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

by Amber V. Nicole

“So we have a major fight, argue, and three days later, you drag me out to an abandoned, broken city to propose to me and kill some infesting bug species?”

“Not just that. We are here to retrieve the last officiant in the realms that can perform the Ritual of Dhihsin.”

“We are to me,” he said, not missing a beat. “We can still perform it. The mark will not appear, but in all ways, you will be what you call in your world my wife.”

“Yes. If we cannot share the mark, I want the next best option. I want everyone who encounters us to know who we belong to. I want something that can protect you when I cannot. I thought I’d made my intentions very clear?”

“I swear to you, you will have the most extravagant ceremony when we all can be together once more. I’ll move every star for that day.” He closed the distance between us and grabbed my hands. “But right now, we don’t know when or if we will have time for this again. Every time we get a brief bit of happiness, it is ripped from us. I refuse to wait anymore. I want you, all of you. I love you, all of you, and if I have to carve out time for this, for us, by the old gods and the new, I will do it.”

“Yes, in my tradition, it is part of the ceremony. The partner who proposes has three tasks they have to complete. One, they have to find a precious gem for their intended, and it has to be rare. That is a sign of how they view their intended. Your stone can only be found at the center of one very active and nasty lava pit. Two, they are to take care of the event itself. In doing so, they prove they are capable of taking care of their partner. Three, they handle the attire. If their partner doesn’t like what they have chosen, it is said that they do not truly love or know their intended, and the ceremony is voided.”

I had never been loved like this.

I truly didn’t deserve this man, but I no longer cared. He was mine, and I was keeping him.

I didn’t have pretty words to offer him, and I sucked at revealing my emotions, so I did what I always did and said, “I am going to fuck you senseless.”

“Ravage me after the ceremony.”

“Mine,” I snapped, making sure my eyes flared a vivid red.

“Just go get her before I burn her alive, and we have to do the ceremony ourselves.” “Yes, akrai.”

“Unless you don’t help us get married, then I might.”

“You will be,”

“You left me to go house hunting and wedding planning after we’d just had a major fight?”

“I would burn the world for you,”

“I want you to make this your new home… I want you to make this our new home. Fill it with laughter and joy like only you can. I want to fight with you here, love with you here, and fill it with our family. Only you can give me this, Dianna. I can give you the house, but only you can make it our home.”

I turned toward Samkiel. “I already love our new home.”

He was always behind me. I could face anything, knowing he stood at my back. He was my shield, my strength, and soon he would be my husband.

“It’s beautiful,” I said. “No, that’s the wrong word. It is stunning, Samkiel.” He beamed and placed a kiss on my cheek. “Just as you are.”

“I know you broke your wrist when you were young, protecting your sister. You showed me where the scar was when we were in that small motel on Onuna, and you were trying to make me feel better about my outburst. I know the ocean is your favorite place, even if it still hurts you. When you were young, you lied and said that you and Gabriella had the same birthday so that people would think you were twins. Pasta was the first thing you learned to cook, but baking is your favorite. You prefer silk over most fabrics, leather over rough jeans, and you think that one of the best perks of immortality is that you can wear heels for hours and your feet never hurt.”

“I told you. I always listened, even when you thought I wasn’t.”

“It’s perfect.” I smiled at him, no longer talking about the dress.

now. I was the person who scoffed at the idea of love and forever mates, and here I am, in a castle, getting ready to marry the one person I cannot live without.”

Our family may be small right now and a little broken, but it’s a family that will always stand by you.”

“Like you have found your home.”

“I can tell you with a hundred percent accuracy that there is no vision I have ever seen where he changes his mind about you.”

Samkiel was breathtaking.

My nerves melted away the moment our eyes locked. A smile that made my cheeks hurt spread across my face. He looked at me as if I were the most beautiful thing in the world. I hoped he saw the same adoration in my gaze. I didn’t know how I’d ever looked at or touched another before him.

This was it. He was it. He was my everything.

All I saw was Samkiel.

He lifted me when all I wanted to do was fall.

This was love. This was what it felt like. What it was supposed to feel like. I finally understood why others would go to war for it and clash or rage at its demise.

I knew if I lost him and his love, the universe would quake at th...

I leaned in, back in my husband’s arms once more.

“I’d sell the world to see it every day.”

“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 just love you.”

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

“We’re married.”

He was my missing piece, and he was finally where he belonged, utterly and completely with me. I finally understood why mates went insane, why they raged, and why they broke when they lost it.

My eyes locked onto his as if I finally learned to breathe once more, and I wondered if it would feel even better during sex.

“I did not mean what I said back then. I do trust you more than anyone. I was just hurt. My entire family has lied and kept things from me. I... you… I just wanted you to be different.”

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

“You still want me?” He bit at his bottom lip and lifted one brow. “Yes, why else would I marry you?”

“I hope she keeps you humble.” “She does.”

“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.”

“That means I am your queen, yes?”

“Therefore, you obey your queen, right?”

“I wondered what would happen if you came back and saw me utterly drenched at the thought of you?”