Shadowborn Academy_ Year Three (Dark Fae Academy #3) - G. Bailey

My fate is in the darkness,

And the war there is real…

In the Enchanted Forest, one girl desperately needs to find a way to stop the fae war before it’s too late. With her sister raising titans and gods, the light in her dreams turning out to be a lie and her men in grave danger…life at the academy has never been this dangerous.

A mirror once spoke of a girl born in hate who could stop a war…

But does that girl stand a chance against the power of the fae?

Shadowborn Academy is a Dark Reverse Harem Paranormal Fae Romance for 18+. In this world, not even the shadows can be trusted…

Once upon a time, I dreamt of pure light even in the darkness of my court. I soon learned that with the Throne of Luna comes a heart full of darkness that one can never escape. I tried to in the beginning until I realized where there is darkness, there is power, and so I chose to embrace it. I let it fill my heart with strength while I vowed to never bring a child into such a lightless world. As time went on, the darkness overthrew my sense of reason, and I craved an heir to one day ascend my throne. So I lured the Light Fae King into my chamber, and together, we created the very heir who now rests in my womb.

Or at least…she did.

Pain unlike anything I have ever experienced drags me from my slumber. I’m crying out in agony before I even know what part of me is injured. My hands fall to my stomach to protect my unborn child, but the pain turns into panic when I find nothing. There is no bump. No babe kicking away inside my womb. There is only a line drawn across my stomach and a pool of blood surrounding me.

Hoping this is only but a nightmare, I hold onto my empty womb and carefully push off the bed. Whimpers escape me with each agonising step, and the room blurs as I stumble over to my daughter’s crib. I know she’s gone before I even reach it, yet a small part of me hopes, prays, begs Selena to not let this be true.

He can’t have taken her from me.

As I peer into the crib, I hold a hand to my mouth to suppress my screams. A human child with pitch-black hair sleeps soundly where my daughter should be. Next to him is a white note stained in droplets of blood, and I pick it up with trembling hands, my whispers escaping me:

Narah,

When I came to your chamber, it was not to create a baby but to love you.

It soon became clear we both longed for different things, but I will do what is right for our babe. I have made the trade, and Corvina, the name you chose for her, will be safe with the humans. This is the babe I swapped her for. I only wish that he fills the void our daughter will leave within you.

Long may Corvina rule when she takes the thrones.

Ulric

I scream as dark magic blasts out of me, hitting and devouring everything in the room in my grief. I scream for so long until nothing but ash surrounds me and I fall to my knees.

My child is gone. He took her. He took my unborn child from me!

A small cry catches my attention in the haze and I open my eyes to see the human babe floating in the air, covered in tendrils of dark magic. He embraces the power. Little wings appear from his back. Without even realising, I crawl over and pick him up, holding and shushing him in my arms. His gold eyes look up at me with all the love of a newborn child, and while I should feel love for him in return, I feel nothing.

“I will protect you, Alastair Pitch, but first, there must be war.”

The heavy weight of the crown rests in my bloody hands as I stare at the Enchanted Forest stretching endlessly before me. The wind whips around the trees, brushing the ground with new-fallen leaves and the heavy moss-scent of the forest tries its best to comfort me.

But nothing can do that right now.

Pitch’s hands rest on my shoulders, waiting for me to break the spell of silence I’ve made. He doesn’t need to ask me what happened. The crown is the only answer anyone needs. The blood coating my hands drives home the truth