Venko.
She nudged Thissian, but he only smiled at her, shaking his head, and she nodded when he remained behind her, now shoulder to shoulder with Merrick’sparents, who beamed at her like her own mother and father might have, pride glittering in their eyes.
Looking up at the wall of water again, Lessia saw the queen she would now become, the one filled with light and just a little bit of darkness, before she declared, “I claim this power, I claim this life. I will take the throne as Queen of Shadows.”
As that surge that had started within her burst through the water, the dead souls went with it. The wyverns—now refilled with energy—shot forward when Lessia jerked her chin in the only direction she could now go.
Toward Merrick.
Toward the male who’d somehow known she needed to be strong enough to accept this fate—to not fight it but embrace it and use it for what good she could.
Chapter 46
Merrick
He felt the surge of power before everyone else around him stiffened, sensing the primal shift in their world, yet Merrick could barely believe his eyes as Lessia rode through the water, hair flying wildly behind her as she raced to reach them.
But it wasn’t the hair that made her entire being seem unruly, filled with unrestrained power. It was her eyes. It was her face, void of the guilt that had so long marred her features. It was the way she freely waved a few of the wyverns off, shouting an order the wind carried away.
A slow smile spread across his face as her clear golden eyes met his.
She was Lessia, but…
She was also a queen.
A female who would never again bow. Not for a leader. Not for a god. Not even for fate.
The untamed energy sparking through his veins was nothing compared to the love and pride he felt for thisperfect creature as her eyes remained on his the entire time she approached. He’d always known that she was destined for something bigger—something extraordinary.
Perhaps that was what had driven him to push her so hard.
Perhaps that’s why his being—his entire soul—so easily knelt for her.
Perhaps that’s why he didn’t even flinch as strange old magic wrapped his ship and every other around them, souls pouring out and capturing enemy after enemy, refusing to let them move or fight.
She’d always been his queen, and now? Now she was everyone else’s too.
Queen of Death, Queen of Shadows…
He’d heard his souls whisper those words to him even before he’d rescued her and they’d come over to this side. They must have also known, known why it was Merrick who was allowed to stand by her side as she claimed this fucking world and the afterlife for herself.
Merrick had taken one step toward her when he sensed something behind him, but he didn’t have time to react—his awe for Lessia making him careless—before a dagger dug into his chest. It stopped right before his hammering heart, and he could tell the male behind him was desperate, his breathing erratic as he screamed “Stop! Stop or I’ll kill him!”
Every soul and human and Fae and shifter and wyvern did as he said, the sounds of war dying for the first time since they had begun, and Merrick knew it was because Lessia had commanded it.
He cursed himself when her eyes darkened as they landed on the male gripping the dagger so hard it shookagainst the ribs within Merrick’s body between which it had pierced, but he didn’t have time to tell Lessia to just kill the man before his mate—his wife, his woman, his queen—spoke.
“I’ll just bring him back,” she said simply, not a drop of fear to be found in her tone. “The only one you’ll hurt is yourself. Because if you drive that dagger farther in…”
Lessia’s eyes moved somewhere to the side, to someone beside the man, and she clicked her tongue. “I’m guessing the woman who looks like she wants to rip my throat out is your mate? If you touch mine… I will let the souls here drive her crazy. I won’t let them kill her… No, that would be too kind. But I would ensure her mind never again becomes what it is now, so that you would have to see what you did every day for the rest of your life, which I’ve heard is quite long… if the rumors are true that you share our lifespans.”
Merrick heard the man’s sharp inhale before his chest even moved against his back. “And what if I let him go? What will you do then? You’ll kill us anyway.”
A woman’s concurring murmur sounded behind him, and Merrick let out a dark laugh before he drawled, “I really hope I’m alive when she does, because I’d love to fucking watch her rip the two of you to shreds for what you’ve done to our world.”
Lessia’s eyes moved to the bright blue sky for a moment before dipping back down.
A flicker of amusement shone amidst the gold as she gave Merrick a look before turning to whoever was now shaking behind him. “I wouldn’t have killed you, no. Unlike you, I have respect for life. But now?—”
