Page 13 of The Queen & the King

Even the Prime of Dreams looks worn from the dreamwalk. It took a lot out of them to send me across realms. However, he is rebounding much faster than Melinoë.

“It was not the dream,” Morpheus growls back. “She was unstable.”

Helios still stands at her side, glaring at Morpheus while the goddess flays him with her words. “And you couldn’t feel that before you plunged him into it? Take some fucking responsibility.”

I wave my hand, putting it against my head. “Please, my head is pounding.”

She doesn’t know who I am. I thought the memories and torture were bad, but Demeter found something worse for me to endure. I have to look into Persephone’s eyes and see nothing. No sparkle. No life. Hollow. It is a unique and devastating pain.

“She was fine until confronted with the truth,” Morpheus snaps.

Mellie shoots daggers at all three of us with her eyes. “We are not doing that again, ever.” She sends me a withering look before storming out of the bedroom.

Helios sighs before following after her. I nod dismissively at Morpheus, who vanishes in a swirl of shimmering sand. And I’m alone again.

I lift my hands from where I’d hidden them, seeing the way the darkness is climbing up my fingers. It’s even farther up than it was in the fight with Krios. I turn my hand over, studying how the intricate patternless black markings swirl over my skin.1

“You’re embracing the darkness,” a new voice intones, and I almost jump out of my skin in surprise. For a moment, I’m prepared to fight, but I relax when I see who is sitting in the room with me. Her midnight hair is braided into a crown around her head, and her glowing, starry eyes are focused intently on me.

“Nyx,” I gasp. “What are you doing here?”

The Primordial of Night smiles, making herself at home on the settee. “Your manners leave much to be desired.”

I clear my throat. “My apologies. I was surprised by your presence.”

There are few gods I would apologize to, but Nyx will always be among them. The old gods that came before us, before the Titans, deserve a modicum of respect. Even though they handed over control of our realms, they still maintain a level of power that I’ve never completely understood.

“I heard what happened,” Nyx whispers into the silence. “Your queen and my sister.”

I wince. How had I forgotten about the tie between Gaia and Nyx? Thoughsistersis a very loose term since they were spawned from Khaos, with no true mother and father. Regardless, Nyx and Gaia were close.

“My sympathies for your loss,” I whisper, scanning the Primordial’s starry eyes. As I watch, a star shoots across them, windows to the night sky contained within her.

Nyx stands and turns to the window, looking out over the sweeping gardens. Does she notice my poor attempts at gardening in Persephone’s absence? The work I’ve put in trying to keep that single red rose alive?

“You’ve begun to embrace the power you were born with,” she muses.

I grind my teeth and curl my fingers, trying to hide that the tips are still black.How could she possibly know that?

“There was a shift,” Nyx says, still staring out the window. “Stars going out.”

I stand, moving to stand next to her, looking out over the gardens. “How do I stop it?”

“Why would you do that?”

My brows furrow, and I turn to stare at her profile. “It’s darkness.” It’s fueled by consuming dark emotions, it fed on them, twisting my soul around it.

“You’re suffering from a common misconception.”

I bristle. “A misconception?”

Nyx looks at me, cupping my cheek, making me recoil. “Darkness is not inherently evil, just as light is not inherently good.”

I step back from her, stopping myself from rubbing my cheek. She would take it as an insult. It is an insult. The only person allowed to touch me without warning is Persephone.

Nyx looks back out. “There was something sent for you.”

She holds out the small long box to me, and I frown before taking it. It’s wrapped in green paper and a yellow bow.

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