The Sea Queen (The Dark Queens Book 1)
Page 17
“Hades, guess what,” she squealed, eyes shining with what looked suspiciously like tears.
I paused in my exploration of her. “What?”
“We’re grandparents! Oh, you have to meet my little darlings, Uriah and Fable, they’re so precious and adorable and have my eyes and my hair and my little nose and—”
“Are you sure you did not birth them yourself, my love?”
She snorted. “Don’t be silly. But tomorrow, you shall come to meet them.”
“And tonight?” I asked with heat filling my words.
Her smile was pure wickedness as she said, “Tonight I brought carrots.”
Epilogue: 500 years later
Calypso
Today was the twins’ five hundredth birthday, and I wanted the babies to have a very special one. So I’d snuck them over to play with Cere while I set up their birthday tent in Elysia.
Themis glanced around, her hands on her hips, and nodded expertly. “Yes, I think this will do, Caly. You’ve got a dragon for Uri and a Pegasus for Fable.”
“Yes, yes.” I batted her words away. “But have you seen the pile of cupcakes I made? I learned from the master chef in Wonderland, a girl by the name of Alice who showed me that if you dipped the fruit in choco—”
“Eeeps!” Dite squealed, clapping her hands merrily the moment she materialized beside us. “Look at this place. Oh, the darlings are simply going to love it.”
“Dite.” I gave her a stern look. “You would show up at the last minute. Heffer, do your thing. You know we can’t get this party started without it.”
Beaming like the proud aunt she was, she nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Then, with an air kiss, she released her magic to the breezes, causing the night sky to dance with tiny jeweled lights that bobbed and glimmered like lightning bugs. I busied around in the tent, making sure the placement of the gifts was just so on the table.
I patted Linx’s tank. She hated coming to the Above, but my sister refused to miss the twins’ party. Neighing softly, she contented herself with munching on the jeweled candy grass Hades had crafted for her and flicked her tail happily.
Nim and Sircco would show up later. I’d warned the boy to wear his legs tonight, but I was sure he wouldn’t. For some reason he still detested the use of them. So, just to be on the safe side, I’d turned half of Elysia into a large wading pool so the maidens and he would feel comfortable here.
A strong pair of arms slipped around my waist, and the rumble of my man’s voice whispered in my ear. “Have I ever told you just how sexy you look when you’re acting all domestic?”
Twirling, I smacked his chest and laughed. “Hm. Why don’t you tell me that again.” I wiggled my hips against him.
Even after all these years, we still mated like rabbits. I’d come to the conclusion that I would never get my fill of this beastly man.
“Down, beast, down,” Aphrodite cried laughingly, sidling up next to us. “We have guests. Let’s keep this PG since there are kids present now.”
Sighing, I patted his cheek as he pouted. “No worries, my love, I’ve a field full of carrots just waiting for you.”
“Thalassa,” he growled, and then he shook his head and chuckled. “Woman, you will be the death of me.”
I snorted. “Not hardly, Bubble Butt.”
Then with a wave and a la-de-da, I walked over to greet the guests. Young and old, ghosts, mortals, maidens, Nim and my boy Sircco, even my elemental sisters showed up, though Tiera scowled the entire time. But they all came. Dite’s little Hephy made an appearance. Grumpy thing that he was, he’d still managed to craft gifts for both Fable and Uri, matching unicorns made of wood.
“All ye need to bring them to life,” he said, gazing at the twins, “is to whisper a name in their ear, and they will be forever yours.”
Fable, the granddaughter of my very soul, was a dark-skinned, dark-haired beauty with eyes of deepest bronze just like her father’s. Her skin was as dark as the deepest depths of an ocean trench and her lips like the reddest of roses. She was heart-achingly lovely, and all who knew her loved her. But unlike her rapscallion brother, she’d not been born with the ability to wear a tail.
She accepted the bauble with a humble nod of thanks and hugged it tight to her breast.
“I will cherish it, Hephy.” She kissed his cheek, and I didn’t think it possible, but the dwarf actually blushed. Then again, Fable had that effect on everyone.
