Chapter 52
Daisy
Isit cross-legged on the rug, my fingers curled around a cup of honeyed tea I’m not actually bothering to drink.
The room is still glowing with the warmth of their laughter from their stories of what’s been happening back home. But underneath it all, there’s a tension I can’t hide anymore.
Ezra leans forward, arms braced on his knees. “Okay, bitch. Spill everything. Like, everything. Start with the getting married part. Why the hell did you marry Satan?”
Talia elbows him, but he doesn’t look away from me.
She’s quiet, and her eyes are full of worry, like she’s trying to read me before I can even start speaking.
She’s always done that, read me like an open book.
I’d trained myself over the years to hide the darkest parts of me from her, but she still mostly managed to figure me out.
I take a breath. “Technically, I didn’t marry Satan.
He’s down in Gehenna,” I force a laugh. “But, I married Korithax because I had to. It was part of a political agreement. He needed a wife to become king, and I…” my voice falters.
“I needed somewhere to belong. Somewhere that didn’t remind me of being broken. ”
Ezra’s expression softens instantly. “You’re not broken, Daze.”
Talia says nothing, but her hand finds mine in a strong embrace, her thumb tracing softly over my knuckles.
“I was,” I whisper. “After Ethan, after everything. I felt like I was splintering into pieces that I couldn’t hold together anymore.
Korithax showed up after I was raped, when I had whispered his name.
He had shown up when I took the overdose, saving me even when I didn’t want him to.
And when I summoned him with my blood, I wasn’t expecting him to actually care, not after I’d basically told him to go fuck himself on Christmas Eve. ”
I huff out a laugh, remembering how he’d come to me to ask for marriage. How I’d thought he’d lost the absolute plot, with his little glowing orb and his fake smile.
Talia’s brows knit. “You summoned him?”
“Yeah,” I nod. “After that day at college, when the report got released, and Jason came over to be a dick. Some of the players’ girlfriends came into the cafe and started talking shit and got me fired…
I’d just had enough.” My throat catches, but I keep going.
“I used my blood and his summoning circle and screamed at him to come. I agreed to marry him as soon as he arrived, signed the contract, and then well… here we are.”
Ezra’s eyes are wide now. “Jesus.”
I tell them all about the realms. About Fjellheim Heights, how it was a world in the clouds.
Aurora’s veil, and how I’d wanted to bring them there to one of the cabins under the ever-twinkling northern lights.
Well I did, until one of the creepy ass people kidnapped me, and the literal king of the realm tried to seduce me.
I told them about Solara, where the sky’s always golden, and their goddess is perfection personified.
But I left out the part about my mom, just wanting to keep some things to myself.
I told them about Stormravan, where the wind screams through the mountains.
About Luminaria, where light bends and breathes like it’s alive.
I can’t bring myself to tell them that Luminaria’s goddess is also my sister, because I still can’t quite believe it myself.
Then I tell them about Noxthrallia, how I’d rather die than ever return back to that godforsaken realm, and the ritual that was performed.
Finally, I tell them about Zeriavoss—where they are right freaking now—and how it felt like home the moment I stepped into the fields.
I describe the way the blood blossoms bloom, and how the lakes reflect the blood-red lightning streaks like molten ruby in a vast blue sky.
And I tell them why I agreed to become immortal, and with a quivering voice, exactly what happened when I had become immortal. And just who, or what, I had become.
“I just wanted more time,” I say, staring into my cup. “More time with him. More time to find out who I am. It felt like the only way to live without waiting for the clock to run out.”
Talia leans back against the bed frame, arms crossed. “So let me get this straight. You got dragged into a soul bargain from the Heir of Hell, married him, became immortal, visited magical realms, and—oh yeah—you’re apparently the reincarnated version of someone who created… everything?”
“That pretty much sums it up, yeah,” I say, shrugging helplessly.
When she puts it like that, it really all does sound like some crazy, far-fetched dream. How had all of this happened in just the space of a few months? I’d gone from being a regular college girl to a long-lost Queen reborn.
