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

by Amber V. Nicole

If I must die a fiery death at her hands… I just hope I go with my Xavi.

“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.

He said try, and try, I would.

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.

Nismera clasped her hands, cocking her head toward Elianna. “What was spelled for me once more?” Elianna looked as if she wished to be anywhere but here as she folded her hands. “Umm, come get me,” Elianna cleared her throat, looking around the room, “bitch.”

How ironic was I? The boy who was so afraid of monsters in the dark that I became the very thing I feared.

“What are you going to do? Call your sister on me? You know, the one who locked you up for a week. How was that, by the way? I have to admit, that was the first time I’d felt joy in weeks when I heard what happened to you and those monsters you made. I guess it explains why you’re such a prick. Your own sister doesn’t care about you.”

“Come on my tongue, akrai,” Samkiel demanded, his hands gripping my hips tightly, holding me still for his assault.

“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.

“Tell me what makes you come harder. When I call you my Dianna…” He flicked his tongue over my pulse before pressing kisses along my jaw to my other ear, his cock slamming so deep my eyes crossed. I ran my tongue over my teeth, finding them smooth and flat. He pulled out almost to the tip before plunging deeply into me again. “Or akrai.”

Knowing how wild I made him was my favorite thing in the world. There was something so satisfying in seeing my Samkiel lose control and become absolutely unhinged, but there were consequences to driving him to this place.

All I knew was the world faded away when we were together, and I would burn anyone and anything to ashes to keep it.

He clung to me as if I were his only anchor.

“You know,” I pulled back, looking up at him, “I was just thinking, who knew the terrifying World Ender required cuddles after mind-blowing sex?”

“I asked Miska.” My head reared back, my lip turning up. “Who is Miska?” His grin widened, and his hand patted my butt. “Calm down. She’s one of the youngest healers here, and I’d say the nicest.”

“So territorial,” I said with a smirk. 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.

Samkiel needs to be if we encounter them because if they raise a weapon to him, try to hurt him, Hand or not, I'll kill them myself."

"You are amata. I'd expect no less."

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

“Even with the request to meet alone, I sense the Ig’Morruthen through these walls. She does not stray too far from you, does she? Not that I blame her,” she all but purred.

“No, she does not.” I nodded. “She’s protective.” “I’ve noticed.” The queen raised her brow. “How serious are you two?” She is my everything. The words floated across my mind, a truth that lived deeper than my flesh and bone, one buried in my very atoms.

A low growl rumbled from her throat, and I knew she was proud but pissed.

Air rushed from my lungs as we toppled over one another before coming to a stop. I groaned, pain slashing through my abdomen. The massive, dark wolf hovered above me, her piercing red eyes boring into me. Her lips were pulled back in a snarl, exposing glistening fangs.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked on a whisper. “Do you mean emotionally or physically?”

I wanted all of Dianna’s time, her smiles, her laughs, and above all, her secrets.

“You are truly amazing, Dianna. Reckless, fearless, and brave. Even if it annoys me.” A soft chuckle left her lips. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

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. He didn’t respond but smiled and shook his head before turning to me.

She seemed so normal, especially when she looked at him. I didn’t know why I was ever afraid to be around them, and now I felt silly for ever thinking that way.

“I prefer no killing, my akrai.

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

“With all due respect, akrai, do not compare me to him or what you’ve experienced with your past lovers. I don’t need nor want any other form but the one you wear daily. Do you understand?”

“You might not have, but that is how it came across. You, Dianna, my dark-haired, fiery vixen, are and will always be enough for me. No shape or form or thing you bend to will ever make any part of me swell, as you put it, like you. Understand?”

Perhaps it was truly a funny thing not to realize how broken or damaged you were until someone came along and picked up every single fractured piece and showed you how just being you was enough.

This time, when he looked at me, that swirling emotion I had expected to see deepened in his eyes. “There’s my girl.” “There’s my girl.”

“I know. That’s why it is hilarious. Sami. Please. Do you really think I am not satisfied?”

But I think my favorite thing about him was how he never seemed to want to leave Xio’s side. He looked at her as if she hung the stars. It reminded me of the texts I loved to read.

do you really think I need someone to protect me?” Cedaar made a face. “Yes. Have you met you?”

Cedaar’s eyes widened a fraction, and I wondered what the word dessert meant. “What’s dessert?” I asked Reggie. He only shook his head. “Some things are better left unknown.”

Gods above and below, I loved her even more for that.

I was half afraid that if I didn’t heal soon, she would start threatening the healers or, worse, burn the whole damn place and send it to the seafloor.

“Samkiel would have helped you, saved you and your people. He would have bent over backward to offer you peace. Unlike the old gods, he is kind and caring.” Her eyes darkened to a brutal crimson as she raised her hand. “Everything I am not.”

After what we did to Samkiel, she will not rest. She nearly leveled Onuna for Gabriella. What will she do for him?”

“Do it. You’ll only be doing me a favor. Maybe she would leave me alone for a day.”

No one escapes Nismera.” “Maybe no one has ever tried hard enough,” I said, folding my arms.

“Because I think you feel just as alone here as I do.”

We sat in silence for the rest of the meal, but I couldn’t hide the fact that both of us, betrayers at our cores, seemed to bond over the silence. Maybe it meant nothing. Maybe it meant everything.

“The mighty Samkiel, taken out by a stomachache. You’re right. You’re too weak. I must leave you now for all my other, more powerful suitors.”

“But, Sami baby, there is nothing weak about you. I think we are both used to doing everything alone, even taking care of ourselves. So help feels strange. You know I’ll be here when you’re healthy and strong and also when you’re sick and need me to pick up the slack, all right?”

“Your burdens are my burdens, and we take care of each other, okay?” I clasped her pinky with mine and nodded. “Promise.”