Page 93 of Queen of Darkness
I arched an eyebrow at Dave, who was sitting on the steps. The rest of the team was there in various states of hurt. But they were all alive. I breathed a sigh of relief at that.
“Told you I had a plan,” Aaron said.
“You should have let us kill Corvis, too,” Dave said. “He stabbed you in the gut.”
I eyed the corpse of the Black Nacht, his head sporting a gaping wound where his face should have been. There was also a smaller entry hole under his jaw. I could only picture what had happened. Aaron must have suckered him in close, then stuck his holdout pistol into the bottom of his jaw and pulled the trigger.
“Gutsy move,” I said.
Aaron looked down at the hole in his stomach, then back at me, then at the hole in him again. “I think that joke hurt more than the sword going in.”
“Not as bad as laughing at it will hurt.”
Aaron started to laugh, then clutched his side in pain. “Dammit. That’s not fair.”
I smiled, but the humor faded as the queen coughed up blood.
“What’s this for?” he asked, pointing at the remains of the vampire.
“In case you wanted to say any last words. Or anything else.”
Aaron looked up sharply at my last sentence.
Everyone knew what I meant by “anything else.” I was giving him the chance to kill her. To be the one to end her reign. He held a lot of guilt over what she’d done, thinking that he could have stopped her so long ago. Perhaps this would relinquish some of it and let him sleep a little better at night.
“Last words,” he said, mulling the idea over while I watched on, as did the rest of the team.
“I … am …” Elenia started to croak out, “the q—”
Aaron’s arm blurred, the pistol emerging from his back holster and firing. Thecrackechoed around the throne room while a small hole appeared in Elenia’s forehead.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence as we all watched. Then, Aaron emptied the rest of his ammunition into her. When he was done, he tossed the gun away and stomped over to me.
“Fuck her,” he growled, pulling off his tattered and bloody jacket and giving it to me.
I frowned, wondering why he was doing that until I remembered that I wasn’t wearing any clothing. Clutching the jacket tight around me, I covered up as best I could.
“Thank you,” I said, doing up the buttons.
“You’re welcome,” he whispered, carefully leaning down to kiss the top of my head, doing his best to avoid aggravating his stomach.
“Next time, just shoot them all from the start, okay? I don’t like seeing you hurt.”
“Me hurt?” he said. “You’re the one with an eye the size of an apple, not to mention the giant gash on your face and the limp because of a crater the size of my fist in your leg!”
“I’ll live,” I stated bluntly.
“And so will I,” he returned with equal blandness. “What’s your point?”
“I don’t know.”
He had no response to that.
“There’s something else I need to do,” I said, patting him gently on the arm before easing free of his grip.
Limping heavily—much as I said I would live, Ididhurt all over—I headed toward the dais, upon which sat the throne. I paused to grab Elenia’s corpse and dragged it up several steps, dropping it like it was garbage so that she lay visible for any who entered to see.
Reaching the top, I turned and looked down at the room. It was only Aaron and his team, along with the slain bodies. There were no others to witness this, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was it was over. Or, at least, itwouldbe over once I sat down. That was all I had to do. Sit on the throne and claim it. Take up that responsibility for myself.
