Page 144 of Mate of a Monster

Legend.

My eyes snap back to Creed’s body.

It feels so fucking wrong to leave him here, but he didn’t die to be cried over.

He died for us.

My grief doesn’t lessen; it fucking sharpens into the deadliest of blades.

The souls of the fallen dragons pulse brighter, and then my back bows, eyes snapping wide open as something else fills me.

A new darkness coats my insides. Power swells within me, sweeping over me.

It fucking consumes me until all I am is a ball of energized fury.

Black flames lick across every inch of my skin, alive and hot.

I look down at Creed one last time, the Isles Kiss glowing softly around him, and press my fingertips to my mouth before touching them to his forehead.

“Thank you, King Creed Deveraux,” I whisper, tears still running freely because fuck pride, fuck composure— fuck all of it. “I will be the best fucking queen your home has ever seen, and I will do it for you.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Legend

There’s a moment in the middle of chaos where the world narrows down to a single sound. Or lack thereof.

For me, it’s Haide’s voice disappearing.

One second, she’s there, screaming through the bond while Arabella’s water tries to drown the entire ravine. The next second she’s just—gone. The bond stretches thin enough that something ugly claws up my spine.

My first instinct is to move.

My second instinct is to kill something.

Neither of them work.

Because Arabella still stands in front of me, her hand cupping my jaw like we’re lovers meeting in a garden instead of enemies in the middle of a fucking war. The pale thread she buried in my chest pulses the moment my power shifts.

The reaction is immediate. My magic surges, the thread tightens, and everything inside me slams into a wall so hard the air leaves my lungs in a ragged burst.

I hate that she sees it.

I hate the quiet satisfaction that curls across her face as my shoulders lock.

“There,” she murmurs softly, like she’s praising a well-trained animal. “Every time you try to reach for it, the thread pulls you back.”

Her thumb brushes across my cheek.

I do not move.

The water roars somewhere behind me as Zev hurls another blade that evaporates before it ever reaches her. Sinner swears loud enough to rattle the ravine walls. But Arabella doesn’t bother looking at them.

She’s watching me, studying me.

Enjoying her fucking self.

“You could stop fighting it,” she says conversationally. “You know that, don’t you? It would be easier. I built the thread so carefully, Legend. It only hurts when you resist.”