Page 51 of My Demon Desire
Her smile makes the corners of her black eyes crinkle and look more like a spider's. "But you are, dear." She strides forward to stand directly in front of me, her gaze meeting mine.
I feel like a rabbit surrounded by wolves. Her gaze meets mine and she raises her eyebrows as though waiting for me to admit everything.
Her sleek black dress clings to her slim frame. The fabric hugs her body, accentuating the curve of her hip and the rise of her chest.
She leans down, whispering in my ear, "You are the only one that can take my throne and I want you to know that before you die."
"Wha— how?" My stomach tightens. "Mom," I whisper.
"So you've figured it out." She smirks. "I'd finally found Reyshiik and her mixed-blood offspring and sent my best men to dispatch her."
"The car accident." They'd never found the hit-and-run driver. "There wasn't a car at all was there?"
I glance over to my dad who winces. “After you were born, she used a spell to hide your birthmark. Then the night she died, she used all of her power to kill the guards and put a magical protection on you. To keep them from ever finding you, and it was too much... it killed her."
Sobs tore at my chest. My mom died because of me.
"Don't cry. I wanted to kill you and your mother at the same time when she was pregnant with you and fled with her human lover." Her face drew up like she'd sucked on something sour. "You and your father will join her in the afterlife soon."
"If what you say is true." I take a ragged breath and look her straight in her cold, dead eyes. "Without me, you've no one to contest your throne. So kill me first and let everyone else go. Go ahead," I say louder, "finish it."
"You do not command me," she shouts and snaps her fingers.
My dad, Kaden, Reis, and Thorne scream as the vines cut into their skin and blood soaks the ground.
"You are nothing," she seethes. "You are like an ant under my shoe. They will all die and then you will."
"No," I say, my voice shaking. My gaze shifts to her guards. "I have the royal birthmark on my arm. Check if you don't believe me. I am Reyshiik's daughter."
A bitterness hit the back of my throat as they looked from me to the queen, then most of them hang their heads. They won't help me. My dad and my men can't help me.
I am lost. They are all going to die because of me and there is nothing I can do to save them. I fight against the vines, struggling to get free as their bodies twitch and start to turn blue.
My men, my dark fae, my monsters.
Inside I shatter, knowing there is no way out of this. My heart aches as I realize that this is all my fault. I brought us here and now we are all going to die because of me.
My chest burns with a pain I can't explain. I look down. The vines dig into me like hundreds of needles, their thorns piercing my skin. I can barely see through my tears.
I failed them, I failed us all. I want to rage against the queen, to make her feel the pain that I feel, but I know it is futile.
I feel helpless, and the tears stream down my face as I watch my beloved family and friends suffer. I want to do something, anything to help them, but my efforts are in vain.
The vines have a grip on me like an enormous boa constrictor and I am unable to move, unable to get free, unable to help them. I feel the agony of my failure, and the bitterness of defeat. I failed them all.
The queen's laughter rings in my ears. She killed my mom, and is about to kill my dad, my men, and me.
We are all going to die like she did.
I look up, my gaze searching for something, for someone, for a way out, for a way to make this right. But there's nothing. We are doomed and my mom's sacrifice to save me was for nothing.
Tears flood my eyes. There's a metallic taste in the back of my throat. I've failed.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I whisper.
The last thing I hear before I squeeze my eyes closed is my father's scream and the curses of my men, echoing through the air as they die.
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