Chapter Fifteen
The shadows surrounded her in milliseconds, swirling angrily around her injured form like a colony of bees protecting their queen, striking at Antzel with sharp, focused blows to keep him at bay. They were bristling with rage at his audacity even as they stroked and soothed their mistress.
Sweat beaded along her hairline, her temples. Both hands were tight against her belly, guarding her son and piling pressure on her wound. Through it all, the link to Antzel throbbed in her head.
Around them, her warriors were poised to attack. Maybe they could defeat Antzel if she went down, but maybe they couldn’t. Although she had personal knowledge of most of the demon’s capabilities and possessed them herself, she wasn’t completely sure she knew all his tricks. It was a given he had better control over his abilities than she did.
Digging deep, she closed her eyes and drifted inwards, using an ethereal pair of hands to seek out the connection joining her to Antzel. She followed it like a guide rope to the center of her mind and found the source, the tiny hitchhiker she’d picked up on her foray into the demon’s mind. It hummed, a miniature generator, as it pumped out waves of demonic activity.
Allianna snagged it in ghostly hands, tightening her fingers around it and squeezing until the hum became a whine, then a scream. She felt it pulse in her otherworldly grasp, felt the echo in her real-world brain. Even better, she felt Antzel wince on the other end.
Light began to bleed around her spectral hands, leaking between her fingers and into her system. She fed on it, lapping at the potent essence because it was her last hope to save the vessel carrying her son—she would die to save him, but in saving him, she would kill him before he really lived.
That was some real messed-up shit right there.
Her heart strained with the magic pumping through her veins. Her hands fisted on the wound, shaking with the thrum of unbridled power as the deep gash began to knit together seamlessly. The cut on her shoulder was gone in seconds.
Alive with magic, Allianna pulled herself along the cable of the bond, her otherworldly form systematically destroying it as she went. Her physical body fended off desperate attacks from Antzel, carelessly batting aside the frantic attempts to take her down with his tail.
“You want to play with magic?” he challenged. His voice quavered with fear, a subtle undertone so sweet it was like sugar on her tongue. “You’re nothing compared to me!”
Allianna smiled, spreading her hands open in front of her. When she spoke, the timbre of her usually quiet voice was dramatically different, even to her own ears. Though she spoke softly, her words boomed in the great hall, thick with darkness and possessing a depth that belonged to something in hell. “I am you, little demon. Your powers are mine, your life is mine.”
She felt him searching for his powers, a panicked teenager tossing his room trying to find his phone. Allianna waited patiently for the truth to hit him. It didn’t take long for him to realize his beloved abilities were gone, and his fear and rage ignited.
“Fucking bitch, what did you do?”
Power circulated through her in one constant stream now, more vital than the blood in her veins. Her spectral body devoured the bond, closing in quickly on Antzel. On the source. “I took them, Antzel. I took everything from you the same way you took everything from me. It’s frightening, isn’t it, to be helpless in the face of the wolf. Makes your heart skip a beat in your chest, knowing you’re vulnerable and weak.”
The tail stabbed at her, aiming for her chest. Sick of his games, his pathetic little jabs and ineffective taunts with the appendage, Allianna brought her wing down in the middle of the serpentine limb. The bladed tip stopped, quivered, an inch from her breast.
Antzel screamed. Screamed and screamed when his precious tail dropped to the floor, writhing and flopping uselessly. He reached for his powers again, but they were well and truly gone.
Allianna’s ethereal apparition sat on the floor, licking magic from her fingertips and offering the quaintest, most lady-like burp. The serene smile on her face said everything that needed to be said.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood to full attention. While Antzel attempted to stem the bleeding from his severed tail, Allianna turned slowly to face the throne.
Lucifer sat, every inch the king of hell. Gone was the suit and tie, the dress shoes and jacket. He sprawled inelegantly on the throne, muscled legs highlighted exceptionally in a pair of leather trousers just a shade darker than his skin. His bare torso gleamed, covered with scars and marks from years of war and fighting. His fingers drummed lightly on the heavy wooden arms of his seat as he watched her with depthless, approving eyes.
