power through the dagger.”

  I climbed to my feet, hope filling me for the first time since Rose had claimed the Dark Throne. “Thank you, Sister.”

  She didn’t respond, and instead, that painful song filled the air, driving everything else away. Even the pain of the soul wound found no purchase inside me as the rhythm shook my body with agony.

  I fell to my knees once more, putting my hands to my ears and shutting my eyes. I saw a vision of what I had to do as if in a dream, and when I opened my eyes again, I was kneeling in my bedroom on the cold marble floor next to the mirror.

  Without waiting, I rushed to the dresser that held the blade, but then I hesitated. The Sister had said that my soul would not heal. She had said that I’d lose all of my memories of him, but what did that actually mean? Could they come back? I had to make sure that never happened.

  I ran to the door. A guard stood outside, and I said, “Get the steward.”

  * * *

  The fairy in a white robe and gold trim left my room. The Sister’s song had driven away the memories of Nicolai for the moment, but I could tell that whatever she’d done was weakening. Bouts of sadness began to leak through, but I’d needed to give my commands to the only fairy who could speak for me.

  No one would mention Nicolai or his family at all, and no one would mention that I had a daughter. If I didn’t remember Nicolai, then I may not remember that I had given birth to Rose. I had no idea what would happen, but the last thing I wanted was for anyone to remind me of the man that I’d lost. I didn’t know if this ritual would work a second time.

  The door closed behind my steward and I put my hand out. I called for the blade that I’d bonded, and in a flash of light, the orange blade appeared in my hand. The crystalline blade.

  Memories began to well up inside me once again, and I didn’t push them away. Instead, I used them to fuel my hands to slide the blade into my breast. Cutting through flesh as though it weren’t there, I inched it ever closer to my heart.

  Pain filled me, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the memories. Just like on the night that Nicolai died, it was barely noticeable. An annoyance like a splinter in the finger while doing tedious work.

  Then I felt something different, a pain that stopped me. It was not easy for a fairy to kill herself. We had consequences that humans knew nothing of. The blade became warm in my hand, and I knew that I had pricked my heart. The ritual had begun, and as a river of red ran down my white dress, I went to the memory that I’d run from since the night ice had coated my heart.


  The night that I’d felt warmth for the first time.

  I closed my eyes and let the vision of the memory wash over me as though it were happening all over again in my mind’s eye. A day in the Dark Realm where the sun barely lit the sky. Under torl trees, covered in beautiful purple blossoms, I lay hidden from my parents.

  They’d told me that I was to begin my Court duties. That I should have begun them long before, but that I hadn’t been ready. I stared up at the leaves of the trees. Long and thin leaves, like feathers hung from the boughs. I wondered what it would be like to hide away from the Court, to be all alone in the world with no one to tell me what to do. A fantasy that would never come to life. My parents would find me no matter where I hid in the Immortal Realm.

  And then smoke began to rise from the ground, swirling in strange patterns. A man slowly formed from the shapes. The smell of the smoke filled the area, but it was a soft scent, like that of a flowery incense rather than the harsh smell of burnt wood.

  I sat up and watched as the smoke slowly became more and more defined to the point that I couldn’t tell the difference between it and reality other than the color. Swirls of gray became beautiful long hair. Lips formed so perfectly that I could make out the small cracks. Then his eyes formed, and I was lost in them. How could anyone create something so beautiful from smoke?

  His body became more defined, and a jacket formed around him, complete with buttons that almost shined in the dim light. His pants became defined to the point that I was sure that they were made of wool.

  Yet, even with how perfectly the smoke man was formed, the smoke still flowed. Whites became blacks as they swirled and blended inside him and eventually escaped in thin wisps along the edges.

  Power rose from inside me, coating my body in glowing electricity that pulled the smoke for a moment. It was an instinctual reaction to protect myself from trickery after all my years in court, and without thinking, I knew that someone was nearby.

  The statue had been immobile as he was built in front of me, but then something extraordinary happened. He began to move, slowly at first and then speeding up as he began a Court of Light dance. A woman made of smoke appeared next to him, created in an instant, and she began to dance with the man.