The Throne of Broken Gods (Gods & Monsters, #2)

by Amber V. Nicole

“This is how the world ends,” the fate had whispered, and I was going to show them just how right fate was.

I stared at the empty night sky, watching her dark wings beat across the sky, her sleek form disappearing into the roiling clouds. Away from me. “You promised,” I whispered as the sirens continued to wail.

Liam was a shield I hid behind as if I could pretend to be anything other than the World Ender.

So, no, Samkiel was who I was, who I would forever be, and Liam died with whatever part of Dianna’s heart fractured that night.

You’re locking everything away to protect yourself, suppressing it, but I know without a doubt that my Dianna is still in there.”

“There’s one dead body. You get in my way, and I have no problem adding another. I will have my vengeance. They knew the price of touching her, and if you get in my way, you will too. Turn a blind eye, Samkiel. This isn’t about you.”

“When I burn this world to embers, and you paint me as the villain, remember, I really did try to be good… once.”

“May the goddess watch over you.” “All the old gods are dead, love,” I whispered.

“She will come for us now. All of us. You heard the death cry and felt the world shake. Gabby was a leash that held a rabid beast, and now that tether is gone. There is no stopping her.

I was wrong about Samkiel, but I don’t understand why. We didn’t even have sex.”

Dianna called after me, “I’ll need an urn and one other thing from you before we begin.” I turned toward her, my heart racing. “Begin what?” She glanced at me, the flames illuminating her dark silhouette. “Dismantling an empire.”

Mer-Ka was my birth name. Ain was Gabby’s, and Eoria was the home where we knew peace so long ago. Shattered.

“Oh, feisty. I love it. Tell me, do you keep all your weapons between your legs?” His comment was crass and crude, but I didn’t falter. My father taught me not to play into the tricks and words of an enemy. “Come closer, and I’ll show you.” His smile didn’t fade as he took a step closer. “Like this?” I lashed out, swiping the blade across his face.

“You will have the kind of power you have only ever dreamed of,” he answered, reaching up to stroke his fingers over my cheek and settling his hand against my neck. “But that’s only if you survive.”

“I don’t remember you being this cowardly before.” I turned toward her and rolled my eyes. “Calm your stupid heart. I’m not going to kill you. You brought her back to me. As long as you do what I say, you’ve just earned yourself immunity.”

My heart ached. I was so afraid I would never see her laugh or smile again. I had not realized how deeply my feelings for her had grown over the months we spent together. How utterly attached I had become to my fiery temptress.

Ethan loved Naomi so dearly he’d doomed the world for her.

“She hid you and your family from Kaden, and in return, you took hers!” I bellowed,

“Besides an arrogant megalomaniac. I know what he is.” Drake and Ethan looked at me as if I were a fool. “He is one of the Kings of Yejedin. It does not matter. I have fought kings, beasts, and gods and won. You all knew that, yet you expect me to feel sorry that you aligned yourself with a psychopath? Pity is not what I feel for you.”

“You have taken someone from me with your actions—someone very precious to me. And now you have helped a lunatic corrupt her already damaged heart, shattering it into a million pieces. They are pieces I will pick up and fix, but what you have done is unforgivable. I plan to make you suffer for that transgression. Death would be a kindness, and you deserve none.”

“We knew we couldn’t fight him, couldn’t kill him, but you two together? The two of you are enough to shatter worlds, and he and everyone else know it.

Years of war had steeled my stomach to gruesome atrocities, but seeing her so casually holding the head of Ethan’s wife in her palm had my gut twisting.

She wasn’t dangerous. She wasn’t deadly or a threat to us. I knew it in my soul. She was Dianna. My Dianna.

No matter what, Dianna stole the very breath from my lungs without even trying.

“Oh, you really are noble. We both know there is no justice in our world. Blood must be paid with blood.”

“That’s what I thought.” She took a step forward, her voice barely a whisper. “Because when it comes down to it, there will always be a line, just like you said. You on one side, me on the other.”

“You betrayed me in the worst way imaginable. I hope when I reduce you to ash, you don’t get to see your family in the afterlife, the same way I will never see her again.”

“I’m-I’m sorry,” Drake managed to gasp out as I cradled him. My fangs retracted. “No, but you will be,” I said, my voice cracking. Her memory floated away from me. “You all will be.”

The alternative was Drake dying, and I did not want that. He was her last hope, the last flicker of life in her, and I needed him alive for her.

“I saw it when she first stepped out of the forest, a flicker in her eyes as if a part of her tried to crawl to the surface for you. I thought Gabby was the last tether, but you are. You are her only link to whatever mortality she has left. So don’t let Kaden win, no matter what she says or does. Trust me. You are the only thing she cares about now.”

She is still the girl who likes flowers and pretty gifts from overbearing god kings. She is sweet, kind, funny, and loves with her entire being. That’s why she is like this. She’s hurt. She’s in pain. If you love her, truly love her, don’t give up. True love is worth it. It’s worth fighting for. Remember that.”

They say you hear a clap of thunder before she arrives, but it’s not thunder. It is its wings. Winged death. Then all that’s left is fire, fire hotter than the sun⁠—”

“For the record,” my voice cut through their laughter as I gazed at the cards in my hand, “I never fucked the World Ender, and I’ve fingered myself more times than he ever did.”

“I lost someone. We all have. Grief is mourning, but you’re not grieving. You skipped straight to anger and revenge, and it’s because you feel guilty.” Guilty.

“You and the World Ender. That’s what hurts the most, isn’t it? You fell in love with him while Kaden took your sister. I’ve been there.

Only Azrael could make something from nothing, and he is long dead.”

“You are alive for two reasons. The first is that you have information I want,” I said. “What’s the other?” he asked, turning when he realized I hadn’t followed him in. I grabbed the edge of the door. “Bait.”

Please, is that jealousy I hear? Does the mighty World Ender, the legend himself, get jealous? I don’t remember that in your memories.” “I am not fond of others touching what’s mine.”

“If you wanted me on my knees, Dianna, all you had to do was ask. You know that.”

“It means stop talking to me like we’re suddenly friends again because we are not.” “Great. I despise that word. I wish to be so much more than friends.”

At this point, I’m starting to think the violence is foreplay for you.”

“It’s more than that. More than I am allowed to say, but in simplest terms, Gabriella was her heart, Samkiel is her soul, and Kaden has orders to destroy both. I am afraid he has accomplished his task.”

Kaden took her family from her. Give her one back.”

“I needed to see.” “See what? Pure blinding rage?” Imogen asked. I lifted off of her and stood, offering her my hand. “If she is still my girl.”

You will have to be more specific, akrai, on what exactly I ruined. Your mood?” I taunted her. “Your panties, perhaps?”

tickling the hairs near my ear. “Gods, you have no idea what it does to me to know you care just as strongly for me as I do for you.

“I need her to see and feel before the One True King comes. Otherwise, there will be no realm left, even for you.”

If she chooses the wrong path, I am afraid she will fight many battles alone, god king.”

Love has the power to touch even the untouchable. Use it.”

Yet this woman with a fiery attitude has burned me to my very core. I let her in during the worst part of my existence, and now she is in my bones. My every thought, every dream, is of her, and I can’t eat or sleep.