A looming darkness … With the curse on his skin broken, the next item on Alvarick's agenda is … sunbathing? To fill his power stores, he's stuck lying under the healing sun all day or the heater at night, wishing Velden would do more than (pretend to) sleep beside him. With only ten days until their bonding ritual, he may fail this mundane task. They are still an endless hive labyrinth away from their destination, and it's packed with the undead. Velden is Alvarick's first love, but love alone isn't enough to guarantee their true bond. There's more to their bonding ritual than he's shared, and blood mages and demons aren't the only obstacles in their way. Will love be enough to hold them together, or will the hives of sorrow tear them apart? Hives of Sorrow is best read after Circles of Light and before Tower of Lies in the Farbonnur Elves series. It is 60k words of romantic fantasy goodness with a happy-for-now ending. HoS has an experienced grumpy assassin and sunshine not-so-virginal son of a goddess fated mate pairing, an honest to goodness appearance by the Tree of Life and its inhabitants (finally), an enemies to lovers fated mates teaser, a pregnant giant winged enby, and a real live goddess who lives in a glass pyramid. There are also still blood mages scourging the land and their many hordes of Empty (zombies).