Page 138 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

“Ask her what she brought back,” the oracle sneered. “Ask her what she threatened and why death itself paused.”

“Shut up, or I’ll permanently shut you up,” I growled at her.

Orym’s eyes widened as he stared at me. “Brought back?”

“Ask her,” the oracle begged.

“No,” I interrupted. “Look, we have to go. If that woman gets away with the sword—”

Orym stepped away from me. “I don’t care about the sword. What is she talking about? What did you do?”

“Ask her what she carved from the universe and then ask her how,” the oracle spat, and my talons grew.

“Dianna, what did you bring back?”

The oracle’s laughter burst through the room, and Orym’s eyes held so much fear that I knew I didn’t have to speak the words.

He knew.

“The most powerful being in the entire realm is not the World Ender, but the one who protects the World Ender. The one who brought him back from the dead,” the oracle purred.

I was in the room within the next second. Orym snapped at me to stop as I rammed my fist through her skull.

FIFTY-FOUR

DIANNA

I scrubbed at the dark blood staining my cuticles until the water in the sink turned from brown to clear. My mind flashed back to Onuna and how many times I had to shower the blood from my hands and mouth.

“If you breathe a word of this, I’ll make sure her headless boy comment comes true.”

Orym strode in, his hands in his pockets. Neither of us had changed. He still wore his dirty suit, and my blue dress was covered in debris.

“Samkiel will be up soon. He did a last sweep of the area for any missing murderous creatures or mysterious women with magical swords.”

I nodded. I was so glad Samkiel showed up right after I killed the oracle. Orym said nothing, claiming she threatened him, and that was that. Samkiel was mostly concerned about me and whether I was hurt.

Orym leaned against the counter as I scrubbed and scrubbed.

“Did he find anything?”

“No.” Orym sighed. “We assume most creatures are fleeing back to the Otherworld, and there was no sign of the mystery woman.”

The stupid spot in that damn cuticle wouldn’t leave.

“You didn’t tell him. I guess you can live another day.”

“You’re going to have to eventually,” Orym said.

“I know. I just . . .” I scrubbed my nails a fraction harder.

Calloused hands took mine, his mauve skin dotted with small bloody splotches. I knew when the chaos had erupted, he and Samkiel had helped as many as they could. Both were far nicer than me. He grabbed a dry cloth off the counter and gently patted my raw hands dry. “I think you got all the oracle off.”

“Maybe.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

My eyes burned. “The oracle wasn’t wrong about anything. I do feel hollow. Since it happened, I’ve felt different . . . wrong. It’s like something is missing, and I can’t find it. The only time I feel like myself is when he is near me.”

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