But it was the figures on either side of him that caught her attention. Two men standing militarily straight, faces alive with love and pride, each wearing a brand over their hearts.
“Kian,” she breathed. Tears rushed to her eyes, blinding her. Blinking rapidly, she stared at them. “Islador.”
Both men smiled but made no move to go to her. Perhaps they couldn’t. That didn’t mean she couldn’t go to them. Her feet were already in motion, propelling her toward them as every other thought vanished from her head. How could she think about anything else except the fact her men were here, alive and looking well?
Lucifer shook his head and stopped her in place with a look. “Finish, little queen. We’ve come to watch the Queen of Shadows claim her realm. You’re so close now. Put an end to it.”
She snarled, loud enough, viciously enough for her warriors to take a collective step away. Several of them would no doubt believe she was either a badass or insane to challenge Lucifer that way, but she didn’t care. If the devil wanted to witness Antzel’s death, he could have come alone. Why had he brought her two lost loves with him when he already knew her answer?
There could be no trade.
Allianna whirled, her temper in full swing. She yearned to run to Kian, to Isla, and feel their arms around her. Knowing Kian would be himself was a gift beyond compare. Seeing Islador again after not having chance to say goodbye...priceless. A priceless opportunity.
Lucifer knew her too well.
She flung her right arm out, the sweep of her wing stopping a scant breath away from the demon’s throat. His eyes widened, his wailings came to an abrupt halt, and she swore she saw him stop breathing.
A quick, clean kill, she told herself. If she twitched now, she’d open his throat. Messy, so messy, but he would be dead in seconds. There was no humanity in him, nothing to spare. He was nothing to her, not anymore, and mercy was...well, it cost nothing.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. The word was a chant in her mind.
“Full of talk,” he murmured, chuckling when she didn’t move. Apparently, her hesitation was amusing to him, yet he didn’t know just why she’d stopped the killing blow. Foolish demon. “All hail the little queen, spouting her bravado. You’re not a killer, Allianna. A crown requires blood, a realm demands swift justice. A true ruler knows this.”
Her eyes scanned the crowd closest to her and she saw firsthand the bloodlust in her men. Antzel was right; the realm did demand blood, silently, and it trusted her to mete that request. The realm had lost just as much as she had—it bore the loss of its king, its beloved leader of the army, and both it and she deserved to see blood spill in retribution.
Her wing wavered, trembled slightly.
Antzel’s chuckle turned into a throaty laugh. There was hope in the sound, as though he believed the outcome of the situation would fall in his favor. “Give it up and let the adults play, Allianna. Go back to your chambers and dream of what will never be.”
Her eyes hardened, her face felt stiff and unyielding. The dreamer in her was dead. The young innocent girl she’d been was long gone, buried beneath the shit this fucker had dumped on her.
A fast, deft flick of her wrist had her wing whistling away from his throat. She saw the victory in his tiny red eyes, watched his shoulders sag slightly in relief. A cold
smile touched her lips, spread them wide, and the frost reached her eyes.
Allianna brought the razor-edge of her feathers up between his scrawny forelegs, cleaving the solid bone in two as easily as opening a door. She didn’t stop, showed none of her previous hesitation, and offered no mercy as she cut the demon in half inch by inch, listening to his screams, his pleas for leniency.
Her army was cheering, feet stomping on the floor in a warrior chant.
Soon enough, Antzel’s pleas turned to guttural groans, bloody froth spilling from his mouth. He gaped at her, then down at his chest where feathers representing the men she loved glided through flesh and bone. Blood streaked down them, dripping into the set of each individual one, staining them with red.
Her stomach twisted as he sank to his knees, his weight pushing him down onto the knife-edge of her wing. He was already dead by the time his knees touched the floor, both halves of him sliding away from each other with a rush of internal organs spreading over the floor.
