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

by Amber V. Nicole

“I count every second you’re gone.”

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

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.

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.

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

The lengths I will go to for you are unfathomable.

“I can’t lose her.”

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.”

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

“Come home and teach me what you do like.”

What we did or had, it wasn’t real.”

“Do you really think you mean that little to me?”

You see death and assume it is against you, but death is natural. It is not cruel or kind. Death takes no sides. Death does not discriminate or hate. It just is, and has remained so since the first living being existed, and will be here long after. It may hurt, but it happens to all.

There is no place in this world or the next that you can hide from me, akrai.”

“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.”

We can do this dance until this world burns and the next takes its place, but I will still choose you.”

“If you are truly gone, I refuse to live in a world without you, so you’ll have to angle it further to the right. That’s where a god’s heart lies, and mine already belongs to you, so do with it what you will.”

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

I have been with countless beings, traveled between worlds, saved hundreds, and fought creatures that could swallow worlds. Yet this woman with a fiery attitude has burned me to my very core.

I was fury and desolation, vengeance and hate, beginning and end. I was death incarnate.

“I think you’re in desperate need of new friends if you think we would ever leave you behind.”

He risked his crown, his throne, and the damned world for her, because Dianna was a queen worthy of any king.

She was our queen now. If Samkiel chose her, we would gladly follow her through every realm and back.

“You caught me?” It was a whispered question, as if she couldn’t believe it. “Always.”

I’d modeled the interior after the places she had stayed and enjoyed.

I searched for you everywhere.”

“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. Things I confided to you, you threw back at me without a moment’s thought. I have been stabbed, tortured, and nearly decapitated, all in service of my home and kingdom. But nothing has hurt me as you have. Nothing.”

“You’re a fool if you think I would be happy in a world where you did not exist.”

My Ig’Morruthen.

“There is nothing in my system from Dianna that I’d wish to remove. The thought of just being a simple fuck to her makes me wish to get disemboweled repeatedly. That would hurt less.”

“You are my only priority.”

“Your smile, Dianna, is only one of the most beautiful things about you.”

“You’d give me a whole beach?” “The world, if you wish.”

“To be loved by the great Dianna would be a gift beyond imagining. Anyone to receive your love and be claimed by you would be lucky.”

I have seen the best of you, Dianna, and now I have seen the worst. I am not leaving. You do not scare me.”

“Pinkie promise.”

I’d wished for Dianna to laugh again, and hearing it now was music to my soul. What a beautiful sound. If only the gods could bottle it up, I’d get drunk off it every night.

“Sometimes you retreat so far in your head that I’m afraid I can’t reach you.”

“You didn’t just lose a sister, Dianna. I lost you in every way possible. He hurt you. He will pay for that, whether or not you think it’s acceptable. I didn’t tell you because you would have run to confront him. You’re a fool to think I’d let you near him without your powers. You mean too much to me.”

“You’re cute when you’re homicidal.”

He took my hand and raised it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to my fingers in a silent thank you.

“There is no life with you in it that would be horrible. Horrible is living without you.”

“My Dianna,” he whispered against my lips before pressing kisses to the tip of my nose, my cheek, and then my brow.

“You deserve to be worshiped like the goddess you are,” he said, pressing another kiss to my brow. “I’m not a goddess.” “You are mine.”

“Mine,” he moaned. “You are mine.”

“You are very special to me. No one feels like you. No one else can ruin me so completely. I know without a doubt that if I had an amata, even if they were alive today, I’d still choose you. It will always be you, Dianna.” I felt tears prick my eyes. “Destiny be damned?” “You are better than any destiny.”

“There is no force in this world or the next strong enough to keep me from you. Do you understand?”

I knew that even in death, I’d find no peace in the afterlife, for there was no peace without her.

You are what I’ve been searching for my entire life. You, Dianna, had my heart long before I ever touched yours.”