Uriah, whose flesh was an unusually stunning shade of pearlescent sea green and bore a head of shockingly bright and thick blue hair, grinned. He had Sircco’s looks, swarthy and devastatingly handsome. And with the pick of any maiden he wanted, the boy knew he was hawt and strutted through Seren like a peacock on the loose.
He was my boy through and through.
“Thanks, homey,” he said.
Nimue rolled her eyes. “Uri, that is not how a prince should speak.”
Uri, who was always in mischief of one form or another (but whom I secretly adored since he reminded me of me as that age), sighed. “Yes, Mom.”
“Uri.” Sircco growled a warning at the boy, twin bolts of lightning flaring through his bronze eyes.
Thinning his lips, my devastatingly handsome grandson grumped, “Yes, Dad. Thanks, Hephy,” he said.
The dwarf shook his hand then thumped him on the chest and said, “It’s nothing, homey.”
Then with a wink and a wave, he vanished, and everyone laughed.
“Gods help us,” Nimue cried. “How can I teach my wayward child some respect when everyone around us is bound and determined to undermine me?” But she said it with an exasperated chuckle.
Hades leaned in to my side from where we sat at the head of the table beside our grandchildren and said, “This was a wonderful idea to have the party here, my love.”
I beamed proudly. “I know. But you want to know what the very best idea is that I’ve ever had?”
Turning on my seat, I looked at him head on. Even after all this time, my heart still skipped a beat when he was near.
Grabbing my hands, he placed a tender kiss on each palm. “And what’s that?”
“The day I decided to make you my sex slave.”
He laughed, and the party went into full swing after that. Wine flowed and music blared.
Themis was in charge of the tunes tonight, and I smiled when I heard an upbeat one entirely apropos of how I felt this evening.
The song went something along the lines of “oh, oh, oh, you’ve got the best of my love.”
And yeah, that was pretty much all that needed to be said about that.
“I love you, Death Boy,” I whispered.
“And I you, Thalassa, forever, for always, eternally.”
“Oh, swoon, you say the sweetest things.”
Hades took my lips and well...you know how this story ends. Forever. For always. And eternally.
The End
And never was there a story of more love than that of Calypso, and her dark-souled Romeo...
So I say to you now farewell, dear reader, but do not despair, for I have far greater stories to share of dark queens you thought you knew. Until we meet again...
~Anon, One of the 13 Keepers of the Tales.
~*~
Love my books? Want to know when the next Dark Queen book will be released? Make sure to sign up for my newsletter! And if you really want to get to know more about the queens and all the characters to come, come hang out at the The Harem.
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Want some more yummy goodness to read while you wait for the next queen? Then keep turning the pages to catch a sneak peek of Kenzie Cox’s awesome shifter serial set in the steamy, lush bayous!
Author’s Notes
Once upon a time in a Kingdom far, far away lived an author who wrote fairy tale stories who went by the name Marie Hall. That author and this author are one and the same. So if you happen to spy some characters that seem strangely familiar to you, it’s really no coinc
idence. And if you’d like to read some of Marie’s works, stay tuned for a complete listing of all those books.
The next queen is coming soon, though it’s a mystery who she’ll be. If you want to know, stay tuned to either Jovee Winters’s FB page or sign up for her newsletter, which is probably the best way to keep up to date.
The next queens, in no particular order, are as follows:
The Ice Queen
The Dark Queen (Fable’s Story)
The Fire Queen (Fiera’s Story)
The Magic Queen (Baba Yaga’s story)
The Passionate Queen (Based on Red Queen from Wonderland)
About Jovee Winters
Jovee Winters is the pen name of a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author who loves books that make you think or feel something, preferably both. She’s also passionate about fairy tales, particularly twisting them up into a story you’ve never thought could be possible.
She's married to the love of her life, a sexy beast of a caveman who likes to refer to himself as Big Hunk. She has two awesome kids she likes to call Thing 1 and Thing 2, loves cooking, and occasionally has been known to crochet. She also really loves talking about herself in the third person.
