A Tale of Treachery

A TALE OF TREACHERY DARKEST DYNASTY BOOK ONE MELLIE T. TOLLEM CONTENTS Foreword Map of the Continent Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Epilogue Acknowledgments About the Author DARKEST DYNASTY: BOOK ONE Copyright © 2023 by Mellie T. Tollem This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental. All rights reserved except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Published in the United States. Cover Art by Keylin Rivers Created with Vellum FOREWORD Warning: This book may include triggering material, including death, violence, explicit sexual content, fire, elements of captivity, and mature language. This book is not intended for anyone under the age of eighteen. If any of the above subjects are triggering to you, please do not read this book. This is book one in a series and this series will only grow darker. MAP OF THE CONTINENT CHAPTER 1 DUANA—AGE THIRTEEN. I was hiding from Malachi again. My toes sank into the black moss as I navigated through the dark, the crystal leaves of the trees slashing against my skin like glass shards. I needed a break from him, needed to get away. He was suffocating me slowly, day by day. He’d gone too far this time and there was no going back. My hands still shook with rage after what he’d done to Snow. When I’d laid eyes on that little bunny, it had been love at first sight, the first time complete and unconditional love had ever entered my heart. Malachi had gifted me the little fluffball out of guilt for chopping my ruby hair, deeming it too pretty for others to look upon. He’d probably gouge my eyes out if given half the chance. The golden-flecked green irises were perhaps the most striking part of my appearance, at least compared to the rest of my freckle-covered body. But I’d grown to love the bunny too much…cared for it too much, and Malachi couldn’t and wouldn’t share my affections. So, Snow was no more. A breath of relief slipped past my lips as I reached my sanctuary, the small pond in the forest that was my home away from home, one of the few places he had yet to discover. The water glistened, even in the dark. The bioluminescent creatures that floated atop the surface were the only visible light. I couldn’t imagine what the world was like before our birth. Apparently, a lot like this: peaceful and calm, unlike the world around us. Sometimes, I swore I could feel the sun on my skin, the same sun that had been blotted out by darkness. It was once a bright, massive ball of flame in the sky that warmed everything it touched but was now rendered invisible. Before my birth, a rift had been opened, leading from this world to the otherworld. Then, inky shadows crawled out and devoured any form of light, casting some otherworldly blight amongst the trees and plants that turned them to stone. It was referred to as the Great Shadow Blight, the very thing that had started a war between the two worlds—besides the ruthless shade gods. The earth had protested the magic that filtered in from the other side. It was foreign. Strange. Its effect on this portion of the world had been like a slow poison, slowly seeping into the plants and crystalizing them, turning the trees to stone. The shadows and shade gods of the otherworld didn’t belong here, nor did I. I sighed, dipping my feet into the freezing brook, and closed my eyes tightly, trying to feel the simple joy of being near my haven. But it all just felt tainted. A hiss of frustration slipped past my lips as a chill permeated the air. Something was off. Stretching my senses out, I felt for changes in the environment. Although I didn’t have magic yet as Malachi did, I had an ability to sense my surroundings, a strong intuition that came from years of avoiding him, premonitions that always came in waves of colors. And right now, the colors were gray and dreary with flashes of maroon—a warning sign. “Are you hiding from me?” I whipped around to face Malachi as he stepped from the tree line. His eyes glowed in the dark, brilliant cerulean irises ringed in the deepest black. His black curly hair shone in a shade darker than the inkiest shadows. He was my family, the only family I’d ever known, even though we weren’t blood. Our mothers had been sacrificed in a ritual performed by The Order of Umbra to open the rift in our world. The shade gods took the two extra virgin sacrifices who’d survived as lovers, and that’s how we came to be. Our mothers didn’t survive our births. We were half human, half shade, the only creatures of our kind. Malachi was born a day before me and gifted to the order. He claimed he could feel the loneliness in his soul as he’d waited for me to join him in this world, and that upon my arrival the following day, everything was suddenly made right. What he said couldn’t be true, though. He’d been just a baby, only a day old. How could he have known anything? But he’d always held a deep