Happily Ever Crowned Read online

  “So he intends to… do something else to me… instead of the sharing?”

  He nodded. “Garul and Jives were relieved last week, but I wondered if he might bring in more. Now, I think he’s planning something far worse.”

  “To provoke my power to rise,” I translated. “So he can steal it again.”

  “Yes. Or rather, so he can try.” He cleared his throat, his fingers combing through my curls. “Your energy is bubbling beneath the surface of your skin like molten lava waiting to erupt. But Necros seems oblivious, which leads me to believe Lucifer has to be present to assist. Otherwise, your husband would have sensed your growing energy these last few days and already tried to absorb it.”

  “But you said the purpose of the wedding was to create a link.”

  “It was, but what if that link isn’t duty-bound to the vows, but to the heart?” he asked softly. “Lucifer had to help before. What about now? Do you feel any obligation or connection to Necros? Anything that gives him a right to your energy?”

  I considered and shook my head. “I feel nothing.” Not even a sense of loyalty like I once did. I wanted nothing to do with Necros other than to be the one to drive a blade through his heart. “So what you’re saying is, even if I displayed my ability, he won’t be able to steal it. Not immediately, anyway.” Not without Lucifer.

  “Yes. Which, I think, gives us an opportunity.”

  “You want me to demonstrate my ability during his next test.” I didn’t ask, because I already knew. It made sense. “He’ll think he’s won, that I’m finally giving him what he needs.”

  “And that’s when we’ll strike,” Adrik agreed, drawing his thumb across my cheek. “But it will have to be a weak display of power, to make him think it’s just finally coming to life.”

  “Which will make him want to provoke even more from me.”

  Adrik dipped his chin in agreement. “It will also put you in a position of power that he’ll have to respect. At least until he can take it.”

  “But we won’t let him get that far.”

  “No, we won’t.” He lowered his mouth to mine, whispering a kiss across my mouth. “Fortunately, we still have a few days of practice ahead of us. But I’ll do everything I can to help you prepare, sweet star.”

  “I’ll be ready,” I vowed. “I don’t have a choice.”

  “And I’ll be with you for whatever you need,” he murmured, kissing me again. “I’ve put the demonesses to sleep. Which means I’m officially all yours.”

  “Won’t they wake if you forget about them?” I asked, curious about his ability and how it worked.

  “No. I compelled them to dream for twelve hours. Their minds will comply without my continued influence.”

  “That’s what you did to me the first night,” I realized out loud, my eyes widening.

  “Yes, but as I said, you were different.” His midnight gaze sparkled with desire, his lips curling suggestively. “I let you into my mind, Valora. I’ve never granted that privilege to anyone, not even Grigory.”

  I ran my fingers down his back, tracing the fabric of his jacket. “Why me?” I aloud. “Why did you let me in?”

  “Because I knew you were different.” He canted his head, his obsidian pupils flaring with the truth of his words. “I’ve always known who you were, Valora. My beautiful star. I’ve always wanted you to awaken. It’s our destiny, yours and mine, to take down this kingdom. It’s written in the galaxies.”

  “To kill them all,” I breathed. He’d promised me that from early on, but only recently did I understand why. “Everyone knows you as a Prince of Noxia, but that’s not who you are at all.”

  “No. I’m the King of Shadows, and one day soon, the Underworld will know how I earned that name.” He kissed me again, his mouth insistent against mine. “Will you take me, Valora? Will you lead us both into a sea of bliss?”

  “I thought you wanted control tonight,” I reminded him.

  “I’m always in control, sweet star.” He rolled us, placing me on top, his hands supporting my hips as I found my balance. “Ride me.”

  I smiled. “Only if you promise to bite me again afterward.”

  “Oh, I’ll do more than bite you, My Queen.” He wrapped his palm around my neck, pulling me flat against him as his lips brushed mine. “Now fuck me, Valora. Fuck me like I’m yours.”

  I kicked my legs against my bed, bored.

