Friends with the King of the Underworld | Book 1

Chapter Thirty-Five

The ringing in my ears was deafening. My world was spinning.

I wasn't waking up.

Why wasn't I waking up?

In my nightmares, I would wake up now screaming in the dark unaware of reality.

Why wasn't it happening now?

Realization slammed into me.

My breathing became ragged.

"No, no, no. No."

The word felt like a mantra—as if saying it repeatedly would make what was happening in front of me less real.

This couldn't be happening.

This wasn't happening.

I shook Damien's shoulders as hard as I could. His eyes still wouldn't open.

"Please, please wake up. Please!"

"He's dead, girl," Robyn's harsh words cut through me.

I ignored him, I couldn't focus on him now.

The hot tears flowed freely at my attempts. I pounded the floor next to him with my fists as I screamed. "You cocky bastard, open your eyes!"

I started beating on Damien's chest. I had to do something, anything that could wake him. "You can't do this. You can't do this! We're supposed to grow up and be friends forever, you promised. You're supposed to outlive me!"

I was hysterical, inconsolable. I could feel my heart breaking, every beat more painful than the last. I felt my soul had been ripped into pieces, the pain was unbearable.

I cried over him, placing my head on his chest. "Please, please, you can't leave me."

Robyn's voice rocked me back to reality. "You women are all alike. Hysterical."

He crouched down next to us, placing his fingers around Damien's eyes and forcefully opening them.

I reached over at him, slapping his hands away, ready to claw his own eyes out. "Get away from him!"

He laughed at my futile attempt, smoothly moving away from reach. "The king is dead, my dear. It is time to celebrate!"

I shook my head as I placed it over Damien's still chest.

It was so still.

"Now," Robyn cooed. "Tell me, does he have any heirs?"

I couldn't understand what he was asking. How could I possibly know?

He grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me back away from Damien. My neck cracked from the force.

"Did he have any heirs?"

I shook my head. "I – I don't know."

He sighed in frustration. "Come now, darling, you have the gift of life. You can sense if his line lives on or not." He smiled. "Concentrate. Picture him in your head and seek out his presence in another life."

I could sense life? Was that what Robyn and the stranger had meant by finding his enemies? He said he'd done it before with others like me.

No wonder he knew so much about the Light Fae.

He had used the man in my memory to find Damien - that's how he had become so powerful. He'd find and his enemies.

If I could sense life maybe I could sense if Damien was really gone.