Dark (A Choice of Light and Dark book 3) - Signed Paperback

Contains SPOILERS for Chained and Light

After a lifetime in chains, Izidora longs to have the freedom to choose her own fate. But as a long-forgotten prophecy resurfaces, she begins to doubt whether she ever wanted a choice at all.

The prophecy offers her a stark directive: follow the light or descend into dark. Yet both males appear as shades of gray.

Ruslan is possessive, complex, and would kill anyone who dared hurt her.

Kazimir is obsessive, relentless and would burn the world down to get to her.

Torn between what her heart desires and the fear of making a catastrophic mistake, Izidora struggles to cope with her overwhelming emotions. Though she is far from the chains of her past, she realizes that true healing requires confronting the lingering shadows of her trauma.

Because only she can decide which choice to make. One will doom the world, while the other will save it.

Dark is the third book in the dark romantasy series A Choice of Light and Dark. Readers who devour angsty romance, touch her and die, fated mates, feminine rage, trauma healing, and dark plot twists will love this story.

Dark is suitable for audiences of 18+. It contains scenes that sensitive readers might find disturbing. Your mental health matters, and you should make the choice with which you feel most comfortable.

Trigger warnings:

Flashback of rape and sexual assault, gruesome torture with gore, kidnapping, stalking, nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, graphic violence, and mentions of physical, verbal, mental, emotional, and child abuse. The explicit sexual content in this book contains group sex scenes, orgies, anal play, impact play, breath play, and more.

PROLOGUE
Silence greeted the group of Iron Fae as they entered the hewn cave. The air was still, like the mountain was holding its breath, waiting for the scene it knew would unfold. The tallest and broadest of the group stalked forward, nostrils flaring as his keen senses caught the metallic scent of blood.
“Spread out and search,” he growled, drawing black flame into his palms.
The heavy footfalls of his soldiers broke the silence as they fanned out around him, hugging the walls of the living area that looked like it had been used only hours before, though its former occupants were nowhere to be found. He waited, heart racing, jaw clenching, until one of his soldiers shouted, “They’re dead!”
“What do you mean ‘They’re dead’?” Banishing the dark fire, he stomped deeper into the cave, the smell of metal becoming almost unbearable in the stagnant air. Pools of ruby greeted him along his path until he stood before an ocean of blood and piles of bodies shoved against the cave’s carved walls.
Deep blue eyes met his from across the red pools, dark brows pinched slightly together, giving a warning look. “Ruslan…”
“Don’t, Drazen,” Ruslan snapped, scanning the dark floor for signs of what had happened. “Can we get some more fucking light in here?” His neck was growing tight and hot, and he cracked it, vertebra by vertebra, to relieve some tension.
The space was illuminated moments later with the fire his soldiers cast into the air, heating the chamber around them and cooking the cold bodies lining it. Crouching down, Ruslan studied the footprints leading to and from the red ocean. The oldest markings led forward, a set of seven large boots whose outlines were nearly dried on the stone. The newest led backward and down another hall, though there was an eighth set of smaller footprints, bare of any shoes.
The way he rose off the ground was predatory, sucking the air from the lungs of his regiment as they waited with bated breath to see what their volatile commander would do. Without a word, he stalked forward, and they hurried behind, holding the firelight high for him. Sweat dripped down his forehead as Ruslan followed the twists and turns until he reached a cavern so dark and so deep, that the light of dozens of males barely broke through.
Another body slumped there, lines of blood indicating he had been dragged by two of the intruders.
Ruslan stepped into the middle of the space, a war playing out in his mind as he tried to wrap it around what he was seeing. Iron chains wound haphazardly against the stone floor, the shackles on the ends broken open and gaping like a snake’s mouth prepared to strike. Further away, a thin, worn mattress disregarded him, and even further, a stone tub turned its back on him.
There was no sign of the mate he’d waited for twenty-one years to claim. Red and black coated his vision as he lost control, horns protruding from his skull and hands morphing into talons. He released a roar so violent it shook pebbles loose above them, creating a rainshower of rock. The firelight faltered as his soldiers covered their bare heads.
Stomping down the hall, he followed the tiny footprints until he reached the lip of the cave, staring down as the brilliant sun rose over the Agrenak Mountains. His second roar was violence incarnate, vocalizing twenty-one years of anguish, and even the mountains dared not interrupt his rage, allowing the sound to echo among their peaks until his throat was raw and bloody, and he felt more lost and broken than he ever had before.