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October 29 - November 5, 2025
He wasn’t just my husband and best friend, but a part of me, and as joy filled me, I realized that even a second away from my amata made me irritable.
“I see no king here,” Samkiel answered. His eyes flicked to Kaden and Isaiah in both warning and irritation. “And even if there were, kings do not bow before kings. So my brothers and I will remain standing. We do not bow.”
“It seems he is everything the stories say, Brother. The stories also spoke of your beauty, son of Unir.” She leaned forward, placing her chin on the top of her hand, one long, lean leg crossed over the other. “It’s a pleasure to witness it in person,” she purred. This bitch. Was she flir— Samkiel didn’t even spare her a glance. “I cannot say the same,” he said, his eyes still locked on Umemri.
realms. Our last resort may very well be The Eye, but the rebels had gone quiet since Samkiel’s light burned across the sky.
“Does it ever bother you that everything you enjoy about your wife, your brother taught her first?”
“I’ll have your tongue for that,” Samkiel said. “I don’t think it’s mine you should be worried about,” Umemri said, tossing another smirk at Kaden. “And by the time Nismera is done with your pretty wife, you won’t even have a skull to fuck. I will have my vengeance, and you will pay greatly for it.”
“She’s pretty, Samkiel. I’ll give her that. Prettier than most you’ve claimed, but you’re dumb to love, especially with all the enemies you have accumulated. You’ve put a target on her, giving them an image of your most perfect weakness.” “You touch her, and there will be nothing left for your siblings to mourn,” Samkiel seethed.
“Are you planning to send a swarm of flies at us next? A horde of beetles? You’re nothing but a pest, Umemri. A pest who got lucky. Your other siblings grew old and weary with age, and you finally managed to get an upper hand. Blow me. Actually, can Eryx resurrect your dead wife? Then I can have her do it for me. How do those pincers work? It would be new for me.”
“Isaiah. Don’t embarrass him. You know he will not strike first because, regardless of what armies he claims to have, he knows the damage they would all suffer if Samkiel unleashes Oblivion.” Kaden stepped even with Isaiah, his eyes boring into Umemri. “And trust me, he will. You touch her, you threaten her, you threaten us all, and he will destroy you and your realm. Something tells me a part of you fears that.”
“Go on,” Samkiel said, his voice thick and heavy, cutting through the room like a blade. “Threaten my wife and brothers again.”
“My allegiance lies with the Otherworld. It always will,” Eryx said, his eyes sliding over me with a look that made me wonder if he wished for something different.
“I am sorry, Xavier, but it looks like Samkiel is a traitor to the realms.” I swallowed hard. “No, there has to be an explanation.”
He did not want me. He never had. Our friendship, in its entirety, originated in guilt and was built on a lie.
“Were you guys in love? Is that why you won’t give Blayne the time of day?” I couldn’t help the heartbroken grimace that twisted my face, nor could I miss the sympathy in hers. “Oh, it’s worse than that. You two never were.”
Have they forgotten about me? I thought they loved me. They are my family.”
Bruh
“You’ve watched me sleep?” I asked with a snort of amusement. I’d never known Vincent to blush, but pink stained his cheeks as what he’d said clicked. “Well… I…” He swallowed. “Yeah. I mean, I wanted to make sure you were okay. Is that weird?”
She stood there, staring at Elianna’s heart resting on her blood-covered palm. Her eyes flicked up, and she glared at us through her lashes. “You know, I always wondered if she had one.” She shrugged and tossed the fleshy mass to the ground. “Guess we know now.”
“I can’t do this, any of this, without you.” “Camilla.” His thumb swept across my cheek. “You are one of the most powerful women in any realm, and you can do anything. You have more power than I think either of us truly realizes.” “And we both know what that power can do, how isolating it can be. Vincent, I don’t feel alone when I am with you. I can’t be alone again.”
