Page 35 of Queen of Darkness
“Of course, it’s notallI took from it,” I said, laying my hand on top of his, letting him feel my presence. “But it’s nice knowing that even some of the gods think I’m better than her.”
“It’s not hard,” Fenrir muttered. “Have you met that bitch? Very unlikeable.”
“Hey, let me have this little win, okay?” I said. “I just found out I’m going to kill his first girlfriend.”
Fenrir shrugged, and I sobered, looking at Aaron, gathering his full attention.
“What is it?” he asked.
“You told me I would have to be ready to do whatever it takes to succeed. Now, I need to know the same from you,Aaron,” I said, stressing his current name, the person he was. “If the opportunity presents itself, are you willing to take it?”
He flinched. “Take it?”
I nodded slowly, watching him closely for his reaction. “I have to know. Are you willing, and able, to kill your ex?”
Chapter Eighteen
“Kill her?” he echoed solemnly.
I remained quiet, letting him process the question. Aaron wasn’t an idiot; I knew he understood that there was only one way this ended. But had he truly contemplated that it might behimwho had to kill her? If something happened to me, it was imperative that she still be removed from power.
“She has to go,” Fred said, appearing nearby, silently admitting to having eavesdropped. “You have to know that.”
“I do.” Aaron sighed, looking down, but not before I got a glimpse of something I’d never seen in his eyes before. Not when we were staring down a hundred vampires eager to chop us up or the terrifying guardian spiders of Mordathu. He hadn’t batted an eye when I’d summoned Zeus, having been more shocked than anything.
“What is it?” I asked, squeezing his hand, trying to reassure him it couldn’t be that bad.
“I tried, once,” he said, finally looking up.
I stiffened at the haunted gauntness that came over him, stealing the life from his features. Seeing this new side of Aaron was unnerving, but also, I thought, necessary.
“To kill her,” he clarified. “When I first found out about the insanity she’d begun, culling us of all females, I stood up to her. Told her that what she was doing was utter madness and that she couldn’t keep it up. But I failed. She was too strong.”
“Aren’t you older? I thought vampires grew stronger as you ‘aged,’” I said, looking around to the others for confirmation.
Fred nodded at me.
“Technically, yes. But after twelve hundred years, the difference is minimal. Definitely not enough to make any difference in a fight.”
“She’s your equal, then,” I said thoughtfully, reevaluating my perception of the queen.
“That’s what she wants you to think,” Aaron whispered. “That’s why I went after her on my own. I thought I could handle her.”
“So, what happened?” I asked, unable to hold back. Something must have gone horribly awry for him to be having this sort of reaction. Maybe it had something to do with why he’d vehemently tried to convince me not to go after her in the first place.
Maybe he was afraid that I would lose. That he would lose me. Because of whatever it is that he knows about her.
“She beat me to a pulp,” Aaron stated bluntly, exhaling slowly. “I didn’t see it coming. I landed the first blow due to sheer surprise, I’m sure.”
“What?” I gasped. He’d said he lost. But I’d been picturing her getting a lucky blow in that stunned him. Imagining Aaron having his ass kicked was both tough and troubling.
“It’s true,” he admitted. “You can see the evidence yourself. The room’s been left as-is since then. She handed my ass to me, then spent a few decades torturing me as punishment for breaking her heart.”
“Bitch,” Fenrir grunted under his breath, speaking for all of us with that one word.
“How was she able to do that?” I asked, glancing at the vampire-wolf shifter. “What gave her such a tremendous advantage? Is she like us?”
“No,” Aaron and Fenrir answered at the same time.
