Wicked Queen (The Royals: Witch Court Book 5) Read online

  Wicked Queen

  The Royals: Witch Court Book 5

  Megan Montero

  For JoJo because sometimes you need to wear that crown and own it! Wear your crown my friend and always be who you are. All my love to my JoJo.

  xoxo-Megan

  Also by Megan Montero

  The Royals: Witch Court Season 1

  Wicked Witch

  Wicked Magic

  Wicked Hex

  Wicked Potion

  Wicked Magic

  The Royals: Warlock Court Season 2

  Wicked Omen- Coming Summer 2019

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Zinnia

  Power, sweet, sweet power coursed through my veins. I’d been a Queen Siphon Witch for what felt like a lift time. I’d siphoned power from some of the most powerful supernaturals in the world and I’d never felt anything like this. It was heady, almost electric in my veins. I wanted to giggle with joy and blow something up all at the same time. It was the best sugar high with a whipped cream topping of “I think I can rule the world now.” My skin held an ethereal glow. Soft white light covered the floor around me. It even glinted off the sword in my hand.

  Tucker stood beside me. He glowed a softer warm light, like looking at a sunset I never wanted to turn away from. His honey eyes were liquid as he gazed down at me and sparks danced around them. Power rolled off of him in waves. It pressed into my chest like the beating of a drum. The corner of his lip turned up in the half smile I loved so much. “What do you want to do now, Zin?”

  I tilted the sword up, admiring the way it felt in my hand, so light and yet lethal. “Now? I say we go get us a crown.”

  With the power I had running through my veins there was no way Alataris stood a chance against the two of us. I felt unstoppable. Was I being rash? Possibly, but I wasn’t feeling an ounce of hesitation. Why should I hold back? I wanted that crown and I would get that crown. Tucker gave me a single nod and we turned as one, heading for the door. Niche ran in front of us and held her arms out wide. “Stop!”

  I went motionless. “Why?”

  “Nova, where did you get the essence of soul to put in the potion?” She narrowed her eyes and pushed her thick glasses farther up her nose.

  Nova shrugged and let her white blond hair fall in a curtain over the side of her face. “Tartarus?”

  “What would possess you to take the essence of soul from a Titan trapped in Tartarus?” Niche kept her hands up to hold off Tuck and myself. Not that she could stop us if she tried.

  “Hades told me to. He said no other soul would be strong enough for what we need.” Nova glanced from the cauldron at us and back again. “My bad?”

  I glanced down at myself, taking in my glowing skin, lustrous hair, and the strength I felt coursing through me. “No, I’m feeling really good.”

  Heavy footsteps thundered down the empty hall. Each one got closer and closer until the door was throw wide-open and slammed into the wall, embedding itself there. Matteaus, our head master / fallen angel filled the doorway. I always thought Tuck was huge. He stood over six feet tall, but Matteaus was at least six inches bigger than Tuck. He crossed his arms over his chest and his hulking black wings peeked up over his shoulders. Black feathers floated to the ground at his feet. The muscle in his jaw ticked. “What is going on in here?”

  Niche blew a lock of her red hair out of her face. “Just a minor setback.”

  “Minor setback?” Matteaus arched his eyebrow at her. “I felt the power running off of them from the other side of the school. Want to explain to me why they’ve got Titan magic flowing through their veins?”

  Nova wrapped her arms around her midsection. “That’s my fault. Hades told me—”

  “Hades?” Matteaus’ brows drew low over his sapphire eyes. He dropped his hands into fists at his sides and bellowed, “Hades!”

  I couldn’t understand why he would be so angry. His face was a deep crimson and I swear steam rose up off the top of his head. Heavy magic hung in the air around us. If I opened up my powers more, I swear I could siphon it all for myself. I was half tempted to do it. In the back of my mind I knew this wasn’t me, this wasn’t what I was about. But the power in my blood was voracious. It wanted more. I shook my head and took a step back, fighting the instincts that weren’t my own. I forced the instinct to dominate, to take what I could, and to have it all, down into the pit of my stomach. I moved across the room and leaned up against one of the tables near the wall. Tuck threw his shoulders back and strutted up next to me. “Come on, let’s go. We’ve got this.”

  I could feel his emotions almost as clearly as I felt my own. Our soul mate bond was strengthening with every passing day. And right now, Tuck felt nothing but cold determination for more, just as I had only a moment ago. I reached my hand out and placed it on his forearm. “We need to stop for a minute. Stop and think. Is this what you want? Or is it what the power inside of you wants?”

  His brows furrowed and he looked down at himself. He held his hands out, marveling at the light emitting from his skin. “I don’t know.”

  “We need to think.” I glanced around the room at the rest of our crew watching us with hawk eyes. Tension hung in air. “We can’t go after Alataris now. He’d just siphon this power out of us and use it for his own. We need to stick to the plan.”

