Queen of the Underworld | Book 3

• forty-one •

A/N: *looks for the ending, can't find it* crap.
song: Kill Our Way to Heaven - Michl

I gasped as I woke, pulling myself into a sitting position in my bed.

Another restless night. Another nightmare.

My breathing was labored. My heart was thrumming as if I had been running a marathon instead of sleeping. I looked around my surroundings, grounding myself in the familiarity of the room. I focused on the familiar feel of the soft sheets under my fingers, the framed print of the palm trees on the other side of the room and the wicker dresser beneath it.

Gods, Leah's parents had the worst taste in furniture. I stifled a laugh but stopped when I looked beside me to find the bed empty.

I pulled my legs towards me and rested my forehead against my knees. My black hair fell across my face as I did. Sighing, I glamoured it silver again before the others could see me.

I sighed deeply.

It had taken almost a week for me to recover from the last time I saw Asmo.

It took less than that for Julian to move out of my room.

It had been the next day after I got back and Julina finally acknowledged that I would recoil from his touch.

I will never forget how he looked at me.

It pained me to see him hurt.

His Adam's Apple bobbed as he stepped away, palms open. "If you wanted was space, Emylin, all you had to do was ask."

It wasn't that, I wanted to scream. It wasn't that at all. I needed him more than ever.

But he had gone on his own, taken his things out of the room I stayed in and back to his original room.

And I hated Asmo more than ever. I would make him regret every making that stupid bargain with me. It ignited my need for revenge.

I wasn't going to take it easy on him.

A small urge to be in the Underworld overtook me and briefly, I wondered if it was Asmo's bargain making sure I kept my end of the deal.

It had been over a week since I last saw him, so I was already overstaying the stated terms.

Damn it.

I could at least have breakfast before I left--anything to stay in Leah's home longer.

Sighing again, I moved from the bed and almost recoiled at the cool tile against my toes.

I showered and dressed then made my way downstairs. Everyone was already outside practicing while I made my breakfast. They talked and joked while they did and I couldn't help but notice how they didn't seem to miss me.

I chided myself. I was only out for a week but in that time, they seemed to have grown closer, despite Damien's attitude towards Leah. It both warmed and saddened me but I knew that it had to be done. They needed to grow closer, all three of them.

But there was the nagging feeling that whatever was pulling them closer was pushing me away...and I didn't want to admit to myself what it really was.

They hadn't been the same since I told them I took that man's powers.

They hadn't looked at me the same since I told them I made a fae human. They had looked at each other then at me and didn't mention it again.

Immediately I knew they weren't necessarily concerned.

They were scared.

I groaned, placing a mug of oatmeal in the microwave and hit the buttons like I usually did.