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

by Amber V. Nicole

I said, “So, how do you feel about being called my husband?” His face lit up. “So much better. I never have to hear you call me your friend again.”

“I love you, Samkiel, and I don’t need a soul to feel that.”

“You didn’t ruin anything. Mark or not, you are all I see, all I want. Destiny be damned, right?” “Destiny be damned.”

Today made me whole.

“I love you,” he whispered. I smiled up at him, sliding my thumb along his lower lip as if I might touch those words as well as hear them. “I love you,” I said, and even to my own ears, they sounded like a vow. It was not just three little words for us. It never was. Whatever missing fractured pieces we’d lost so long ago seemed to come slamming back into place.

“My akrai. My Dianna. My love.”

“Dianna. Gabby gave it to you, to herself. It’s real to me.”

“Samkiel Martinez. It sounds funny.” “Mhmm.” He shifted to straddle the bench, pulling me between his spread thighs and wrapping me in the warmth of his arms. “It sounds like I am yours, and you are mine.”

“A casmirah. I have only ever read about them. They are rare, mythological creatures that only fly through the sky to herald a new ruler. One flew for my father, and now one flies…” His words trailed off, his eyes darting from me to my hand, and we both stared at my ring. “Oh.”

“She is a goddess created from destruction and fear. If those she rules no longer fear her, she loses her upper hand. Now, she thinks she has gained it back,”

Kaden displayed an unseen side to him when it came to his brother. Isaiah may be the only being he truly loved, his odd obsession with Dianna aside.

There is no being more depraved and heartless than a leader protecting the people they love.”

My magic must have started to leak because Kaden dropped his hand to mine, interlacing our fingers. He took the brunt of my magic. He didn’t react to the burn, but his touch grounded me. It was such a simple gesture, a kind one, and kindness was something I did not expect from Kaden. Maybe he was right. I knew nothing of him and Isaiah.

crown on her head that garnered whispers. Silver prongs reached for the ceiling and branched off like sparkling sunlight. I had never seen anything so beautiful. Kaden made a noise in the back of his throat, and I tipped my head toward him without looking away from Nismera. “What is it?” “That crown.” He kept his eyes straight ahead, speaking around his glass. “It was my father’s.” Unir’s crown. Holy gods above and below. My mouth grew dry as she started down the stairs, taking them one by one until she reached the bottom. Every single being in her presence went to their knees, including Kaden and I, because the crown she wore told everyone exactly what and who she was now. King of the Gods.

My life and heart were not a game. My chest hurt as my reality crashed down on me. I did not want to be in this castle of a prison with a demon of a ruler who pretended to be kind. I did not want to feel for a man who had betrayed all he claimed to love and now treated me as a passing distraction. I did not want to dance and fake a relationship with my arch-nemesis.

“Fight, Vincent. Fight for something you want for once. Otherwise, let her kill you. Because this? This is not living. Not for you and not for me.”

We were in way over our heads, and there was no easy solution for the predicament each of us was in.

Maybe I was never meant for a happily ever after, but I could stand by this broken man. I would stand by him because it was already too late for me.

“If I had a coin for every time I walked in on you ruining some woman’s panties, I could buy this fucking palace.”

“Sami.” Her voice was a soothing balm that brought my thoughts to a screeching halt. “You dragged me into nothing I did not want. I chose you, Sami, and I will, over and over again.

“It changes nothing, and Veruka can mind her own godsdamn business. You stuck me with nothing I do not want. This whole saving the world and ruling kingdoms is a package deal with you, and I’d have it no other way.” “But I never asked, Dianna, and now we’re married. It was selfish.” “Not in the least. I’m a smart girl, and I knew what this came with. I’d have you with or without a crown. As long as I have you.” That warmth spread, not just in my head or through my body, but it flooded my fucking heart. This woman… she was my everything.

And I don’t care if you huff or roar or stay pissed at me. I am not the hero. That’s your job.”

Dianna was one destructive force, and Samkiel was the one who kept her and everything together. They really were two sides of the same coin.

I studied her, feeling a deep kinship snap into place between us. Dianna understood.

