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Hey fairy family!
It’s the final section, are you ready to find out how The Darkness Within Us ends? I am very nervous!
Today we’re reading from Chapter 22 to the end of the book.
Grab a snack, get comfy and let’s read!
Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for The Darkness Within Us, from Chapter 22 to the end of the book. Please only read on if you’ve finished The Darkness Within Us!
-!SPOILERS!-
They reach Zanita’s and the plan to get Eryx *ahem* impassioned is officially a-go. Or, it is until Chrysantha declares that she’ll be staying the night once they’re finished with their task.
Eryx is JEALOUS. He sends the girl Chrysantha paid for away and pretty much backs the Dowager Duchess into a corner, telling her they don’t need anyone else. Oh, she put her foot in it! After they kissed, Chrysantha lied and said she did it because she was taking laudanum, but the doctor told Eryx afterwards she refused it! He knows he likes him and she can’t deny it! Realising she’s got no way out, she gives in and admits it. They agree to talk on everything further and bare their secrets tomorrow.
After finally turning Kyros down (she should’ve done that a lot sooner), she meets Eryx. STOP this is too cute, he dressed up for her!!! Turns out when they’re not at war with each other, Eryx is quite sweet. He even offers to hire Nico a tutor after learning of Chrysantha’s fondness for the boy. So sweet!
They go on their jolly little boat trip and diverge all! She gets under his skin, he thought he was stunning from the very first moment they met. She’s honest in return, she doesn’t care what he’s done in the past. He sees something in him that she recognises, the will to go to great lengths to get what you want. Eryx proves he trusts her but telling her about his upbringing. His mother was in love with the late Shadow King… but he didn’t choose her. To exact her revenge she summoned a demon, who promised he would help her get the revenge she wanted if she lay with him. So she did.
Despite everything, he still wants to kill Kallias. But my dude, Chrysantha ONLY just made amends with Alessandra. Don’t ruin this for her!!!
He’s willing to give up his vengeance for her. That’s so romantic, I can’t!!!
She really starts to ponder how she could be happy with Eryx… and then Kyros catches her with the beast. Chrysantha does some scheming to get him off their case but things are about to go from bad to worse… the investigator is here and Eryx lied, all along.
His mother was ostracised and cut out of the will, Eryx worked with Vander to forge the document and take everything that rightfully belonged to Chrysantha away. She’s not going to like that…
Wait. Eryx needs to go? Chrysantha you only JUST got together! Think on this please. Read the letter, have a cup of tea, just ponder it?
Nope. Straight to Alessandra, brings in Kallias. Tells him EVERYTHING. This is a mistake Chrysantha!!!
Kallias is going to “take care of Eryx” and we all know what that’s code for. I feel sick.
ALL TOO LATE, Chrysantha FINALLY reads the letter, or, maybe CONFESSION is a better word. I feel so mad at her right now! If she’d waited for her rage to subside for long enough to read the letter she’d have seen he decided he couldn’t go through with it and would’ve seen his declaration of love. Instead the king is currently on his way to dispose of him.
At least she knows she messed up. Alessandra is nothing but supportive and accompanies Chrysantha as far as she can to try stop Kallias from ending Eryx. The two shadow men are certainly quite the match! In the end, the only way Chrysantha can put a stop to the fighting is to insert herself between a body and a blade and hope for the best. THANKFULLY, it works. My gosh, I’m sweating! The intensity!!!
It’s Chrysantha’s turn now to tell the truth, and she opens up about trying to, um, poison him and a few other discretions that she’s guilty of herself. Neither are one to judge the other, really, and they declare their love!
Naturally, the king wants an explanation. They’ve both committed crimes and been, well, a bit petty. Alessandra comes through and pardons the guilty pair with a huge grin on her face. Oh I love that they’re on good terms!!! 🥺
We leave our TRUE enemies-to-lovers (like genuinely I almost thought we wouldn’t pull through) as Eryx vows to be hers, and Chrysantha promises to teach him how to spend money. Classic!
Oh my gosh, I loved this one SO MUCH and when I say that ending had me on the edge of my seat, I mean it. I’m nearly on the floor!
What did you think of The Darkness Within Us?
Who’s your favourite character?
Would you recommend this book to a friend?
So excited to hear your thoughts!
Thank you so much for joining us for another FairyLoot readalong! I hope you had as much fun as I did, and we’ll see you soon for the next one.
Love,
Shannon
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What a ride! For so long I wasn’t sure if Chrysantha would just let Eryx die or kill him herself. Happy it ended this way though. I wasn’t sure if I enjoyed the book at first, the whole first half Chrysantha was so annoying but I do think that the second half was so much better and I started to like Chrysantha as well. In the end the book was very fast and fun and like I said yesterday, I had to finish the book then because I was so hooked. Would absolutely recommend this one. I’m also very interested at reading Alessandra’s story.
1. What did you think of The Darkness Within Us?
I liked it, but didn’t love it. Some parts were a bit frustrating to read for me and I wasn’t always the biggest fan of Chrysantha
2. Who’s your favourite character?
Eryx!
3. Would you recommend this book to a friend?
I would! But I would recommend The Shadows Between Us over this one
What did you think of The Darkness Within Us?
Omg I loved this book. Last night I wasn’t only done with section two. I stayed up late and finished first thing this morning. I was so entranced with this book.
Who’s your favourite character?