“This isn’t the time or place, but I know I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve your protection.” Tears filled his eyes, and he nodded before checking behind us again. “I love you. I think I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you in that dress. And because I love you, I can’t let you die for me. You have to leave me.”
“So, she is the one you were so desperate to save, huh? Really? This is her?” “Yes,” Samkiel said. “Not that pretty and far too lean. My sister is prettier and at least she has breasts,” Ennis said with a frown. My lip curled. “Ew. Sounds like you want to fuck your sister.” Ennis snarled at me. “You know, I wondered about that, too,” Samkiel quipped.
yet every cell in my body screamed for Imogen. Go! Run! Get her! Get her!
Desperate to get to her, I stalked through the carnage and cupped her face, wiping away the tiny red splotches marring the perfection of her skin. “There you are,”
A figure wearing shining silver armor was caught in a beam of bright light, his head thrown back and his arms spread out to his sides, clearly unconscious as he was pulled toward the ship. They were taking Samkiel.
This Dianna was not the one who had begged me for her sister’s life. She was not the one who, at one point, looked at me with affection, even if it was a pale imitation of how she looked at Samkiel. No. Dianna was not mine.
“You are not thinking clearly.” “But I am. I followed warships with no regard for myself because I knew what they were taking meant more to me than myself, and no, I didn’t care what they held or what happened to me, let alone you two.”
Isaiah made a rude gesture in his direction, which Cameron returned. I swore that if they weren’t mortal enemies and Isaiah a complete and utter psychopath, they would probably be best friends.
A flame flickered to life in a dark, empty house, one I kept carefully locked and quiet.
“Don’t do that.” Kaden said, and my head jerked toward him. He was looking at the thumb I held between my teeth, and I dropped it. “What?” I said, exhausted with the back and forth between us. “The plan? We agreed.” “No.” He shook his head. “Don’t doubt yourself. Not now.” I blinked, unsure I heard him right. “You wish to rule these realms beside him? Build a kingdom and have the life you’ve always wanted? Then take it.
He would not want me to choose him over the world, but was he blind? How could he not see he had become just that to me?
“I have to get it, but I promise no tricks.” “How do we know you’re not lying?” “Because you have a knife to the throat of the one thing I cannot live without.”
It took a moment for me to notice the shadows stirring, darkness slithering from every corner. My grip on him tightened, and he struggled to shift, trying to protect me with his body as a slender form stepped from the darkness and strode forward. Her features were lost in the shadow of her hood, and the black of her tight leather clothing seemed made of the same shadows she had emerged from. I could see the wavy ends of her brown hair as she looked down at me. The multiple blades strapped in various sheaths along her arms, legs, and torso gleamed. There was not a smear of blood on them. They
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“Do you not feel it? Does your magic not sing? That feeling of what’s coming, what she will bring. It is not Nismera you should fear. There is a power shift on the horizon. Lines are being drawn, and sides are being chosen. Dianna now controls three of the strongest beings in these realms. I want to be on that side.”
“Dianna owns my heart and my cock. You can have neither, and if you attempt to touch me again, I’ll stop worrying about a peace treaty with you. Now, get dressed. You’re insulting me and embarrassing yourself.”
“The only queen we have or need is Nismera, and when she’s through with your Dehlia, you’ll be crawling back to me.” “I never got on my knees for you, Milani, and I won’t start now.”
And as the sun rose on the next day, I plotted just how to kill my brother without losing the love of my life.
“It’s a neurotoxin. It seeps into your blood, learns, and then poof! Once it hits a certain level in your body, it dulls your powers and is designed to trigger pain specific to the individual. Isn’t that so cool?”
she had and where she’d gotten it. “Nismera gave me a present,” she said. Milani twisted the dagger as if that would help the magic seep faster into my blood, and perhaps it did. My vision blurred as a deep, aching pain sliced through my head. She leaned forward as the poison continued to leach into my body. “You will love only me, want only me. For eternity.” My mind grew fuzzy, but I heard her whispered chant. She repeated it over and over as if she hoped that speaking the words at the right time would enslave me to her.
