I smirk, cold and humourless. “Fuck them. I did exactly as they asked. They said I needed a bride, and I have one. If they didn’t deign to specify the fine print, that’s on them. They threatened to burn my kingdom down if I married a mortal,” I scoff, “but they would not dare.”
The words barely leave my mouth before a deafening boom shakes the entire castle. The walls shudder, dust falling from the high ceilings as the fire in the hearth sputters out. I freeze, Aran’s head whipping to the door.
“What the fuck was that?” I yell.
A frantic pounding echoes from the hallway, and I yank the door open to see one of my soldiers, armour dented and covered in ash, running in the hallway.
“My king!” He shouts, panting. “The southern side of the castle, the guest wing, has been destroyed!”
I teleport without hesitation, Aran arriving right behind me as he steps through his own portal. The ruins stretch out before me, smoke curling into the air like the fingers of a dead god coming to claim the destruction. The south wing, where Daisy had once stayed, is now reduced to blackened stone and ash. Fire crackles weakly, licking at the bones of what was once polished marble and obsidian. Only celestial fire can burn through such stone easily. In the centre of the rubble, something glints.
I stride through the destruction, ignoring the heat and the wreckage as I bend down, picking up the scrap of golden parchment, seemingly unaffected by the blaze. The words are scrawled in divine ink:
This is a warning, Korithax.
You cannot marry a mortal.
Find another.
Or next time, your entire kingdom will be desecrated.
Do not take our threats as a bluff.
Aran appears at my side,his face pale as he reads over my shoulder.
“Sire?” He croaks.
“It was the Divine Six,” I snarl, crumpling the note in my fist until it disintegrates into black ash under my burning touch. “Sending a message about Daisy.”
He stares at the ruins, horror etched into every line of his face. “What will you do?”
I stare into the smoke, rage rising inside of me like a storm I can’t contain. My fists clench so tightly I feel my nails pierce through my skin. “I have no fucking idea.”
Chapter 23
Daisy
The chambers are absolutely breathtaking.
The bed alone is a masterpiece. A massive four-poster bed, carved from some dark, burnished wood with a canopy draped over it in crimson silk with an engraved headboard. The mattress is plush and larger than any I think I have ever seen, buried beneath velvet and satin darker than the night itself. It already feels homely as I settle down after the tour of Zeriavoss Korithax had given me. It was such a strange and wonderful day; the valley and the village were beautiful. And the way that creature had just approached me like we’d known each other our entire lives was surreal. A flamebeast. Such a thing existed. And it existed in the realm I now called my home.
The walls in the room are lined with towering windows that display the endless expanse of the realm in the distance, the flashes of red lightning skittering across the cloudless sky. Heavy embroidered drapes hang on either side of each window, patterned with sigils and symbols that feel familiar, but ones Idon’t recognise. Every inch of the room exudes dark, powerful, impossible beauty.
I sit on the edge of the bed, taking it all in as disbelief washes over me in slow, crashing waves. I live in Hell now. I’m going to be the queen of this beautiful kingdom, and there’s no going back. I don’t know a single thing about being a queen. I was studying to be a psychologist, not a freaking ruler of an ancient kingdom.
Panic begins to wash over me at the realisation of what I’ve signed up for. I take slow, deep breaths, reminding myself that being a queen in an ancient realm can’t be any harder than being regular old Daisy back on Earth. Right?
I think of Talia and Ezra, and my chest tightens. I’ve abandoned them, again. Left them behind in a world I deemed insufferable enough to give up, to reign beside a demon who can’t stand me. The tightening in my chest eases slightly when I begin to think of the freedom I’ve enabled myself. I don’t have to go back to my old life, back to the pain, the stares, the whispers. I don’t have to carry on trying to pay off my father’s debt, or have to continue struggling to survive. Here, I can breathe. Here, I am something more than a victim.
I can’t stop the laughter that bubbles up out of me. A freaking queen. Of Hell. Daisy Sandoval is about to become Mrs… Mrs what? Mrs Korithax? Did he have a last name? Crap. Not only am I marrying the future King of Hell, I don’t know a damn thing about him, other than the fact that he’s a grumpy asshole who thinks I’m a pathetic, weak mortal. I let out a long sigh. Still better than my life back on Earth, I guess.
Guards arrived at my door around half an hour ago, under Korithax’s orders. Apparently, there was an attack on the southern side of the castle, with the worst of the damage aimed at the guest chamber I used to stay in. A chill crawls up my spine, my thoughts spiralling with an uneasy feeling that it wasn’t justcoincidental that those chambers were the ones most brutalised. What if it was the Divine Six, believing I was in there once again, trying to kill me? I jump down from the impossibly large bed and begin panic pacing up and down whilst nervously chewing my thumbnail. What if it was meant to kill me? What if they’ve figured out where I am? No. Korithax wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I’m his ticket to the throne, after all.
A knock on the door pulls me out of my panic, and it opens gently to reveal a small woman with a warm smile standing there. “Come in,” I say softly, forcing a polite smile as I gesture toward the room.
“Your Majesty,” she says with a tiny curtsy, her voice lilting and sweet.
Oh wow. I’d have to get used to that, and fast, apparently.
