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

by Amber V. Nicole

keeping her safe from the council. Those shady bitches wanted her head. Sure, maybe I was sleeping with one of them as a distraction from what I was feeling for my best friend, but everyone has problems, right? Anyway, let me get back on topic.

Kabitch—sorry, my pen slipped—Kaden

Yeah, you heard me right. Papa Unir was not just getting hot and sweaty and making one kid. No, no, he had three. Three hell-bent children set on making Samkiel and all of us pay dearly for his crimes.

I know Dianna is still out there. I know she will want retribution for Samkiel’s death, and a part of me hopes she burns this whole fucking thing to the ground. If I must die a fiery death at her hands… I just hope I go with my Xavi.

Pet. Always a pet. I wondered if that was truly how she saw me, but I knew the answer. Missed me was a loose term. Nismera never loved like others, never cared like others. She used what she had, and when she could no longer use it, she eradicated it.

What I’d done in this room with her had been out of survival, duty, and perhaps a belief that I deserved it.

Her finger curled beneath my chin, and even though it was but a small, simple digit, I could feel the power beneath her touch. I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that with one flick, she had the strength to fling my head off my shoulders and toss it across the room as if it were nothing, as if I were nothing. I knew I was nothing to her.

Nismera was king of all twelve realms now and wanted to make sure everyone knew it.

the sky bleeds silver now. The World Ender is dead, and The Hand of Rashearim now walks around blindly, listening to every demand like a whipped hound.

Ehhhh, half right

“The East? What happened in the East?” “The World Ender had a lover and not just a fling like in his past. They say she is a beast made of flame and hate, and she followed you lot back. His beast. The female Ig’Morruthen.” Dianna. He meant Dianna.

Samkiel was a light. He promised peace and change, and I had helped snuff it out. A part of me hoped I burned in Iassulyn for eternity for it. Another part of me knew Dianna would hunt me, hunt us all like she did for her sister. I would be lying if I said I wouldn’t welcome it.

Isaiah whistled low. “You seem uptight, Mera. It’s been weeks. Shouldn’t you be the least bit happy? Big brother’s home and all the realms now belong to you.”

Jiraiya was the councilman who, like the others, tricked Samkiel into thinking they worked for him, but Nismera had ruled The Order since The Gods War. She had put her people in place, securing their seats one by one without being caught until only her sept held power. She was a master strategist who had taught me well.

“He’s so puny.” Isaiah sighed next to me. “It couldn’t have been pleasurable.” I glanced at Isaiah. He studied Jiraiya with a predator’s intent before glancing at Imogen again. “Why do you care?” “Call it curiosity.” He shrugged.

I still think Isaiah & Imogen will get together

“Ah, so Mera told you about that.” Isaiah merely shrugged. “She’s just fun. Plus, the things she does when you pull her tail are very satisfying.” My gaze bored daggers into him. “She’s one of the High Guards. I told you not to shit where you eat.” “Says the one who turned and fucked Samkiel’s mate.”

Touché

But you know who was spotted? Eyewitnesses said a large, dark, scaled Ig’Morruthen flew across the sky before landing. She then proceeded to dismember my loyal soldiers and spread their remains across the field in a warning.”

“Do you know what happens to the psyche of an amata when the other is slain? No, you don’t because you don’t have one.”

“My apologies, king.” The last word I enunciated with a smirk. “Why do you insist on that title?” “Because it was one all aspired to have. Why change it now?” Nismera shrugged. “Besides, I love watching the lords curl their lips when they hear it. Since I have a pussy, they prefer queen, but we all know in our world the title of king holds more power.”

“We,” she enunciated, “have missed you.” “I technically missed you more,” Isaiah added, cutting a glance toward Nismera. “She’s been quite busy, and I’ve asked every day since that damn portal sealed when you were coming back. I even have the place marked where it closed because it was the last place I saw you.”

Cute, if a fucked up family can even be called that

He used that damn power of his whenever he could, bending blood by pure will, honing it to perfection. Nismera told me how he didn’t even have to touch anyone anymore to make their blood boil or, worse, rupture.

“I have a blade,” I said, and Isaiah sat up straighter. “It has runes engraved on the sides. Think the words of Ezalan, but more. I could erase all her memories and replace them. She would want only to serve you, I swear it.

DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE KADEN

of. I had grown up with so much light, Unir and Zaysn the epitome of it. Then he shoved us into Yejedin, and the light went out, where only darkness, the scratch of nails along stone, and flames, hot smoldering flames, existed. How ironic was I? The boy who was so afraid of monsters in the dark that I became the very thing I feared.

I suppressed the healing of my wounds a little longer just to feel the pain.

I hated myself.

No, the worst punishment was that I didn’t even get to say goodbye.

Xavier was gone, and no one would tell me where. “Oh.” Isaiah snorted. “I know four men that look just like him. We’ll get him a replacement.” Kaden made a mocking face. “You can’t. The little hunter is in love.”

Samkiel’s death will have broken her. We all saw what Gabby’s death did to her. Dianna will find us and make everyone pay. She’s probably slaughtering her way through realms as we speak.”

“Fuck,” I gasped. “You’re supposed to be eating breakfast.” Another swipe of his tongue had my body bucking with helpless pleasure. “I am,” he practically purred against my swollen, wet flesh.

It felt so good, too good. This was bliss, and I was going to die.

akrai,”

“This is what I need. You. Just you. I want to bury my cock in you balls deep. Then I want to fuck you until you can’t walk. I want you to feel me for days, akrai.”

I held onto him harder, focusing on the feel of him, the sounds he made, and how I’d never hurt him like that. Never. Never. Never.

my Dianna…”

akrai.”

my Samkiel

“That’s my girl,” he groaned. “My pretty, pretty girl.”

“Look at you, taking every fucking inch of me.”

“That’s it. Come for me again. I want to feel it,” Samkiel demanded. “Give me what I want.”

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.

I didn’t know they had a name, but we had talked a lot over the last six weeks, and Samkiel had told me what the adyin were. They trailed all through his body, swirling thin lines, godly marks that manifested when his power was roused.

akrai.

He flicked my nose before kissing it. “I don’t share the naked sight of you with fate or otherwise. Now let’s get dressed.” “Yes, my liege,” I said, lowering my voice like Reggie’s. “That’s not funny.” “It’s kinda funny,” I quipped, following him out.

I do not fear your wretched king. Know and tell all, I will hunt every being who wears her colors or screams her name in praise. I will feast on you and your loved ones, making you watch as I do it. Nismera will be a footnote in history, and all who follow her will die screaming."

I also knew the one harrowing truth that would make even Samkiel hate me if he knew of it.

"You are amata.

What about the mark?!?

"Oh, I say, yeah, babe. So we had a mark. It only formed when you died, and I threatened the universe to get you back. It was there for a while, then disappeared, and fate and I have no idea what that means. Oh, by the way, did I mention you died?"

"I do know one thing more than any," I said, holding his gaze. "What's that?" "No matter what, I will kill anyone and everything to make sure she doesn't find him. Even if he hates me or I die in the process."

"My visions are sporadic. Some come in waves or fragments, but they are all broken."

"If I'm your role model, you're definitely fucked."

Dianna was my queen, the only one who would receive that title from me, the only one I’d bow to.