by Amy Marie
“I was wondering the same,” Ella answered. “Why give her all of the underworld, all of my power, just to take it away from her?”
Joseph cringed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“The hat is hurting you?”
He nodded.
“Joseph . . .” she didn’t say anything else. She knew he would argue with her on removing it. Eventually, though, it would have to come off. Maybe when the shadow man died. Although, the vision she told Joseph about, he wasn’t in it. Maybe he was by her side and that’s why. Maybe he shifted into his second-nature form.
Maybe he also died. Well, I can’t think about that right now.
“Let’s go,” Joseph said in the silence that fell between them. “I want this over with. I want it done. I want to live my life without the fear of hurting someone.”
She offered a smile, for what it may be worth to help what he was feeling. “We’ll do this together, Joseph. You are my mate.”
“It may not be enough. Ella,” he turned his horse to face her. “If this doesn’t work, if killing the shadow man doesn’t set me right, you need to kill me. End my life. Do you understand?”
She blinked and her heart plunged into her stomach. “What?” she whispered. “I can’t kill you. I won’t. The answer is no.”
“Dammit, Ella.” He breathed out a long sigh, then turned back to her. “Do it or I will.”
Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened. She shook her head. “You’re talking nonsense. Come on, let’s go.”
“Don’t say I’m talking nonsense. I heard that for far too long and will not accept this as my fate.”
She lowered her gaze to the saddle she was on. It was harsh, and she didn’t even realize it until she spoke the words. “My love, I apologize. I didn’t mean—”
“Let’s just go,” he interrupted. “Don’t worry about it.” He looked to her and offered a smile. “I know you didn’t.”
She grinned and the two nudged their horses into a cantor, then a gallop. The castle drew closer, and the short distance they were now from the castle was filled with an odd haze. Almost green, the fog moved as if it were alive and breathed.
They stopped just on the outside of the mist and dismounted their rides. Ella draped the reins loose around the horses’ necks and let them walk away. She turned toward the entrance of the castle with her champion by her side. She intertwined her hand with his.
“Are you ready?”
He nodded. “Yes. Are you?”
“Absolutely.”
When they took their first step through the fog, the air froze, as if being woken from a deep sleep. Thankfully, it didn’t do anything to their breathing. The haze dissipated completely, and the draw bridge fell open with a bang. Dust and dirt billowed in its wake.
“What a warm welcome,” she whispered. “Be ready for anything and until we’re faced with something or someone, do not let go of my hand.”
Joseph squeezed her hand to confirm he’d heard her.
The two stepped onto the bridge and crossed into the castle. The walls were red, and a crimson substance oozed down the stones. Was it blood? Bile rose in Ella’s throat and the stench of death filled their noses.
“What the fuck is that?” Joseph asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Keep your nose covered so you don’t vomit.”
He brought his free hand to his face and the two continued to walk inside.
“You finally made it!” screamed out a harsh shrill of a female voice. “It took you long enough!”
Ella looked up and around where she stood. The voice echoed throughout the empty castle, reverberating against the walls. It was like being trapped in a room of mirrors.
Or her cell she where she’d been held for so long.
Cleithrophobia settled over her and her body quaked with fear. Her fingers gripped Joseph’s, and her knees were about to give out when he gripped her elbow.
“What is it?” Joseph asked.
“I can’t go back to that cell. I can’t. I won’t.”
“I won’t let you,” he reassured her. “We’re here to fight and get your world back, but you must do this with me. I can’t do it alone.”
She nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m okay,” she whispered. “I’m good.”
“All right,” he said.
“Shall we do this?” the shrill voice asked as smoked erupted in front of them. As it settled, the silhouette of a woman stood in the shadows. She took a few steps forward, coming out of the smoke, and stood in a crimson dress with black lace overlaid on it. Her hair was onyx like the darkest obsidian, and on her left ring finger sat that very stone and it glowed with a brilliant black hue.
“I have waited so long to meet you again, face to face, Ella, who is no longer queen of this domain. This world belongs to me now. Forever!” She laughed and her voice thundered throughout the halls.
“Where is he?” Joseph asked.
The red queen’s eyes slipped over Joseph’s body, then her brow perked. “You marked him as your mate? How romantic.”
“How—” he started, but she cut him off.
“It’s all over you, darling, her rank sweet smell. It comes off you in waves. Leave it to you shifters to do some disgusting, predatory crap like that.”
“I’m not a shifter,” he told her.
“Oh, aren’t you?” she asked. She then looked to his hat and smirked. “Nice handiwork there.”
“I’m glad you approve, my love,” came a new voice among the trio.
Ella looked past Joseph, hearing the same voice, but didn’t see anyone else. She looked to Joseph and found his body had begun to quake. Was he scared? She took his arm. “Joseph? Look at me. Joseph, look at me, right now.”
He turned and met her gaze. Fear grew in his eyes, and his skin paled to almost pure white.
“What’s happening?” Ella asked. “Is he here? Is he doing this to you?”
As if on cue, the shadow man stepped out of the darkness. His skin was a dark chocolate and his eyes glowed a deep violet. His smile was laced with malice. “The hat responds only to me,” he stated. “And right now, it is attacking Joseph’s mind.”
