Page 242 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

Mortals felt fear and anxiety. Beings such as us did not, but I could not deny the feelings that rushed through me. It may sound like a good thing that Death had found a way for them to survive, and I knew there would be a cost. I just never expected it to be so ghastly.

I took another drink of my cold tea, trying to calm the unfamiliar emotions clouding my mind. “But how did you do this?”

Death raised a brow and shook his head, a small, rueful smirk quirking his lips. “I have no power over Samkiel. I never did. Dianna brought him back. She didn’t know it at the time, but she used the power of that mark. Without even realizing what she was doing, she did the reverse of what Vvive did. She forfeited the mark for the power to split her soul, and then she tied it to his life. Dianna resurrected Samkiel. As much as I hated being bested, it was both terrifying and intriguing to witness something that has only happened once before. The love she has for him is a power.”

“How?” I gasped out, never having expected this.

“Love has power. We have both witnessed empires rise and fall for it. And the love that Dianna has for him is a power. Just like Vvive’s.”

“But Dianna laughs, breathes, and loves. She is not just flesh and—”

“And she is void. As was Ro’Vikiin, a soulless, empty monster,” Death interrupted and then paused. “My apologies. I mean, Gathrriel was void before Vvive. He died on that battlefield, and when Vvive split her soul to save him, the mark formed. Samkiel dies, and Dianna, refusing to accept that reality, absorbs the power of her mark and merges the pieces of her soul that his passing hadn’t shredded. She left herself empty. She is Gathrriel once more.”

“Her anger, feedings . . .”

“All of it.” Death tilted his bloody, bruised head. “I would make sure they stay close to one another if I were you. If there is too much separating, the body realizes it’s void. It tries to revert to its most basic, primal urges.”

“That’s why she is okay with Samkiel.” I swallowed. “She knows.”

“More or less,” Death said. “Some primal instinct knows that her soul lies within him, her true morality.”

My chest grew tight as if I had a heart to feel it. I had not seen this in any reality. This was one of the few times an action or thought surpassed the timeline souls were destined to stay on. Perhaps I could not see it since it was decided after Nismera had ripped into me. If fear could touch even the Formless Ones, it placed its hand upon me now.

Death studied me, sipping at his tea. “You seem frightened, Roccurem. Perhaps you have walked amongst the living for far too long. Their emotions are sticky things, attaching themselves to everyone around them as they weep, laugh, and moan.”

“What happens to her if she dies?” I asked the next question that weighed heavily on my mind.

Death placed his teacup down between us, the cold in the room growing. “If she dies now, her body fades to nothing, but you already know that, don’t you?” Death said, his anticipation obvious. I couldn’t help but wonder what he had planned for her.

“That may be a problem, given Samkiel would destroy you if you tried to take that girl.”

The laugh that left Death’s lips made even my form crawl. “I do not fear the God King. I have collected several. Even the greatest powers have limits, and he will pass as the rulers before him have. No one escapes me. So, no, the boy does not worry me. Besides, time is my counterpart. It fades the pain I inflict until those who are used to me welcome me as a friend. I am infinite, and he will mourn and move on. They all do.”

I shook my head and folded my hands across my midsection. “You, like so many others, underestimate his love for her. You just got through telling me that her love for him is a power, but do not think it is not reciprocated wholeheartedly. The mark may be gone, but they were made for each other. You will drive him mad.”

“Unir carried the same love for his beloved. Did he strike the skies to embers looking for me? No, because he knew—”

I placed my cup down, the sound cutting him off as I folded my hands in my lap. “Samkiel is not his father.”

“Perhaps not, but I have seen him love thousands. He will love a thousand more.”

“We both know that was not love.”

“Love. Bed.” Death waved his cold, pale hand. “What is the difference to the ones who bear flesh and blood? You have witnessed it, too. Only you believe those grand gestures and words. How many have you seen slain in the name of this love? We both know my kingdom is filled with those once in love.”

“And how many have been born from it?” I questioned. “What of the sacrifices they make in the name of it? Those also show up at your door. I have witnessed that, too. Those who never recover from that lost love mourn until they are reunited. Or the ghosts who beg at your gates, screaming for one last glimpse at the ones they left behind. Do you deny it?”

Death’s darkness mantled behind him, hating the mere challenge. Ice formed on the glass windows and spread across the floor. “Are you truly willing to bet countless worlds and lives on that? We both know how quickly a heart, even as pure as his, can change. How many heroes have fallen since the beginning of time, and how many realms have suffered for it? Do you truly wish to ruin the last bit of hope any of us have in this realm or the next by testing that?”

The cold receded a fraction, and Death folded his pale, bruised hands, completely unbothered by the consequences he threatened to unleash by permanently taking her away from Samkiel. Death watched me with a crooked smile.

“You’re enjoying this?” Worry swamped me. “Because she threatened you? You are happy with her having no eternal peace.”

“You blame me as if I took her soul. As if I am holding it hostage.” Death placed a hand on the table, the stone beneath cracking from the burning cold.

“We both know your power, kinsman.”

Death tapped his skeletal fingers on the table, the lifeless eyes of the man who crossed his gates staring back at me, but Death did not scare me. He, along with others, came into existence when the universe was born, and even with our ancient quarrels, we were bound in ways mortals and deities could never understand.

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