Queen of the Underworld | Book 3

• fifty-nine •

//song: The Beginning is the End is the Beginning - Smashing Pumpkins

The man in front of me wasn't Damien.

I knew that much just by looking at him, he didn't even need to speak.

Queenie. He called Tianna that too once.

He was the one that roamed through the Keep once, the one that made the fiendish deal with Tianna. He was the one to start to build the house of cards that would eventually lead to the downfall of the Underworld.

It was different seeing him in person rather than in Tianna's memories imbedded in the jewel.

The energy he spilled in the room was suffocating. It was thick, like tar, dangerous and impossibly ancient. It reminded me of the times when I would wake up in the middle of the night and felt something watching me in the darkness. It always scared me and, briefly, I wondered if anyone else had the same feeling when it happened to them.

But I felt it ran much deeper than that.

Suddenly, I remembered the story Asmo had once said. "Legends say that when the world was new and the gods created the humans upon them, they cast out the shadows of the world, who only knew destruction and death. Demons."

The Dark Ones. Demons. In the flesh in front of me.

The man took a step forward towards me and instinctively, I took one back.

He stopped, his face clear with amusement.

"Runith," Mal said with a smile. "It looks like she knows you."

Asmo's shoulders were tensed, his free hand balled into a fist at his side. I could feel dark energy rolling through him. He was trying so desperately to keep it in check. "Mal, he was not part of our bargain."

Mal rolled her eyes, exasperated. "You bore me, Asmodeus." She crossed her arms. "We are not harming Damien. The demons will not invade the Underworld like it will the other realms. " She looked at me. "All I wanted was this stubborn imposter, whatever it took." She looked back at him again. "And you brought her right to me." She looked at Runith, the Damien-Imposter. "He doesn't have to follow fae law but he's doing it as a favor to me. Since you do not want her dead, he'll just be very persuasive so she can give up the crown willingly." She smiled and looked at me again. "Get her to kneel before me, Runith."

My eyes followed Runith as he took a step towards me.

I began to take a step back and he lifted both his hands. His right hand reached towards Asmo, his left reached for me.

At once, our bodies obeyed. Asmo's hand was ripped from my wrist. He was flung away towards the wall far behind him. I was pulled forward by my chest with so much force I was sure my heart would be ripped from my chest.

In the next moment, I was dangling in the air a foot from the ground, a solid hand around my neck. The man smiled. "I never thought the half-breed would come in so handy."

I gasped air into my lungs but it was no use.

"He was close enough to you he was finally able to touch you and subdue your light. How fortunate for me!"

Somehow, my mind drifted back into my memories. Asmo was always respectful of my space, he only ever told me he wouldn't touch me unless I asked. I vaguely wondered if that was one of the reasons why.

Somewhere, I heard Julian struggle.

Other men grunted as they fought.

Mal only laughed as if she were just watching a game.