Queen

My butt was sore from sitting at this table all day and listening to countless meetings. Thankfully today would be my busiest for the next week but I was exhausted. My lack of sleep and having to discuss realm threats was a bad mix and I was barely hanging on.

I looked at my watch and called out to Mia, "Send in my 2:15." She nodded at me through the glass and signaled for someone to come. I watched as Hades stood up with a large rolled-up poster and suitcase in hand and follow her.

She opened the door for him and he stepped in. "Thanks, gorgeous," he said. Mia rolled her eyes and moved to turn around and he laughed. "Hurry up and go out with Cain before I take him from you."

Mia stopped and turned around as she placed her hands on her hips. "He's not gay."

"Maybe not," Hades said. "But I'm rather persuasive." He shot her a charming smile and she shook her head and left the room.

I looked at the clock and then back to Hades. "You have four minutes." He nodded and rushed to set up a board in front of me. He opened the poster board and I furrowed my brows as I looked at the blueprint in front of me.

"What's this meeting for again?" I asked.

"For an increase in funds towards the demon population in Hell," he said seriously as he adjusted his suit.

"Go on."

"I've been working in Hell with Cain on the artifacts and they're almost complete. I've also mastered the cloak spell that can make any demon appear as an Angel."

My eyes widened as I recognized the spell as the same one Lucifer must've given to my family. I nodded slowly and he took it as a sign to continue.

"As a test trial, I've sent a couple of demons as angels but they were caught and killed. Our most recent and last tweak to the spell was successful, and we got this," he said as he gestured towards the blueprint.

"And what am I looking at?"

"It's well-...I'll just show you." He fished in his pocket for a small pouch and sprinkled a black powder onto the poster. The poster burned and turned to ash but a few moments rather, the ash glowed and turned into a three-dimensional version of what was on the board.

I stood up from my seat and eyed it from all positions as I began to recognize heaven. "This is a map?" I asked.

"Not just a map," he said. He waved his fingers over it and it moved to different locations in the map. He kept going until I saw a miniature version of the golden gates surrounding God's palace. "We can go inside the palace."

I watched him as he showed me the inside of the palace and I covered my mouth. "How did you get this?"

"The last man we sent to Heaven cloaked as a demon," he began. We used his mind as a sort of camera and he walked through heaven for days and got into the palace to get this for us."

"That is amazing. Where is he? I'd like to thank him or give him some form of-,"

"He's dead, your highness."

"They killed him?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so."

"Shit," I muttered.

"Don't feel too bad, your highness. He knew the risks but he believed in you and our cause."

"Well," I said as I looked at the virtual guide. "We can't let him down, can we?"

Mia peeked her head into the room and smiled at me. "Your next appointment is here, what do you want me to do?"

"Give us two minutes," I said. She nodded and closed the door and I turned back to Hades. "Does Cain know about this?"

"Yes, we practically did this all together," Hades said.

I crossed my arms and raised a brow suspiciously. "Do you have a crush on my brother?" I asked.

He laughed and a smile spread across his face. "Not romantically. Would I hit it if he asked? Possibly."

We laughed and he shook his head as his laughter died down. "No, I'm rooting for him and Mia."

"So am I," I said softly.

"So," he said. "What do you think? With the additional funds, we could expand our tests and get more info. We could even prepare for infiltration."

I nodded. "Okay. How much more money do you all need?"

"Not much," he said with a shrug. "Roughly five million."

"Five million dollars?" I asked in shock.

"What? This stuff is expensive," he retorted.

"The vampires will be pissed," I replied.

"I don't care. I'm not scared of Dimitri."

I sighed and nodded. "Well okay then, it's a deal. Please keep me up to date with everything going on and if possible I'd like a copy of this," I said as I looked towards the map.

"Oh, keep that one," he said as he packed up the rest of his things.

"Thanks."

"Also, thank you for the invitation to your engagement ball. I didn't even know you considered yourself that close to me," he said.

His words made no sense to me. They honestly just confused me. What ball? What engagement? I looked at him in confusion and when he looked at me he tilted his head.

"What?"

"My engagement ball?"

