Page 123 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

He only nodded, but I felt his arms tighten around me. I slid my fingers through his hair, aching to soothe and care for him however I could.

“Samkiel, you’re allowed to mourn,” I said, pressing my lips to his hair. “You are allowed to grieve the friend you lost and your perception of him. You’re allowed to mourn what has happened to your family.”

Samkiel nodded, and I tightened my grip on him, letting him know he was not alone. Never again would I let him be alone.

“I’ve never had anyone like you before,” he said.

“What? Someone as bloodthirsty and attractive?”

“That, but no.” He laughed, his breath hot against me. “Someone who just . . . understands. I don’t have to say anything. You just understand.”

“I think one thing we can definitely do is relate to each other,” I said, laying my head atop his.

“How did he wound you so?” he asked, his voice rough and deep.

“Well,” I said, my fingers playing at the short hairs near his ear. “Hypothetically, could your deranged evil sister make a godly weapon?”

Samkiel’s brows knitted together, and he pulled back a fraction to look up at me. “It’s possible. I was unsure what my father taught her. The gods made godly weapons, but it required a magnitude of power and the right environment to create and sustain such weapons. With the wrong ingredient or slip of the hand, it could destroy entire worlds. For that reason, my father long ago built a facility on a desolate moon.”

“Do you think she could be using that moon?” I asked.

Samkiel shrugged one shoulder. “Perhaps. We can check it out, but not now.” He ran his hand over my stomach, where that weapon had already sliced me apart. “And I say this with every ounce of ego and pride I have, but I am not ready. And you were impaled by a godly weapon.”

“It’s not the first time.”

A look of clear bewilderment raced across his face. “When were you . . . Dianna.”

He shook his head as he realized what I was referring to, and my grin widened. “Regardless, I do not have my full power, and I barely survived her when I did. If we go there, I need to be at full strength. My focus right now must be on reclaiming my power from the sky.”

“Can you do that?”

“It’s possible,” he said, dipping his hands to the back of my thighs. “It is mine, after all.”

“I guess we can add that to our list of goals, then. Try to suck your power out of the sky.”

Samkiel just nodded. I leaned back, trying to shift out of his embrace, but made it nowhere. His arms tightened around me, holding me to him.

“Another thing,” he said, his brows lowered and the muscles in his jaw tight.

“Uh oh.” I smiled weakly. “I know that look.”

His lips pursed into a thin line. “You shouldn’t have blocked the tunnel nor dropped the prison below the ground, either.” I protested, but he raised a hand, silencing me. “I’m not done. You said you’d be right behind me, and you did the opposite. Had you planned that all along?”

“To be fair, I’d planned to close it behind you and the survivors. I was going to buy time for you all to escape and then meet up with you when I was done. I didn’t expect the battle to last long or Vincent to be the one that showed up or the godly weapon, so I’m sorry.”

He nodded, but I knew by the tension holding his muscles tight that he was still furious. “We’re supposed to be a team, Dianna. We have to work together, which means you can’t decide what we will do and then carry out those plans on your own. Especially now that we have a hint of what she is capable of making.”

I nodded, feeling the slightest edge of guilt. We’re a team, and all I’ve been doing is keeping secrets and lying. I still couldn’t tell him what really happened in that tunnel. My heart clenched in my chest. Here he was, offering every piece of himself, and I couldn’t cough up a fraction of myself. He was everything I had wanted and hoped for. Someone who would be there for me, someone who wanted me and would fight for me. He was offering me the promise of never again being alone, and right now, I felt so very lonely because there were things I was still too afraid to tell him. So my lies and secrets built higher, cutting me off from him like a godsdamned fortress.

“You’re right.” My smile was small. “I promise no more secret plans.”

He glanced down, fiddling with the hem of my tank top. “I know you are strong and capable. I am not saying that to undermine you, but I worry for you. You don’t have to do everything by yourself.”

“I know.” I nodded, reaching forward and clasping his hand in mine. “It’s hard for me to remember sometimes, if I’m honest, but I’m working on it.”

He lifted my hand and held my gaze as he placed a kiss to my knuckles. “We can work on it together.”

“Together sounds lovely.”

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