Shadow Hunter (Court of Life and Death Book 2)

they were doing to listen in earnest and ever so slight fear of the Kings, and I was just as confused as they were.
“As many of you know, there was recently an incident involving the Unseelie Queen,” Daath began. “Before her death, she revealed something Syrion and I had begun to suspect.”
“You’ve all become aware of the presence of Myrcedes Kardia, a new reaper, and someone we have begun spending much time with.” I gazed in wonder at the twins as they spoke. What were they doing? “For as long as the Underworld has existed, we have ruled it as two.”
“Now,” Daath continued. “We are here to announce that we are no longer a pair of rulers… we are a trio.”
A smile spread across my face as I realized what they were doing… announcing me as their Queen.
“We only waited to announce this until she was present. From here throughout the rest of time,” Syrion actually grinned, a recognizable grin that no one could mistake and shocked everyone to see, “Myrcedes is your Queen. As Daath is Death, Myrcedes is Spirit, and will rule alongside us.”
The hall broke out into a sea of applause from everyone, accompanied by hollers and cheers from several of the creatures, the loudest being Maluc and Hestus, the gargoyle brothers who guarded the entrance to the Moonstone Castle. Siena, ever the playful succubus, gave an unmistakable wolf whistle, and I tried to hold back a laugh as I took a small bow.
Daath put his hand on the small of my back and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “We have something for you.”
I felt my purple flames flare as a tingle traveled up my spine, and he snapped behind my back. I turned around to see a throne, sitting between the pure white Moonstone and midnight black Onyx ones, made of the same purple moonstone that adorned my reaper scythe. On the seat sat a crown, similar to their own made of stars. My hand rose to my mouth, and I struggled to maintain an air of composure as excitement and emotion welled within me.
“I…” I didn’t know what to say. “Thank you.” My face felt hot with excitement.
“All the Underworld,” Syrion’s voice pulled my attention from the beautiful new addition to the room, “and any other creatures that exist within this universe shall now refer to you as Queen, as Spirit.”
A grateful smile graced my face as I nodded to the Kings. Spirit. It felt right. Just as Daath was Death, my place was over Earth, and I could use my position and my abilities to help it.
After the announcement, I found my bearings, descended to the floor, and began making myself a plate. The Kings still had their food prepared and presented to them, but I figured it would be a while before I was comfortable with that. As I piled a plate, I finally saw Siena, Hestus, and Maluc. I had been so focused on how badly I missed Daath and Syrion that I hadn’t realized how much I missed them too. I’d just seen Siena the night before when she visited Lindsay and me in our apartment in Seattle, but I hadn’t seen the gargoyle brothers since we returned to the Castle after I killed Minerva. I recalled how relieved I was that they were safe and that they helped protect my loves, along with…
“Hey, what happened to Kalian?”

2
Kalian
“Here,” a gravelly voice mumbled, setting a plate of food on the floor before shutting the cell door again.
I sat against the wall, my eyes drifting from the chip in the ceiling I stared at to keep myself sane to the plate of dry meat and nearly raw potatoes. I couldn’t help but scoff to myself and wonder if the food was this bad because I was a prisoner, or because the cook was a witch tricked into serving Minerva. Surely the minute Minerva died, half the staff in her palace fled from their posts. This food may have been the best anyone was getting anymore.
I sighed and got up to grab the plate and sit on the bed, a half-stuffed straw mattress on a steel frame. If I ever got out of here, I didn’t think my back would ever recover.
Once I’d decided to betray Minerva and help the Lords of the Night, I knew I wouldn’t exactly be anyone’s favorite around the fae realm or the Jewel Palace, the royal castle in the world of the fae. I’d watched Minerva go too far for too long to let her carry on, however. I’d followed her as her army General in war, helped guide her in political matters, even sworn myself to secrecy regarding some of her commands that I could be executed for being a part of. I had more loyalty to the balance of power in the universe than I did to one woman, however, no matter how strong she was. Minerva had wanted to destroy the balance entirely so that she could rule without opposition or distraction.
It had been hard to wrap my head around the fact that I needed to abandon the Queen I had served for thousands of years and give her up to her enemies, but even so, I was too late. If I had arrived at the Moonstone Castle sooner, I could have warned the Kings not to trust her. I had to admit, at least in the privacy of my own mind, that part of me blamed them for being so foolish. Minerva confided in me that she believed they knew she was behind the recent chaos in the worlds, and if that was the case, why would they ever have agreed to meet her? She had asked them to meet her in the fae realm, one of the few places in the universe where bloodwood grew. Bloodwood was the only thing that could truly trap the Lords of the Night, and yet knowing this, they ventured into her castle as though