"Yeah in two weeks," he said cautiously. "You sent out invitations this morning?"

I shook my head. "No, I didn't."

"You should talk to your fiancé," Hades said with a shocked laugh. "I'll be seeing you, your highness."

He left the room and I rushed to my phone in the drawer at my desk. I usually turned my phone off during work but it looked like I needed to speak to Dimitri. ASAP.

I unlocked my phone and my screen was immediately flooded with notifications from my emails. One caught my eye and it said:

Queen SinClaire and Dimitri Russo Have Announced Their Engagement

I clicked on the link and it took me to UnderWorld News. There was an article about us "finding love" and at the bottom, there was an interview. I played the video and sunk into my seat.

"So it's official?" The talk show host asked Dimitri who was sitting in a chair across her.

"Yes, it is," Dimitri answers with his usual bright smile. The crowd behind the camera cheered and he smiled at them before looking back at the host.

"Tell us about it," she said. "How did it go down?"

"Well after the meteor, she was hurt in bed and I set aside the proposal until she was healthy again."

"That's so sweet," she said. "She's a lucky woman."

"I'm a lucky man," he laughed. "So of a couple of days ago I picked her up from her office and I planned this whole dinner at the Lux Skyscraper."

"Oh. My. God," she said in fascination.

"I know, but that's not exactly how it worked out. I'm so in love with her that I threw the plan out the window and proposed in the elevator on our way out," Dimitri said with a grimace.

Everyone laughed and he shook his head in mock embarrassment. I knew he was a good actor but this was a new extreme. I never accepted a proposal, as a matter of fact, we broke up yesterday.

"And she said yes?" She asked excitedly.

"Of course she did," he said.

The host laughed and turned back to the camera. "Well, there you have it, folks. Thank you for tuning into UnderWorld News for our announcement. Back to you Mark..."

I threw my phone onto the table and slammed my hand down onto the table. What the fuck is he doing? I grabbed all of my things and headed out of my office. "Mia cancel all my fucking appointments," I commanded.

I didn't bother listening to what she said as I stormed through the building and headed to the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, I snapped my fingers and appeared in my room. My eyes landed on Dimitri who was sitting on the bed on his phone and I threw my purse at him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I growled.

He held a hand over the spot where I threw my bag and stood up. He ran his hand through his dirty blonde hair and his blue eyes zeroed in on mine. "What the hell was that for?"

"We are not engaged, Dimitri!" I yelled. "I didn't say yes to your proposal you fucking asshole." I angrily pushed him and he stumbled backward as a smile appeared on his face.

He adjusted his closed and looked at me with a sigh. "We are engaged."

"I didn't say yes."

"You don't have a choice," he said. "Unless you'd like me to tell the world about some things."

"What things?"

He walked to my dresser and picked up a folder and came back to me. I snatched it from his hands and opened it quickly. My heart stopped as I saw pictures of Syn with Sebastian years ago and I looked up at Dimitri.

"What is this?"

"I'm aware Syn is back and I'm aware that you two have met up," he said as he moved my hair over my shoulder. "I've been being nice but I'm at my limit. In that folder, there is incriminating evidence that Syn killed someone named Sebastian but also a famous noble named Justin. You know him, don't you?"

"How do you know about that?" I asked. My mind was running wild. If I remembered carefully, Syn didn't kill either one of them so I didn't understand how he'd have proof.

"That's for me to know-"

"Syn didn't kill them," I said.

"It doesn't matter. That's enough proof to lock him up and possibly get him executed. I'm sure a lot of realm rulers wouldn't mind voting for him to die. I have a powerful influence after all," he said.

Anger course through my body and I brought my hand to his neck. I felt his jugular in my hand and I could easily rip it out. "Why shouldn't I just kill you?" I asked.

"Because as soon as you do, I have someone that will release this information to the police," he replied as he gave me a crooked smile.

I dropped my hand a dropped the items to the bed. "So what then? You want me to marry you?" I asked in disgust.

His hand caressed my cheek and I stepped back. "That amongst other things. I want you to be my wife. You'll be submissive to me, cater to my every desire and need. Fail to do that and you'll never see Syn or James again."

