Chapter 65 Dianna #2
“You’re not funny,” she said, her fingers coasting into the back of Samkiel’s hair as she watched me.
She studied my eyes, and I knew she saw the possessive rage I couldn’t hide.
Her smile made my breath catch, and I knew that whatever she was going to do next, I was going to hate.
She turned away from me, her long brown hair falling like a silk blanket down her back.
I watched in pained horror as her lips pressed to his, but I think the sound of the kiss might have been the worst part.
I turned my head away in disgust, my chest burning with the heat of a thousand suns. Footsteps approached, and a strong hand gripped my chin, forcing my face back toward them. Ennis, that sick bastard, wanted me to watch.
“Are you planning to fuck him in front of me, or did you actually kidnap me for a reason?” I said around the pain in my jaw.
She turned toward me, her lips swollen and gleaming.
“Oh, that’s a good idea. After we discuss what I need from you, I think I will, although I may need practice.
I haven’t taken him in a while, and if I remember correctly, he is a tight fit.
We’ll need to take it very, very slow. Ennis, make her a place in my room later. I want her to watch.”
Ennis dropped my face but only stepped back a fraction.
“You’re psychotic.”
Milani slipped off Samkiel’s lap, and he rose behind her.
I wondered if that’s what I looked like with him at my back, protecting and shielding me as his greatest prize.
But it wasn’t me now. She caught the expression on my face, and her lips curved in a slow, cruel smile.
It grew brighter as she moved around him, her hand trailing across his midsection.
I had to stop the Ig’Morruthen inside me from reacting. Violently.
“Thank you for bringing him back to me,” she said as she rested her head against his biceps. “Nismera told me that without you, the realms wouldn’t have opened.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, he only had to die for that to happen.”
Her eyes flattened.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did she leave that bit out?”
“You’re lying,” she said, looking up at him and then back at me.
I shrugged. “I have no reason to lie. You already have the one thing I care about more than anything in this life or the next.”
Her eyes narrowed as she petted him, her hand running up and down his arm. “Well, he’s mine now. As he always should have been.”
“By force,” I said. “Because you used a lame ass dagger that my psycho ex made and planned to use on me. Gods, if you’re the brains behind Nismera’s armada, it’s no wonder they suck. Can you do anything by yourself?”
Her smile turned deadly, and I caught the brutal edge of it before my spine locked and I writhed in my bonds.
The thick collar around my neck sparked and hissed against my collarbones, my fire sizzling like sap beneath my skin.
I gritted my teeth, hissing and trying to breathe through the agony.
It stopped, and I went limp. I lay there panting, trying to catch my breath. Fuck.
She was in front of me then, her hands slamming down onto the table in front of me. “Have you not seen my fleet, my army? I am her strength, and you and everyone else will see.”
I rolled my eyes. “Tyranny is such a simple, boring idea.”
Milani scoffed, raising up. “Tyranny? Try the universe’s greatest conquerer, and when she is done here, she will rule not only this realm, but even the stars beyond our reach.
I will be labeled a goddess for the power my warships will bring to her new order.
Even the Sovereigns will recognize her power, and they will quiver. ”
Sovereigns? My mind reeled. I had no idea what she was talking about, but the power she claimed she wanted seemed to go beyond our borders.
Was there more I wasn’t seeing? Or was Milani just that psychotic that she believed whatever Nismera spoon-fed her?
Did this have something to do with the medallion?
I felt like I was so close to connecting all these damn dots, but not close enough.
“You are dumber than you look if you think Nismera won’t discard you once she’s done with you.” I scoffed.
“She won’t,” she snapped, her eyes flaring at the accusation.
“I’m her right fucking hand, and he will be mine.
We’re going to rule the skies together.” Milani smiled sweetly as she strolled back to Samkiel, putting a little more sway in her walk.
She stood on her toes and kissed him, her hands pressing against his cheeks hard enough to squish his face.
His lips moved against hers, and I had to turn away.
Every time she touched him, I had to control the sudden, violent urge to maim her.
I needed more information, but right now, all I wanted to do was peel the skin from her bones.
