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

by Amber V. Nicole

You might as well have twisted a blade in a forever-healing wound.” Another punch. “How you snuffed that fire from her eyes and left hate in its wake. You have no idea how deeply you have wounded her. She still carries the jagged, broken pieces you left behind after all the years of your lying and deceit. Do you know how long it took before she would allow me to even attempt to tend the festering wounds you left behind? How they still crack open from time to time because of you.”

“Because of how she is who she is. You felt it too. I know you did. I know how fucking miserable you were when you were locked away. Me fucking too. Dianna does that. She shows up, and gods above and below, she refuses to leave, to give up. She is light, Samkiel. I know you felt it too, because I did. When I met her, it was as if she chased every gods damn demon I had, and I fell. Hard. Fast and…”

It seems I can’t bury or get rid of these damn feelings, any more than I can die. They keep coming back, eating at what damned, rotten soul I have.”

He yanked a blade from his chest strap and grabbed my hand, slapping the hilt into my palm. He jerked it forward, placing the tip over his heart. “Do you think I want these feelings? By all means, Brother, cut them from my chest. Carve out the heart that still beats only for her. I beg of thee.”

Bruh

“Not pity, but a fraction of understanding. Once again, I am begging you to let Isaiah have the life and freedom our father denied us. I am damned and far past the point of gaining any forgiveness. I deserve that, I do, but he doesn’t. Take my life again and let that be payment for his. I am not asking for a way out for me. It’s too late, and I have accepted what happens afterward, but I’d beg for him. He deserves a chance.”

For every win I gained, I suffered a loss at the hands of this wretched bitch. As long as Ayla lived, my reign would not.

own. Thick hands slid around my waist, his fingers connecting at my lower abdomen. A chest made of corded muscle and raw power pressed against my back. His face dipped to my neck, and I tipped my head as he pressed a kiss to the curve of my shoulder and another near my ear. “Apologies for being late,” Blayne said. He was the third strongest of the gods after Athos and Kryella, my advisor, confidant, and lover. “Do you weep at my absence?” “Always.” I turned my head toward him in answer. Half-lie, half-truth was always how I played this game, and Blayne was no different.

“The things they whisper, what they say, make no sense. Out of context dribble, I’m surprised they’re not drooling on themselves.” My hands tightened on his arms as I stared at the statue of my former lover, unable to contain my disgust. “They cry and scream, mumbling words of darkness and despair. War looms and worlds end. And her fucking name.”

As long as Ayla lives, your reign will end.

“I think I died on that mountain fighting Dianna. At least for a little while, and all I saw, all I thought about, was getting back to you. I don’t really know how mating bonds work. I’ve only ever been enslaved to a goddess, but I think if I were allowed to have one, it would be you.”

“You’re it for me and have been for a while,” he went on. “From the moment I saw you, I knew I was done, and you didn’t even look at me that night. But I watched, following you like a phantom cloaked in shadows. I think I have been following you my whole life, desperately waiting for you to turn around and see me.”

Tell me what you want, Camilla. Tell me where to go, and I’ll follow on hands and knees if I must. My life, my sword, all of it is for you. I will serve you and only you until you have no more need of me or death claims us.”

“Are you not hungry?” I asked, looking up at him. “I just ate,” he said smugly.

again. And just to make this perfectly clear, you do not get a say over Imogen and what she does." "Gods, I'd think you were jealous if you didn't constantly whine and scream Dianna's name like a whimpering hound."

Samkiel had done this. He brought peace in a time of war, and the cities we had been to, the people we helped, could finally laugh, joke, and play peacefully here.

This is sok scary bc ofc it wont last

“Well, you sure know how to flatter a girl.” Her eyes cut to Isaiah. “Unlike your brother.” I couldn’t keep the smirk from my lips. I did not come here for flirting, yet it seemed that was her native tongue, and I would be lying if I said it wasn’t both flattering and fun.

Kaden.....

“I already pledged my allegiance, but it is not to Samkiel. It is to his queen. Her, I will follow. Her, I will fight for.”

“It could be worse. We took care of Gathrriel, and your father probably got dragged back by Death, so we probably won’t have to deal with either of them.” “True.” Samkiel nodded.

I leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips before pulling back slightly. His eyes opened, and he smiled, placing a hand on my back. “What was that for?” Kissing him again, I said, “I just love you, and I don’t think I can tell you enough.”

“If you’re about to argue with me, I have already lost, and you can have anything you wish.” I laughed. “That’s all it takes? Me being topless?” He looked as if I were insane and nodded. “I am but a weak man for you, akrai.”

“Eat me out if I’m wrong,”

“What was that for?” I asked, my breath coming in soft pants. “I love you,” he said, mimicking my earlier words. “I don’t think I tell you enough.”

and I could have sworn I saw Blayne twitch.

“Absolutely not. Would a mouse open its home to a snake in good will? Venom, regardless of what you say here, is and will always be your nature.”

She had sown doubt within the council of gods, and if Samkiel wielded Oblivion even in defense, it would seal his fate. They would no longer see Nismera as a threat, but an ally who had warned them of what was coming. And then they would hunt him.

Im gonna rage

heading toward the dungeon and Imogen again. It didn’t matter what we did or how many lectures Samkiel subjected him to, Isaiah wouldn’t stay away from her. Isaiah shifted into a large furry beast every night and would sleep outside Imogen’s cell. He hadn’t slept in his room once since he’d brought her back.

“I saw it,” I said before he could ruin everything. He frowned. “Saw what?” “What I always thought you had in you. The potential.”

“Careful where you venture, Brother,” Kaden said to Samkiel. “Searching for the dead sometimes leads you closer to the afterlife than you want to get.”

Those are like ants compared to her warship. Some say she was preparing to use it to cross dimensions, and guess where it is now?” She flicked a brow up, looking at both of us, but we just waited. “In pieces, scattered all over the ground. That being, that power, is who I want to follow.”

Agony, immeasurable and boundless, consumed my skin, my bones, and my soul. I didn’t know when I’d fallen to my knees and gathered her into my arms, but I held my amata and child tight against my chest when I threw my head back and screamed my vow of vengeance. War began. Well, I started the war, in all its unholy glory. I immersed myself in the violence, raising hordes of Ig’Morruthens and leading them into battle after battle against the gods. We won, and we lost in an endless cycle of death, but no matter how much blood I sacrificed in her name, the pain never eased. It wasn’t until I held the head of her father, his face frozen in death, that I realized how deep my wounds were. I had finally killed the being that had taken everything I held dear, and it still was not enough.

Unir and… oh, gods. Two forms stood with him. All of them dressed in the same hooded garbs. I turned toward a woman with bright green eyes, her gaze boring into mine. The witch. She had helped me. “They will taint your bloodline.” The world is hot and bright and screaming new where they are. “They will make it anew.” A baby wailed, and I watched Unir wrap a newborn in a soft blanket, a tiny little girl with silver hair.

“Yes, and no. I saw a figure, a witch, and Unir holding a baby. A baby with… silver hair. I think it was Nismera, and I don’t know what it means.”

“You’re not my husband.” “Nope.”

Long silver locks replaced his dark hair. Nismera.

hips. I curled my hand into a fist and kissed the shining ring encircling my third finger. I was so grateful I was able to have it made before I lost Killium. It symbolized our pledge to each other, committing ourselves to one another for all eternity, and I was grateful it allowed me to speak to her. I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t still counting every second she was out of my sight, but then I had been doing that from the moment she had exploded into my life.

“Is this what you’ve been reduced to? The King of the Otherworld sends his tiny bugs to do his bidding?” “Ah.” He smiled. “So you did see?” “I have seen each and every one since we left the Otherworld,” I said, finally turning fully to face him. “On every windowsill of every boarding house we stayed at, every railing post, every camping site. I just assumed you’d have the balls to actually show. I didn’t take you for such a coward.”

