Page 1 of Queen of Wrath

1

LEA

The overwhelming rage I felt was truly uncontrollable.

It was a ruthless, indiscriminate thing—this fiery maelstrom turning my blood to acid—burning wildly as I tried to rein it in.

I was about to explode out into the world, prepared to consume whatever came in my way. Foe. Friend. Innocent bystanders. All were at risk. I couldn’t be sure of much, but I was certain there would be no stopping this predatory madness once it had broken free.

Was that truly the person I had become? A destroyer?

A shaky breath left my lips as I slowly opened my eyes.

I found that not only was I burning up from the inside, but I was also surrounded by a giant raging blaze strong enough to consume an entire city in one night, which was exactly what it was busy doing right in front of my eyes.

The once vibrant and beautiful city of Theskin erupted into chaos as I stood in the middle of one of its main cobblestone streets. The grand white Vermil buildings before me were now a monochromatic scene painted in hues of orange and black.

My skin prickled as the oppressive heat radiated toward me, the air thick with acrid smoke, filling and stinging my lungs with every breath. But through all of it, the scent of burning wood, metal, and flesh still assaulted my senses with a vengeance.

Even as my stomach churned, and bile welled up in my throat, I couldn’t make my body move. Paralyzed, I was forced to watch as the flames’ murderous roars filled the night, interspersed with the cataclysmic booms of structures collapsing and the wails of anguish and despair—a symphony of devastation curdling into my very soul.

Then the monstrous inferno spread through the rest of the city like a charging tsunami—remorseless and unstoppable—engulfing everything in seemingly one final decimating barrage.

But even as everything fell to absolute ruin around me, I was trying to remember something…something important.

I couldn’t recall when this catastrophe had started, or even how I’d come to stand here to witness it, but somehow I knew…

All of this was my doing.

Then it hit me. I had wanted this for as long as I could remember.

Finally, this city was made to reap what it’d long been sowing.

And Jax. Knowing that everything he’d built and acquired, through betrayal and larceny, was being burned to the ground as well… It should have brought me to fits of laughter after everything he had done to me.

Why did I still feel so empty then?

Wasn’t I getting what I had wanted for almost two whole decades, after all?

A sickening, swirling sensation pooled into my head, causing me to feel top-heavy and off balance.

What the hell just happened? What’s this feeling?

I dropped to my knees.

My mouth opened, gulping for non-existent air, my jaw almost unhinging.

A sound expelled from deep within my throat.

I thought it was laughter at first, but I was wrong.

The sound that came out of my mouth was a desperate, heaving cry. A cry so intense my entire body ached along with it.

My shaking arms cradled my body as I leaned forward.

Saliva dripped out of my open mouth onto the soot-covered cobblestone street.

What have I done?

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