A Queen Among Tempests

Hello!

Welcome to the 7th instalment in the Queen Among series line-up, the first half of the God's Saga. 

Before diving in, it is important to know that understanding terms, character names, and events in this book is dependent on having read books one to six before this, beginning with A Queen Among Alphas. Each book in the God's Saga series (even the spin-offs) meticulously ties into the other books.

While I welcome all readers to join these characters on their journeys and even encourage them to continue on with the next generation series releasing in 2025, I want readers to be able to have the reading experience they deserve, and reading this book before the others will impede that from happening.

Now, I can't make you do anything, but I hope you take this into consideration before you begin. For a list of the books in the series and the ideal order to read them, please return to the book's summary page where you will find said list below the synopsis. Any further questions, reach out to adb_stories online or leave a comment, which i will reply to as soon as possible.

With that being said, on with the story!

xo

ADB_Stories

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Stepping out of the restaurant, a cold chill rattles my bones. I wrap my arms tightly around myself to keep myself warm. Of all the nights to forget my jacket. Thank God the restaurant was heated.

“If you’re up for it, there’s one final place I want to show you,” announces my date. I smile over at him, taking in the excitement on his face. This date has been so wonderful that I’m not in a hurry for it to end.

“Are you going to tell me, or is it a surprise?”

“Definitely a surprise,” he grins.

He takes my hand and begins leading me down the street. Suddenly he gives me a playful smile and starts picking up the pace, pulling me along with him. Feeding off his enthusiasm I let out a chuckle and start jogging along with him. These are not the shoes for this kind of activity, so hopefully, we don’t have to go much further.

Anthony pulls me down one of the side, cobbled streets and I immediately think he’s leading me towards some trendy, underground establishment. Some of the best places in Melbourne are hidden down various side streets you’d never think to check out because frankly, most side streets in the city look like dodgy alleys.

We make it about halfway down when Anthony suddenly presses me up against the brick wall and leans in to kiss me. I quickly turn my face away and raise my arms to put space between us.

“What the hell are you doing?” I snap in shock.

He smiles confidently, pressing himself against me, “Giving you what we both know you want.”

He leans in to kiss me again but this time I shove him as hard as I can, adrenaline giving me strength I couldn’t be more grateful for in this moment. The surprise is enough to get him off balance and put more space between us.

“You think I want to be dragged down some city side street so you can make out with me against a wall? What the f*ck is wrong with you?” I spit incredulously.

“Don’t act like you don’t want it, Effie. Besides, I paid a lot for this date, so you owe me,” he says, his tone becoming harsh and his expression setting off alarm bells. Not once all night did this guy give off any red flags! He was sweet, conversational, a good listener, considerate and now it’s like a switch flipped. Was all evening just a performance? All of that just to get in my pants.

“I owe you? I don’t owe you sh*t! If you expect sexual favours because you spent some money, then go visit the Daily Planet and find a nice woman there to finish you off because it sure as sh*t isn’t me,” I seethe in disgust.

I start to walk off when I suddenly feel him grab me from behind. He clamps his hand over my mouth, and I immediately begin to struggle as panic sets in.

“I’m getting what I f*ck*ng want whether you like it or not, b*tch,” he hisses against my ear.

I start to struggle and attempt to scream for help as he begins to pull me further down this side street. All of a sudden he freezes, and I think maybe I have a chance to escape and call the cops, but that plan goes out the window when suddenly the limited streetlamps ahead start to go out…well, not go out so much as become covered in darkness. The air around us has suddenly gotten even colder and is starting to feel suffocating. As I focus my eyes, I feel my stomach drop when I see dark figures moving towards us. I can barely make out the silhouettes in the darkness, but a new level of terror engulfs me when I see multiple sets of glowing purple eye-like orbs in front of us.

The shadows seem to move closer but neither of us can seem to move at all. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. I don’t even know what I’m seeing. I’m trying to will my feet to run, but they won’t. It’s as if they’re glued to the spot.

