Chapter 10
MAELKAR
Fuck me, I’m glad the fire protection gear held.
Between the flamebeast scale and my own shadow magic, I thankfully didn’t get roasted alive.
I had to goad her. I had to make her angry enough to use everything she had.
It’s the only way she stops overthinking, stops tiptoeing around the idea of destruction, and actually wields the damn gift she’s got.
She has so much potential, and she’s wasting it clinging to the sweet little flower who scurried into my realm all those weeks ago.
Beneath it, though? There’s a woman who could take all that hurt, all that hate, and forge it into something legendary.
Did it sting, watching my words hit her like a blade?
Yeah. But I’m nothing if not phenomenal at playing the soulless bastard when a job calls for it.
Especially when my life is on the line if she doesn’t get her shit together.
Her fire fizzles out, and I push myself up on my elbows to look at her. She’s on her knees, sweat clinging to the golden strands of her hair, palms pressed into the dirt as her body rises and falls with heaving breaths.
“There she is. My little demon,” I purr.
She lifts her head, hatred burning in those ocean-blue eyes, the dark rings swallowing almost all of the colour. Oh, she’s pissed pissed. “Fuck you, Maelkar,” she spits.
I get to my feet, brushing the dirt off my leathers, checking for scorch marks. Thankfully, there’s none. Not on me, anyway. Strolling towards her, I see her raise a shaky hand. “Don’t come near me,” she growls, her eyes going darker still.
Maybe I pushed too far. But no one else around here is going to shove her past her limits. And time? We don’t have that luxury, not anymore. “Daisy,” I say, stepping closer again.
She bares her teeth. Gods, she’s beautiful when she’s feral. The old queen I remember so well is truly shining through. “I didn’t mean those things,” I tell her. “I needed you to use your power. To see that you can. That it’s okay to wield it.”
“So you thought bringing up my dead husband and telling me I’m useless was the way to do it? Gods, you’re such a freaking ass.”
I shrug, doing my best to feign nonchalance though her words leave a small sting. “It worked, didn’t it?”
I extend my arm, offering her my hand. She slaps it away, pushing herself up on trembling legs instead.
Feisty. I see what Korithax saw in her. You know, besides the curves and killer good looks.
But I won’t tell her that, just in case she thinks I’m trying to make a move and she decides to scorch me alive.
“I’m sorry,” I say, and for once, I actually mean it. “But we don’t have time for you to keep being afraid of yourself. Your fire? That’s not even half of what you can do. Not if you’ve still got Dasmyrin’s gifts in you.”
“I’m not Dasmyrin,” she mutters, dusting off her trousers.
“I never said you were. You’re Daisy. You’re someone better.
” I give her a genuine smile, something rare for me.
Because it’s the truth. I knew Dasmyrin.
She was a badass, but she believed she was untouchable.
That arrogance got her betrayed by the very people she created.
The Divine Six—liars, manipulators, every last one.
They never tried their shit on me because they knew without a doubt, that I could have ruined them.
And because they left me alone, I let them be.
Selfish? Maybe. But I didn’t care enough back then to get involved.
I cared about my magic, my realm, and my monsters.
Now I see how power-hungry they’ve become—how powerful they’ve become—and I can’t sit back.
They need to be eradicated from the realms. And Daisy?
She’s the one who can do it. They have become too powerful for me to do it alone now.
But her? She just needs someone willing to shove her straight into the fire.
To push her to her limits, so she can see how truly magnificent she is.
I’ll gladly be that bastard if it means each one of them dies a painful death with no hope of return.