Page 97 of Queen of Darkness
“A year ago, on the night of your Soulshift, did youeverin a million years picture us being where we are now? You, goddess of shifters, and me, queen of the vampires? Be honest.”
Dani snorted violently. “Yeah,right. How could I ever have imagined that? Neither of us knew that either of those things existed!”
“You always thought there was some truth to the legends of the shifter gods. Fitting that you and your father brought that knowledge back.”
“I guess,” Dani said. “But can I be honest with you?”
“You’d better. If you think you can stop being my best friend now, I’ll clock you one, goddess or no goddess.”
“I’d pay to see that,” Vir said immediately.
“I’ll match his wager,” Aaron chimed in.
We both turned from looking at one another to glare at both men.
“In your dreams,” we said in unison.
The men moaned and groaned good-naturedly before going back to work, lifting the stones and hauling them out of the ground and back up the hill. Jaxton and Alexi continued to dig out more of the worked stone chunks, while farther up the hill, Dave and Pieter were busy working on assembling them.
“Now, what were you going to say?” I asked, impressed with the progress that had already been made rebuilding Drakul’s castle, despite it lying in ruins for centuries.
“Just that, although I know what I am, I really don’tfeellike that’s me,” Dani confessed. “I’m just me, Dani, twenty-two and a half. I’m so young. Part of me feels like my life was robbed from me by giving me this power and responsibility.”
“Me,too,” I gushed, glad to be able to talk to freely in a way I couldn’t when I was in my palace.
Although Aaron, his team, and I had made good progress instituting changes to the vampire realm and its inhabitants, many resisted. Theylikedthe systems Elenia had put in place, mainly because they’d been able to game them to their advantage.
I was so sick and tired of it. Thankfully, as queen, I could undo much of the damage with a simple command. That created enemies, of course, and I had to watch what I said. The palace had ears.
“Like, sometimes I just want to get drunk and party all night,” Dani said, caressing her stomach as she said it. I knew my friend well enough to know she was simply daydreaming.
“Can we?” I asked, brightening. “After the baby comes. We’ll just dress up, go out in Kellar somewhere. Dance the night away. We can drink all we want and not have to worry about getting too drunk to get home. It’ll be so much fun!”
“We totally should,” Dani agreed. “I definitely don’t want to lose my pulse on humanity. I don’t intend to be some sort of recluse, only emerging once a century or something.”
“Me neither. I’ve actually been trying to figure out some way to better integrate with humans. I was thinking of opening a club in Kellar, to be honest,” I said. “Vampire-themed and the like, so we could move around in it freely, interact with humans, and just retain some of ourselves. Living entirely in a different realm is bad for our mental well-being.”
“That sounds fun. I’d go there,” Dani said. “We could wear some tight little outfits—”
“Some booby tops!” I added excitedly, watching the boys for their reaction. Well,oneboy in particular.
“Rude,” Dani said, sticking out her tongue while indicating her own less than filled-out shirt.
“You know what I mean,” I said. “A push-up bra does wonders.”
“Sounds just grand,” my friend agreed.
“And we’ll do it all without the nasty boys,” I said. “Girls’ night!”
“Girls’ night!”
We laughed, and for the first time in months, I felt like our relationship was in the right place again. We’d been best friends since we were kids. I wasn’t about to let myself lose Dani. Not now. Things had been so wild since her Soulshift and then mine. Our lives had changed drastically, and they would never return to normal.
But this new world didn’t mean we couldn’t be friends. If anything, I thought it would be better for us to stay close. Perhaps we could help bridge the gap between shifters and vampires. Build some sort of community out of it. Who knew?
Footsteps through the undergrowth announced someone’s arrival. I glanced over my shoulder to see Fenrir emerge from the cave that led deep into Drakul’s castle.
“How goes it in there?” I asked.