“That’s great,” I mocked, forcing boredom into my tone. “But Sovereigns? Never heard of them. Are you sure she didn’t make it up? You know she likes to lie, right?”
Milani pulled away from Samkiel, tossing me an annoyed look over her shoulder.
“I forgot how dumb you are. You were raised among mortals, so I guess it is to be expected that your perceptions are so narrow. You think we are the only realm? Past this one, Sovereigns rule. Each is beyond formidable, ruling over their domain. Think of the universe, that is what a Sovereign rules. Nismera will own this one, and then she will go and conquer beyond the stars. They will bow when she rips it open, or they will die.”
I blinked. I had been so wrong. We had been so, so wrong.
This had been her plan from the beginning.
Not just to rule here, but apparently far beyond as well.
Was her hunger for power that strong? Would she eat the stars from the skies to feed her craving?
“Another set of rulers above us?” My breath quickened.
As if the ones here weren’t fucking enough.
“And exactly how does she plan to do that? I doubt your warships have the firepower or magic needed to rip open realms.”
She laughed, twirling a single finger in tiny circles over Samkiel’s chest. “Oh, my warships are not meant for splitting realms. They’re for bringing her entire army over and decimating worlds.
The energy beams I’ve made could rival even the Oblivion my beautiful World Ender wields.
” She leaned up, placing a kiss on Samkiel’s cheek before settling.
Milani turned back to me, her head resting against his chest. “The medallion opens the door, obviously,” she said, waving a hand as if I were the dumb one.
Yet all I’d had to do to get her to tell me everything was to mock her until I pissed her off.
Checkmate.
A small snort left me as I nodded. “Oh, so that’s what she needed the medallion for,” I said, my eyes connecting with Samkiel’s.
“It appears so,” he said, lifting his hand to wipe his mouth.
Milani gaped at us both, realization slow to sink in. “What is this?”
My silk bonds sizzled, and I stood up, brushing the ash from my skin. Ennis pointed the remote at me, repeatedly pressing the button. “Oh, this?” I asked, ripping the collar from around my neck. “It’s called deception, or a smaller word for you, lying.”
Milani’s eyes bulged, filling with horror, anger, and sadness as Samkiel stepped away from her. His eyes no longer held adoration when he looked at her. Instead, they blazed with blinding hatred.
“Kiely!” Milani snapped, pointing her finger to the ground as if to summon a hound. “Come back to me this instance. I command you.”
“That’s not his name,” I said smugly and lifted my hand, flashing my wedding ring just to piss her off more. “And he is not yours to command. He answers to one queen, and you are not it.”
Samkiel strode to my side and placed a kiss on my temple, openly claiming his rightful queen before the one who tried to take him.
Pieces of metal pinged off the shiny stone floor as he gripped his collar and yanked.
Matching armor slid over our bodies, and I imagined we probably looked like two avenging gods.
Milani’s eyes bulged as she realized just how much she had lost. She stomped her foot like a petulant child, her face turning red and her gold-tipped wings flaring in rage.
“Guards!” she screams, her voice filled with fury, yet no one rushed in.
“I assumed you would call them, so I put a little something in their water supply this morning. I can’t remember the dosage Miska told me. One makes them sleepy, the other makes them sleep forever.” I mimicked her earlier, dismissive wave. “Variable variables.”
Ennis charged me, but I held up my hand. “I would probably go to your sister before you try to fight me.”
With a snarl, he crashed to a halt, looking at Milani in confusion.
“Don’t you smell that?” I asked. “That rancid odor? I created a system of leaks yesterday. Small nicks in your gas lines. Not enough to alert immediately, but enough to fill every chamber here. It was a trick I used when I killed Tobias in Yejedin.”
Milani’s eyes widened as Samkiel stood behind me and rested his hand on my hip. Ennis was already rushing toward her, but it was too late.
“Tell me, Milani. Are you or your brother fireproof?” She swallowed, sweat forming on her forehead. “Because I am.” I lifted my hand, and with a snap of my fingers, a flame erupted on the tip.
And the room exploded.