It was so strange to see how much she had changed. She had been a being of pure rage and wrath, and now here she was, comforting me and giving me relationship advice. Samkiel had really helped her, but he had always seen her. He had been right all along. We never knew the real her before she lost her sister. Dianna was always a protector. Now, she had the firepower to back it up.

“Samkiel’s good. He always has been, just like Gabby. They see the good in everyone and everything, and if I say I love them, I have to try to be worthy of them. So, I try every day to live up to the person they see when they look at me.

“I fear no gods and no kings.”

He was my soul given form. It was the only way I could put into words how I felt about him. It was as if a part of me lived in him.

“Samkiel, I have loved you since we left Reggie’s vortex, and sometimes, when I think about it, I think I loved you before that too.” Samkiel leaned forward, his lips pressing lightly against mine. It was not a kiss of want or need but of pure love. Even if my body was a hollow, aching thing, if no soul filled its darkness, and the only thing sustaining it was the beating of my heart, he owned every part of it, every part of me. “You own me as well.” He smiled

Vincent and I were pawns. Both of us sought punishment for our betrayal of those who had loved us, for what we helped orchestrate, and in the process, we allowed ourselves to be used to commit even worse crimes.

I had built the fear from the ground up and secured my own crown. This was paradise to me.

Kaden taught me how to survive. Samkiel taught me how to live, and now I would do everything in my power to make sure Samkiel did both.

He smiled and ran his hand under his bleeding nose. “Not an obsession. Love.” “I’m in a room with dead bodies, but that comment alone makes me want to barf.”

There is no us. No happy moments or love because I was nothing more than your puppet. A weapon you pointed and used. There was nothing. There is nothing. You. Are. Nothing. To. Me.”

By the old gods and new, I was no longer the scared girl who held back but a queen born of darkness, flame, and anger.

I had hurt Isaiah, and I had already learned in this fight that Isaiah was one of Kaden’s weaknesses. He loved his brother, and I would do everything in my power to maim him.

Satisfaction filled me, and I forced myself to my feet. I may be in immense pain, but I’d given just as good as I’d got.

“Wipe the grin from your face. I’ve been fucked harder than you hit. You’ve done nothing.”

Kaden knelt before me. I wanted to back away, but my body would not let me. “I didn’t want to fight, not really.” He reached out, brushing the blood-soaked hair from my face, and despite my inability to control my body, it shuddered at his touch. “I want you to come back in one piece. I always did.”

Kaden raised his hand, the blade carving a path to my heart, threatening to rip out the love I harbored there. He was threatening to take from me the one person who defied nature itself to help me, love me, protect me. Something snapped in me.

“I once told you that love has power, and the purest, truest of it can defy great odds. It is something I have witnessed before, and I will witness it again. If it gives power, take it. Harness it. This,” he pointed up, “is your power in the sky, no one else’s. To save her, simply call it home.” “Home?” I had asked as she leaned near the bathroom sink, hope flickering to life in my chest. She smiled then, a small half-thing that blossomed further as she shrugged, no longer trying to hide her feelings. “That’s what it feels like with you.”

I did not make Oblivion. I was Oblivion.

Every last godsdamn part of it meant keeping the ones I loved safe.

The world shook, and another peal of thunder rocked the air. The swirling mass of power in the sky halted and turned as if it had just been waiting. I threw a single arm up, and my power rushed forward, the silver racing so fast night turned into day. It crashed into my fingertips before spreading, surging into me in waves. My body claimed the power, my cells soaking in the energy.

I wasn’t going to let them just take me. My will was not to be underestimated, and I wasn’t going down without a fight.

I failed Samkiel like I failed Gabby. I should have told her I loved her more. I should have told him more. Now, I’d never get the chance.

No. I couldn’t forget. I wouldn’t. Even as my hands slipped on the hilt, I promised to claw, rip, and tear my way back to Samkiel. I swore it. My muscles finally seized. A battle lost. My arms dropped. My eyes closed. “I’ll remember that I love you.” I knew he couldn’t hear me, but I made the vow just in case.

My world. My heart. My lost soul.

“Oblivion,” Isaiah whispered. “How did you get that from Mera?” My lips curled in disgust. “I did not get it. I am it. Oblivion is not something anyone can take from me.”

Emotions, my son, run faster through the system than blood.”