  After another week of beautiful bliss in Adrik’s arms, I’d been forced to return to my quarters with no explanation as to why. I’d half expected Necros to demand entry last night and fuck me, but he’d left me alone to dwell in my own nerves.

  Sleep had turned to nightmares as violent visions of doom invaded my dreams. I’d woken up sweating with sparks flying from my hands that threatened to ignite my bedsheets. Adrik’s name had been the first to enter my thoughts, my need for him a scary realization. And then he’d been there, his presence warming me to my core from afar while never setting foot inside my physical rooms.

  I would never understand how he was able to elicit such bliss from my body. How his mere thoughts dismantled my tension and calmed my chaotic mind.

  Adrik? I called, curious as to why I hadn’t heard from him yet today.

  I’d bathed and dressed in clothes to appease Necros, assuming he had a need for me beyond just lounging in my rooms. My dark teal dress was embroidered with jewels and bones along the bodice, something I knew would please my husband. The gory details weren’t my favorite, but it did seem a shame that such a beautiful garment would probably be ruined by the end of the day.

  Hmm, although, maybe if I destroyed all my dresses, Necros would allow me to wear pants.

  My lips curled at the thought. Then flattened as I realized Adrik had never replied.

  Are you in the library? I wondered. Shall I meet you there? I knew the way by heart, having memorized the palace’s intricate maze of hidden hallways over the last few weeks.

  It felt like months since I used the normal corridors.

  Adrik? I tried again, frowning in earnest now. Where are you?

  I could sense he was near but otherwise occupied.

  Maybe Necros had him doing something. I’d learned my lesson after their last meeting not to grow concerned. Adrik wasn’t truly mine, but he’d remained faithful in his own way. Something I appreciated in a strangely warm way.

  Shaking myself of my thoughts, I decided a walk through the gardens would clear my mind and help me focus on the pending tasks of whatever Necros had planned. Perhaps my defying his recent rules would prompt him to act faster.

  “No more hiding outside,” he’d decreed all those weeks ago.

  Well, it was time to see if he meant it.

  Guards swept out of my way as I stepped outside through the glass doors bordering my sitting area. Neither of the males made snide comments, one even bowed. It took me aback, and I stopped to stare at the curly-haired brute.

  The skin on the back of my neck prickled with goose bumps. Something isn’t right.

  “Where’s my husband?” I asked the bowing male.

  He rose, no expression on his round face. “King Necros is busy with court matters.”

  A polite response.

  How… strange.

  I waved my hand to dismiss him, then remembered his job was to stand sentry at my doors.

  The guards exchanged glances, small smiles curving at the edges of their mouths. They were full of the promise of darkness.

  Would they tell Necros I’d opted for a stroll against his wishes? I sort of hoped so. I’d enjoy getting to the bottom of whatever was happening around here.

  Adrik. I tried again, venturing farther into the gardens. Something’s happening. Whatever Necros planned, it’s coming to fruition now. Where are you? I don’t know if I can do this alone. Please.

  Still no response.

  Worry knotted heavily in my body, my shoulders tensing as the calmness of the last week disintegrated. I needed fresher air, untai
nted by the demons at my back.

  Running down the path, I passed my usual reading nook and sprinted toward the cliffs of the gardens. The purple sun was high in the sky, its rays cascading down into eerie patterns on the ground.

  Adrik, I tried once more, true anxiety spilling into my mental voice. Where are you?

  I still felt him near, but closed off.

  What’s happening? I wondered.

  Maybe Necros suspected?

  My heart crashed against my ribs at the thought, my vision blurring with the violet haze around me. I stole a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down, needing to focus.

  It didn’t work.

  I fled to the right, running through the black statues forming my wicked tangle of a garden to a place I revered for silence—a notch in the cliffside with views of Caluçon. I sometimes sat here with Zaya, discussing my ideas and thoughts for growth. It was here that we finalized our plans for the women and children bordering the city without aid.

  I miss you, I thought at her now. I wish you were here.

