Page 191 of The Queen’s Shadow

There were ways to harvest daemon powers already. My original plan was to have Ash Nevra consume the half-breed’s power first, then figure out a way to steal both of their energies for myself. The issue was, only another daemon could wield that type of power. My body would not allow me to either host or wield magicks of that nature, it would kill me if I tried.

Amon’s week long order to unload as much of his energy into the thing as possible had nearly solidified my hypothesis, however, I now suspected that because I had given the order that he was not to die, the soulforge had only been able to take the power he had offered, and not the core of the power’s source itself. That meant that the dark energy that now lived within the stone was finite, and that just wouldn’t do.

I needed the endless nature of daemon power if I was going to bring my plans to fruition. My thirst for this level of power is what had driven me to convince Ash Nevra to make me her bonded in the first place. However, as her bonded, I was always second to her, and at the mercy of her will.

That bond had proven itself useful, but I was growing tired of being ordered to carry out the petulant whims of the spoiled Queen, especially when they so frequently came between me and my true work.

Though I was not under the power of a slavery bond, I was still shackled to her for the time being. However, I had plans to rectify that as well.

I had planted the seed into the Queen’s mind the moment I had learned that the disgusting half-breed had discovered a pocket of shadowstone.

Ash Nevra was obsessed with The Dark Prince and his mating bond to the half-breed. All I had needed to do was imply that I had a hunch that such a bond could be severed if I were to get my hands on a shadowstone blade. Mating bonds were set in much deeper magicks than slavery bonds, so the blade would need to be sharpened and honed, if we hoped to ever sever them. Since I had mentioned it, she had been obsessed with obtaining one of the weapons for my experiments. I could see her desire to cut Amon away from his mate as if it were a living thing. Her hatred and cruelty was truly something to behold. It was a shame she lacked discipline, and innovation.

It had not occurred to her that if I were successful in using the soulforge to sharpen a shadowstone blade to the point of severing something as natural and sacred as a mating bond, that it would be equally as easy for me to sever the bond that tied me to her.

She was arrogant enough to believe that I was happy, playing the part of humble servant, forever doomed to stand silently at her side.

I looked up at the large, dark crystal, looming ominously before me in the empty colosseum and smiled. She would never see me coming.

One of Blackwood’s witches came forward, dragging a bound and gagged daemon along with her. This daemon was a young male, and safely contained by a slavery bond. He was not very strong, but that was fine. For the early stages of the experiment, I wasn’t positive I would have much success. I didn’t want to waste some of my more powerful specimens on procedures that I was confident would fail.

“Put him here.” I said, pointing to the ground before the soulforge stone. The witch threw the daemon down and stepped back, bowing her head to me in deference before standing silently at my back, awaiting more instruction. I bit back a smile.

Blackwood had done well securing obedient personnel for The Syndicate. I hoped to put off their enslavement until I was the one pulling the strings. It would be so much simpler to bind them to me first, without needing to worry about them dying with Ash Nevra once she was gone.

I knelt down next to the young daemon. His cheeks were wet with tears beneath his blindfold, and his lip was trembling.

“Where… where am I?” He asked, clearly terrified.

“Don’t fret, son. You’re about to be a part of history.” I told him proudly, the side of my mouth curling at the confused pull of his brow.

“Please… I just want to go home.” He begged and I reached out and patted his shoulder.

“Of course, you do. And you will, just as soon as we’re done here. What’s your name, son? I can send word to your family that you’ll be on your way home soon.”

The young daemon tilted his blindfolded face up to me, sniffing slightly and I couldn’t help the look of disgust that crossed my face.

What a revolting, sniveling creature.

“Niall.” He said softly. “My name is Niall.”

“Okay Niall. I need you to reach out with your aura until you connect with the energy in front of you. Can you do that for me?” I asked, knowing the slavery bond would force him to do it regardless.

He nodded, and I felt his pathetic little aura creep through and connect with the soulforge. The stone behind me seemed to groan at the touch of the young male’s power, as if it were angry with the connection.

I couldn’t keep the smile off my face at the sound, it meant it was working.

“Now Niall, feed it as much energy as you can. Don’t stop until I tell you.”

Niall turned his blindfolded head to the direction of my voice.

“Then I can go home?” He asked, his voice small and soft. I nodded, before remembering he couldn’t see me.

“Yes, Niall. Then you can go home.” I lied, as more and more power spilled out of him and into the dark crystal. A violet light began to shine out from the center of the soulforge as Niall pressed his energy into it.

I stepped back to observe, manifesting a notebook and a quill so that I could take detailed notes for next time. I could feel the line of power with my aura, and the burning core that generated his energy flared in his chest.

If I could just get that burning core into the crystal, this would be a success. The longer he fed the stone, the stronger the pull became, and a thrill of excitement rushed through me as the core in his chest seemed to move. It was a minute shift, but it was enough that I was certain I would be able to find a way to completely dislodge it.