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

by Amber V. Nicole

“Years of love have been forgot, In the hatred of a minute.” ― Edgar Allan Poe, “To M⁠—”

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

fully support my baby girl on her killing spree

“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.”

“Justice?” A sick laugh escaped her as she clicked her teeth. “Oh, you really are noble. We both know there is no justice in our world. Blood must be paid with blood.”

“There can be another way. I know it. I’ll help you as you helped me.” “Okay.” She shrugged a single shoulder, the curve of her lip lifting. “Kill them.” “What?” “You want to help? Help. Kill them. Right now. Start with Ethan. Make sure Drake sees and then kill every member of his coven. Save him for last, so he knows how it feels to lose everyone.”

“I always thought of myself as a monster, and I suppose now it’s true. You have no idea what I have done. All I will do. I used to hate that part of me. I didn’t realize how freeing it would be just not to care and fully embrace it.”

“But you and I know the truth. There is no normalcy in our world. There are no happy endings. We can’t even save the people that we love.”

“Of course not. The way I care for you is vastly different. The lengths I will go to for you are unfathomable. I refuse to let you hurt yourself, no matter how vile or mean you are to me. I know you’re in pain. You are mourning, and someone like you will grieve just as hard and deeply as you love.”

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.”

“Now, say hi to your dead wife.”

“You took my fucking hands.” “Yes, yes, I did.” I kneeled next to him. “I warned you what would happen if you put your hands on her. You should have listened.”

I tried to block her, but another slash hit the back of my knee, dropping me. Her heels clicked across the floor as she walked around me and stopped, facing me. A smile graced her lips as she forced my chin up with the flat of her blade. “Look at that. Gods do know how to bow.” “If you wanted me on my knees, Dianna, all you had to do was ask. You know that.”

“Tempting.” She rocked the blade under my chin, forcing my head back. “You should grow the scruff back, though. I like the way it tickles.” “Whatever you want.” Her smile was all fangs and cold brutality. “Whatever I want?” “Always.” “I do want something from you.” She leaned a fraction closer, the tip of her blade pressing into my neck. “I need you to bleed.”

“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.” “We both know that’s not what I like.” “It’s not?” He stepped closer, encompassing me in his warmth and scent. “Come home and teach me what you do like.”

“Do you want to know what it feels like to have your heart ripped out?”

“That is the weakest excuse I have ever heard when you are all supernatural fucking creatures. I did. I defied him.” The tiny bit of control in me that wanted answers began to fray. “Gods, Caleb, my balls are bigger than yours.”

“I see different realities, one per second. No matter the reality, your sister was supposed to die in every single one of them. Some sooner than others. In this reality it is how it had to be for you to ascend to power. You were always the catalyst for worlds to burn.”

“Not even the gods could kill me.” “Well, lucky for me, I’m no god.” “No.” He seemed to register what I said with newfound respect. “No, you are not. Although your chemical makeup has similarities, you are much worse. You follow no one’s rules, not even the laws of nature. You will be a problem across the stars.”

“I understand I failed. I do. My father died because of me. I lost the war and, in doing so, sealed the realms and us here. I understand your disgust or loathing for me because I feel it, too.”

Dianna is not a monster. She never was. She loves, cares, and feels, and right now, all she feels is grief, pain, and loss. I’m not… I won’t give up on her. Who would I be if I did?”

“There was a prophecy of rebirth for an unraveled cosmos. A child born from celestial and one born from a god. They were meant to rule it all. Save it all.” “And this prophecy wouldn’t be about a certain World Ender, would it?” “Correct, you are.”

“You will have a choice. One you must make. Choose out of selflessness, and the path is set. Choose vengeance, and well, the outcome will be devastating.”

“Yeah?” A smirk made of sin graced his lips. “And did you have to spread those pretty little legs to find out?” I made sure the smile I gave him in return was all teeth. “No, I did that for fun.”

“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.”

“Where is she?”

WHERE IS SHE!!!!

Lines of pure silver lit along his exposed wrists and under his eyes. Camilla screamed. “Do you feel that? That’s your organs cooking from the inside out. I should skin you alive for what you helped him do to Gabriella. What you helped them do to her. You helped him take her away, the last person Dianna had, the last person she loved. You did that, and I will make you suffer for it.”