  A breeze was the only response, the kingdom’s warmth washing over my skin.

  I collapsed onto a slab of granite, sighing as the boned section of my corset dug into my ribs.

  Adrik. It came out as a plea now.

  A plea he left unanswered.

  My chest ached with a loneliness I despised. I was a queen, not some smitten female who needed her lover to provide purpose. I’d just come to rely on him over the last few weeks, his presence a security blanket I craved.

  I needed to do this alone. I possessed the power to do so; I just required the confidence to believe in myself.

  The majestic landscape danced before me, a picturesque scene that soothed some of my inner turmoil. The other night, Adrik mentioned that in the human world, real stars sparkled in the night. I wondered if I would one day experience them, as well as the notorious golden sun that shone throughout the day. The purple hues of Caluçon’s sky didn’t allow for bright skies or nights filled with millions of twinkling lights.

  I closed my eyes, daydreaming about what it might look like based on Adrik’s description.

  Heavy leather boots stomped on the grounds below, vibrating the cliffside and jarring me out of my stupor. I sat up, dazed, and watched as a troop of royal warriors descended toward the outskirts of the palace grounds.

  Toward the group of women and children I knew required aid.

  “What are you doing?” I called down to them.

  They ignored me. Or perhaps didn’t hear me over the chaos ensuing.

  Screams in the distance pierced my ears, causing me to flinch.

  What in Lucifer’s name is happening?

  I ran along the cliffside to a staircase built into the wall and began my descent as more guards flooded the grassy plains below, all of them heading toward the women Zaya and I met that fateful day all those weeks—or was it months?—ago.

  “What’s happening?” I called as I reached the bottom, trying to grab one of the guards. He pushed me off him, and I fell hard onto the ground.

  “How dare you!” I jumped up and slapped him hard across the face.

  He didn’t flinch, but I sensed a hint of hesitation. He’d stopped moving with the others, not just because of my strike, but because of something else.

  “Talk to me,” I ordered, but he remained mute, his eyes hard.

  The others halted several yards away, aiming their spears.

  “What…?” I didn’t understand.

  Until the fire poured from the ends, the aim unfathomable and wrong.

  “No!” I screamed, watching in horror as the first of the flames hit the grounds by the women and children.

  I couldn’t see them, but I felt their pain, their agony, their fear. Like a live wire directly to my heart. I fell to my knees, horrified by the sight of these men attacking innocents.

  “King said they’re using up resources and have to be dealt with,” the guard finally said beside me, his spear still at his side. He was the only one not glorifying in the chaos, as if my smack across his face had knocked sense into him.

  The cruel laughs littering the air told me the others did not share his sense of morality.

  That they enjoyed hurting others.

  This entire kingdom needed expunging, my husband’s influence tainting them all beyond rehabilitation.

  “You’re all insane,” I breathed, the heat of their weapons singeing my senses as pleas for help carved a hole into my heart.

  My fingers dug into the fresh soil, my mind snapping beneath a million thoughts of murder and pain.

  The hatred within me swirled and ignited into pools of angelfire beneath my palms, stirring beautiful flames that inched across the blades, seeking to destroy.

  My eyes closed.

  My breathing evened.

  And I focused on my power, giving the strands a target for their impending destruction.

  Shrieks from the guards made my lips curl.

  Their bodies ignited beneath the wave of my tremendous energy. I captured them all in twisting tendrils of liquid blue fire and sighed as it melted their skin and demolished them to piles of ash. I didn’t stop until they were all dead. All one hundred and seventeen souls.

  I only saved the one beside me, the one who didn’t point a spear at the village.

  And then I used the remains of my control to absorb the shock of fire from the outskirts, saving what was left of the women’s huts.

  Valora, a breath whispered against my ear, tugging me back to my reality in a slow blink of time. Adrik’s scent wrapped around me, intoxicating in its familiarity, his soul a hum against my heart.

  Then it was gone.

  Leaving me in a still field littered with death.

