Page 84 of The Queen’s Shadow

The familiar burn of rage roiled through me. It was one thing for them to desecrate something as sacred as soulforge. It was an entirely other thing to force me to participate in it. I didn’t show him how angry his admission had made me. He was looking pleased enough with himself as it was.

“Of course, I am.” I sighed. “And what, Origin tell, would you like me to charge it with?” It was all coming together, as I had known it would. They hadn’t let me expel any energy, because they wanted a surplus for the crystal that loomed before me.

“This colosseum will be used over the course of the next few months for various forms of… entertainment.” Kieran explained. “Some participants will not be under the control of a slavery bond. Our Queen thinks this will make things more… interesting.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Spit it out, Kieran.” I snapped. “Not everyone is as interested in listening to you drone on as you might think.” Ignoring me, he paused for dramatic effect before continuing.

“You will charge the soulforge with your darkness, and create a shadow dome around this colosseum, to prevent participants from escaping, or harming the audience.”

My teeth ground together in annoyance. What he was asking for was an excessive amount of energy for any one daemon to provide, especially for a space this large.

Keeping a space impenetrable from shadow walkers or other similar types of transportation magick was usually done by large groups of daemons working together to weave long-term bonds and barriers. The amount of energy I would need to transfer into this crystal to create an adequate enough barrier to keep daemons inside would be…enormous.

“If I were you, I would get started.” Kieran said with a smirk. “The first event is in five days. If you’re to accomplish this without allowing yourself to be totally consumed by your own power, well… you’re already running tight on time.”

I eyed the soulforge crystal for a moment, before meeting Kieran’s cold, grey eyes.

I smiled at him, though I’m sure he knew it for the baring of teeth it was meant to be. “When I am free of this bond, Kieran, I am going to kill you while my mate watches.” I said it as if it were inevitable.

“Bold words, for a slave.” He sneered at me. “Charge the crystal, Amon. Charge it until you think it may kill you… but I forbid you to die.”

Amon

After five consecutive days of charging the desecrated soulforge, I was finally permitted to rest. The task had required so much energy that I had not been able to visit Raven at all. All of my focus needed to go toward maintaining control. If I slipped and lost my grip on my energy, it would have been all too easy to lose myself in the never-ending rush of darkness.

Kieran’s order that I was forbidden to die from the task had made it impossible for me to make reckless choices, like divide my attention between the soulforge and my mate.

I collapsed onto the bed in my cell, grateful that it was over… for now, at least. At long last, I allowed myself to slip down the trace that tethered me to my mate.

‘Raven,’ I whispered into her sleeping mind. When she didn’t immediately answer, I realized she was dreaming. My heart clenched as it became clear she was having a nightmare. She was reliving the day Ash Nevra had separated us. The pain of having her mate torn from her scored through her mind, making my teeth clench in anger.

I hated that she was in pain. I couldn’t wake her up, not when she needed to sleep so badly. I could feel the exhaustion weighing her down. Memories of her last few days floated past me, and I watched them weave through her nightmare before me, giving me a brief glimpse into what she had been up to.

She was in The Court of Greed, looking for Kasha. Dossidian had told her to try to secure an alliance with Princess Vespara. That would be no easy task. I felt my lips quirk at the thought of watching her rise to the challenge. Securing Vespara as an ally was unlikely. About as unlikely as a Titan bowing down to a half-daemon. I chuckled at the thought.

If she were to succeed, it would not be the first time Raven had risen up in the face of all adversity and proven the whole world wrong.

Even now, in this nightmare, she was rebelling. She was fighting with everything she had, and I felt a familiar rush of arousal spread through me at the sight of it. I wanted to see if she could take control of the dream on her own. There was nothing that turned me on more, than watching her rise to a challenge. She was so fucking powerful, so breathtaking, while still somehow so innocent and unsure.

The few times we had the opportunity to come together, I had wanted to show her what pleasure felt like, considering everything was so new to her. I had been gentle and patient because that was what she needed. I was looking forward to showing her everything that we could be together, and just how good I could make her feel.

We weren’t where I wanted us to be yet. She was still so tentative, and full of self-doubt. I had not missed her initial hesitation when I had asked her to touch herself for me. She had been shy, and embarrassed. However, as she did with everything else, she rose to the challenge… and it had been the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

Watching her fight now, in this dream, I wanted to see what would happen if I pushed her. Just because we weren’t together, didn’t mean I couldn’t continue to teach her all the ways I could make her body shake for me. By the time we were reunited, she would no longer have that shy look in her eyes when I asked her to do something. She would be looking at me with dark anticipation. I would have her craving me as much as I craved her, and nearly begging me to give her a reason to earn the praise she deserved.

I felt myself harden at the thought, before deciding I had selfishly watched her fight her internal daemon’s long enough.

‘Raven,’ I repeated, stepping forward into her dream’s personification of The Origin’s throne room. I waved a hand through the projections of Ash Nevra and myself, walking directly through Rycon as he crawled toward Kasha on the ground. I called the shadows of her mind to sweep away the image of Conrad bleeding out beside her, and Nytara standing over him, her cold expression twisted into one of anger and pain.

My mate was suspended in the air, in a near perfect replica of how she had been bound that day, by the magick of The Flute. Her dark eyes met mine, and they widened in recognition, before flitting back up to where the other version of me had just been.

‘Amon?’ Her lips didn’t move when she spoke, her voice was all around me. Chiming like a thousand crystal bells.

‘Hello, Raven.’ I smirked at her. ‘Tell me… do you dream of me often?’ I asked, unable to mask my amusement. Her brow creased into a tiny scowl, and the blood rushed from my head to my cock at the sight of it. She was so fucking pretty when she was angry. I slid forward, touching my fingers to her chin, smirking at her from inches away.

‘Where have you been!’ She snapped at me, though she didn’t move her head away. I presumed because the nightmare still held her frozen in its grasp. ‘You’ve been quiet for almost a week! I can’t contact you at all on my end, it’s not fair for you to keep me in the dark.’

I had come here looking for comfort and escape, not to dwell on the horrors of my reality. I was not interested in talking about the five days of bone breaking magickal labor I had just been forced to endure. I wanted to lose myself in her and pretend that things were not as they were. To distract her, I painted an amused smile on my face.