Queen of the Underworld | Book 3

• fourteen •

//Song: Bow Down (Explicit) - Ramsey

I put the mask on again.

The familiar appearance I put on around others when facing them as queen. I was a proper queen of the underworld, I told myself, and I would give no one an inch to question Damien's decision or my abilities.

I risked my life to protect the people that exterminated mine. They owed me at least that much.

I exhaled slowly to steady my nerves when Asmo disappeared.

I could do what was necessary to get the answers I needed.

I would do what was necessary.

I'd make the cult that killed my people tremble at their creation.

I was only powerful because the magic of my people lived in me. Only in me. Otherwise, I would be just like any other fae. Maybe even a low fae.

I could feel my magic ready for revenge. It was chomping at the bit for the opportunity. I closed my eyes and calmed it. I let it settle into my being, embracing the warmth it brought to the ice I felt in my core.

Between what happened in the cabin and the new law I signed, I felt myself slide into a new pit of despair. I couldn't be disappointed at how the events unfolded after I left Skryen. I should have known what would happen. Everyone went about their lives as they should have.

I took a breath to steady my nerves, placing my shaking hands on the arms of the seat. As if sensing my nervousness, I felt the throne beneath me thrum with soothing energy. I absorbed it as it was offered, reveling in the warm, soothing strength it gave me.

A moment later, I felt dark energy again. I smiled, knowing exactly what it meant.

Asmodeus and two men appeared before me. One man, I recognized as belonging to the Guard. The man between the two of them, I didn't recognize but I knew to be the prisoner. He wasn't dressed properly in large clothes that seemed to hang off his frame. His appearance surprised me. I half expected an older man to be in front of me, instead, the dark fae man was young. His blue eyes seemed to pierce through me with dark hair that hung over his eyes. His deeply dark skinned was marred with imperfections. His wrists in front of him were lesioned, wounds lined his arms and neck.

They'd used iron on him, then.

Good.

As soon as the men appeared, Asmo and the Guard knelt down on one knee, showing reverence.

The man did not.

Something stirred inside me, a deep, ancient magic that I knew was not mine. It rolled with anger inside me.

"Hmm," I only said. "A dark fae that does not bow before his queen. How disappointing." I smiled. "Allow me to assist."

At the flick of my finger, he fell on his knees. I watched the pain in his face as the resounding pop of his knees hitting the floor echoed in the large space. He winced in pain, letting air escape through his gritted teeth.

The dark energy in me subsided in satisfaction.

The man in front of me spit towards my feet. "A Light fae is not my queen."

My fingernails dug into the arms of the throne. "Dark magic has recognized me as such and you will respect me for that if nothing else."

I heard Asmo chuckle and I tried to hide my smile.

I failed miserably.

"Please, gentlemen, stand." I eyed the prisoner between them. "But not you. Dark magic wants to teach you a lesson and I won't disappoint it." My power reached out towards him and pressed him down towards the floor. He didn't move from his kneeling position but I knew that he felt the oppressive, dark energy over him like a heavy fog. Somehow I knew that despite him being a dark fae, the magic I was pushing against him would make him squirm uncomfortably.