"James?" I asked.

"Do you think they'll let you all keep him once they find out he was kidnapped?" He asked.

My heart broke as the realization that I had no choice set in. I couldn't let James be taken away from us, nor could I let Syn go to prison for something he didn't do. I couldn't think of any solution at the moment so I'd have to do as he said until I had one.

I looked away from him so I wouldn't kill him and he took a step towards me and set his hands on my hip. I tried to step back but he held me firmly in place. I pushed against his chest and punched him and he fell back as he wiped his bloody lip.

"Don't fucking touch me," I commanded.

He scoffed and licked his lips as he looked back at me. "Nec usus magicae."

I screamed as I felt a pain in my chest and I looked back up at him weakly as I fell to the floor. "What did you do?"

"You can no longer use your magic against me, Queen," he said. "If you won't be obedient on your own, then I have no choice."

He stepped towards me and I moved back on the floor. He grabbed me from the floor and I tried once again to fight him but it was as if I turned back to a human. His vampire strength outdid mine by millions and I cried and kicked as he swiftly pushed me onto the bed.

"Help!" I screamed.

"Shut the fuck up!" He growled as he held his hand over my mouth and crawled on top of me. I screamed into his hand as his hands trailed along my body and my tears burned trails down my face.

"You brought this upon yourself."

Syn

I dropped the glass I was holding and my hand went to my chest as I screamed out in pain. It wasn't a physical pain though, it was different. A pain that clung onto the emotional caves from deep within me and clawed at them.

My breathing became uneven and I fell to the floor. The glass shards going through my hands didn't even phase me as the pain continued. I looked around my empty house and I knew no one was there but this was still weird to experience. The pit of my stomach began to pain and I screamed out.

"Hey are you ready to-"

Caspian stopped his words when he saw me and he rushed to my side. "What happened?" He asked.

I took struggled breaths and I shook my head quickly. "I can't breathe," I said. Suddenly a new feeling rose in my chest and my body shook as I sobbed. Caspian pulled me into a hug on the floor and I hated seeming so weak but I couldn't control what was happening.

I winced as I felt something puncture my skin and I pulled away from Caspian. My hand immediately went to my neck and I felt blood. Caspian's eyes moved to my neck and his eyes widened.

"What is it?" I asked in a shaky voice.

He held back tears and took a deep breath as he pulled out his phone and took a picture. "Shit, shit, shit!" He yelled. I took the phone from him and looked at the handprint and claw marks around my neck.

"Fuck this!" Caspian yelled as he sat on the floor. "Syn before you died, you had a wife. Her name was Queen and you were shot at your wedding. You guys lost a baby but-"

"Tell me that after you tell me what's going on right now," I growled.

"You guys did a binding spell at your wedding ceremony. This isn't your pain right now," he said through watery eyes.

"It's hers?" I asked.

"I'm afraid so." He took his phone from my hand and his fingers flew across the screen.

She was my wife, that thought was about as unbelievable as us having a child. But as I thought about it, the more it made sense. Do you remember Queen? No wonder Lucifer asked me that. I still had no memory of her but if I cared about her in the past, I didn't want her hurt.

Caspian put the phone on speaker and after a few rings, a voice came onto the phone. "Hello?"

"Queen," Caspian said quickly. "What's going on are you alright?!"

She laughed softly on the phone but it sounded strained. "Yes, I'm fine."

"What's going on?" He pressed.

"Nothing."

"Quee-"

"I need to go, Cas."

The phone hung up and Caspian closed his eyes and held it against his head. "She's fucking lying."

"Tell me everything," I said. "Who she is, what happened, why you all lied to me...I need to know it all."

"I can only tell you under one condition," he said sadly.

"What's the condition?"

"That afterward, you act as if I've never told you a thing."

꧁꧂

Author's Note
I am freaking crying😣

Omfg I take back every nice thing I've ever said about Dimitri. How could he hurt her like that?😖. I guess he's more similar to the identity he took than we thought...

I just hope Syn goes insane on his ass. Thank everything that Caspian was there to help him go through what Queen was experiencing 😓.

Lmk your thoughts✨