1 Prologue

"Gather around one and all,

Dark knights and fair maidens all,

Hear this ancient tale reborn,

Of elves, Fae and the fire-born.

Of mighty kingdoms long since blown to ash,

Of ancient queens with swords as their only sash.

Hear the drums and mighty trumpet singing the war beat,

Witness hearts ensconced in such cold and heat,

A tale of hatred,love and emotions galore,

Of nightmares given flesh from folklore.

This is where truths blur and lies shine,

Where love sighs and hatred dines.

Each side of the same scarred coin,

Each breath on the same keel anoin,

Where myths become reality,

Where the only truth is partiality.

A lie older than time,

A truth just as serpentine.

Come, Gather around one and all,

Dark knights and fair maidens all,

Hear this ancient tale reborn,

Of elves, Fae and the fire-born."

        Cressida snapped the book shut and let out a content sigh and said in that dreamy voice of hers which she often got after reading a book, "Such enticing words, pieced together so beautifully, if only reality could be spun on the spindle of fiction, if only it could all come true, if only....."

        I could only nod my head in agreement, too drained to get into an argument with her this early in the morning, especially when she was in such a mood and her eyes had that gleam which challenged any one to dare disagree with her.

But truth be told, the prettily spun words did not matter to me, had stopped mattering a long time ago. Not much mattered to me these days, nothing seemed good enough when all I wanted could be brought to me with the snap of a finger. I had told her as much the first time those many weeks ago, which now seemed like so many days, so many moments away. Her reaction was not a pretty one despite her romanticism of almost everything. Needless to say I had no interest in revisiting the ensuing argument.

      Her smile seemed so soft, so innocent. If only she knew what was going on my mind. If only she knew.....

Also there is an edit which I would love to share but it's only available on Wattpad (and it's free)

If you want to read the entire story for free just go to Wattpad

My URL is LucyQueenOriginal21

And the book is named Shadows

Also there is another book I'm working on called Manacled and it's exclusively available on Wattpad (for free!!) Please check it out...