Page 1 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

Prologue

We walkedsingle file to our deaths. The cool night air seeped through my thin cloak, but I didn’t mind.

Being cold was the least of my concerns. Whatever happened on this night, we would not live to see the morning.

Not as humans.

What remained of the village elders walked in front of us. A few more years and I would have been considered one of them.

I was Rosalyn Harker, and my family had been part of this village for generations. Our name passed down through the maternal line. The women of our family were strong. Resilient. Natural-born leaders.

But that was a different future, one that I couldn’t even imagine anymore.

A few sobs escaped those trailing behind me, but nobody turned back. There was nothing to return to. We’d fortified the village as best we could over the last few months, but nothing kept the monsters out.

When the elders had first suggested this idea, they weremet with harsh denial, then silence, and finally, reluctant agreement.

In the end, we all knew it was clear the future only held death for us now.

So, we might as well do it on our terms.

When we finally reached our destination, the elders formed a small circle around three flat stones, each bearing a carefully carved symbol within its face. The shiny black surface of the stones perfectly reflected the light of the moon.

The elders gestured for me to join them and then instructed everyone else to form circles.

We’d already practiced this, so everyone fell into place quickly, and soon we had six circles expanding from the one I stood in with the elders.

I spared a look over my shoulder and met the even gaze of my daughter.

The barest hint of sorrow flickered deep within my chest. She was almost twenty years old, but she would always be my sweet little girl.

When my sleep wasn’t plagued by nightmares, I had dreams of summers spent in flowery fields with her laughing as she raced along, chased by her twin sister, while they plucked purple and blue flowers to wind into crowns later.

She hasn’t laughed since the monsters tore apart her sister.

I twisted back around to stare at the carved-up stone at my feet. It would be our death, but it also might be our salvation.

The Fae had vanished, leaving us defenseless against the cruel beasts that prowled these lands. They may not have been the kindest of rulers, but they had kept the worst of the horrors at bay.

Now they were gone, leaving us not only at the mercy of the monsters of old but new ones made of nothing but shadows.

The elders suspected that the Unseelie had donesomething, performed some spell, perhaps against the Seelie, and lost control of it.

After all, it couldn’t be a coincidence that the Unseelie, who could send their shadows off to spy or shape them into vicious guardians, had disappeared without a trace, and now creatures of darkness roamed our lands at night. They’d likely killed all the Seelie in the process of whatever wicked magic they had worked.

The clouds above us parted, revealing the bright, full moon. We’d been waiting for this night for weeks, and there were times when, admittedly, I thought we wouldn’t make it.

Six months ago, there had been hundreds of thousands of us living across these lands. Now there were less than ten thousand humans left. Our village had fared better than others. Almost five hundred of us remained of the twelve hundred who had once called this place home.

My mind wandered bleakly to the graveyard not too far from here. My parents were buried there, as well as my grandparents. Generations of Harkers had lived and died here.

I hadn’t been able to bury my daughter or my husband. There had been nothing left of them to bury.

The lack of feeling that had become my constant companion since their deaths lifted for a moment, and in its place, I felt unimaginable pain.

I swallowed and begged the numbness to return. For the pain to abate, if only just for now.

I needed it to get through these next few moments.

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