Page 64 of Heavy is the Crown
Taking one final breath, I let it go and stand up, my tears drying, spine straight. I move with purpose through my room, changing into leather pants and a crop top. My fingers are quick to braid my hair back and away from my face. As I finish tying it off, I sense the presence of magic and feel the rumble of the building.
I close my eyes, steeling my spine before taking a deep breath, summoning my magic up around me, and walking out toward the stairs to the club above. “Go to Drago and Shadow,” I say in a low whisper to Samhain. He looks like he is going to refuse for a moment. “I can’t let Oisin harm you, please.” With asoft caw, he shoots off out the window high in the wall, just as I see the dark figure of Oisin meandering down the stairs.
My vision flashes before my eyes, reminding me why I’m doing this. I take another cleansing breath, clearing my mind of anything and everything that might give me away at this moment, and sending out a prayer that my mates will forgive me, that I’ll even see them again to beg their forgiveness.
(“The Fighter” – In This Moment)
Through the darkened hallway, I see the broad figure of Oisin strolling in, casual and unbothered. “Hello, Ava,” his dark voice purrs. “This is such a lovely club you have here.” His black suit blends in with the inky shadows that shroud the hallway. He pauses across the floor from me, hands in his pockets, that one crimson eye assessing me. “You dropped your wards.”
Please forgive me.I send the prayer out, then take another breath, closing my eyes briefly and shutting the Ava that is mated to Drago and Shadow behind a door in my mind. “I did,” I say.
“Giving up so easily?” He moves a few inches closer, looking around my home. “I’m disappointed the dragons aren’t here.”
“I sent them away.” The words taste sour in my mouth, and bile rises in my throat. “I wanted to talk with you, without them.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Why?”
I shrug, my best attempt at appearing nonchalant despite the action feeling wrong. “I’m tired of being locked up like a pretty little pet of theirs. Since you attacked, I’ve barely been outside.” I move closer to him, closing the distance. I’m standing almost toe to toe with him now. So close, I can see his throat bob as he swallows.
“So, you called me?” he asks quietly as his eye tracks over my chest, my breasts dangerously close to spilling out of the top I’m wearing.
My heart hurts as I stand here. “Yes.”
“I don’t believe you.” His voice is dangerous. Infused with the promise of pain.
Another shrug. “Is it so hard to believe I want power? My father had no interest in giving it to me. Jax is the exact same. You grew up with me, you know how it was. I don’t want to be powerless anymore. Bring me with you, and I’ll help you take down the gates and hand you Gothic Grove.”
His eyes narrow again, head tilting. “Why? Why would I do this deal when I can just take what I want?”
“I’m a princess of Hell. You don’t think I know things? Those grimoires you stole, that Cordelia provided you, they may be powerful, but they aren’t me. You have me, and you get the Harbinger and your brother back. I am destined to be more than what those dragons want me to be, more than what my worthless father thought I should be. You are my best bet at achieving that.”
He lets out a low chuckle, the sound radiating evil. “With me, you’ll be a fucking queen.”
He slams his mouth into mine, destroying what little soul I kept when I pushed the bond away. He pulls away from me, assessing me. Seemingly satisfied with what he sees, he snaps his fingers, and Cordelia appears. Her skin has a gray hue to it and the makeup she has on is doing little to cover the cracks in her skin as it flakes away. Necromancy is a dangerous business and not something that lasts long. I glare at her as Oisin runs his hand up and down my arm.
Lady Ornate steps out next to Cordelia. She looks smug until she sees the placement of Oisin’s hands. It’s easy to see she did not foresee me coming willingly.
Oisin’s voice pulls my attention from her. “Ladies, bring your queen to her chambers.”
He steps back and swings his arm toward the portal where the two women stand, bidding me to move forward. One morebreath of my mates’ scents, and I send strength up my spine as I walk back into Hell.
Shadow
“Something isn’t right. Something was wrong with her; we never should have left her alone,” I say, my chest pulling tight. I rub my hand on it absently, back and forth, in time with my dragon pacing inside me. I shake my head. “This is wrong,” I mutter.
Drago goes to open his mouth, when I hear the distinct caw of Samhain. Spinning around, I see his massive body looms in the distance—not his normal, small raven body but his truly massive size, only slightly smaller than my dragon. Panic bleeds off the familiar as he lets out screams that no longer sound like caws. No, they sound like a warning of death.
“Ava!” Drago yells, fear and panic in his voice, because we both know Samhain wouldn’t leave her alone, wouldn’t be searching us out, unless she was in danger.
I move to shift, but before I can, I’m hit with excruciating pain and fear. It drops me to my knees, stomach heaving and head spinning. Drago is somehow still standing, though barely, but breathing rapidly, his eyes dilated and his face ashen.
I am reminded why it is so costly to love someone this deeply. Because in my heart, in my soul, I know we’ve just lost our mate.
PART 3
INTO THE BELLY OF THE BEAST
THIRTY-SIX