“Stop it,” she screamed. “Now! This isn’t fair to him! He’s been through so much!”
Joseph fell to his knees, then his back. His body shook and convulsed.
Tears slipped down Ella’s cheeks, and she bent down next to her prince. “Joseph,” she whispered. “Fight back. Fight him!”
“He can’t hear you, love,” the shadow man said, and when Ella looked at him, he stood behind the red queen. He tilted the queen’s head to the side and licked up the side of her neck.
The red queen’s eyes closed, and she moaned. “That feels so good. Don’t stop, lover.”
The man’s eyes shimmered, their purple hue glowing, and Ella stood up once more. She pulled out a knife she had hidden in her bodice. “Release him, now.” She held the knife over Joseph’s body. “If you don’t, I will remove this hat and allow his creature to attack the both of you.”
The shadow man laughed, and the sound echoed to the ends and back. “You think he would hurt me? I created him! I gave the cure to him ages ago, but his sister was too much in her own way to realize when I did. I pulled the curse from him and kept it in my own safe keeping. The hat was simply a diversion to keep this mad hatter from coming into your world.
“My world,” the red queen corrected. “It’s mine now. You told me so.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, my love. Of course.”
What was it the man was playing at? He’d already removed the curse, yet, taunted Joseph that he was still ill. That he was mad. Without the hat he would have given into the beast and not been able to come back.
“Why?” she asked.
He simply laughed and held his hands out. “Why not?”
She frowned. “That’s…well, that’s just evil.”
He smirked and crossed his arms over his ches
t. “I know. Beautifully evil. Probably my best work yet.”
“He’s building a curse so large no one can reverse it,” the red queen exclaimed.
The shadow man growled. “Shut your mouth!”
She took a few steps back, and Ella’s brows rose.
“What is this curse?” Ella asked. “What’s your plan?”
“For me to become the most powerful queen,” the red queen boasted.
The shadow man rolled his eyes again. “I have a plan for this curse, but it’s not for this world. I plan on using it for my love back home.”
“What?” the red queen asked.
“Then let Joseph go! Please!” Ella begged. “Let him go and take the hat with you. It will give you the power you seek. It does nothing but drive him mad.”
He grinned. “I know. Don’t take away my playthings,” the man teased. He motioned his hand over Joseph’s body and the convulsing ceased. His skin tone returned to normal and he breathed on his own once more.
Relief flooded Ella, then she bent down over Joseph. “I’m sorry, one day you’ll forgive me for this.” She unfastened the hat as quietly as she could and began to slip the strap from around his neck. Her heart slammed in her chest when Joseph grabbed her hand. She met his gaze and he stared at her, then shook his head “no” once. He looked to the shadow man then back to her.
An unspoken plan passed between them, and against her better judgement, she let go of him and his hat.
The shadow man held a deck of cards in his hands and shuffled them this way then that. The red queen began to sob something ridiculous about promising her all the power. Ella took a few steps away and leaned her body against the wall. She assumed that if Joseph was going to do something, a diversion would have been better than keeping the attention on him.
“What do you plan to do with all my power?” Ella asked the red queen. “You’ve single-handedly killed off everything here. What’s next?”
The red queen skipped toward Ella and laughed out loud. “Oh, wouldn’t you like to know!”
As soon as she said the word know, Joseph sat up and yanked the hat from his head. He pressed a few gears and gadgets on the hat, then threw it toward the shadow man.
The man’s face erupted in horror, and he screamed as the hat came flying through the air, gears ripping from the fabric and grinding the air. The hat and the metal hit the shadow man full force and ripped him into pieces. Blood spurted from his body and coated the floor and the wall where he’d stood.
Ella screamed and backstepped toward Joseph.
Joseph!
She looked at him as he fell to his hands and knees. His body broke and his skin tore. He screamed as his shifting transformation started.
The red queen fell to her knees as if she were being strangled. She coughed and held onto her throat. Then with a burst, white air exploded from her mouth like a tornado let loose to destroy the grounds.
Instead, it was looking for its rightful owner. It was looking for its queen. The cyclone made its way over to where Ella stood. Fear did not claim her, rather, she was calm. She opened her arms to the sides and tilted her head back, mouth agape. The magic pulled from the red queen found its way back home to Ella. As soon as it sank into her body, a cataclysmic explosion erupted in the castle, pushing out from Ella like a bomb exploding.
The castle turned to dust. What was left of the shadow man lay dead on the ground. And the woman in red, who was no longer the queen, begged for her life as she backed away from an approaching Ella.
“You killed my people, my underworld.” Ella stalked her prey and continued, “You took everything from me. And for that, you shall now die.”
The woman screamed and horror struck her, but it wasn’t until Joseph’s shifted body flew through the air that Ella realized what she was screaming at.
Joseph landed on the woman and bit into her neck. He bit hard enough that her head separated from her body. She fell and blood oozed from her corpse.
He took a few steps back in his wolf form and licked his muzzle, then sat back on his haunches. He looked at his queen, the white queen, and bowed his head.
