Shadow Queen Read online

  Shadow Queen

  lBook Fivel

  Marked Like Me Series

  o

  Cyndi Goodgame

  Also by Cyndi Goodgame

  (Fey Court Trilogy)

  Deception

  Tainted

  Betrayal

  Guardian (Companion to Deception)

  (Marked Like Me Series)

  Marked Like Me

  Son of Ra

  Scorpion

  Daughter of Anat

  Shadow Queen

  Protector (Companion Novella to Marked Like Me)

  Mary Never Had a Lamb, She Was the Lamb

  (Twisted Nursery Rhymes for the Paranormal)

  (Goblin’s Kiss Series)

  Denial

  Yield

  (Under Cover Chronicles)

  Under Cover

  Over Darkness

  © January 2014 Cyndi Goodgame

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Acknowledgements go to the various authors of classic fiction who wrote so eloquently that their words have become easy to quote in today’s written word.

  ISBN:

  [1. Supernatural-Fiction. 2. Vampires. 3. Werewolves. 4. War. 5. Prophecies. 6. Gods and Goddesses. 7. Constellations. 8. Destiny.]

  Email Cyndi at [email protected]

  You can reach Cyndi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/scgoodgame

  You can reach Cyndi at her website/blog at http://goodgamebooks.wordpress.com

  Follow Cyndi on Facebook www.facebook.com/cyndigoodgameauthor

  Thanks to the great writers Abraham Lincoln, Edward Lear, Buddha, William Shakespeare, and Julius Caesar.

  Summary:

  Anastacia Anat is a goddess born heroine who even till the end believes herself to be far from extraordinary. But those who know her well and see her strengths for what can be achieved know what has to be done. They know what powers she holds to accomplish an end to the warring factions.

  When Borgon refuses to go down, it’s time to u-turn. A new enemy joins him causing Stace, now known as the Shadow Queen, to angle her future moves into the coming war with a new perspective. He has the long buried Godslayer, the only weapon known to kill a god or one with the blood of. The other long buried secret has surfaced with it in the name of Lord Jetten, the lost lord who went into exile and left his people to the wolves so to speak.

  The factions are joined more than they have ever been in the history of the supernaturals and it won’t be long before the humans are involved. Stace has the power to end it all...or so she’s told. If she can keep them together and even gained the trust of the Elves who side with the enemy, hope is there. It may be buried deep, but every group has its weak spot.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  CHAPTER ONE

  The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.

  CHAPTER TWO

  This is the way the world ends...

  CHAPTER THREE

  ...not with a bang, but a whimper.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Playing with fire...

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ...you might get burned. Or be happily ecstatic.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The tongue is like a sharp knife…

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  …KILLS without drawing blood.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Three things cannot be long hidden...

  CHAPTER NINE

  …the sun, the moon, and the truth.

  CHAPTER TEN

  No one saves us but ourselves...

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  …we must ourselves walk the path.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  There are only two mistakes one can make along the road of truth…

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  …not going all the way…and not starting.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  A fool thinks himself to be wise…

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  …but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Some are born great, some achieve greatness…

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  …and some have greatness thrust upon them.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Cowards die many times before their deaths…

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  …the valiant never taste death but once.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand...

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  ...they danced by the light of the moon.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  Better a witty fool…

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  …than a foolish wit.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die…

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  ...than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  Which death is preferably to every other?

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  The unexpected.

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  Men are nearly always will to believe…

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  …what they wish.

  EPILOGUE

  Like and equal…are not the same things at all.

  Side Scene

  from

  Cas’s POV of within the confines of Drac’s clutches

  Appendix One

  Marked Ones

  MARKED ONES LETTERS

  Questionable Villains

  Characters in Limbo

  Faction Symbols

  Prologue

  You know that the lonely pay a price for love in the end.

  Daughter of the goddess Anat and son

  of the great huntress Queen Euryale of the

  Amazons shall bond the charms of all into one.

  When the bond was made with Neptune the sea god,

  the great hunter, Orion came to earth ending the great fast.

  His hunger will be fulfilled when the two suns create one and peace is restored once more.

  This was the internet research that Lee found that day in the library. It didn’t make complete sense then, but the information highway between all of my new friends has evolved tremendously. They were stolen words straight from the gods. My mother to be exact.