“Is this us flirting? You yell and toss me through a few stories when you don’t get your way, or perhaps you’ll drop another building on me.” I twisted from her, sprinting to the end of the hall. “I am not flirting,” she growled, cleaving her sword through the air toward me. It cut through the wall behind me as I ducked and rolled inside a nearby room. “I don’t know, Dianna.” I smirked. “It definitely makes me hard.”

She twisted in my grip. “You’re pathetic.” “Am I? Curse me if you want. Throw your hateful words. Whatever you need, I can take it.”

“You could make a river of blood run down these streets, and I would still try because I know you, the real you, not this version he created.”

“I’ll carve that damned heart from your body,” she said breathlessly. “Then you’ll leave me alone.” But she stopped a fraction from my chest, her hands and arms trembling as she panted. “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.”

“I’ll rip your tongue from your skull.” “Will you kiss me like that again while you do it?”

“Gods, you have no idea what it does to me to know you care just as strongly for me as I do for you. What’s that word you like to use so much? Oh, yes. You fucked up, Dianna. You kissed me back, which means my Dianna is still in there, buried under all that grief and hate. I will stop at nothing to have you back again. Nothing.”

“A thousand plus worlds he has seen, yet when he dreams, he dreams of you.”

You are king now, Samkiel. You must use something else besides brute force to accomplish your means. Knowledge, my son, is more powerful than what head you can cleave from its shoulders or spear you can drive through your opponent. Always try peace. If you strike first, you can never take it back.”

“Love is such a dangerous and powerful emotion. The gods curse it, for it has power. Empires have fallen for it, reduced to sand and scriptures. Worlds have burned for it, and they will once more. Love has the power to touch even the untouchable. Use it.”

Kaden took her sister from her and, in the process, stole the last link to her mortality. He took her anchor, and everyone expects her not to go mad?”

“That’s why you didn’t bring the others with you, the witch and the fate. You weren’t planning on coming back, were you? That is why you keep pushing Samkiel away. Why won’t you let him help? This is a suicide mission for you.”

“Yeah. We share everything. That’s why it has to be a soul tie for the mark to appear. The closest equivalent in your language would be a soulmate, mate, or fated love, the one person who is your equal in every way. That’s how the old gods spoke of it. The mark appears once the bond is completed and only disappears in death. It was a crime punishable by death to kill someone’s soul tie, but that didn’t stop it from happening. It was a convenient way to kill both. The surviving mate wouldn’t physically die at first, but they would eventually succumb to a broken heart. They just… stop.”

“You found me,” she choked out, the cavern trembling around us. I couldn’t help the silent sob that escaped me. “I will always find you.”

I didn’t know how long we sat there just holding each other, and I didn’t care if the place caved in with us in it. All I cared about was that she was back in my arms.

Samkiel wanted an equal, and by the old gods, they had delivered.

Neverra caught my eye, sharing every thought I had through our bond, and nodded in agreement. She was our queen now. If Samkiel chose her, we would gladly follow her through every realm and back.

“Yes, under your father’s rule. I do not follow your father any longer.” “No, you follow me.” “No, I follow her.”

I had fallen, and Samkiel caught me. I’d wanted to take us somewhere safe, and the portal had led me straight to him. Truly, though, where else did I have to go?

“Why is this still happening?” My heart thudded in my chest, and dread filled me, forcing me to step back. “I don’t want to dream of you anymore. I can’t,” I said, my voice shaking. His head cocked slightly to the side as he stepped forward. “You dream of me?”

“I would have followed you anywhere, Dianna. All you had to do was ask. Instead, you used me. You used every single bit of knowledge you had on me to hurt me, my family, and my friends. You threw things I confided to you back at me without a moment’s thought. I have been stabbed, tortured, and nearly decapitated. All in service to my home and kingdom. But nothing has hurt me as you have. Nothing.”

“I don’t. I can take your anger and hate. All I want for you is healing. I know the path you are on, and as difficult as it is, the only way out is through. And if I have to be the one who shows you that, then so be it because I will not sit by while you tear yourself apart.”

“I hate you.” “That’s good.” He lifted my hand and pressed a kiss to my palm. “At least you feel something. What else? Tell me more.” “Fuck you.” I yanked my hand from his grip.

“Judge? Not at all. The things I have done to keep myself from feeling far outnumber yours and forever will. Trust me. You’d have to live a millennium to catch up to me.” He scoffed. “You’re right that I don’t get to dictate how you heal, but gods, Dianna, you could’ve used me. I would have let you, and you know it. Anything you desired, whenever you wanted, any way you wished. All you have to do is ask.”