Allison's Deception

By Shiloh Darke

Dionde is the fourth and final brother to be plagued by the curse which damns him to be confined by the light of day in a stone prison, and a gray skinned beast with bat-like wings during the dead of night. His brothers have each found their freedom in the arms of their true loves, but he fears since he is the last, he will be forever doomed to

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing
• Release date: Mar 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781619503861

Shiloh Darke

What to say about myself? Gee... I'm not sure. I'm a wife, a mother, and even a GRANDMOTHER... But call me MiMi! I LOVE to tell stories! It is just about my favorite thing to do. Ever since I was a little girl, I've LOVED a good romance. But not just ANY romance. No way! I have to have adventure, excitement, danger, thrills and chills as well. What's the point in just a regular old, PREDICTABLE romance? If I can tell halfway through the book what is going to happen, where's the fun in that? As if you can't already tell, I love to read about as much as I love to write! I read romance, mystery, horror, fan fiction (Mostly Harry Potter or True Blood) and anything else that catches my eye. I also write stories for younger readers age 14 and up; YA novels under the pen name of Rowan Shannigan. I'm working on my second novel in the first series I've started under that alias. Check it out at http://feeltheawareness.weebly.com if you are interested. Same CRAZY kind of stories, just a little less intense. If you don't try it, you don't know what you're missing!

Book preview

Contents

Copyright Page

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Epilogue

About the Author

Allison’s Deception

by Shiloh Darke

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © June, 2011 by Shiloh Darke

Cover Art Copyright © 2011 by Shiloh Darke and Charlotte Holley

Gypsy Shadow Publishing

Lockhart, TX 78644

http://www.gypsyshadow.com

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this eBook are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-61950-386-1

Published in the United States of America

First eBook Edition: July 14, 2011

Dedication

This final story in my Beauty Stone Beast series is dedicated to anyone who has ever felt they were not good enough. Also, it’s for anyone who has wished for true love but doubted it would ever come. Wishing on stars only makes the dreams come true if you believe! Never let yourself stop believing!

Prologue

Dionde stretched slowly as the sun fell below the horizon. He felt the stone encasing his form break and drop away from his slate gray skin. His long platinum hair fell in ripples past his waist as he shook himself free of the stone that had been his prison during the daylight hours.

Unlike his brothers, who had tendencies to braid their hair, Dionde preferred to wear his loose and free. They could bind their hair all they wished, but he had enough boundaries and limitations during the daylight when he was encased in stone. At night, when he was free, every inch of him ached to remain unencumbered.

Glancing at his brother Corentin, Dionde sighed. The woman who was meant for him had arrived earlier that week. He had sensed her even through his sleep, if it could be called such. Dionde wondered if he ever truly knew sleep. Even inside the stone prison, his mind was always working.

He could hear conversations throughout the castle. He had known before Corentin did that Patricia was coming. He had felt within his very soul that she would be the one to set his brother free. He knew soon he would be the only one left of his brothers to bear this curse.

The realization made him melancholy. To be the only one bound to the night as he was—as they all had once been—was not something he relished. It burdened his heart and worried him.

As they were freed from their Gargoyle fate, he believed they were now Mortal; simple men who would age and eventually die. He couldn’t help being curious as to what his eternal life would entail without them if he himself was never given release.

As he and Corentin faced each other, he bit back his resentment and depression, offering a carefree smile and a wave before turning to take to the sky and closing his heart to the possibility of surviving centuries alone in a life without his brothers.

But he would not focus on his fears just yet. No, the truth was he had many years with them still. If they had children, he would have nieces and nephews to care for over the centuries.

The night was clear and beautiful. As his wings carried him farther and farther from his home and closer to the streets of Paris, he felt his dark mood give way to elation as he let go of his worries for the time being. In the darkened streets of the romantic city and its tall buildings, he could observe the world around him with nary a worry of discovery.

He was happy in these moments. He could forget the troubles that plagued him when his mind was ever active while his body wore its stone shell. The night, to him, was not a dark place at all. Instead, he focused on this amazing modern world.

The marvels mankind had achieved fascinated him. Their means of travel astounded him. The different ways they had found to communicate astonished him. He wanted to learn everything he could about how these many wonders worked. Before Rachel came to them, he had forever longed to make a friend who would explain such things to him.

Soon, he found himself perched atop one of the taller buildings, watching everything around him with keen interest. Silently, he stood in the shadows, watching the world below him carry on, oblivious to him and his watchful presence. Sometimes he fancied himself a brooding hero, playing the part of protector to the occasional innocent caught in a bad situation.

A few times, he had recovered stolen purses from thieves and returned them anonymously to their rightful owners. Upon occasion, he scared away evil-doers before they could make good on a robbery, rape or other such mischief, but he always kept to the shadows. No one had ever seen him. No one knew he was actually more of a monster than the pathetic Mortals he fought. He always moved so fast, all they saw were shadows.

Somewhere inside, he told himself he didn’t mind continuing to be what he was. It gave him the power to help mankind in a way he couldn’t as a Mortal. Perhaps he was