“When you are ready, Joseph, think about your human appearance and shift back. Hold it in your mind, and your original body shall return.”
Like the transition from human to wolf, it was painful. His furred skin ripped and his bones broke, crunching as his body shifted, but it was over as soon as it started, and a naked Joseph lay on the ground.
She ran to his side and threw her body around his, embracing him. “It’s over,” she cried into his shoulder. “It’s over. All of it.” She sniffed and pulled back to look into his beautiful hazel eyes. “When did you figure it out? That the hat was controlled by the shadow man?”
“Well, as soon as he said it, for one. The other was when I heard it whispered into my head. They were the voices of the others the shadow man had killed. Their souls were trapped in the hat. They told me how to turn it into a weapon against him. It wasn’t until he released the magic on me fully that I realize this.
“I thought I was honestly losing my mind when all along, it was the voices of the others he’d slain that I heard.”
She cupped his face and, using her sleeve, she wiped on the blood on his face. “And now? How do you feel?”
He sighed and sat up. “I felt like I was drowning this entire time and only now do I have the ability to breathe.”
She threw herself into his lap and hugged him around his neck. He chuckled and held her just as close.
“It’s over,” he told her.
“It’s over,” she repeated.
Chapter 11
The day after the red queen died, and the shadow man had been left in no more than bits and pieces, the underworld had begun to heal itself. The magic had been returned to the world as well as Ella. Where she seemed almost dull before, she now stood radiant.
Her skin took on a peachy tone, her hair now shined, almost as a glow, in its silver blonde tone. Her eyes, though, were flames of blue fire that ignited when Joseph entered the room.
The creatures that once crawled, flew, and scampered the earth had taken on their true forms as soon as the red queen had died. There was confusion throughout the kingdom that, in time, would all be settled.
After a month had passed, the deadness of the grounds turned from brown and lifeless to green with vitality.
Queen Ella decreed that anyone who came into their world would be held in confinement until an inspection was completed, as well as the administration of a truth telling serum. There was no excuse for allowing anything like what the red queen had pulled to happen to their world again.
Even Joseph, who’d been called to the underworld by the queen herself, was requested to take the truth telling serum. And he gladly accepted it. It was determined he was no threat to the queen or their universe and was soon after released.
Joseph embraced being a two-natured creature. At first, it was hard for him to swallow, considering he’d only been human prior to the blood moon bite, but now . . . now he was a shifter.
“But you were always two-natured, my love,” Ella told him. “It just wasn’t your time to come into your beast until you were forced to transition. The doctors of your world did you no favors by torturing you. Your sister didn’t know any better. But here you can be yourself. Here you can be your own person. However,” she paused, and a blush crept to her cheeks. Joseph smirked and enjoyed watching his queen squirm on her throne. “You are my prince. You may come and go as you please, but, if you accept the responsibility of my kingdom in my absence, it will come with great responsibility.”
He frowned and offered a shrug. “Well, if it’s responsibility you’re after then you’ve come to the wrong guy. I’m a misfit after all.”
She pressed her lips together to keep herself from giggling. Joseph was all in, but the court surrounding them, the ones who were once animals and creatures of the underworld, had no idea who Joseph was or what he’d done to
help save their world.
“Joseph,” she said with a slightly coy voice. “Come now. Come take your spot by my side and help me lead our kingdom into greatness!”
He grinned and lowered himself to his left knee, his right leg bent ninety degrees. He rested his right arm on his thigh and lowered his head. He heard Ella’s footsteps as she approached. A heavy metal blade rested on his left shoulder, then crossed his head to the right.
“I knight thee, Sir Joseph Rose, of the magnificent alps.” She repeated the passing of the sword and said, “Benedictio militis.” She took a step back, and Joseph closed his eyes as a grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Rise, Sir Joseph Rose, and present yourself to your queen.”
Joseph stood and his smile widened. He held his right hand out for Ella, and she took it. He brought her hand to his lips and feathered a kiss across her exposed skin. “I accept, as your humble servant in battle, and in life, my queen.” He kissed her hand once more, then released her.
“Excellent,” she told him and raised her golden scepter in the air. “Let it be known in our history today Sir Joseph Rose has joined our union.”
The court erupted in applause. When Joseph was asked who he’d like to have as his guards and service men, he requested an audience with Richard, the former lizard, and Tom, the former crow. Both men accepted the positions with excitement.
Queen Ella planned a celebration to announce Sir Joseph Rose was to become the prince of the underworld, and upon their marriage, king.
He humbly accepted her offer.
THE END
Julie Morgan Acknowledgments
Heather Ray, thank you for always being there. I have no idea where I would be without you.
Annie Anderson, thank you for capturing the perfect cover for Ella!
To my readers—you are all amazing! Thank you for your continued support and love.
About the Author
Hailing from Burleson, Texas, USA Today Bestselling Author Julie Morgan grew up in the country with big tractors and bonfire parties. She now resides in sunny Central Florida with her husband and daughter where she writes paranormal romance, contemporary romance (rock & roll, military), and dabbles in fantasy.
