The Wrath of the Fallen (Gods & Monsters, #4)

by Amber V. Nicole

I felt the resurgence of an ancient medallion reformed, one I destroyed long ago.

Kaden and Isaiah stumble closer to a truth I wish to keep buried, and all I can do is watch.

My mission? Find the woman Samkiel worships and see if she can be the undoing of secrets I wish I had spoken before my demise. I must make her see, or I fear all hope shall be lost.

He was taller than any being had the right to be. From the deep black pits of his eyes, poreless pale skin, and sharply pointed crown atop his head, it was clear this was not a man standing before me.

“I heard rumors about the new age, a rebellion amongst the princes, and a newly crowned ruler. You’re the King of the Otherworld. Umemri.”

I saw it wasn’t hair but jagged spikes vibrating with his every breath. He was a genuine horror brought to life.

sound of despair left the King of the Underworld, but he cut it off as if he’d had no control over the making of it. He stood and turned toward me, his tentacles raised threateningly behind him. My eyes were drawn to the head he cradled against his chest as if it were the most precious thing in the world to him. She stared at me with wide, lifeless eyes glazed a milky white. Her features were feminine and delicate, with the same lines around her mouth that he had. I saw nothing of the monster we’d buried. I realized now why the town burned, why he’d slaughtered everyone. He was the same as any being who had abruptly lost someone they loved. The murrak hadn’t been just something to him. She was someone. From the level of his despair and anger, I suspected she was a lover, or worse, his mate.

I watched from the forest floor as my body thudded inches away from me, my head missing. I blinked as the last of my life held fast. The ground shook and hissed, splitting as steam rose. Orange runes appeared, casting a bright glow around each being. The beasts sank one by one, the ground swallowing them whole as the king and his army returned to the Otherworld. My mouth gaped open, trying to form words I could no longer utter. I blinked once more as the bird made of midnight spread its wings far too wide. My vision faded as it landed, taking the shape of a man made of darkness.

Instead of tactics and weaponry, the words bled, seeping into the worn cream parchment. I watched as they disappeared, only to return, the letters dark and thick.

She held someone more precious to me than a throne or a crown or the air I breathed. Dianna was more precious to me than any world or realm. I would sacrifice it all for her and not think twice about it.

“Don’t,” I said. I wasn’t denying the words that made me hate myself, but the threat she posed to what she held. My eyes fell on Dianna before they raked to Nismera. “She’s all I have.”

I may wield Oblivion, but it seemed Dianna controlled it. It responded readily when she was in danger, and it had since the first time she was taken from me. Now, it retreated, easing like a compliant beast beneath her touch.

The woman pressed the child closer to her, but it only caused the little girl to struggle and squeal louder. Iver raised his hand, and the guard standing to his right flinched. I saw it, and I felt Samkiel's awareness sharpen. The guard's eyes narrowed ever so slightly on the woman, not in anger but in defense. I wondered if, under his blue-tinged armor, his hair was as dark as the small girl's curls Iver's wife held so lovingly. The guard relaxed a fraction and quickly volunteered when Iver only waved an imperious hand, indicating he wanted his wife and child escorted out. No one else paid any mind to the interaction.

"If I ever give you children and you speak to me or them that way, I'll cut your cock off, fry it, and feed it to you."

"I don't find quips or innuendos about my wife humorous, Iver, and if you make crude comments about her again, I will no longer concern myself with being your ally. I will have your head, and then I will have your city."

“Why are you so happy if it went terribly?” Cameron asked, around a mouthful of food. I shrugged. “I blame it on the whole not having a soul thing.” No one in the room thought that was the least bit funny.

A bird made of midnight perched high atop a burning, steepled roof. His eyes were opaque and as cold as the air around him.

“You know, when Nismera finds him, finds you, she is going to make you both suffer for what you did, what you took.” I turned to look at her, my eyes narrowing. “What? The medallion?” “No,” she said without a hint of malice. “Him. When she’s done with you both, death will be a kindness, and that is something I heard she was born without.”

The dark man drew my attention as he shifted in his seat, resting his chin on his fist. His lips quirked, and his eyes held a seductive invitation as he stared at her. Nismera smiled at him, a glow touching her cheeks. With how the two of them looked at each other, I hoped I was wrong about her age. He was well past her senior, regardless of eternal, immortal beauty.

“The medallion allows us to travel to places that would surely invade the second your realm becomes a threat. With all due respect.”

Nydmjir. That was his name. Recollection hit, and I gasped, my breath sucked in so harshly my lungs hurt. I remembered that name. On Onuna, Reggie and I researched the history of the Ig’Morruthens and the realms. He was the son of the fallen primordial, King Ormjir, who started the War of Wars. Ormjir created and controlled the Ig’Morruthens. The first beast he made became his general.

The tear made my skin crawl and my stomach turn. My body was yanked toward it as if the medallion wished to show me where it came from. Our realm was not just a stopping point for the Primordials. It was an escape, a refuge where they could hide from what sat behind this realm, what watched and waited. I saw skin of the softest blue, the harshest red, and pale tan. There were antlers and what looked like branches nestled as a crown on another. Four great beings in four great chairs ruled over four realms.

her. It was such a silly thing to dream of someone who didn’t know the depths to which they owned you. A silly thing indeed.

“In the eyes of the realms and beyond, you have failed. You have lost The Hand, some think permanently. Your crown sits atop Nismera’s head. And worst of all, you’ve aligned yourself through blood and marriage to one of the realms’ greatest enemies.”

