Page 190 of The Queen’s Shadow

I was unable to suppress my gasp, as his power spilled over me. The warm caress of his fire licked up my skin, igniting the offending powder of magick as he purged it from my body and aura. The kiss of his energy left chills running down my neck as the warm press of his power threaded through my hair, sending miniature explosions of sensation across my scalp. Before I knew what I was doing, I was arching for him, and he seemed equally taken by the moment, as he wrapped one of those large hands around my waist and pulled me tight against him.

My hands suddenly found their way to his chest of their own accord. I looked up at him, my eyes wide and my mouth parted in shock as our magicks surged and came together.

He dipped his head down, so close to the side of my head that my tiny fly away hairs brushed against his stubble, causing my body to erupt in a second wave of gooseflesh.

“Little Witch,” he whispered, his mouth so close to my ear I could feel the heat of his breath on my skin. Now that I was free from the influence of the spores, my anger was gone, but I still felt hurt, and confused.

Why did he always push me away, when every time we came close to one another it was as if the goddess herself were demanding that we touch? Could he not feel it too?

“Dossidian…” I turned my head toward him, meaning to ask him if I was imagining things. If I was the only one who felt like I would tear down the moon, if it meant I could feel his skin pressed against mine, even if it was just one time.

The words died on my tongue, however, as he turned in the same instance, and our lips brushed against one another for the briefest of moments. I gasped as a shock ran through me, tightening my breasts beneath my armor, just as his fingers tightened against the small of my back. I inhaled the mint on his breath as the heat of his magick created a bridge between our parted mouths. I moved to press closer, aching with the need to taste him. The heat of his fire rubbed against me more firmly. It was intoxicating and all consuming.

I wanted more. I needed to burn.

“Meredith, we can’t.” He breathed against me, his voice cracking as if the words pained him to say. He pulled his fire away abruptly, and I shuddered, suddenly feeling cold and empty.

With those three words, the moment was over. The heat that had been coursing through my veins was doused with the icy sting of rejection and I pressed my hands into his chest pushing him away from me. Furious at the flush that I knew was staining my cheeks, betraying my shame, I looked down and away as I tried to compose myself.

The sinking feeling in my stomach was painful, and I worried the tears that I could feel pricking behind my eyes would fall. I didn’t want him to see how much he affected me. I was embarrassed since it clearly didn’t mean anything to him.

“Meredith… listen, I -”

“I think you should go, Dossidian.” I said, still unable to look at him. If I lifted my eyes, the tears would surely fall, and he would know. I couldn’t bear to spend the rest of the trip with him if he knew I felt so strongly for him if the feelings weren’t returned. I wouldn’t be able to stand the humiliation.

He reached out a hand toward my chin. “Meredith, please don’t be upset.” His tone was so gentle and full of concern. It was confusing.

“I’m not upset.” I lied. “I’m just tired. It’s been a long day, and we have an even longer one ahead of us tomorrow. I need to get some sleep.”

I kept my back to him, and he stood there for a long moment, before finally letting out a heavy sigh.

“Okay. I will see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Dossidian.” I dismissed him, fighting to keep my tone as even as I could.

He left, and I finally allowed the first tear to fall. The dome seemed to immediately cool in his absence as if the very air around me mourned his absence too.

Kieran

The Queen had played with her victims long into the night. Watching the fallen Prince mercilessly tear into some of his most loyal followers had been entertaining, however, I had grown bored after some time.

Ash Nevra’s thirst for cruelty was insatiable, and though this was one of the qualities that had first drawn me to her, I soon learned that she lacked imagination.

She was smart enough, and when I planted seeds into her mind, it never took much to water them and watch them grow. However, without me, there would have been no plot in the first place.

It had been my idea to harvest the soulforge, and my idea to have Amon charge it with his dark energy. Using it to protect Ash Nevra’s audience from any potential threat the victims of the colosseum might pose was just the beginning.

I wanted to see what else I could use this magickal material for. I had been pouring over every text I could possibly get my hands on, searching for every scrap of information available, trying to learn more about the mysterious dark stone - but there was not much to find.

All I knew was that it was used by the great powers of The Dominion to manufacture souls, and that it could contain and store energy. There had been several warnings not to remove the stones from their sacred resting place in The Court of Sloth, however, that was inconsequential. It hadn’t been difficult to steal this massive piece away. The monk-like daemons who inhabited the cloud temples were no match for the small army we had sent to harvest it. Having Amon charge it with his shadows had been my first experiment, but I had so many more plans.

Now that the show was over, I had encouraged Blackwood to take the Queen to bed. Neither of them had put up much of a fuss. Blackwood seemed more than willing to learn if the rumors about the Queen’s ability to stoke arousal in even the most prudish of hearts were indeed true, and Ash Nevra had seemed interested in sampling the fresh blood I had brought in.

With Amon back in his cell and The Siren on a mission to track down the False Queen and her followers, I was finally alone. I finally had the space I needed to continue my work.

I was currently entertaining several unconfirmed hunches and I was eager to begin testing to see if they were true.

The first, was using the soulforge to steal and store a daemon’s power. I was confident that I would be able to use the battery-like nature of the material to draw out a daemon’s energy, capture the core of their power, then somehow leverage it and use it for myself.