The last thing I saw was her cruel smile before something cold and malevolent slithered through me, searching for the one thing I cherished most. My memories of Dianna.
“Oh, that’s a good idea. After we discuss what I need from you, I think I will, although I may need practice. I haven’t taken him in a while, and if I remember correctly, he is a tight fit. We’ll need to take it very, very slow. Ennis, make her a place in my room later. I want her to watch.”
“Oh, my warships are not meant for splitting realms. They’re for bringing her entire army over and decimating worlds. The energy beams I’ve made could rival even the Oblivion my beautiful World Ender wields.” She leaned up, placing a kiss on Samkiel’s cheek before settling. Milani turned back to me, her head resting against his chest. “The medallion opens the door, obviously,” she said, waving a hand as if I were the dumb one. Yet all I’d had to do to get her to tell me everything was to mock her until I pissed her off.
nodded. “Oh, so that’s what she needed the medallion for,” I said, my eyes connecting with Samkiel’s. “It appears so,” he said, lifting his hand to wipe his mouth. Milani gaped at us both, realization slow to sink in. “What is this?” My silk bonds sizzled, and I stood up, brushing the ash from my skin. Ennis pointed the remote at me, repeatedly pressing the button. “Oh, this?” I asked, ripping the collar from around my neck. “It’s called deception, or a smaller word for you, lying.”
Samkiel strode to my side and placed a kiss on my temple, openly claiming his rightful queen before the one who tried to take him. Pieces of metal pinged off the shiny stone floor as he gripped his collar and yanked. Matching armor slid over our bodies, and I imagined we probably looked like two avenging gods.
“Don’t you smell that?” I asked. “That rancid odor? I created a system of leaks yesterday. Small nicks in your gas lines. Not enough to alert immediately, but enough to fill every chamber here. It was a trick I used when I killed Tobias in Yejedin.” Milani’s eyes widened as Samkiel stood behind me and rested his hand on my hip. Ennis was already rushing toward her, but it was too late. “Tell me, Milani. Are you or your brother fireproof?” She swallowed, sweat forming on her forehead. “Because I am.” I lifted my hand, and with a snap of my fingers, a flame erupted on the tip. And the room
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Explosions rocked the sky, clouds bubbling with bright orange flames and ashy smoke. She had not just come to my rescue, but to make a statement. The rightful queen had returned to these realms and, with her reign, they would either kneel or they would burn. Gods above and below, I fucking loved that woman.
Samkiel. If I have to put you above the world, your crown, and what they demand of us, then so fucking be it. I will let it all burn, Samkiel, and I mean that. You may be their champion, but I am your sword and shield as much as you are mine.”
The magic sought to replace who I am with what magic lived in that dagger, but it didn’t work because you are more than memories, akrai. You are more than flesh and blood to me. You have imprinted on my very soul. My heart beats for you. I breathe for you, and there is no force, no magic in this world that could erase you from me. So there is no need to worry or be jealous ever. If I had found you first, there would have been no one else. No one to receive your jealousy or spark it. You are and will always be the ruin of me.”
“You don’t hate me?” she asked, and I realized that she feared I would see her as a monster, but I never had, nor would. “I could never hate you,” I said. “Even when I wield you as my weapon?” Her voice was soft, as if she hated herself for what she had planned. “You can use me whenever or however you wish.”
In a flurry of wings and flames, Dianna returned to the sky. I knew what it meant even if she did not. Cameron was loyal to the core, and he had stepped in to ensure that she was treated appropriately in my absence. Dianna was my queen. If anyone disrespected her, they disrespected me, meaning they would be met with the consequences if they abused their power. I was the consequences.
Not giving him the chance, I gripped his jaw and held it open. I grabbed his tongue and ripped.
Sorry, Kaden, she wouldn’t fuck you on your best day.” “Go fuck yourself,”