Ezra sighs dramatically. “Ugh. When you created everything, you could’ve made me rich!”
I giggle. “I think you’re about fifty thousand years too late for my help.”
Typical Ezra. I’ve just told him things I don’t even think my favourite fantasy books could conjure up, and he’s concerned about the fact I didn’t create him as a rich man.
Talia gives a slow, wary nod. Like she’s slowly processing everything. “So… what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I’m exhausted. I left home to come here and be someone who wasn’t broken. And now I’m a long-dead queen, a creator of realms, and Korithax is my mate.”
Ezra nearly chokes on his tea. “Your what?”
“This is like your bullshit fae books you have at home,” he cackles. “A fucking mate? You have a mate now?”
“I know,” I groan. “It’s crazy. But I feel it. It’s like this tug toward him. I can’t stand being away from him, my body, my heart, my soul—it aches for him.”
“Okay, horny bitch, calm down.” Talia laughs, throwing a pillow at me.
I roll my eyes, blushing. “He’s also great in bed.”
I smirk behind my tea as both of them gasp, letting out a soft giggle when Ezra slaps my arm.
“STOP. This is too much!” He fakes fainting onto the floor, and we all burst into laughter. That wild, unfiltered kind of laughter that comes when you’re seconds from crumbling, but someone reminds you that joy still exists. It makes me feel lighter than I have since I woke up.
“Wait,” I ask, frowning. “How the hell did you even get here?”
Talia and Ezra glance at each other before Talia speaks. “Aran came. He said you needed us, said you were lost and overwhelmed, and that you might not even remember yourself when we arrived.”
“And of course, we didn’t hesitate,” Ezra adds. “We just came.”
I stare at them, my chest aching. How was I going to do anything without them? Maybe I could have them turned immortal, too.
“So, uh,” Ezra says, eyeing me carefully. “You really gonna be Queen of Hell?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I was supposed to just be Korithax’s wife, Queen of Hell. But now it’s way more than that, and I don’t know who I’m supposed to be anymore.”
A knock sounds on the door, and we all look to it as it slowly creaks open, Aran’s head popping in. I offer him a genuine smile of thanks, and he offers me a soft smile in return.
“Sorry to interrupt,” He murmurs, “it’s time for your friends to leave.”
I nod, the ache in my chest instantly returning at the thought of them going home.
“We’ll visit again soon,” Talia says as she stands. “Or maybe you can come back to us for a little while. We’ll have a sleepover.”
“I’ll bring the mint choc chip!” Ezra grins, bouncing like an excited puppy.
I feel the tears fill my eyes. “I’d love that.”
They move in, wrapping their arms around me in another three-way hug, holding me like I’m something sacred as our heads touch together.
“I love you both so much,” I whisper as the tears fall.
“We love you, Daisy Duke,” Ezra says softly, his voice catching.
“Laters, queen bitch,” Talia says, blowing me a kiss.
A few moments later, and they’re gone, Aran included. The room that was so filled with joy and love just moments ago is now empty, and the silence feels like it has swallowed me whole. For the first time in what feels like forever, I’m all alone.
I finish the rest of my tea and move towards the bathroom.
I hadn’t even realised I was still in this dress—the one I’d been immortalised in until I’d zoned back in and had seen the black fabric pooled around me.
The second I realised, it felt like it was suffocating me.
I need it off. I need to wash away the last twenty-four hours from my skin.
I step into the quiet bathroom, basking in the peace and quiet, and strip the gown from my body, leaving it in a heap on the obsidian tiled floor.
I step beneath the warm flow of water and brace my hands on the cool stone wall.
Steam rises around me in thick coils. I close my eyes, and for a moment, I just allow myself to breathe.
Everything I’ve endured in the last twenty-four hours whirls around my head, and before I can understand what’s happening, the world shifts.
Heat rushes up my spine, and my head feels blurry.
The sound of running water fades, and my hands are no longer against the cool stone.
I open my eyes, and it’s like I’m having an out-of-body experience.
