Free The Passionate Queen (Dark Queens Book 2) by Jovee Winters Page B

through his chest and I knew my words had pleased him.
    “But, Lena, your soul—”
    Leaning back, I pressed a finger to his lips, stilling the words, and shook my head. “Then I don’t want it. If she owns it, I don’t want it. I don’t need it. The only thing I need is you.”
    “But my kiss, your nature, your morphling heritage, you said—”
    No, I would not let him talk us out of this. I knew he wanted this too, I could feel the excitement course through him, the scent of it was palpable even to me.
    “Everything I know about being a morphling I learned from her. What if she’s lied to me? What if none of this was real? What if she only told me these things to keep me docile and tame? What if this is nothing more than a plot? Ragoth, I can’t—”
    “Ssh.” He cringed, looking as pained as I felt. “Stop, my sweet Lena. No more. If you wish to leave, then we’ll leave. I’ll take you wherever you wish to go. We’ll travel the worlds, visit the stars.”
    My lips twitched. “The only place I wish to be is with you, beast. That’s the only place that would ever keep me happy.”
    For a moment I spied a glimmer of worry burn through his beautiful eyes, but the second quickly fled and then with a chuckle, he shook his head and gently stepped away from me.
    “Then stand back so that I may change.”
    Laughing, giddy for the first time in ever, I did as he asked and laughed even harder when he transformed into his gorgeous other self. I wasn’t sure whether I preferred the beast to the man or the man to the beast, but either way, they both made me happy.
    He opened his gargantuan palm to me and I never hesitated. I stepped into the deadly cage of those claws and hugged them close as he gently closed his fist around me.
    I squealed with delight when his wings unfurled and with one giant beat of them we lifted high into the sky.
    For so long I’d felt nothing but fear in my life. For so long my days had been nothing but pain and grief and worries. Dreading the day of my blooming, the day I’d lose my will to the whims of my husband. A man I did not know and did not want.
    But right now, in this very moment, this heartbeat of time I felt nothing but pure and utter joy.
    Incandescent with laughter, I spread my arms and pretended it was I that flew. Closing my eyes I inhaled the sweet breeze of the night and let it sink in deep.
    So this was freedom...
    Below me the ground sped past and in just moments I saw the very edge of the border of wonderland. I could not wait to leave it behind forever.
    “Three.” I beamed.
    “Two.” My heart thundered in my ears.
    “O—”
    I screamed, feeling as though something had just reached through my body and ripped out my spine. Like I was bursting into flame from the inside out.
    And then there was nothing but darkness.
    I remembered nothing until next I opened my eyes and I was once more back in the groves and soaked in Ragoth’s tears. Fear shone like a beacon through his reptilian gaze.
    “Lena! Lena!” He shook me so hard my head lolled.
    Groaning, I tried to sit up, and I was crushed to his chest for the effort.
    “Oh gods, Lena.” His voice choked up, and he stopped speaking, hugging me so tight that there was not even an inch of space between us. “Oh gods,” he moaned over and over and over again.
    “What happened?” I asked in a haze.
    “Your body, Lena. Your body was entirely broken.” His eyes were shrouded in misery and his chin wobbled.
    “What?” Fear clung to my skin like leeches, making me feel sick to the pit of my stomach.
    “Broken,” he repeated. “All your limbs. Everything. The moment I took you from wonderland. You almost died on me. You almost—”
    Shock is a strange, wondrous thing. Torture. Pain. Numbness. It was all of those things, it was also so much more. I sat there in his arms as he cried over me, my world slowly unraveling before my very eyes.
    The memory of that bright flare of pain. But not just pain. It’d been