Marie Hall Books
Kingdom Series (Fairy Tale Romance)
Her Mad Hatter (Free everywhere! Book 1, based on Alice and the Mad Hatter)
Gerard’s Beauty (Book 2, based on Beauty and the Beast)
Red and Her Wolf (Book 3, based on Little Red Riding Hood)
The Kingdom Collection (Books 1–3, with bonus deleted scenes)
Jinni’s Wish (Book 4, based on Arabian Nights)
Hook’s Pan (Book 5, Based on Peter Pan)
Danika’s Surprise (Book 5.5, novelette and first introduction to the upcoming Dark Princess Series)
Kingdom Chronicles (Books 4 & 5, and includes Danika’s Surprise)
Moon’s Flower (Book 6, based on the legend of the Man in the Moon)
Huntsman’s Prey (Book 7, spinoff Dark Princess Series)
Rumpel’s Prize (Book 8, loosely based on the legend of Rumpelstiltskin and Beauty and the Beast)
Hood’s Obsession (Book 9)
Her One Wish (Book 10)
A Pirate’s Dream (Book 11)
Jace, Mating Season Part 1
In the wilds of the bayou...
Jace Riveaux has wanted her since the first moment she stepped into his bayou bar three years ago. And now she’s back, unattached, and ready for the taking. One afternoon together, and he knows she’s the one. Only his world is dangerous, he has secrets, and trust is hard to come by...especially when all signs point to her being aligned with his enemy.
Skye Michaels has nothing left to lose. After a bad breakup, she flees to her favorite southern Louisiana town, determined to finally get photographs of the majestic wolves that roam the area. Instead she gets what she really came for—Jace Riveaux. But when the Riveauxs are threatened by someone she knows, suddenly she has more to lose than ever.
Sneak Peek
I stepped back into the oppressive heat and stood on the weathered wooden porch. “Since when is it ever this hot in March?”
He shook his head. “Heat wave.” Then his gaze traveled the length of my body, lingering on my bare legs.
I’d chosen a pale yellow sundress that hit a few inches above my knee, but the way he was devouring me with his intense gaze, I was starting to feel like I was wearing nothing but my Victoria’s Secret lace. “Umm...”
He raised his gaze to meet mine, a secret smile claiming his lips. “It was my turn.”
I pulled my camera from its case and frowned at him. “Your turn for what?”
His smile reached his eyes. “You took your time checking me out. Twice. Don’t think I didn’t notice. So I did the same. Only I didn’t ask you to take your shirt off... yet.”
Aiden, Mating Season Part 2
She’s the one woman he can’t have...
Rayna Vincent has wanted Aiden Riveaux since she was sixteen years old. There’s only one problem—he doesn’t do relationships. So when he offers her a season of stolen nights with no strings attached, she accepts, willing to take him any way she can... even if she knows her heart will never survive.
Aiden Riveaux has a problem. A big one. He’s sleeping with Rayna, his brother’s best friend and the girl everyone thought of as his. Aiden knows he’s has to break it off, but after one hot night everything’s changed, including Rayna. Now she’s his. And he intends to keep it that way... no matter what.
Sneak Peek
I slipped into the kitchen to drop off the dirty glasses. On my way back to the bar, Aiden rounded the corner and grabbed my wrist. He pulled me into the storage room and kicked the door closed.
He pressed me up against the wall, one hand clutching my hip as he ran his knuckles gently over my cheek. “You’re killing me, Ray.”
I raised a skeptical eyebrow, trying to ignore the way my heart was trying to beat out of my chest. “You look plenty alive to me.”
“Not for long if I don’t get you out of this skirt and your long legs wrapped around my waist.”
Oh, God. Lust clouded my brain, and the memory of him fucking me on his kitchen table last week made me clutch at his black T-shirt. I stared up into his hungry gaze. “After work?”
“Now.”
Both serial parts now free with Kindle Unlimited!
Table of Contents
The Sea Queen
The Sea Queen
Dedication
The Sea Queen
Forward
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue: 500 years later
Author’s Notes
About Jovee Winters
Marie Hall Books | Kingdom Series (Fairy Tale Romance)
Sneak Peek
Aiden, Mating Season Part 2
Sneak Peek