Except, the body isn’t mine. The world around me is in flames.
I’m standing in armour darker than night, obsidian etched with red runes glowing like embers.
My silver hair is whipping behind me in a violent wind, stained with streaks of blood.
My face is spattered with it too—demon blood, fae blood—I can’t tell whose is whose.
All I can hear is the sound of voices chanting.
Ashborn. Ashborn. Ashborn.
Thousands of soldiers stand behind me, all chanting that name.
My name. The sword in my grip is engulfed in white flame, so bright it burns the colour from the world around me.
Upon my head, a blazing wreath of fire is wrapped in spirals of molten gold to resemble a crown.
I blink, and I’m suddenly no longer looking at myself, but out of my eyes.
Before me, the battlefield smoulders. A massive beast lies dead at my feet, smoke rising from its split-open chest. All around are corpses, some demon, some fae, and other things I don’t even recognise.
And there, standing directly in front of me, is a large, fae warrior.
His eyes burn violet, his ash coloured hair stuck to his skin, drenched in blood.
One hand clutches at his ribs, right where a blade has pierced through.
He sneers at me, canines longer than any I’ve ever seen.
“This is not over, Ashborn Queen,” he growls. “They sent me to destroy you. I may not have won, but they will.”
The vision shatters, causing me to stumble backwards.
My palms grasp at air as I struggle to find my footing.
I turn, slamming my back against the wall as I gasp for breath, the steam suffocating as I fight for oxygen.
My heart is racing like I’ve just come off the battlefield for real.
My body trembles, my skin freezing despite the warm water.
The fear won’t leave, it’s deep in my bones. It felt so real.
“Daisy?”
His voice cuts through the haze. I turn my head, breath still catching in my throat. Korithax stands just outside the shower, eyes wide, concern carved into every sharp line of his face.
“What is it?” He asks, already moving to be by my side.
“I just had… I don’t know. A vision?” I whisper. “A battlefield. Dasmyrin had just won a battle against a huge fae man. He was bleeding out, and he used his dying words to tell me something.”
“What. What did he say?”
“This is not over, Ashborn. They sent me to destroy you. I may not have won… but they will.” I whisper, repeating his words as my heart thunders.
Korithax’s brow tightens as he steps fully into the room, scanning me, like he’s making sure I’m whole and safe.
“The gates to other universes were sealed long before I was even born,” he says, his voice low.
“There were whispers that the fae had grown greedy. That they wanted more than their realm, that they wanted all of ours too. Every ruler in every realm joined together to close the borders.” He moves to me, stroking my hair out of my face.
“No one should be able to cross over again, Daisy.”
I grip my arms, water pouring over the pair of us. “But what if they already did? What if the ‘they’ that sent him—what if that’s the Divine Six?”
Korithax lets out a slow, cold breath. “It sounds like something they’d do.
Manipulate someone else to do their dirty work.
Someone they could cut ties with. Someone who’d be impossible to trace.
” I watch as his jaw pulses. “Universe travel is nearly impossible. It takes catastrophic power. God-tier magic.”
“But there were fae in the realms we visited. What if they want blood?”
Korithax shakes his head. “They are the offspring of when the fae were welcomed here. They are not out to harm you, Daisy. They are more our creatures than theirs.”
I shiver against the feeling of dread taking over my body. “This is too much. I don’t even feel like I can breathe.”
He steps closer to me, not caring that his clothes or boots are getting soaked through. He wraps his arms around me, lowering himself to press his forehead against mine.
“You don’t have to carry this alone,” he murmurs, pressing his lips to my soaked hair. “We’ll face this together, my little flower. You and me. You are my wife, my mate, my Daisy.”
My arms wrap around him tightly, fingers curling into the fabric of his wet shirt as it clings to every muscle that hones his body.
“I’ve got you, okay? You’re not alone.”
I let out a shuddering breath. He’s right. I’m not alone. I have the strongest, fiercest man by my side. And I think with him, I’ll just about be okay.