“This would be a good time to run,” a voice suddenly announces.

It’s like the voice has pulled me out of a trance, enough to allow me to look back and see a six-foot tall native-looking woman with long, flowing dark brown hair and…rainbow eyes!

“Who the f*ck are you?” Anthony snaps and I take the chance to wiggle out of his arms.

The woman casually walks over to us, her unbelievable eyes fixed on the shadows as she comes to stand in front of us. “I’m the woman about to save your undeserving *ss.” She gives Anthony a glance, her rainbow eyes filled with disgust as she turns her attention back to the shadows. Quickly the shadows – as if sentient – charge forward, fear drowning me from the inside as my heart breaks into a spring. But just as the shadows get close to this mystery woman, she raises her hand, pointing her wrist in their direction. A bracelet on her wrist begins to glow with this opalescent light and suddenly the street is filled with an indescribable high-pitched screeching sound. Anthony and I cover our ears to block out the sound, both watching in disbelief as the shadows disappear as if in a puff of smoke, and light returns to the street.

“What…what was that?” I ask, my heart still pounding in my chest as I slowly lower my hands from my ears.

The woman lowers her arm and turns to face us, “Those were shadow demons known as eyti. They’re drawn to malice.” She directs her menacing gaze towards Anthony and something about it tells me she’s not someone you want to mess with. “Maybe reacquaint yourself with the word ‘no’ and demons won’t want to swallow you whole,” she says acerbically.

“This some kind of sick prank? Some little stunt for TikTok?” Anthony scoffs. “Don’t you have anything better to do or are you just that pathetic?”

She rolls her eyes, not bothering to answer him and I can’t say I blame her. I have no idea what just happened, but I’m pretty sure she just saved our lives, and this sick b*st*rd is immediately insulting her. How the f*ck did I end up on a date with an *ssh*l* predator?

“I’m f*ck*ng talking to you!” Anthony shouts. He lunges at her, and I gasp when I see him raising his fist to hit her.

She gives him a bored expression, raises her hand and to my astonishment, a spark of something like electricity flies out of her hand and shoots him right in the chest. His body convulses and then drops like a bag of hay. I stare down at him wide-eyed then look back at the woman in front of me who looks down at Anthony like he’s nothing more than trash littering the street, which he is.

“You really should vet your dates better. If I were you, I’d take this opportunity to get the hell out of here, and maybe consider reporting him to the police,” she suggests with a compassionate look on her face.

I gulp and nod furiously, “I…I don’t know what the hell just happened but thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she says with a warm smile.

I turn on my heel and begin running down to the main street. As I’m running I feel a strong gust of wind from behind me and can swear I hear the sound of large wings. I turn to look back from where I came, immediately becoming uneasy when that woman is nowhere to be seen. The only person left in the street is an unconscious Anthony, and for my sake, I hope he stays that way. I look all around but that woman is gone.

I shake off the unease and sprint out of the side street, grabbing my phone out of my purse and calling 000 while I think of how I can explain to the police what happened without sounding like I’m completely insane. I figure I’ll just stick to telling them about how my date tried to assault me and leave out the rest because at this point, not even I believe what just happened, but whoever that woman was, I hope she knows how grateful I am.

I want you to think back to those nights when you were a child, lying in your bed as branches began to scratch at your window and the wind howled outside. Do you remember looking at the shadows in your room, only to realise that the longer you looked at them the more dangerous they appeared? Those branches suddenly began to look like the claws of a monster, scratching at your window looking for a way in. The shadows would begin to turn into ominous figures that looked as if they were moving closer. You’d lay there frozen, shutting your eyes tight as your heart pounded away, your body cold with dread as you felt danger all around. What if I told you that feeling was more than just a feeling?

There are beings in this world – beings we call eyti, who were once human like you – corrupted and deformed by their own malice to the point they became the thing you feared as a child. They became the darkness; shadows that move, preying on everyone around them. Getting close to them is so