“I intend to pay you back in kind, and I want to hear you scream her name as she is stripped from you.” His

Reggie raised his hand, stopping me. "I am okay, but you…" I had never seen Reggie in pain, but now it twisted his features and dulled his eyes. "What?" I formed a crooked, broken smile. "You don't think I look pretty?" His brows furrowed like a scolding father, but even with one good eye, I caught the shine of tears in the fate's eyes. "I'm so sorry."

bond. "I'm alive, and I am with Reggie. Wait for me. I have a plan. Not a great one, but one, nonetheless. Remember that I love you." The entirety of him flooded into my mind, his warmth a soothing balm over my nerves. A force far greater and more powerful than I had ever felt caressed my skin, my bones, my very soul before his voice filled my mind. "Di—"

“Bow,” I said, the tension in the room growing. Oblivion sang to life the wisps of it curling and writhing around my hand until a blade formed. I turned to each and every person in this room. I hated people bowing to me, and I had never demanded it before, but this was not about me. This was about the one person I could not live without. I needed blind, utter loyalty for her. There would be no exceptions. “Kneel and pledge your loyalty to Dianna, the one true queen, or die for the false queen here and now.”

“Because it’s not a secret, my lord.” The assassin queen said. “She’s sent word to every corner of the realm to come watch the execution of the Would-Be Queen.”

“The prophecy remains.” “One falls.” “One rises.” “It was foretold and will remain.” “One carved from darkness.” “One carved from light.” “The world will shudder.” “The end begins,” they said in unison.

“The whole light and dark thing. This is how the world ends. Samkiel told me about the shuddering crack and all that. How it referred to Gabby.” Reggie’s eyes grew forlorn. “I never said that prophecy was about your sister.” “Oh,” I said, staring dumbly at him through my swollen eyes. “Wait? Then what is it about?” Reggie looked at me, then at the ghost trapped with us. But it was not Reggie who spoke, but Unir. “If Samkiel does not make it in time, if Nismera succeeds, it will mean the end of not just worlds but of everything. That has and will always be his destiny.”

and winced when it hurt my nose. I cupped it and said, “You know what I find super strange?” He tipped his head and waited. “Did you know your daughter can change forms like me, and her silver eyes often shift to red?” Unir’s throat bobbed. “Yeah,” I said. “Want to tell me why?”

“She was crafted to end wars, all of them. She wasn’t meant to start them.” “Well, that was an epic failure.”

So I went in search of Gathrriel’s blood, knowing the magic in it could create more of his kind.” “Nismera,” I said. “She was the first you made.” Unir nodded. “I shouldn’t have mixed the godly blood as I did with his. It was too much power, and it created an unending hunger in her for more. It’s what feeds her and all she wants. So then I tried again to make something that could stop her, or at least something that could rival her, but she turned them against me while they were still children. Even the gods pay for their hubris.”

“You are all aware of how well that all went, but with Samkiel, I saw hope. Finally, perhaps lasting peace could be achieved. He was someone who could match her in strength and power, but he, too, struggled to contain and control his darkness.” “You mean Oblivion?” “Yes,” Unir said. “Oblivion has been with Samkiel since he was a child.”

“He never said anything about that.” My voice was nearly a whisper. I’d never seen any of this in his past after feeding on him. “He would not remember.” I felt like I had been slapped. Even the pain in my body couldn’t stop the pain I felt at those words. Not only had he been lied to, but his memories had also been manipulated. “What did you do to him?” I almost sneered. “What I had to.” Remorse suffused Unir’s face. “I knew a great, powerful witch.”

“You have no idea the damage you’ve done to these men. Damage I have witnessed, and in some cases, borne the brunt of. Damage I have soothed and tried to heal. There is love in all of them. Gods, even Kaden. I saw it in the beginning, felt it before the pain, trauma, and rage creeped back in. You are just like the other gods. You didn’t understand them, and so you feared them. Instead of nurturing them and the love inside of them, you shaped it into something ugly. Instead of protecting the beings you created, you allowed your fear to dictate your actions, and you abandoned them. The other gods threatened you? Fine, threaten them back. You are their father! You have the universe’s strongest children bleeding all over the realms because of a pain that could have been avoided.”

“I never locked them up. They left after slaughtering their grand sire, leaving with barely a note. So whatever lies they have fed you, make sure you tell them how I searched for them for centuries. We cried and ached over their loss, following every whisper of a lead, but always came up empty.”