Page 150 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

I closed the distance between us, unable to tolerate it any longer. My hands went to his face. “Sami.”

He gripped my wrists, not painfully, but with enough force to keep me from touching him. “Your lies and secrets will tear us apart far quicker than any force in this world or the next, Dianna.”

Samkiel released me, and I let my hands drop to my side, and I prayed to the old gods and the new to have the floor open and swallow me whole. His eyes blazed into mine, and I shivered from the power in them, but I couldn’t ignore the pain that darkened the silver. It was as sharp as any blade, and I was the one who had thrust it through his chest.

He lifted his hand, and I thought it was to stroke my face as he had done so many times before. Instead, he held it out over my head, and a rush of air whipped my hair forward as a swirling portal opened behind me. I turned and saw Reggie’s all too familiar study back on Youl.

“I need you to go,” he said.

I turned back to him, my eyes burning before the tears fell, staining my cheeks. “Is this . . . Are you . . . Do you not want to be with me?”

His eyes held mine, and I realized the only thing I feared in this world or the next was happening. I had my heart ripped out of my body on Onuna, and this pain was worse.

“I need to rebuild the city,” he said. “And I need . . . time.”

Time. He didn’t say the other part, but I knew he meant time away from me. Samkiel never wanted to be away from me. The last time . . . my throat tightened, my vision blurring.

“For how long?” My voice was a trembling mess.

My question was met with silence. My heart broke, fractured, cracked into a thousand tiny pieces. They felt raw and bloody, and I never wanted to touch them again.

“I love you.” It was a whisper, a plea, and the gods’ honest truth.

His face crumpled, and he took a step back from me. It was just a step, but it felt like a gap so fucking wide I wished it was real so I could throw myself into it. Samkiel never pushed away from me, no matter what I did or said, but this? This was it. This was his final straw.

“Go.”

My shoulders slumped, and I turned and walked through the portal. It closed behind me, and Miska, Orym, and Reggie all looked at me with pity. They had heard that last bit.

“Dianna?” Reggie said my name as a question.

I shut my eyes, and I think I felt my hand lift to ward Reggie off. The tears finally slid down my face, but at that point, I only felt the ache in my chest. I may not have had a soul any longer, but Samkiel had just ripped my heart out. That was okay. It was his anyway. I wiped my face and stormed from the room that was suddenly too small, too cold, and too empty.

SIXTY

CAMILLA

I flexed my hands at my sides, studying the remaining fragments of the medallion.

“It looks like a stone should go here.” I pointed to the hollow grooves of a couple of pieces.

Hilma’s lips turned up. “Oh? Hmm, I’ve never noticed before, but then again, we never got this far.”

My instincts blared a warning, but I forced a smile. I didn’t trust Hilma. I didn’t really trust anyone here, but spending so much time with her made her feel like more of a threat.

“Listen, why don’t we call it a night, okay? You managed to get a few more pieces back together, and I don’t need you burning out for days again.”

I nodded. I had told them that my magic was depleted from being overworked. There was no way I would tell them I had cast a healing spell to damn near bring someone back from the edge of death. I’d slept for three days, drifting in and out of consciousness. I remembered Vincent checking on me, every part of him whole and unscathed. Once I’d seen that, I rested easy.

We hadn’t spoken about what I’d done or how he had ended up so hurt. He had grasped my hand on the way to breakfast the first morning I had made it out of bed, and I knew that was the only thank you I would receive. Nismera didn’t care either way. She thought the infirmary had done its job quite well, and she was back to sending him on more missions.

“You’re right. I am tired.”

She smiled, calling for Tessa and Tara to clean up after us. The girls groaned and rolled their eyes but set to work. I said goodnight to Hilma and was escorted to my room. For the second night in a row, there was no Vincent.

IT WAS WELL PAST MIDNIGHT WHEN I HEARD ARMORED BOOTS AGAINST the stone of the palace floor. I tossed the book I was reading aside and padded to the door. When I stepped out, the guards just outside my room turned to look at me. I knew they were about to tell me again how I couldn’t leave. I held up my hand to forestall the conversation we were all tired of having. They had repeated that same message for the last two days. I was stuck in my room unless my damn bodyguard was around, and Vincent had abandoned me for two days.

“Is he back?” I asked, pinning the closest guard with my glare.

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