Page 213 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

“I was right,” she said, stepping forward. “You have been starving. Kaden didn’t teach you how to feed, did he?”

“I know how to feed,” I said.

“Have you killed?” she asked, her voice low.

I fisted my healing hands and leaned against the wall, dropping my lips over my fangs.

“Yes,” I said, keeping my gaze down.

I heard her step closer and the sound of the glass scooting across the stone floor. I looked up to see her kneeling before the bars, pushing it past the barrier. My hand trembled as I grabbed it and pressed it to my lips, gulping at the dark liquid. It hit my tongue first, my jaw clenching from the tang of it before it spilled down my throat.

Dianna just sat and watched me as I fed. My eyes roamed her lean, lithe form, and my stomach growled again. She stared at me, crossing her legs and leaning back on her hands. I fought the desire but couldn’t seem to help the way my body reacted. I had never felt a single hint of lust toward Dianna, not once, but I was starving and for more than just food.

“You want to eat me?” she asked, her smile bordering on a smirk.

I finished the blood and lowered the glass. “No,” I practically snapped. “Yes . . . No . . . Not like that.”

Her smile faded, and worry filled her eyes. “It’s okay. It’s Thrash, and it’s natural. You’ve been starved, Cameron. He didn’t take care of you at all. He turned you into a weapon and left you to pick up the pieces. Your entire being is just reacting to every primal need it has. Don’t make it into something it’s not.”

I nodded, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand and sliding down the wall, sitting on the floor. “Maybe send Samkiel in here to feed me.”

“It won’t help. You’d still want to feed and fuck him, too.”

A snort left my lips. “Who doesn’t?”

Dianna’s eyes lit up before she tipped her head back and laughed, a full, hearty sound that invited me to join her.

She sighed and sat up, resting her hands against her thighs. “I’ll help you as much as I can. Teach you how to feed without killing once we get the last wave of Thrash out of the way. You’ll be right as rain or whatever they used to say on Onuna.”

I forced a smile and brought my knees up, resting my forearms on them.

“Have you had sex since he turned you?” she asked.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s what drove Xavier away in the first place.” I felt my chest tighten, and moisture pricked my eyes. “It’s what got him caught in the first place. Me and Elianna.”

Dianna nodded. “I wondered how Kaden got him.”

I swiped the back of my hand across my cheeks. It was the first time I’d talked about it in months. “We had a fight after the party you and Samkiel had. I’d waited too long to tell him how I felt, and Elianna sealed the deal for him. He was going to marry his boyfriend. He told me and left. Then I got a call from him, only it was Kaden. He lured me out, and the rest is . . .” My voice trailed off.

It was quiet for a long moment, and I worried she would blame me now. I glanced up at her and caught the haunted look in her eyes.

She saw me watching her and shook her head, shuttering her expression. “I’m sorry.”

“You?” I scoffed and sat up straighter. “I’m sorry for—”

She raised her hand, cutting off my words, and every part of me surrendered. I didn’t know if it was because her Ig’Morruthen demanded respect or that she was the embodiment of a queen and stood at Samkiel’s side, but I listened. “Don’t apologize, Cameron. I’ve done far worse than you ever have for my sister. I get it. If anyone does, I do.”

“Sometimes I think it may be better if I gave in like you did when you lost Gabby,” I admitted. The thought had crossed my mind several times in that damn palace of horrors. “Burn the world. Maybe it would all hurt less.”

“It wouldn’t,” she said.

My gaze flicked to hers. “You made it seem like it did.”

Dianna ran a hand over her face and sighed deeply before meeting my eyes again. I was worried that my words felt like a slap to her. I hadn’t meant for it to seem like I was throwing her past in her face.

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