  The daughter, me! Anastacia Anat Hathown, or as my friends call me, Stace. I have found out my so called life of normal is nothing but in that I am the daughter of a goddess. My mother joined together with several of her Greek, Roman, and even Egyptian god buddies and decided to create four god powered creatures to correct the evils that have evolved amongst the supernatural world. Meaning, the silent war between the factions. Calum, my Hunter ex boyfriend, is the son of a goddess who was also a huntress from the Amazon descendants. Our destinies are intertwined because in the history of our two stories, the goddess Anat kills the Hunter named Orion. I thought that part bad karma on my mother's choosing, but she says she based it on his skill, not his destiny. The others are in this too. You see, my mother recently came down from the great goddess land in the sky and gave me a few insights about my "destiny" and what my ultimate mission in this life would be to accomplish it. And somehow, I have to charm them all into one accord to get the end
result. This means, me, Cas, Cord, Calum, and my twin brother Szar have to come to an agreement. Agreeing is not something the five of us do well. This will be a disaster. But nonetheless, it has to happen.

  We have to gain power into the factions creating us as new leaders and unite the factions. NOT take over with me as this Shadow Queen extraordinaire as Borgon predicts, but that’s a whole other ordeal compared to the task at hand.

  My father set most of this in motion believing wholeheartedly that I will make alliances among the factions to the point we have no enemies in the end. Not even the humans.

  Last night, my mother came to me in another dream. She shed light on more than I really wanted, but she assured me I could handle it.

  What’s more, a great fast is among us. The human world is apparently already aware of us and have been for quite a while. They will not stay unaware for much longer in fear we have dishonorable intentions with the ingress of their world. Our group is to solve that too.

  I managed to ask a few questions pertaining to the whys of how the five of us were picked specifically. Orion was a great Hunter who fell in love with the goddess Anat and went to great battles. Anat got angry with him (why is not the point here) and sent a giant scorpion to take him out. She stole his bow, end of story. Blah, blah, blah. Anyway, Orion's Hunter strength and Scorpion’s decisive skills compliment each other and therefore make a winning combination in battle. The gods have long admired their battle readiness and revere Orion in the heavens for it. Cas, the descendant of the sun god Ra, will be the peacemaker among the masses because his very nature is to communicate with an intricate delicacy among his own people. He has that innate ability to make others conform to a unified consensus, he just needs the right “friends” to come along and help make it happen outside his own people. That's where I come in. Though the mother phrased it like he was made in compliment to me, I see it as I came along to help compliment him. Either way, I can see now with the time we've had alone, in battle, and making major decisions, that he knows my very soul and has long before I knew it to exist.

  And Szar, my twin Valkyire brother, was simply created to continue on my father's court in his place, or death, but will have one single achievement within the fight to get there. It has something to do with shielding me. As heavy a piece of information like that is, my father already warned me in his way that he knew this. How he could live knowing all this my whole life makes me understand why he became a reserved hard man that others said he was nothing like before my mother died. No one else knew who the fake Valkyrie mother stand in was and what her plans were. She says it was all to lead up to the current events and for the greater good of all supernaturals and humans alike, but I couldn't help but wonder what we lose to gain this great unity.

  That leads to Cord, the half human who grew up in the Valkyrie court, who was turned Werewolf. His connection to the outside world will bridge the gap needed to help humans accept us. What those are, I have no idea. That part is still fuzzy to me.

  If the humans are to be involved, what promise is there that they will not turn and destroy us. We may have “superpowers” as they termed it, but they outnumber us five to one. The only clue my mother gave me towards this final element was that all of the sup factions will stand in one accord with me as the ambassador when confronted with the human leaders whom she informed me...are expecting it to work.

  This fast will not be ended by words alone, but a hunger is growing among the numbers to end all the rivalry among the ancients and unite us to work together again. I told my four guy superhero team a while back that we are to head our factions and make the people see it our way. They were like me in that it all seemed kind of impossible, but they had the same dream visits I had by their respective mothers and such.

  And last, I still haven’t shared with Cas the most disturbing piece of information yet. Orion will not accomplish the end of this hunger, the fast fully, until the two suns create one. It was part of what the web said, but my mother hinted more. I feared for the longest time that meant me having children or something worse, but now I think it means only that Cas and I will be greater when joined in marriage. Or rather, after the consummation part so that there is a "unified" king and queen with no one ruler like we originally thought. If blushing were possible in dreams, I was full on tomato red having this conversation with my dream induced goddess mother. Who knew sex talks could be so complicated and embarrassing even in dreams?

