Queen of the Underworld | Book 3

• two •

"Then I suggest he speaks quickly."

Asmo looked to the Magister. "You heard your queen. Speak."

Mehnit moved her large exposed canines dangerously close to the Magister's ear as she sniffed his hair.

His eyes didn't meet mine. "My queen, I want to offer my deepest apologies for my role in The Usurper's coup."

"Apology not accepted," I snapped.

I watched him swallow. "I know how to save your guard Azazeal."

My features hardened. I didn't show my relief. "How can I trust your word?"

He briefly glanced at Asmo then down to the floor but didn't say anything.

Asmo crossed his arms. "If he lies, I kill him. If he harms you, I kill him. If he looks at you in a way I don't like, I kill him." He looked at me. "If he says something you don't like, tell me and I will kill him."

My heart hammered in my chest but I tried not to show it.

I've wanted to help Azazeal ever since he helped me the night we defeated Robyn but found no answers. If what Robyn said was true, the Magister had experimented on Azazeal when he was a child. He turned him from human to something Fae but not quite.

He still unnerved the Guard though he had been accepted as Damien's protector while his magic recuperated.

Not that I gave them a choice.

"Well, then," I said loud enough for the Magister to hear. "Speak."

He nodded. "The answer lies in Elysium, Alteaza."

Elysium, the home of the Light Fae. At least when they were still alive.

"His soul is hidden not gone- it can't be gone otherwise the body will die. But the spring, if you were to revive his soul, that will be the only way to do it."

"He has to drink from it?"

He nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty. But it has to be infused with herbs and spells that I can concoct in order for it to work."

I raised an eyebrow. "If you can do it why don't you go to the spring yourself?"

He shook his head. "Only a Light Fae can take from the spring."

I looked at Asmo. I couldn't deny the pleasant smile on his lips.

I shook my head. "He will betray me."

The Magister shook in his shackles in front of me. "No. No, never again. Never again. I will prove myself worthy."

A smooth voice spoke behind me. "I wouldn't give him the chance."

I turned to the owner of the voice and smiled. "Damien."

His arms were crossed in front of him as he leaned on one of the tall chairs he'd sit in during our meetings with Azazeal standing behind him. Damien's striking violet eyes watched me as I drifted next to him.

A handsome smile touched his lips. "You didn't wait for me."

I only smiled. "I get impatient."

Asmo scoffed from somewhere behind me. "Get a room."

Damien looked towards the floor, hiding his laugh.

Asmo didn't know Damien and I weren't together anymore.

In fact, the only ones that knew were the two of us and Oren.

It didn't take long for either of us to notice in the days and weeks after that we were just not meant to be together. The brief time that we were involved romantically had been forced by the two of us. It never felt right.