Allianna took a step back from the gore and the stench, barely restraining herself from shaking her wing clean of the disease clinging to every feather. The ground trembled beneath her feet as the Shadow army went wild, celebrating her triumph as though it was one of their own.
Her heart pounded in her ears as shock began to set in. Looking around warily, she almost lost her legs as one by one, the team leaders Islador had trained and led so well, fell to one knee and silently offered themselves to her service. Fists crossed over their chests, heads bowed, they were only the first to pledge themselves.
Following the direction of their leaders, each and every unit took a knee, crossed their arms over their chests, and put their lives and welfare in her hands without saying a word. Thousands of Shadow warriors, some decades older than her, giving her their allegiance without her needing to ask.
It was humbling.
Allianna turned, and her heart flopped in her chest and died. Emotion rose so thick and fast, shock didn’t have a hope of rising above it. Her hand lifted to her mouth, stemmed the teary cry that wanted to acknowledge what she saw in front of her. How was she meant to accept this?
Beside the throne, Dhur knelt on both knees. His spine was straight, his head level and his eyes...his black eyes were bright as they met hers. He nodded once and rapped his oversized fist against his heart three times. His version of the pledge, one that she didn’t take lightly.
Golems swore by an entirely different set of rules when it came to aligning themselves. Their code was strict, enforced by death, and once sworn, impossible to break.
“Thank you, Dhur,” she whispered, afraid to wipe the tears from her eyes for fear she’d decapitate several of her faithful while doing so.
“My queen,” he rumbled, and grinned at her.
On the throne, Lucifer sat straight now, no longer sprawled as though he owned it. Maybe she imagined it, but she thought there was approval on his face. On either side of him, her lovers mirrored the position of every Shadow warrior within view, openly shunning Lucifer’s leadership to follow hers.
The devil glanced down at Kian, then Islador, then back at her with a wry quirk of his brow. “I was going to suggest we talk in private, little queen, but it appears these two would like to make things public.” His tone softened when she quivered in place, ready to leap in and defend what she couldn’t save. “Would you mind sheathing your impressive weapons, Allianna? If you get angry, I’d prefer you not remove my head from my neck. I’m not sure hell would survive with you in charge, all my carefully planned chaos would become...stable.”
It galled her to say it. “I don’t know how.”
“Ah. If I remember correctly, it’s quite a simple process once you get used to them. But then it’s been...a while since I had the privilege of using mine.” Lucifer beckoned her closer. “Come to me, Allianna. I have no nefarious reasons for being here, I promise.”
She swallowed. “Kian and Islador? That’s not a nefarious reason?”
“They’re not really here, I’m afraid. They can see and hear us, but you cannot hear them, touch them. In a moment of...weakness,” he said with his lip curling on the word, “I decided they should see the results of their efforts. They raised you to be a queen, and a queen you are, Allianna. You’ll wear the crown and you’ll lead these people free of the tyranny Antzel held them under for so long. Kian and Islador deserved to witness the girl they raised become the woman who will bring the Shadow realm back to vitality.”
She almost broke. Came damned close to bawling like a baby. Only remembering her audience gave her the strength to choke back tears and keep her head high. But it didn’t stop her breath from catching or her lip from trembling as she walked toward the throne.
She ignored Lucifer and went to Islador first. Her hand trembled as she reached out for him, and for a wonderful moment, she thought the devil was lying, that her flesh would meet Isla’s and make her complete again. Instead, her fingers passed straight through his image, and Isla’s face echoed the pain that stabbed into her.
With the softest whimper, she skirted around the man seated in her place, and stepped up to Kian. From his position, he smiled up at her sadly. Beautiful green eyes showered her with love and adoration, and for the first time in too long, she saw the man she loved, the man destroyed by a demon.
“Put your wings away, Allianna. Torturing yourself this way won’t do anyone any good.” Lucifer clenched his fist, snapped his fingers out, and both men disappeared in a blink. “Now, perhaps you might concentrate.”
“Asshole,” she said quietly.