  No whispers of gratitude followed my power.

  No screams.

  Only a slow clap of sound from behind me. To where Necros stood applauding my display. “Well done, little wife,” he cooed.

  The soldier at my side had fallen to his knee, his head bowed in reverence. Not to the king, but to me.

  Necros tossed a flame in his direction as if to incinerate his insolence, but I caught it and smothered it into the grass.

  Mine, I thought. This guard is now mine.

  The smile on my husband’s lips said he approved. “About bloody time,” he murmured, his eyes lighting up at the promise of my power. “You know, I wondered if this would work. I heard you talking about those women with your slut of a friend some time ago, and had a good laugh over your thoughts on the subject. But then it occurred to me that those worthless females might actually have value after all. And look at this—they do.”

  A chill slithered down my spine. He’d spied on me with Zaya. Laughed at my ideas. Then thought to use those innocents against me. “How can you be so cruel? So vile? So evil?”

  He chuckled. “My darling whore, you’ve known who I am for years, just chose not to acknowledge it. Just to enjoy the riches I gave you instead. Truly, you’re no better than I am. In fact, I’d say you’re worse for being so ignorant all this time.” He stepped closer, his lips curling deviously.

  “Don’t touch me,” I growled, warning him with a ring of angelfire around my wrists.

  He tsked. “Now, now, Valora. I think you’ll find the vows protect me. What were Lucifer’s words that you repeated? Ah, yes, to never harm me—in any capacity.” His grin was cruel. “Try, little whore. Try and see what happens.”

  This was his test.

  I knew that deep down.

  But I took the bait anyway and sent a flame directly at his heart.

  He flicked it away as one would a bug, his mouth broadcasting his victory. “Beautiful,” he marveled, sending a blast of power into my shoulder that knocked me sideways. “And what I adore most is that Lucifer didn’t require the same pledge from me. Something you would do well to remember.”

  “You’re a monster,” I whispered, somehow hating him even more.

  “A monster w
ho owns you,” he agreed. “You’re going to be my greatest weapon, Valora. I can’t wait to properly use you.” He turned as Adrik approached with a hint of dark amusement in his handsome features. “Ah, there you are. Enjoy the show?”

  “I did, yes,” the prince replied. “She’s magnificent.”

  “Isn’t she?” Necros smiled. “I owe you thanks for steering me in the right direction.” He clapped Adrik on the shoulder, causing my lips to curl down.

  He couldn’t mean…

  “Anytime,” Adrik murmured, his dark eyes meeting mine.

  No flicker of regret.

  Only pride.

  Was this all a setup? Another cruel, wicked game? One where Adrik feigned an interest to ignite my power?

  “Shall we celebrate?” Necros asked.

  Adrik turned with him, oblivious to the turmoil destroying my mind and piercing my heart. “Indeed. A toast to the future?”

  “As we dine on the blood of our enemies,” Necros agreed, guiding Adrik away.

  I knelt in the grass, stunned, feeling even more alone.

  I trusted you, I whispered. I trusted you to help me…

  And I have, Adrik replied. Don’t give up on me yet, sweet star.

  His mental caress drew a tear to my eye, confusion fluttering inside my cracking chest.

  And before I could ask what he meant, he was gone. Again.

  If Necros hit the female on his lap one more time, I’d have no choice but to punch him in the jaw.

  The king was deep into his cups, sloshing demon blood–infused wine across the table as he guffawed over the words of one of his pompous nobles. All I wanted was to go to Valora, but I was stuck dining with a horde of imbeciles.

  Today had gone as planned.

  She’d demonstrated her power—and her control—in a brilliant sweep of flames. Then proved something I had suspected about her ties to Necros. He couldn’t absorb her energy, but he was immune to it. Which made his comfort all the more important. It wouldn’t be easy to destroy him, not when the strongest among us couldn’t hurt him.

  Except, something else had happened out on that field. I’d conducted a little test of my own by seeking out her power during her rage. And she’d given me part of her flame.