  Tucker shoved his hand into his hair and pushed the auburn locks from his eyes. “You’re right. I know you are.” He then pounded his fist against his chest. “I have to control this. But I don’t want to. It’s . . . it’s . . .”

  “It’s intoxicating.” I let my magic slide down my arms and into the palms of my hands. Silver sparkles mixed with a hint of golden light danced over my skin and hair. I rolled my shoulders and practically purred at the feel of so much power.

  “Yes.” Tuck sucked in a deep breath. He bent and flexed his fingers. Golden flames danced over him. The tips of his auburn hair dripped with sparks. “The best kind of high.”

  Matteaus shoved his hands on his hips. “Hades, if you don’t get your ass here right now, I swear I will drag you from the underworld by your neck.”

  That air in the room simmered and the smell of brimstone filled my nose. The temperature rose and beads of sweat dotted my skin. The air in front of me wavered with steam and Hades materialized. He had nothing but a pair of dark low-slung jeans on. His feet were bare, and his skin glistened with small droplets of water. For a guy who spent all this time in the underworld his skin was tanner than I expected. His midnight hair was damp and fell in loose waves down to his chin. When he crossed his arms over his chest, his biceps bulged and the muscles in his stomach tightened.
>
  I’d met many Greeks over the past few months, but Hades was by far the hottest. He stood as tall as Matteaus and just as well built. His face was covered in a day’s worth of scruff that accentuated his square jaw and chiseled cheekbones. When he gazed at Matteaus it was like looking at the most beautiful vibrant lilac I’d ever seen. Flecks of silver danced in his eyes, mixing with the vivid purple. He pursed his full lips. “You rang?”

  Matteaus stormed up to him and shoved his finger in Hades’ face. “What is the meaning of this? You turned them into Titans? It’s like you want to piss me off.”

  Hades pressed his lips into a thin line. “I did it for their benefit.”

  Matteaus rolled his eyes. “Like you’d want to help me.” He spun away from Hades and looked at the ceiling. “Really? Really? Is this what you had in mind?”

  Hades threw his hands up and let them smack down on his thighs. “When haven’t I helped you?” Matteaus turned back toward him and arched his eyebrow, yet didn’t reply. Hades lowered his head and stared at the ground in front of him. “Okay, fine, mistakes were made.”

  When Matteaus opened his mouth to speak, Hades held up one finger. “Just let me explain.” Matteaus sighed and waved him on. “The little Death Witch said she needed an essence of a soul strong enough to travel to the heavenly plain. Not just any soul will do for something like that. They’ll need strength and power for whatever it is you have planned. Isn’t that right?” Hades turned and met Nova’s eye. “Isn’t that right?”

  Nova stood staring at him, her onyx eyes wide as she looked him over from head to toe. He snapped his fingers in front of her face and pointed at his eyes. “Eyes up here, witch.”

  “My bad, sorry. What did you say?” She shook her head, sending a cascade of her white blond hair falling over her shoulder. I had to stop from giggling. When I looked around, all the rest of the witches were staring at Hades the same exact way, including Niche. I glance at Tucker, who stood beside me, glowering down at my face. He crossed his arms over his chest and the muscle in his jaw ticked.

  “What, I wasn’t looking. I swear.” I was looking. But how could I not?

  “Sure, you weren’t.” He leaned in closer and brushed his fingertips over the inside of my wrist, though we both wore long sleeves and I had my bracelet firmly in place over the soul mate mark surrounding my wrist. He jingled it with his finger, pressing the cool metal against my skin. He leaned down and whispered in my year, “Just don’t forget who you like better.”

  “Jealousy is a cute color on you,” I whispered and gave him a half smile, taking the time to meet his eyes. No one was focused on us and I wanted a moment with him before we left on a mission we may not come back from.

  “Just remember who gets to see me without anything on at all.” He winked and took a small step away from me.

  Heat flooded my cheeks and I wanted to fan myself. Forget Hades. Yes, Hades was hot in a dirty bad boy kind of way. But my Tuck, my phoenix, made something inside of me come alive. I’d never felt more connected or grounded than when I was with him. Love, this was love. Pure and simple. He was my soul mate and we would do what needed to be done to free us from this life, from Alataris’ tyrannical rule. When I thought of the future I only thought of him.

  “Ugh! I said you all needed a stronger soul to get you where you needed to be.” Hades motioned to Tuck and me, drawing my attention back toward him. Hades shrugged. “I gave it to you.”

  “By making them into Titans?” Matteaus shook his head. “This is not going to go over well with Kane.”

  “Well, then don’t go. The effects will wear off in about four hours, give or take a couple minutes.” Hades sighed. “Now if you’ll excuse me, if you haven’t noticed, the weather has cooled down, which means…”

  Serrina threw her hand up as though she was in the middle of a class. “Persephone is visiting?” Her cheeks flamed a bright red and she snapped her mouth shut.

