Page 31 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

“Hmm?”

“Are you feeling all right? Physically? Do you feel well?”

Dread crept in, and not one of past insecurities. It was one built on a lie, or more so, a truth I had not told him yet. “Yes. Why?”

He shrugged, pretending it was nothing, yet he glanced at me over his shoulder quickly. “You just seem more . . . ravenous than normal. Not that I am complaining, but if there is something I am not doing right or well enough, you would tell me, correct?”

I nearly dropped the jar I was holding on the floor, and a snicker left my lips. My hand rushed to cover the sound as he scowled and turned to face me fully.

“This is not funny. I am being beyond serious.”

I dropped my hand. “I know. That’s why it is hilarious. Sami. Please. Do you really think I am not satisfied?”

“I don’t know.” He scratched his brow. “It’s stupid. Forget I said anything.”

“It’s not stupid,” I reassured him.

Of course, my descent back into thrash would be weird for him, too. My need for blood, sex . . . all of it, had increased. I was ravenous as if the void inside of me had grown and was begging me to fill it. The only problem was, I couldn’t tell him that. He’d ask what had changed, and then I’d have to explain everything to him. I was not ready for that.

I had seen the world honestly, and now, thanks to him, I had also seen realms and places I never knew existed. I had seen stars and moons far larger than my own, which astonished me. But nothing compared to this powerful, beautiful, handsome god king shoving his heart toward me and praying I did not hurt it. He was by far the most shocking and wondrous thing I had ever experienced.

I stepped closer to him, constantly drawn to him as if he had his own gravitational pull on me. I placed my hands on his biceps, drawing lazy circles with my thumbs, his muscles jumping beneath my touch.

“I promise it’s not stupid, nor am I laughing at you. I’m just surprised that you, out of all the people in the universe, would think I would not be satisfied. Maybe you’re just too good, and it makes me even more greedy.”

With that small, simple compliment, I watched his ego re-inflate, and I would not replace it with worry.

“Well . . .” He half shrugged, glancing away, but I saw his devilish smirk. “When you put it that way, I suppose it garners some truth.”

I smiled. Regardless of if I hadn’t told him the full truth, he knew me better than anyone. My heart fluttered, and my stomach sank. I hated I couldn’t tell him that truth. He was right. I was hungrier and in more ways than one. I wasn’t sleeping either, not nearly as much as I used to. No matter how well he fucked me or how my body should crave sleep after our long training sessions, I just lay awake. Reggie was right. Something happened in that tunnel. Something had been wrong with me since we arrived, and I kept burying it under the guise of stress, but I knew the truth. I gave up something down there in the cold when death visited. I gave up something valuable so he could live, and I didn’t know how to tell him. He would be mad at me for lying and then mad at me for what I did.

But right now was not the time to tell him. Now we had a bigger issue to deal with. Or was that just another pretty little lie I told myself?

The skin on the back of my neck prickled. Samkiel’s eyes widened one second, and he grabbed my arm, moving us to the back of the room. He pressed me to the wall in between shelves of jars as the door opened.

As she stomped in, the woman hissed and slammed her satchel down on one of the tables. She was one of the older healers. Lyrissa was her name. I remembered because she was the bitchiest. She moved toward the shelves furthest away from us, cursing to herself and grabbing a few jars to stuff them into her bag. She kept speaking to herself, but it was too fast for me to catch. I held my breath and gripped the back of Samkiel’s arm as she stomped toward us. A wave of energy wrapped around us, and the room faded to gray. Samkiel’s head whipped toward me as Lyrissa looked right at the space we were in and reached out to grab a jar right by Samkiel’s shoulder. She turned and grabbed her satchel before storming out, closing the door behind her.

I let go of Samkiel’s arm as he turned to me. “The inbetween?”

“Yeah.” I nodded and glanced at the door. “I haven’t tried that in a while, and I’m glad it worked.”

Samkiel said nothing, staring at me in pure astonishment. He went to speak, and the room went blurry.

“That’s weird,” I said, my voice sounding odd to my ears.

“What?”

“There’s two of you,” I said just before darkness claimed me.

ELEVEN

DIANNA

“She seems well.”

I blinked my eyes open. The sunlight made me hiss, and I turned from it, covering my face with my hand. The bed sank, and large hands ran across my forehead.

“What’s happening?” I groaned and propped myself up, hating how my head throbbed.

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