“Gathrriel.” It felt like all the air was sucked from the room. “No fucking way.” I shook my head. “I expected this battleworn warrior, not whatever the fuck you are.” “I am you. You are I.” My lip curled. “Last I checked, my horns stayed on the inside or…” I waved my hand in dismissal. “That’s not important. So you’re saying you’re an Ig’Morruthen? Like me?” “Not one. The first.”

“I think that’s why our attachment runs so deeply,” He said, ignoring my response. “You were manipulated, lied to, and then used for your power, just as I was. Kaden has my blood, Isaiah, as well, but they never tapped into it, not like you. We’re connected, you and I. We share the same rage. The same pain.”

“What does that mean?” “It means,” he reached out, gently caressing a strand of my hair away from my face, “that you are my shell, my conduit for what I need to finish.”

“Do not be insulted. All of this was by your design.” I shook my head in defiance. “My design?” His eyes flashed with tolerant amusement as if I were a naïve child, unaware I had offered him the world. “Yes, you cheated death. You created a tear in the veil between the living and the dead, giving me a chance to slip through.” His nostrils flared. “Although I was not the only one, it seems.”

“There is something near you,” he said, ignoring me. His eyes were fixated on me as if he were trying to solve the puzzle that was me. “It’s something that blocks me from you when you slumber, but it appears whatever it may be is not there now. That will make it easier to slip inside you.”

“I must feed to seal myself in your body. Once I have, I can use it freely and exact my revenge.” His dark, powerful voice rolled across my subconscious.

“No,” he finally said. “Not intimate love. Familial love. You care for her as a parent would a child, and she you. A false father, it seems.”

“It is forbidden,” Gathrriel said, with no hint of malice. “You damn yourself.” Reggie’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Many things are said to be forbidden.” “You will pay greatly for it. Trust me, the universe does not take kindly to its rules being disregarded.”

The surge of amusement surprised me, and I let out a snort of laughter. My husband had left me in the middle of the night to organize my birthday. “My birthday is weeks away,” I said down our bond. “I like to be prepared.”

“Your burdens are my burdens.” “For eternity and long after.”

“I wish for control again.” “Control me then. Whatever you wish.” His thumb traced my cheek. “I am only ever yours to command.” “Anything I wish?” He nodded, steadily holding my gaze, love shining in his silver eyes.

“Did I burn you?” I whispered. Samkiel didn’t even open his eyes. He just wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and said, “Burn me alive if you must. I’d gladly die by your kiss.”

“On your knees,” I said, licking at the swell of his bottom lip. “Kneel for me as I have for you.” “For eternity if you wish it.” “Not eternity,” I murmured. “Just tonight.”

wiser. I don’t know what we enjoyed more, fucking or fucking each other’s faces. Maybe both. Definitely both.

bruises. He didn’t just eat me. He devoured me, groaning as if my pussy was ambrosia and he’d die if he had to stop.

“That was the hottest sex we’ve ever had,” I panted. “Literally. The entire floor and part of your desk are burned.” He pushed up on his elbows, his lips turning down as he looked around the room. The plush rug we’d been lying on was now a fluffy layer of ashes beneath us. The walls around the chimney and mantle were burned and streaked with black. His brow smoothed out, and he looked at me with the most egotistical, shit-eating grin I had ever seen. “We should try lightning next.”

Death’s touch was a forlorn thing devoid of hope and warmth. It had been so since the day I rose. Death had followed me since then.

“What breathes life into your bones? Gives you a reason? I’ve seen your birth and your death. I’ve seen what you are willing to do, but to what end? Are you seeking a throne?”

“Perhaps a throne, but I… I think what I truly was striving for was power.” Still, Death’s nails

“I’d say family,” Alistair said, placing the blade on the crumbling table. The pale skin of his hand darkened to a deep, rich brown, and I looked up. Tobias stared at me, his skin burned and mangled. “You created a false one, trying to fill a void you dare not admit exists.” “No.”

“You formed a family built of lies and betrayal to replace the one that abandoned and locked you and Isaiah away. Did it help? Did it help repair what is so broken in you?” “Shut up,” I snarled and turned toward him, fangs and talons on display. “I don’t think it did,”

“You are cruel,” I spat. “Says one of the cruelest creatures who has ever lived,” Death snarled back, taking a step closer. His hands never left his pockets. “You are so fractured, and nothing helped, did it? Nothing fixed what ached and bled in your soul, not until…” Death’s form changed, masculine features melting into a smaller, lithe frame. Dark hair spilled down her back, a few wavy strands cascading over her shoulders. “Me.”

head. “First, I want you to save your brother before he dies.” “Dies?” My head snapped up. “He is rotting in the bowels of the god king’s palace. I need him for what’s to come.”

My soul cried out to be home or close enough to it. I missed my family so fucking much, and him… Guilt slammed into me, accompanied by another memory of terror, blood, and whispered words of love. Then, I was gone, thrown into a nightmare I couldn’t wake from. My eyes shot open, and I welcomed the burn of them as I fought sleep the rest of the night.

“Destroyed is a relative term. Like most empires, it fell and was rebuilt.” I looked at him. The way he said that and the words he used reminded me of… someone. Someone I couldn’t place.

missed my friend even as the guilt bit at my gut. How was I to tell Koa that we now loved the person who had been the instrument of Zekiel’s death? I looked away from Koa, unable to hold his gaze any longer, and my eyes fell on Athos.