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

by Amber V. Nicole

She chose me and has every day from the moment she laid eyes on me. She left you then and never once looked back. Not. Once.”

“You stole our amata mark, so I did the next best thing. She is my wife, my only, and she will never again be yours. Never.”

With just her touch, the cold rage of battle was replaced by peace and comfort. I

She did not fully understand the lengths I would go for her. Destroying a world was not even a fraction of it. She thought me a hero, but a hero would defy others for the greater good. She was mine, and for her, I’d do the unthinkable. My strong, fierce, beautiful girl who thought she could take the world on all by herself. Only she had me now, and gods above and below help anyone who thought they could hurt or take her from me.

“It had to look convincing. Nismera is brutal. We have to match that to trick her. Besides, it was a simple regeneration spell. A child could do it.” He nodded. “I hated that plan.” “It had to be convincing,” I said again. He had been so against this plan that I knew nothing I said right now would make him feel better. “I didn’t mean what I said.” Tears filled his eyes, and not knowing what else to do to help him, I pressed my lips to his. I pulled back just enough to whisper, “I know.”

“You think I made a weapon for a fate? You’re as dumb as you look. I made a weapon to bridge a gap, to fix what you broke.”

“You’re out of time.” He smiled at me. “The true king has returned.”

We had dared to touch her, and now there was no mercy in the creature I faced.

This man had been tempered, tried, and driven to the edge. He was a god in the true sense of the word: terrible, beautiful, and overflowing with power. We were all wrong. She was so wrong.

despite what vile, vicious lies Nismera has planted into your brain, I am not the bad guy here. I never was. I love and protect those who seek it, and I love and protect my family with everything I have.”

You’re supposed to protect the world, not me.” “You are my world.”

He was my sword, my shield, my heart, and my home.

“No, I was scared I wouldn’t be able to tell you. You are the love of my life, Samkiel. You are it for me, and I don’t always have the pretty words to tell you, but I can show you every single day.”

“I witnessed it once, the future and how peace could be attained. Dianna is a flame that will spark a revolution,”

“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.”

“Because of them. The brother has slaughtered his blood. It seems to be a repeat of the family tradition,

“And so Death intervenes, as does fate.”

“What of her soul?”

“Soul?” Death tsked. “The fractured thing it is. It’s a jagged, crushed thing, the remnants buried within him.” My back straightened, and Death caught it. My mind whirled. I had not seen that outcome either. “Her soul is in Samkiel?” “What is left of it. Two beings in one. It seems Samkiel was strong enough to bear it,”

She forfeited the mark for the power to split her soul, and then she tied it to his life. Dianna resurrected Samkiel. As much as I hated being bested, it was both terrifying and intriguing to witness something that has only happened once before. The love she has for him is a power.”

“Love has power. We have both witnessed empires rise and fall for it. And the love that Dianna has for him is a power. Just like Vvive’s.”

“But Dianna laughs, breathes, and loves. She is not just flesh and⁠—” “And she is void. As was Ro’Vikiin, a soulless, empty monster,” Death interrupted and then paused. “My apologies. I mean, Gathrriel was void before Vvive. He died on that battlefield, and when Vvive split her soul to save him, the mark formed.

Samkiel dies, and Dianna, refusing to accept that reality, absorbs the power of her mark and merges the pieces of her soul that his passing hadn’t shredded. She lef...

If there is too much separating, the body realizes it’s void. It tries to revert to its most basic, primal urges.”

“Some primal instinct knows that her soul lies within him, her true morality.”

Besides, time is my counterpart. It fades the pain I inflict until those who are used to me welcome me as a friend. I am infinite, and he will mourn and move on. They all do.”

“Samkiel is not his father.”

So I did what I must. Dianna, as you all call her, was meant to rule. Do you think she was meant to be Ig’Morruthen? He, a living corpse? No, Nismera interfered. She spread lies and deception through the House of Unir, and it worked. She gathered and honed her power for eons, and now we must interfere. I do not wish to witness another War of Wars.”

“It will not matter once Samkiel finds out about her fate. That is what he will focus on, the war be damned. She is all he sees. He loves her, truly loves her.”

Gabby loved me, but I had never been loved like Samkiel loved me. No one had cared for or protected me as he did.

“The dead have much to discuss with you, Daughter-in-law.”