Veil Of Shadows
With the immortal denizens of the subterranean Lightworld and Darkworld societies locked in battle, the heiress to the Faery throne is exiled to the Human realm above.Accompanied to the Upworld by her mother's trusted advisor, Cerridwen is bound for Eire—and the last Fae stronghold on Earth. But even this fabled colony is no true haven. In the absence of the true Fae monarch, the formidable Queene Danae established herself as ruler—and she does not wish to relinquish her power, especially over the devout Humans who live among the Fae as servants.Torn between her own beliefs and the ideals her mother died for, Cerridwen searches for clues to her destiny—is it on Earth among the Humans, or beyond an ethereal portal, in the immortals' ancestral home? Neither path can avert bloodshed—and the choice may not be hers to make.
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Praise for the novels of Jennifer Armintrout
“Every character is drawn in vivid detail, driving the action from point to point in a way that never lets up.”
—The Eternal Night on The Turning
“[Armintrout’s] use of description varies between chilling, beautiful, and disturbing…[a] unique take on vampires.”
—The Romance Readers Connection
“Armintrout continues her Blood Ties series with style and verve, taking the reader to a completely convincing but alien world where anything can—and does—happen.”
—RT Book Reviews on Possession
“The relationships between the characters are complicated and layered in ways that many authors don’t bother with.”
—Vampire Genre on Possession
“[This book] will stun readers…. Not to be missed.”
—The Romance Readers Connection on Ashes to Ashes
“Entertaining and often steamy romances run parallel to the supernatural action without dominating the pages.”
—Darque Reviews on All Soul’s Night
“Armintrout pulls out all the stops…a bloody good read.”
—RT Book Reviews on All Souls’ Night
Books by Jennifer Armintrout
Blood Ties
BOOK ONE: THE TURNING
BOOK TWO: POSSESSION
BOOK THREE: ASHES TO ASHES
BOOK FOUR: ALL SOULS’ NIGHT
The Lightworld/Darkworld novels
QUEENE OF LIGHT
CHILD OF DARKNESS
VEIL OF SHADOWS
JENNIFER ARMINTROUT
VEIL OF SHADOWS
A LIGHTWORLD/DARKWORLD NOVEL
This book is dedicated to
all the family members who were angry that I dedicated the last book to someone who won the dedication in a Twitter contest.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Acknowledgments
Prologue
When the first of them appeared, there were skeptics. Some simply did not believe that these “creatures” calling themselves Faeries or Angels or Vampires or whatever were not part of some elaborate hoax. Perhaps a conspiracy, their own country’s governments, or a shadowy world government, working to manipulate them. Into doing what, they did not know, but still they doubted what had come to pass.
There were others, though, who did not believe the event to be false. And though they were right, they were ridiculed. Their near-instant belief that their salvation had come—or, as some believe, their damnation, and they were, perhaps, closer to the truth—obscured how very serious and dangerous the situation was.
The initial shock of their appearance, whether it inspired pleasure or suspicion, did not last. For not all the creatures were kind, and some…some had to feed.
So, it was with fear and trepidation that the Humans began to move underground. Into shelters constructed for an imagined future war, into spaces that were undesirable before the creatures came.
And since they fled of their own accord, the visitors assumed the surface of the Earth with gratitude.
Years went by. Ten, twenty, a hundred. And in the vast cities that had formed beneath the surface, a rumbling of what had happened generations before twisted, became something sinister. The creatures had come, forced the Humans belowground, ruled them with hatred and cruelty. And though no immortal creature could remember this being so, it could not stop the rage of the Humans. It could not prevent the war.
Despite their numbers, their experience and their sheer power, the immortals lost the fight. Driven underground themselves, they eventually forgot their hatred of the Humans who had cast them out. One by one, they gave up striking back at the Humans, and began striking out at one another.
The wars that raged beneath the surface formed the Lightworld and the Darkworld, as they came to be known. Two separate factions with a common enemy, but different goals. And they hated each other.
The Lightworld longed for the Earth to be restored to the Fae races, as they had ruled parts of it long before Humans learned to interfere with the land. The Darkworld, those who did not believe in their right to rule over the Humans above, who only wished to return to the way they once were, found themselves outcasts, forced to the worst parts of the Underground.
In the cities of the Upworld, the Humans continued on, always aware of what lay beneath their feet, but never really knowing what the murky fear was doing. It was better for them, that way, for what you never know cannot truly hurt you.
One
“You were lucky beneath Boston,” the old ferry captain, Edward, said. “You know what happened to them down in New York? Flooded ’em out. Drowned ’em. Them creatures that didn’t drown, them were hunted by the Enforcers and killed.”
Cerridwen opened her eyes, reluctant to leave the sleep that had been her refuge from the terrible sickness she’d felt while awake. The vessel they had departed on that morning, a ramshackle boat the man had kept calling a ferry—not, Cedric had assured her, in mean-spirited jest toward their kind—still churned and tossed. How the Human could stand, so straight and balanced, as the craft pitched from the crest of one wave to another, Cerridwen did not know. But the motion made her stomach seize, her head go dizzy.