Her brain couldn’t comprehend how they could be there one minute and gone the next. But her heart knew. It knew, and it couldn’t take the pressure of grief for much longer. With Antzel dead, her mission done, all her energies came flooding back with a vengeance to fuel the mourning fire.
“Be my wife, Allianna. My queen. Carry and birth my offspring, and I will give you Kian and Islador as a wedding present to do what you want with. Merge the Shadow realm with mine. We can both have what we want.”
Allianna shook her head. It was tempting just to say fuck it and step into the abyss. She was exhausted and pushed past her limits. The future was brighter than it had been but still filled with uncertainty and loneliness.
Yes, she thought, so very tempting.
“What do you need from me to say yes, little queen? Promises of love and fidelity? I can’t give you those. Love is not in my nature, and I’m a beast who loves to fuck. Men, women, they are my playground and I play rough.” His gaze scoured over her and she hoped she disguised her wince of distaste. “Ah, I see that doesn’t endear you to me. Or is it the thought of being fucked that makes you quake inside? Yes, I thought so,” he murmured when she met his eyes with her own desolate ones. “Perhaps this would be a suitable arrangement for you then. I’ll take my sexual proclivities outside of our bedroom until procreation is desired, while you have the company of the men you love. I’ll have to castrate them, of course, I can’t risk them scaling your walls and claiming what is mine.”
Her wings began to rustle as her temper burned. He might be the devil but she was a bitch when riled. “Touch either of them and I’ll raze your playground into ash. I bet fucking piles of bones won’t hold a lot of joy.”
Lucifer burst into laughter, deep and rich. “You’re not cowed yet, that’s a good sign. Think about it, Allianna. I can give you a good life, help you lift the realm from the muck and polish it to a gleam, the crown jewel of the underworld. No pun intended.” He gestured with his hand to the army behind her. “They can be trained to the highest levels. The realm can be brought out of the dark ages. You can learn to enjoy the thrust of my cock. All in time, little queen. All anything needs is time.”
“Threatening to fuck me is crippling your advantages, Lucifer. Sex isn’t a priority for me, at all. Your...kind offer is declined. Vehemently.” She massaged her forehead, trying to relieve some of the pressure building behind her eyes.
“Go home. Leave me alone. I did what you asked and returned your demons back to your care.”
With a growling sigh, Lucifer propelled himself out of the throne. His hands were on her face, heated and firm, as he tilted her back so she had to look at him and not at the floor. “I won’t give up, Allianna. There’s too many benefits for us both with this arrangement. You’ll see that when you aren’t tired and cranky. I won’t forget what you did, the risks you took.”
“Good. Neither will I.”
He ignored the warning and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Go get some rest, Your Majesty. You fucking earned it.” Before his kiss left her skin, he was into the wind, no trace of him left.
Allianna all but collapsed on the throne, grimacing as her wings folded and began to suck back into her shoulder blades of their own accord. She really needed to learn how to control them before they returned, otherwise she ran a dangerous path of decapitating anyone near her. How fun.
“Thank you.” Ready to keel over and sleep for a week, Allianna pressed a hand to her son and addressed the hall. “Your support today is beyond anything I expected. The shift of a monarchy is a worrying thing, but I promise I will do everything in my power to make it a smooth one. Duties will commence as normal.” Her head lolled, and suddenly a huge, cool hand cupped her skull gently.
“The queen is exhausted,” Dhur stated gruffly, his voice tumbling through the great hall and making excellent use of the acoustics. “Everyone is dismissed until further notice. Someone get a cleaning crew up here to deal with this mess. And,” he added as bodies began to stir and disperse, “someone release the women from wherever Antzel has them locked away. By order of Queen Allianna.”
There was a quick cheer, and several soldiers took off. Perhaps the prospect of seeing a woman again was too enjoyable to contain. If they wanted to jack off to images of womenfolk returning to the realm proper, who was she to deny them? The damn place was too quiet, a fucking mausoleum of decay and filth.
King Of Shadows: The Shadowcrown Duet Page 21