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September 1 - October 25, 2025
It was only a snap, a single crack, and the world that once made sense, made sense no more.
It had been twenty thousand, one hundred and sixty minutes since she had left, and
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.
no, Samkiel was who I was, who I would forever be, and Liam died with whatever part of Dianna’s heart fractured that night.
“When I burn this world to embers, and you paint me as the villain, remember, I really did try to be good… once.”
Something shifted, something old and—” I didn’t have words to explain what I felt, but it sent terror skittering through me.
but there was no fighting—not against vengeance, not against ruin, not against death.
that? Even after I felt that mark sear my palm, I had hope, but seeing her like this?” She placed a kiss on her forehead before straightening. “I really have no one left now.”
Mer-Ka was my birth name. Ain was Gabby’s, and Eoria was the home where we knew peace so long ago.
My jaw clenched. He did not know the lengths I would risk to get Dianna back. I needed her. I needed her happy and whole and with me.
“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.”
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.
regardless of the bloodshed, one simple truth rang true. I missed her so godsdamn much.
Most of all, I’m sorry I ever thought I had a real friend.”
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.”
“I had to extinguish a forest fire,” I said.
“Kaden released the ones responsible with no protection. He wants her to kill, to feed until she is no more, and then I feel his hope is she will have no one to turn to but him—another sick way to have her back. He is hoping I will be the king of legends. The slayer of monsters and beasts, protector of realms and worlds, but she is my…” I stopped, unable to say the words.
He knew me better than most and was the closest thing I would ever have to a brother.
Now he was an arms dealer with no arms.
Who knew kidnapping a witch, slaughtering a coven, and destroying a vampire line would put Samkiel on such high alert?
The only wounds I carried were within me.
He had voiced the one thought that plagued me, the one thing that haunted me more than anything. The truth. It’s her own damn fault. A lock on a door in a house rattled.
There it was, that smile. I needed a name for it.
“You know of Iassulyn?” My lips turned down in a frown. “I’m impressed. It’s a realm outside of time and space. A place so brutal only the vilest and damned end up there when they die.”
“I had not summoned it since Rashearim fell, not until her. Do you know why? Because there are no boundaries I will not cross if it means keeping her safe, especially after everything you all have taken from her. It is the highest law not to touch anyone in my court or what I consider mine. That act alone is punishable by death, and she is mine. It will be your end.”
She is trying to bury herself under those kills and prove to herself that she is the monster you all believe her to be. None of you know her. She is so much more. Dianna was kind to me and helped me when I did not deserve it, so I must also be that for her. She has no one else. Kaden and all of you made sure of that.”
Not one single part of her scared me, no matter how hard she tried. The fangs, the eyes, every part was still her, and she was the only one I wanted.
“I didn’t have to tell Dianna anything at first. She saw me, all of me. Just as I have seen her, she is strong and selfless. I’ve seen her run headfirst into danger for those she cares for without a single thought for herself. She’s funny and smart and beautiful, so beautiful. She’s a fighter, a warrior stronger than any I’ve ever trained. Above all, she is a woman who had no choice in the life thrust upon her. Dianna survived against all odds for Gabby, and Kaden ripped her away. Dianna is not a monster. She never was. She loves, cares, and feels, and right now, all she feels is grief, pain,
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Death is death. If she is a monster to you, then so am I.”
we would try to bring her back because if Samkiel loved her, she was also ours. He had finally chosen for himself. He hadn't been coerced or chosen out of duty. We would be damned if we lost him like so many gods before.
We can do this dance until this world burns and the next takes its place, but I will still choose you.”
“Do it.” I angled the tip of her blade above my heart. “If you are truly gone, I refuse to live in a world without you, so you’ll have to angle it farther to the right. That’s where a god’s heart lies, and mine already belongs to you, so do with it what you will.”
“every fragment, every piece of me still left, cares about you. Even the very dangerous and ugly parts.”
My foot stilled. “Know what?” “That your family is full of liars and killers and cheats, Samkiel.”
One being. The World Bringer. Your father.” I pushed from the wall. “You lie.” “I have no reason to lie. Three generals ran this place: one who sheds blood, one who controls it, and one who feasts on it. Only two stayed after the Great War. Then one came back, took the prisoners from here, and rained fire on Rashearim.”
“I found a brief history of Samkiel’s great-grandfather. It recounts how he went insane and blamed the gods for some future darkness that would taint and ruin the bloodline. He spread his lies and eradicated thousands before they dethroned him.” I placed a hand under my chin. “That could also create a legion of enemies.” “Phanthar, Samkiel’s grandfather, took the throne next, which we all know, but you know what they say. Cut the hand, and the blood that follows trickles down to the child.”
“Wouldn’t it suck if Kaden was like Samkiel’s long-lost uncle or something?”
“If Roccurem is wrong, and I am truly out of time, if this doesn’t work, I want you to know that I am nothing like your father, Samkiel. I refuse to live without you. There will be no peace in this realm or the next. I will burn this universe down to embers for you. I will leave nothing untouched, taking apart anyone that’s ever hurt you piece by piece. So when you hear the screams from however far away you are from me. When you feel the very stars shake from the rage you aren’t here to pull me back from, when you hear them beg and plead for mercy, I need you to remember that it’s because you
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“Resurrection has a cost. I assume you paid yours.” I glanced at my bare, smooth finger, trying to forget what that mark had felt and looked like. “I guess.”
“I fear no gods and no kings.”
