Page 40 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

“What did she say?” I closed the distance between Reggie and me.

“She said you are wasting time with her, but it will not matter. The traitor you work with is already captured and will face execution when he reaches Nismera. She said you have already lost.”

All control and reason snapped in that second. They went to Jade City first. That harrowing darkness in me rushed forward like wildfire. I spun and grabbed the soldier by her throat, pressing her into the tree.

“Tell me where they took him,” I growled, “and I might let you live.”

She coughed, pulling at my wrist, but I pressed harder before letting her lungs fill with air.

She glanced at Reggie, her voice broken when she spoke. Behind me, Reggie translated. “She did not tell us. She only entrusted Fig, the general whose eye you currently have,” Reggie answered.

“Fair.” I shrugged. “But he wasn’t going to talk, so that leaves you. What do they know?”

I waited for Reggie to ask and translate her answer. “That you are a traitor’s whore, and the ones that work with and help you will suffer greatly. A cargo vessel for Nismera is already well on its way with the traitor from the city. They plan to take him to her for . . .”

My skin prickled. Did Nismera know Samkiel was alive? No. It was too soon. He could barely hold a blade. The veins along his scar had darkened the last few days, and it was all I could do to keep myself from going on a murderous rampage. I knew he was getting worse. I knew it when our training days had decreased and when he didn’t even want to touch me but preferred if we just held each other. There was no doubt when he was emptying his stomach in the bathroom last night. Reggie’s words danced across my brain, filling me with dread. What if Reggie was right? What if I only brought him back temporarily?

I heard nothing else.

Felt nothing else.

He was limp in my arms, that deathly gray taking up his entire face now.

The color was stripped away.

My light was stripped away.

“I would have loved you then, too.”

Love

Love

Love

“Remember, I love you . . .”

Fangs erupted from my gums, my mouth descending as I ripped into her neck. She screamed beneath me as I fed until there was nothing left. Her body thudded to the ground, and I turned away from her. Using my sleeve, I wiped the blood from my face.

“Dianna,” Reggie scolded me. “This is what I am talking about with control. You could have attained more information.”

“I don’t need any more information. I just need power.” Pushing past him, I reached the fallen general’s body and grabbed the gauntlet off his arm. I tossed it to Reggie. He caught it in one hand and looked at me.

“Where are you going?”

I stomped away. “Where do you think?”

“Dianna.”

“Don’t.” I spun, my hand whipping out to point a finger at him. “I am teetering on a fucking edge right now, Roccurem. So don’t tell me what I need to do. I will not lose him a second time. I can’t.”

Not like I lost her, but those words never left my lips.

“Dianna.” Reggie stopped in front of me, his hands on my arms. He pulled back with a hiss as if my skin burned him. “That child does not deserve your wrath.”

He was talking about Miska. My vision changed, and I knew my eyes had gone red. “You think I’d hurt a child?”

“If you burn that city in a blind rage, if it falls, she will go with it.”

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