The Veiled Realm

Delphine has been fae-marked from birth, treated as a curse despite the fact the once treacherous fae haven't been sighted in decades—in fact, no one in Delph's village has so much as laid eyes on one of the folk in nearly a century. Right up until a fae turns up on her doorstep, demanding Delph as down payment. No sooner has she set foot in the fae realm, however, then she learns she's no mere collateral in a deal made with the lord that owns her family lands. She was selected for a reason, hunted down for a single purpose.

There's a reason the Starlight Fae are known as the greatest tricksters of all. Unfortunately for Delphine, she's just begun to learn that. She was warned they were not to be trusted—even when those same fae claim to share the blood running through her own veins. True to his word, Seren did not let Delphine die in Avarath, but he didn't take her home, either. No, the king of the Starlight Court took her even further away. He took her to another faerie realm. But in some ways, the ways that matter the most, the two realms remain the same.

She's been torn from her home, forced to face the curse that plagued her since birth, and nearly murdered more times now than she can count—and yet that never broke her. But this, this most recent betrayal, just might. And that will be their downfall. With little magic to aid her, Delph must find her way back to the human realm to reach her brother before the fae prince Nyx. She made the foolish mistake of trusting him, even for a moment, only for him to prove himself to be the beast she once believed all fae to be.

Avarath was lucky that the final king of faerie turned a blind eye to the first war, but Avarath's luck has run out. One by one, the princes of Avarath fall to the glamour, to duty, to fate-until even a king crumbles, too. By the time that war is truly upon them, Delphine has finally come to understand what it is to now be fae, too. If only she'd been cursed, instead. That would have been simpler. Then, at least, the whole of fate wouldn't rest on her shoulders, and hers alone.

All should be well in in the realms of the fae, but instead, bloodshed has already begun. Deimos, high king of the Afterworld, has stepped out of his realm for the first time to offer Delphine a deal that will seal the future of faerie forever: betray her own kind and end the bloodshed . . . or watch faerie drown in war. But there's another option. A dark fae king without a crown whispers promises of unlocking Delphine's true power. A gamble that could save everything—or unleash a terror worse than war itself.