The Dawn of the Cursed Queen (Gods & Monsters, #3)

by Amber V. Nicole

and as soon as his eyes opened this morning, he had stalked across the bedroom, past our balcony door, and straight to me. He hadn’t even looked at the breakfast I’d made for him before slanting his lips over mine. He’d ripped my sleep pants away and bent me over the breakfast table, cutlery, and food be damned.

Sometimes, I didn’t know where I ended and he began, but I didn’t feel like wondering about it any longer. All I knew was the world faded away when we were together, and I would burn anyone and anything to ashes to keep it.

If he was the sun, by the old gods, she was the moon. Powerful, dark, and overbearing at times. She never left him, nor he her, as if they danced around each other for eternity.

“I promise not to maim or kill anyone unless they hurt or threaten you. If that happens, I’ll burn them alive. Deal?”

that’s my girl

He looked at her as if she hung the stars. It reminded me of the texts I loved to read. The others laughed at me for it, but I’d rather dream of magical princes than whatever this life held for me.

She looked at me as if I had grown three heads. “You would go and save the King of Rashearim?” My hands dropped to my hips. “Oh, I would level the universe for him, but he told me to be good, so I’ll stick to saving him instead.”

Emotion flooded my body, and my heart skipped a beat for the first time since my mind had been taken over. As fast as it came, it was gone. His free hand reached up, gently brushing the hair away from the side of my face. I wanted to laugh. He was such a contradiction, shifting from pure brutality to tenderness so quickly. He had just turned the guards and Jiraiya into a heap of blood and limbs, and now he was touching me as if I were made of glass. “What is it about you that has me so enamored?” he asked the empty shell that was me.

Isaiah….😮‍💨🫠

My body damn near screamed for him, burned for him. I’d missed him so much. I wondered how I’d survived being denied his touch for so long and still managed to breathe.

We weren’t that far from camp, but I didn’t care. If anyone showed up and tried to take him from me, I would rip them to shreds. Gods, I could destroy the whole camp and sleep like a baby as long as I had him.

“Dianna, I care about you tremendously, and I mean this with no disrespect, but stop coddling me like a child. I am not frail or fragile. You cannot hurt or break me, not when you feed from me and not when you fuck me. I need you to stop treating me like I am made of glass. I have fought monsters that could swallow this prison whole with my arm hanging on by tendons. You can’t hurt me. I only hurt when you hurt. Your burdens are mine, such as your pain is.

He is order. She is chaos. One cannot exist without the other, and if she were to lose that, war would be the least of our problems.”

“The most powerful being in the entire realm is not the World Ender, but the one who protects the World Ender. The one who brought him back from the dead,” the oracle purred.

“I think there are a lot of people, beings, who see you, see your power, and fear it. They are used to being abused by such power, and meeting or even hearing of you frightens them. But that has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them. You are not evil and never have been. There is no question in my mind, body, or soul.”

But for Samkiel? In a heartbeat. I’d burn worlds, erase empires, and turn stars to ash if I had to.

Samkiel, World Ender, Destruction Incarnate, and the legendary God King throughout all twelve realms, was kneeling before me.

“I’ll hurt you.” My voice came out as small and damned as I felt. “Then hurt me.” Samkiel’s eyes softened, and he stepped closer, his body almost flush with mine. “But don’t leave me.”

Ablaze weapons kill almost everything. It’s safer and keeps me from worrying about you.” “You know I breathe fire and become a giant, scaly beast, right?” His brow flicked upwards behind his helmet. “Appease me, please.”

“By my blood, I am made. In sickness and in health, I am by your side. Sworn to you and no others, I am forever yours. My heart remains yours for eternity and after. Forever awaits, and from today onward, you and I will be one in heart, body, and mind. These words, this oath, are engraved on my soul.”

“You don’t need that to torment me. All you have to do is look at me, and I get hard. Your mere existence does things to me.”

“The only time I want to be responsible for your tears is when you’re a sobbing, aching mess. When I’ve made you come so many times that you weep from bliss.”

“You fear her?” “We all should. Dianna is no longer the promised princess of Rashearim or the destined queen. The other sibling has polluted her blood. What she carries within her now could turn worlds to ash if she willed it. You all should fear her as they once feared Ro’Vikiin.”