Page 9 of Queen of the Wicked
It’s strong magic, to feel someone calling for you silently. She asked for help without saying a word, and I heard every unspoken scream beneath her skin. I watched her body trembling in fear of her own power.
But as she pointed out—why me? Why not call for Kaius, or both of us? I arrived at her studio to find her alone, silently fighting monsters she can’t describe. This magic I could sense was eating her alive.
It’s already consumed her.
And Kaius? Damn him, was nowhere.
I should’ve left her alone. I should’ve flown far from this palace and its cursed history. From him. But when I saw her on her knees and sobbing into the floor, I couldn’t walk away.
I didn’t have any regrets about seducing her as I did, but when she mentioned Kaius and the anger he’d direct at me, something in me cracked. I don’t want him to hate me, and I never have.
So I backed off, and now I’m looking for him to tell him that his lover is days, maybe even moments, from losing herself completely.
I find him exactly where I thought he’d be: perched on his cold black bloodthrone like a statue forgotten on a decaying altar. His own red magic is swirling around him like ghosts, warning others not to approach.
But I have never been scared of Kaius Voroninov.
“You’re really going to sit there,” I begin before I’ve even crossed the threshold, lacing my tongue with the same venom he always gives me, “while fear breaks her from the inside out?” I scoff. “No wonder she called for me. You’re so lost in your own misery that you’ve completely abandoned her.”
His magic disappears, his unholy crimson eyes meet mine and he’s in my face in an instant, his words tearing through the space between us like a blade being unsheathed. “What did you say to me?”
I laugh. It’s cold and malicious. “That girl stabbed herself in the stomach foryou. That girl let you snap her neck foryou. And you don’t even care that now she’s screaming inside her skin for help. She needed you, and you weren’t there.”
“Don’t lecture me on what she needs!” he shouts. “She has been through more than either of us know. You’ve been here for all but a day and believe you know her better than me.”
“I don’t think I know her at all, but what I do know, Kaius, is that you’re failing her. You want her to be fine. You don’t want to accept that she’s hurting because of decisions she made for you. You did the same thing with me, and how unfortunate it is that you still haven’t learned.”
“They are not even remotely similar situations! You do not get to come back after centuries and dare to question my devotion to her.”
“It is exactly the same! You turned on me the moment I changed and stopped being convenient to your little power trip built on anger. I have never judged you for your behavior after what Yekaterina did to you, but you’ve neveroncein your life given the same love and attention that you gave to that witch. Are you afraid Adelasia will do the same to you? That I would have? The moment anyone stops treating you as the center of their universe, you spit them out like poison. You did it to me and now you’re doing it to the girl that stabbed herself in the gut to try and save you from your own misery.”
“You chose a pair of wings and an occupied bed over me!”
“And you’re choosing denial over her! You’d rather watch her rot from the inside out than admit that you can’t save her on your own!”
Silence slices through the air like a guillotine. I can see the shame buried beneath the anger in his face, though he’s learned to hide it well. His pride snaps back into place like a locked vault as he turns away from me. I stare at his broad, cold back. Dismissed, like always.
The Kaius I knew all those years ago is still in there, somewhere. But pulling him back from whatever misery he’s forced upon himself won’t be as simple as returning to his life and finding a place in his heart next to Adelasia.
I sigh, trying again to get him to see reason. “She’s not the only one who will be destroyed by this magic, Kai. She’ll take all of us with her. You can either try to help her see through that darkness and return to herself, or you can choose to watch as she becomes something you won’t be able to recognize. You can’t let her die for you and then push her away as she deals with the consequences of resurrection.” I step backward towardthe shadows of the throne room, letting them encase my wings. “There is no magic that can bring people back from the dead, except for Eternity’s. That does not come without a price.”
He says nothing, so I leave him there, alone with the thoughts of losing the woman he loves if he doesn’t open his eyes.
Kaius may be in denial, but one thing I do know is that I have a responsibility to Adelasia too, through a bond she doesn’t even recognize yet.
And if Kaius won’t save her, I will.
Seven
Kaius
The night is colder than usual, but I don’t think it’s the weather. I think it’s…me. Poisoning the air surrounding me with my bitterness.
I pace the halls of my broken palace like a ghost who wishes for a second chance to be a proper king. Though I can see in darkness as easily as I do in any other light, the shadows seem to press closer than I remember, crushing me slowly with the weight of the secrets they carry and whispering things I don’t wish to hear.
They say the same things to me that almost earned Rowan a broken neck. That I’m failing my darling Adelasia—losing her to this curse she carries with her. The curse that is so quickly encasing her heart in a jagged shell of malice.
I saw it in the throne room when she returned to me, sitting there with the Bloodstones and Yekaterina’s eye adorning a crown atop her head. I saw it in the way she smiled at me. I saw it in the way she demanded I kneel for her.