  The point she was making rather was that our state of being after marriage makes us that much stronger and she assured me I would need this strength in leadership by taking on my roll of Unifier that I recently learned my alias includes. Seeing the different factions coming together will convince the human masses of our loyalty. And my mother gave me one last tidbit to wrestle with. She reminded me that with all these tasks, comes unavoidable tragedy. I hated the thought, but conceded to accept it nonetheless. I had no intention of knowing who because I couldn't do this if I did. Now, I have to tell Cas. And Calum. And the others. I can do this.

  Love and war do not go together no matter what the great philosophers and theologians like to say. They were too engrossed in their countless words to know how far apart they are. I love Cassius Cross. I also know that if the time continuum continues on the course that’s set for us then one of us could be killed in this quest for truth. I feel as if I pack more emotion into the small moments we have less and less as of late. We both do. And there were three clarifying words that he often packed every bit of the emotion into one short conversation. More often than not, that’s all we ever said as we fell asleep at night exhausted from the trials of the day we’d had.

  I am a goddess. By birth. I have a war before me no matter how it’s defined. My enemy is ruthless.

  And I am tired of playing nice.

  CHAPTER ONE

  The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.

  “He asked me to marry him,” I said into the phone finally telling her myself and not through rumors. She knew of course.

  Kassie squealed, “I can’t believe it. We just knew you’d marry an old hag from the shipyards or something.”

  “Yeah, about that. I was intended to marry Cord Ryan.”

  Kassie stammered out, “The...the Cord Ryan. Dark hair with the white halo, never should wear a shirt, known as Scorpion for it stings so many, now leader of the supposed horrible Were faction Cord Ryan.” She giggled between qualities listed.

  She made him out to be worse than he was. “Yes, that Cord Ryan. He isn’t quite that bad, though he is very arrogant.”

  “YOU KNOW HIM?”

  Oops! That would start something I was sure would turn to a worse rumor than I wanted to fix. “Um, yeah. He’s somehow besties with Calum and Cas and Szar.” How did she know of my engagement and not that we were all the five Marked Ones. Everyone else knew.

  “Girl, I’m so leaving this place and coming with you. I can’t continue living off your fantasy life. I’ve got to be there.”

  “Kassie, that’s ridiculous. You can’t defend yourself.” I needed an out. “How about you come to visit me here at my court.”

  I’d said it without much regard for what I made it sound like.

  “You’re court? Are you already in his room and warming his bed at night?”

  “Kassie. Not! And mind your own business anyway. Where is the naughty court girl and her two guards that she kept stringing along before I left?”

  She giggled.

  “That’s what I thought. Take your own advice.”

  “Well, then at least tell me when the wedding is?”

  “July.”

  “July? That’s only...a little over two months away. Why so fast?”

  “Why not?”

  “You really aren’t warming his bed, are you?” her voice said conspiratorially.

  “Um, not that it’s any of your business, but no. I was telling the truth earlier. He wants to be all virtuous and such.” I rolled my eyes
into the phone.

  “Oh, girl. Please say he has a brother?” she breathed heavily into her cell.

  “Nope!”

  “Dang!” she snapped back.

  “Okay. Well, as your best friend, what should I do first?”

  “Be my maid of honor?”

  She squealed loud enough I had to hold the phone away. We talked about plans, plans, and more plans. She was coming to stay with me next weekend to “plan” and that would mean days without Cas. I frowned into the phone as I hung up. I sat on the sofa cross-legged and stared at the picture of the sun above me. I was torn between what was more important. I hated to think that I could say that about my best friend, but priorities change.

  I didn’t even know he’d come into the room when I heard, “You can put your worries to rest. Your friend will have a room and I will have you at night.”

  Brightened by his broad smile, I pulled him down to where I was on the sofa. We didn’t leave there for the rest of the morning.

  Cas stopped us again when our making out got a little out of hand. He went to the kitchen and came back drenched. I laughed so hard at his blatant will power that I fell off the sofa.

  “Nice to know I’m entertaining you,” his voice was drenched with the same sarcasm. Kissa, you are in such a hurry to make me a villain.

  I soured at that. My face showed all kinds of mad. As much as I wanted to be even angrier, I loved him too much to get that mad. I think that’s another way to know you’re in love. No matter what they do that irks you, you just seem to think about not having them at all and it sends pangs of fear worse than the present anger. It overrides the hurt with pain. Living without him wasn’t an option.

  I don’t mean it the way you took it. I mean that I have that one thing to hold over us and I aim to keep us honest.