Page 16 of Hell's Queen

He smiles at me, realizing this is the first time I am not pissed. The pain is there still, and I know I can’t just delete that but having my family together heals me, in a way.

“Look who’s talking. How many men do you have right now?” Derrick says, counting on his fingers.

My father raises a brow. “Who?!”

“Ryker,” Derrick starts.

“The fae prince? Oh!”

I start moving to my brother, ready to tackle him if needed.

“Hazen, Jigsaw, Ledger!”

“Oh!” My father exclaims. “I love them!”

I roll my eyes. Like I didn’t know.

“And Khazon and Ozias. We all know they love her, but she’s too scared she will lose them.”

A gasp escapes my throat. “No!”

“Yes. You believed that if you fell for them as a kid, it would ruin one or the other relationships. Now, you can have both, and you’d rather have none?” Derrick snaps.

“He’s encouraging me now?” My father and I share a look.

“And then Thorne was her boyfriend on Earth.”

My father’s eyes widen. “The Blood Clan leader?”

“Blood bonded.” They both gasp dramatically at their gossiping.

“And Inarian loves her,” Killian says, taking our attention. “He looks for her whenever someone enters the room.”

My eyes meet my father’s eyes, wanting to talk about the bribe he gave Inarian and what was said, but now isn’t the time.

“Now you have your men… Time to learn how to protect yourself and them,” Dad says, smiling softly.

I scoff. “I thought you wanted them to protect me.”

He shook his head. “You don’t need protection. You need to remember your fight training and protect your damn self. I didn’t raise a fragile queen.”

My bottom lip quivers. So, did he word his vision wrong for me? This whole time I’ve been relying on men to protect me.

He moves closer to me, reaching out to touch me, but stops. “You are more than the rageful, fragile queen, Asura. You know this.”

I want to hug him for the first time since his death, but part of myself won’t let me. “Time to go, guys.”

Dad raises his chin, but I can tell this hurts him. “Goodbye, my children. I love you all.”

I bite my top lip to shut myself up. I love him. “Dad, how much time do I have to control this Flame before….”

He looks down. “Not much, my child. Your human side is rejecting it. You got this, and I believe in you.”

The moment the two grab my hands, it pulls me back to reality. I blink at the ground as Jigsaw kneels. “Are you okay? What happened?”

I look at Killian, whose eyes fill with tears. My arms wrap around him, and I let him have a moment. Most of the gym has cleared out, and by the time Killian is done crying, he leaves the room, leaving Jigsaw and me.

“Do you feel better?” he asks.

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