A Dream of Flame and Shadow

Copyright Copyright © 2023 by L Eveland All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact [email protected]. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred. AI RESTRICTION: The author expressly prohibits any entity from using this publication for purposes of training artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text, including without limitation technologies that are capable of generating works in the same style or genre as this publication. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models. Book Cover by Miblart A version of this book was originally published under the pen name: Eliza Eveland. It has since been edited and additional content has been added. Contents Special Thanks 1. Dear Monsterfuckers, 2. Content Warnings, Tropes, Kinks, and Fetishes 3. Pronunciation Guide 4. One 5. Two 6. Three 7. Four 8. Five 9. Six 10. Seven 11. Eight 12. Nine 13. Ten 14. Eleven 15. Twelve 16. Thirteen 17. Fourteen 18. Fifteen 19. Sixteen 20. Seventeen 21. Eighteen 22. Nineteen 23. Twenty 24. Twenty-One 25. Twenty-Two 26. Twenty-Three 27. Twenty-Four 28. Twenty-Five 29. Twenty-Six 30. Twenty-Seven 31. Twenty-Eight 32. Twenty-Nine 33. Thirty 34. Thirty-One 35. Thirty-Two 36. Thirty-Three 37. Thirty-Four 38. Thirty-Five 39. Thirty-Six 40. Thirty-Seven 41. Thirty-Eght 42. Thirty-Nine 43. Forty 44. Forty-One 45. Forty-Two 46. Forty-Three 47. Forty-Four 48. Forty-Five 49. Forty-Six From the Author Also By L Eveland Special Thanks Special thanks to my Patrons, Charee Beatty, Caitlin Colby and Taylor Kennedy whose support helps make passion projects like this one possible. And a shout out to my husband, Jon, who pushed me to write this according to my vision from the start. I hope I got it right this time. Dear Monsterfuckers, This book is for everyone who’s ever wanted to be the cozy middle of a monster sandwich, because the filling is the best part. Content Warnings, Tropes, Kinks, and Fetishes This is a slow-burn dark fantasy MMX polyamorous monster romance. It contains explicit sexual situations between a human and the two possessive monsters who grow to love him. Monster Romance MMX/MM+ Non-binary monster Polyamorous Power Throuple Touch him/them and die Non-human genitalia Cock barbs Cock pocket Genital and nipple piercings Second Chance Romance Domination/submission Slow burn romance War-related PTSD Group sex/threesomes Fantasy violence and gore All the angst Size difference Death of a parental figure Mentions of a house fire Edge/knife play Broken bones, severe burns Child abuse and neglect (past) Trauma bonding Hurt/comfort Revenge sex Forced proximity Enemies to lovers Beauty and the Beast(s) Hunger/food insecurity Bullying by antagonists Mild body horror Brief torture of an antagonist Discussion of impregnation/pregnancy Breeding kink Pronunciation Guide C haracters: Nevahn: Nev-awn Cian: Kee-an Nisang: Nee-sang Odan: Oh-dawn Devonay: Dev-awn-ay Xeltec: Zel-tek Iridyn: Ear-ih-den Trian: Tree-an Hellion: Hell-lee-on Gresham: Gre-sham Places: Ezulari: Ez-you-lah-ree Adros: Ad-rose Srall: S-rawl Lach Ban-Lenon: Lock Bawn Lin-in One Nevahn I woke at dusk, the fist of a nightmare still tight around my throat. Remnants of the terrible dream traced their way down my neck and spine in beads of icy sweat while hammers struck bone in the distance. No, not bone, and the heavy burnt iron tang on the air wasn’t blood, but the smell of the forge in my hair and on my clothes. It was on everything I owned, the curse of an apprentice blacksmith. No matter how much I scrubbed, the smell would never fade. Outside, the sundown bell tolled deep and loud, calling the people of Adros to celebrate. I lifted my head and peered through the narrow wooden slats of the shutters, watching colored lanterns dance in the distance. The murmur of voices drifted up to my room from the square below, punctuated by occasional laughter. Firecrackers screamed, and children clapped in awe at the explosion of colored lights. The Festival of Dreams had begun. I threw open the shutters and breathed in the night air. There were lights everywhere: strung between poles, hanging from rooftops, glowing in beads and buttons… Good luck charms meant to banish nightmares from the coming year. Wherever darkness crept in, the light pushed it back, bathing the square in hues of tangerine, periwinkle, and gold. Another string of lanterns hung on the nails over my bed, their light faded and weak. The lantern in the center flickered and died. I sighed and took the lights down, examining the one that had burned out. That was the fifth one this month. With a grunt, I tossed the string of lights into the corner with all the others. Maybe I should stop putting them up, I thought, pulling on a worn blue tunic. They weren’t making any difference. Nightmares still plagued me with the same frequency they always had. My dreams were all deep shadows, gnashing teeth, membranous wings, and rivers of blood. Disembodied voices called to me from the darkness, their words lost as soon as I woke. I had tried everything: potions, spells, even fasting and prayer. Nothing worked. But not tonight. I pulled on my nicest breeches, tied a leather belt around my waist, ran a comb through my unruly red hair, and left my room. The blacksmith shop below was empty, the forge dark. It was bad luck to light a new fire during the festival, and that included the forge. That didn’t mean Forgemaster Trian wasn’t around. I found him outside, driving new nails into the woodwork. Another apprentice, Yeshua, passed the forgemaster a new string of lanterns. “Ah, young Nevahn!” The forgemaster didn’t look at me as he threaded the lanterns into place. “Did our working disturb your beauty sleep?” Yeshua stifled