Page 225 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

Kaden leaned against the door frame, a small smirk on his face revealing just a hint of his dimple. How could such an evil creature like him have a dimple? It just wasn’t right. “I’ll admit, I truly underestimated you through the years, but after everything, I won’t make that mistake again. No one will.”

“Good.”

Isaiah sighed, and I felt him shift behind me. “So, how does this go? You come quietly, or we take you screaming?”

I squared my shoulders and stepped forward, my words laced with venom. “Oh, baby, you couldn’t make me scream on your best day.”

Flame engulfed my hand, and I reared back, slamming the fireball into his face. Isaiah yelped and lunged away as Kaden charged.

One thing about battle was that you learned a few things if you did it long enough. If you faced the same opponent enough times, you started to remember their tells. Kaden taught me how to survive. Samkiel taught me how to live, and now I would do everything in my power to make sure Samkiel did both. I grabbed Kaden by his arm and bent. Twisting my body, I tossed him over the bar.

Isaiah ran at me, and I squared my feet. His fist shot out, and I leaned back, dodging the punch and landing one of my own against his chin. He was quick, both of them were. The guards joined the chaos, but they were easily disposed of. Arms, throats, anything I could touch, I ripped, painting the room red.

“Hold her if you get her!” Kaden screamed. But he was such a fool if he thought anything would keep me here. I growled, sinking my fangs deep into a guard who had charged at me. I tore out his neck and then used his body as a wrecking ball, tossing it toward them. Kaden and Isaiah came at me with a melee of kicks and punches. I blocked almost as many as I took, but all of my strikes bounced off of that damned armor.

Fuck.

I wasn’t going to win this by beating on them. I would have to carve them out of that fucking armor, and I didn’t have the time. My mind cycled through my possibilities, and I scanned the room, looking for a weapon. I dodged a kick from Isaiah. Perfect. I faked a slip. He lunged, intent on grabbing me when I was unbalanced. I allowed myself to fall, and planting my foot in his gut, I let his momentum aid me in tossing him through the tavern wall. The lights flickered as he hit a support beam with a hollow thud. I scrambled to my feet and spun to face Kaden. He curled his fingers at me, beckoning me closer.

“Come on, pretty girl. It’s been a while since I had an actual romp.”

“You’re disgusting,” I sneered.

“You’d know.”

“Your obsession with me is getting a little out of hand, don’t you think?” I taunted as Kaden tossed a fist at me. I caught it and slammed the bottle I’d picked up off the floor across his face. He stumbled back but recovered quickly.

He smiled and ran his hand under his bleeding nose. “Not an obsession. Love.”

“I’m in a room with dead bodies, but that comment alone makes me want to barf.”

“Stop fucking around!” Isaiah yelled from the broken rubble. “Stab her so we can go home.”

Stab me? I stepped away from Kaden. He smiled and unsheathed a glowing dagger.

I snickered, my fear draining away. “Typical Kaden. I’ve been stuck by bigger.”

“Doubtful.” He grinned.

Isaiah crawled out of the hole his body had made in the wall. I pivoted to keep them in sight, waiting for their next move.

“This blade will fix everything, Dianna. No more blind hatred or broken heart.”

I looked closer at the dagger, and my breath hitched. It wasn’t just some glowing artifact to scratch his ego. No, that blade was drenched in magic. Magic made to . . .

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Kaden shook his head. “I can make it all go away. You won’t remember anything. I can make you love me again.”

My lip curled back, and I hissed, my fangs forming. “What we had was not love. You can’t love and treat each other the way we did. You know nothing of that word.”

“That is a lie. I know I miss you.”

My eye caught on Isaiah as he took one step to the right, just as Kaden moved to the left. I adjusted, keeping them both in my line of vision. Kaden was trying to distract me and get close enough to touch.

Kaden shifted his grip on the hilt of the blade. “I know that I still care, and no matter what I’ve tried, I cannot remove you from my fucking veins. You’re it, Dianna. You always have been.”

“You killed my sister.” I spat the words at him like acid, keeping my fists raised between us. “You killed my amata, and now you want to erase the memories of the only man I ever loved?”

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