I loved Eryx. I did like Chrysantha and he reminded me a lot of her sister from the other book. But Eryx stole my heart
Would you recommend this book to a friend?
I did! Last night I was texting a friend about this book and the twist on shadow magic. It was so fun!
Yay! We’re so happy you loved it – we did too! 💖
This book was incredible for me! I couldn’t put it down!
My favourite character is Eryx! I love how sweet and innocent he is! He had a terrible life but he didn’t lose his heart, and when he fell in love he finally let go of his vengeance because he found something better to live for!
I would totally recommend this book and I will surely pester my younger brother until he agrees to read it!
I loved this book so much! I love a strong female lead thats slightly unhinged and Chrysantha did not disappoint! My favourite character apart from Chrysantha, of course, was Nico! He was such a sweet little thing! I hope he finds many more frogs!
I will definitely be recommending this, it has a great balance of fantasy v romance! I will also now pick up the first book!
It was so much fun.
Chrysantha is easy to love. She’s funny, loves pink, is sarcastic, loves to read, is vicious, manipulative, has a mean streak and is willing to kill the man if he gets in her way – what’s not to like?
Tricia Levenseller did her character absolute justice.
The romance was so endearing too. Constant bantering, fighting, arguing with each other.
I didn’t think I would like this book as much as I did, but I did. I will definitely be reading another “The Shadows between us”.
What did you think of The Darkness Within Us?
I enjoyed it!
Who’s your favourite character?
I still want poor Kyros to get his happy ending haha.
Would you recommend this book to a friend?
Yeah especially if they like morally gray (or worse) characters. I love how unbothered Crysantha is by murder. And Alessandra too!
I was the same and the end had me at the edge of my seat, turning the pages faster and faster to finally have my happy ending <3
I was a bit sceptical at the beginning as I was not so fond of Eryx and all Chrysantha had to go through in this world led by a bunch of macho men but as the story follow I got more and more into it and couldn't put it down. Actually it was pretty hard for me to stop at the end of each part of the readalong but I loved this experience and being able to talk about it here. Thank you for it and thank you for this amazing book. I'll definitely do more readalong in the future.
I was a little worried for Eryx for a minute! Overall a fantastic read! I loved Eryx and was so happy to see Alessandra and Kallias in this one too. I love that Alessandra and Chrysantha are rebuilding their relationship and are finally authentic with one another. Those Stathos sisters sure are something!
5⭐️I loved this book so much! One of my favourite reads of the year❤️ I loved Chrysantha and her and Eryx together. The bonus chapter was so cute as well!
1) What did you think of The Darkness Within Us?
I liked Crysantha’s fierce independence as a woman and I loved Eryx’s vulnerability as a partner. I hate miscommunication so that was a trigger for me, but I’m glad it ended happily! One of my favourite parts was seeing the sisters repair their relationship, that was so feel-good.
2) Who’s your favourite character?
Eryx, 10000%!
3) Would you recommend this book to a friend?
I would recommend it if I knew a friend liked these tropes in particular as it really was a true enemies to lovers book.
I don’t think I predicted a single thing right about the book and although I am happy about that, I’m gutted there weren’t some more worded twists included! I am elated that Eric finally trusted her enough to come clean, disappointed I was on team Eric but also not at the same time!
These last few chapters had my smiling from ear to ear, throughly annoyed by Chrysantha once again refusing to put her true feeling scies when it comes to Eryx, and finally seeing her life truly becoming what she wants, with her friends, mistress and sister by ber side 🩵
Omigosh! What a way to end the book! I absolutely loved it! Eryx would have to be my favorite, with Nico a close second. So good! I still need to read The Shadows Between Us!
This book was such a wild ride, i totally expected to dislike it based on now Chrysantha was described in book one but i loved it! I think i might have enjoyed this one more than book one. Im really happy i picked it up
It was a very entertaining read and I would definitely recommend it to a romance fan! I literally read both novellas in the space of 3 days – that does say something!
I would rate it a solid 3,5 stars, as a fantasy fan I truly missed the world building – as there was none. In the end this should be marketed as a romance with a pinch of fantasy, and there would be 0 disappointment!
One part I found too… easy, was how the fight between Kallias and Eryx resolved.
All in all, a lovely FairyLoot pick this month! Now getting ready for the next readlong 🙂
I was so thrilled to learn that a companion novel to The Shadows Between Us was happening and even more thrilled when y’all chose Darkness Within Us for a monthly box. This is one of my favorite series! I loved that we got Chrysantha’s story, Easter eggs of Shadows appeared, and a phenomenal enemies to lover book.
My favorite character was Kyros. He’s nice and loyal, and a devoted father. He got rejected by Chrysantha, but still he has a good heart. I would love a friend like him.
I definitely have recommended to friends already and they love Shadows and Darkness!
I really enjoyed The Darkness Within Us def a book I plan to read again. I grew to like Chrysantha (she could be frustrating) but Eryx was my favorite character. I’ve already started recommending this book to some friends.
This book was really good! Ive been in a reading slump and this one kept me coming back each day of the readalong. I think my favorite character is Chrysantha because she is an independent woman, but she realized that she didnt need to be alone to be happy. All of the people in her life were not out to get her. I have a tendency to feel as though people all hate me and want nothing to do with me, so I relate. The ending was really fast, im surprised that all she had to do was kiss him to stop the fight. I would recommend this book to a friend, it’s an easy, romantic, and funny read. Now i want to read the previous book