Queen of Myth and Monsters (Adrian X Isolde, #2)

by Scarlett St. Clair

There was no room for vulnerability here, no room for forgiveness. It was conquer or be killed.

“Isolde,” he repeated quietly, and when I finally met his gaze, his stare was gentle. “You are my light.” I took his face between my hands. “You are my darkness,” I said and kissed him.

I had never thrived on peace. I was a creature forged by violence, honed by hate.

“My queen and I will conquer this world, and when we have our empire, we will fuck on a bed of your bones.”

“I did not spend two hundred years yearning for you, killing for you, conquering for you, to watch you make stupid decisions. You are mortal.”

“Men want power,” Ana said. It was the first time she had spoken, and everyone at the table turned to look at her. “Women want to exist without fear.”

This wasn’t about the bite or the blood. It wasn’t even about being like him. It was about loneliness. Adrian did not want to be alone.

The power he had unwittingly bestowed on some mortals only illustrated the truth of humanity—when given the option, they would do terrible things, and terrible things they did, attacking villages only to rape the women and kill the men.

“Anything for you,” he said. “Promise me the world,” I said, breathing hard. “It is yours,” he said.

“You do not have to have lived a hundred years or even twenty. If your soul is tired, you will be tired.”

I had failed to be compassionate when she had shifted for the first time; I had dismissed her worries and connection to her mother’s homeland; and I had not been able to control my court long enough to prevent her harm.

“Words do not heal trauma,” she said. “Then tell me how I heal this.” “You don’t. You love me through the fear, even when my doubt hurts, and I will do the same for you.”

I knew the truth of this world, and the only way to survive as a woman with power was to use it.

“Magic will always be dangerous so long as women practice,” she said. “No one wants us to be powerful. They taught us that once, and they will teach us again.”

“Once the truth is spoken, it always seems to find its target.”

“You are the daughter of witches, as all women are,” she said, and she brushed a strand of hair from my face. “Magic is in our blood and bone; it is in the earth at our feet; it is in the very air we breathe.”