  A cocky grin spread over Hades’ face. “That’s right.” He motioned to himself. “We were in the middle of a shower, so if you’ll excuse me . . . I’ll be on my way.”

  That explained his soaking body and him only wearing a pair of jeans. When I glanced at Tuck, I swear he was taking mental notes. Try shower . . . check. Hades’ form wavered back to mist. Before he disappeared completely, a long, elegant arm wrapped around his midsection across his abs and dragged him back. Then the mist was gone and so was Hades.

  I stood in rapt silence, afraid to say anything about what I’d just seen. I cleared my throat. “Um, okay. What do you all think we should do now? We have two options. Tuck and I go up there and get this sword blessed, or we wait here for the effects to wear off and try to remake the potion without turning us into Titans.”

  Niche turned away from us and paced back and forth. “No.” She shook her head. “It won’t do. You’ll have to go now. It took too much work to get all the ingredients together. We can’t risk it. We’re so close, closer than any other witch court has ever come.”

  Matteaus sucked in a deep breath, then blew it back out. “Okay then, to the pearly gates we go.” He motioned to Tucker. “You’re going to have to pick her up. We’ve got a long way to fly and when we get closer you’re gonna have to hold on to me, otherwise you’ll never get through the veil between Heaven and Earth. And once we reach the gates it’ll be up to you to get in.”

  My legs were swept out from under me and Tuck’s strong arms cradled me behind my back and under my legs. Heat radiated off of him and pressed into my skin. His warm, woodsy sent surrounded me and I found myself huddling closer to his chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on tighter. I looked around at everyone else watching us. “What?”

  Matteaus rolled his eyes and made a sound of annoyance in the back of his throat. He stomped past us and through the door. He motioned to the hidden room we now stood in. “You could’ve waited to cuddle up until we got outside.” He paused and turned around peeking his head back through. “Where we could, you know, fly.”

  For the third time tonight heat flooded my cheeks.

  Chapter 2

  Zinnia

  Cool air whipped past my face, blowing locks of my hair across Tucker’s chest. White puffy clouds glided around us. This close up they looked like I could lie in them and it’d be like falling back into a bed made of cotton balls. Though the air this high up was much colder than at the school, we’d learned our lesson the last time we flew and Tuck kept me warm with his inner phoenix inferno. It was like lying against an electric blanket. Fall had well and truly set in, giving way to even colder weather. Soon winter would be upon us and I could only hope this would all be over soon. A centuries-long war would come to an end one way or another. I could only pray our side would be the victors and not Alataris. I didn’t know if I should feel guilty about planning my father’s death or relieved that the man who’d been trying to kill me all my life would soon be gone . . . possibly. Am I a bad person for wanting him gone? Does that make me like him?

  “Hey.” Tuck nudged my cheek with his shoulder. “Are you all right?”

  I honestly didn’t know. “I’m not sure.”

  My emotions warred with me. On the one hand I wanted to save Evermore and all its citizens. On the other hand, Alataris was the father I’d never known. Yes, he had to be unseated as the king of the witch court, but did I really have to kill him? I always thought of myself as a good person who tried to do the right thing in life. If I ridded the world of him, if I killed him, would I still be the same afterward? Would I still be me? I fought against his thralls, but those weren’t people. They were shells of humans filled with dark magic. I’d fought his warlock followers but had never killed a single one. And now here I was plotting the death of a living person. Plotting the death of my father. Long ago Alataris had done the same thing. He’d killed his father to take the throne. Was it in my blood? If so, maybe I was more like him than I thought. Tears pricked the back of my eyes and I quickly blinked them away.r />
  “What’s wrong?” When he looked down at me, I wanted to blurt out everything I felt, everything I thought. Instead, I bit my bottom lip and glanced away.

  He leaned his head closer to mine. “You know I can feel your emotions as much as you can feel mine.”

  My fears were something I kept to myself, but having our soul mate connection wasn’t conducive to keeping secrets. I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. “What if I really am my father’s daughter?” The question popped out before I could stop it. “Wanting him dead, does that make me as bad as him?”

  Tuck slowed his pace, giving us just a small distance from Matteaus. Though I was pressed up against him, I suddenly felt chilled down to my bones. Tucker whispered in my ear, “Hey, you are nothing like him. You hear me?”

  I nodded. “I hear you.”

  “But are you listening to me?” He pressed his forehead to my temple. “You are the kindest, bravest, smartest person I’ve ever met in my life. You are nothing like him. I truly believe that.”

  The moment he said the words I knew he meant them. I felt it in the pit of my stomach. Whether or not I believed it myself was a whole other issue. But I would continue on this path, on the journey I was born into. I could only hope at some point things would become clear to me and I’d know what to do. For weeks I’d been fighting against my father, stopping his plans from happening, stopping him from hurting my friends. Those missions were small compared to what we were going to do now . . . take him out for good. “I know you do. I just have to believe it myself.”