A Cursed Throne

A CURSED THRONE After the Fall Universe, Book Three D.M. SIMMONS Copyright © 2023 by D.M. Simmons All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a review. All requests, contact the author at www.dmsreadwrite.com. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidences are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental. ASIN: B0BQ3YF2L2 Published by Foggy Day Publishing Cover Design by RFK Designs Contents Contents Author’s Note Playlist Prologue 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 Acknowledgements About the Author Also By D.M. Simmons Author’s Note A Cursed Throne is a dark paranormal, why choose romance told in dual POV. It contains friends to enemies to lovers, chosen one, close proximity, and found family tropes. It is intended for mature audiences and contains strong language and sexual situations, graphic sexual content, kidnapping, and violence, as well as inferences to bondage, and blood play, which may be triggering to some readers. Read at your own risk. This is the first book in the second series in the After the Fall universe. It is not necessary to read the first duet (Fealty of the Fallen & Legion of the Queen), but it is highly recommended. Playlist Vision – Lost Sky Can You Hear Me Now – The Score Crystallize – Lindsey Sterling Got You On My Mind – NF Sail – Unlimited Gravity Remix Zombie – Bad Wolves Jailbreak – AWOLNATION Unsteady – X Ambassadors Gladiator – Zayde W∅lf Bad Memories (ft. Elley Duhé & FAST BOY – Meduza Twisted – MISSIO Playground – Bea Miller Legends Never Die – Against the Current Cravin’ – Stileto (ft. Kendyle Paige) On My Knees – Rüfüs Du Sol Under the Night – Martin Trevy, Neptunica, and Paul Schulze Worst in Me – Unlike Pluto Murder in My Mind – Kordhell Awaken – League of Legends (ft. Valerie Broussard) Warriors – League of Legends (ft. 2WEI & Edda Hayes) Can You Feel My Heart – Varian (ft. Andrew Zink) Darkside – Alan Walker Die For You – Grabbitz and VALORANT End of Time – Ahrix, Alan Walker, and K-391 Wildfire – Against the Current Burn it Down – League of Legends (ft. PVRIS) Weapon – Against the Current Dreams pt. II – Lost Sky Psycho – AViVA Sing to Me – MISSO Back to You – Elliot Berger Throne – Rival (ft. Neoni) Phoenix – League of Legends (Carpenter Brut Remix) Unfold – Porter Robinson and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Starts Right Here – League of Legends (ft. Kenny Mason and Foreign Air) Prologue Nev English Countryside 18 Years After Luke’s Vanquishing I pick up the skirt of my gown and dash across the terrace, hurrying down the stone steps as fast as my feet will take me. Pressing one tentative heel on the grass, I test its softness, and feeling it hard underfoot, take off running. I know every inch of this estate like the back of my hand and make it to where I’m headed in record time. After taking a moment to catch my breath, I let go of my skirt, grip the barn door handle, and yank it open. After stepping inside, I reach along the wall and flip up the switch closest to me. The light overhead flickers to life and I make my way down the row of stalls to the end, lifting the latch on the gate of Beauty’s stall and stepping inside. The dark bay Thoroughbred nickers when she sees me, and I smile softly as I make my way over to her. “Hey girl,” I place my hand on her neck and bring it down in slow, smooth strokes. She nudges my back, and that’s all it takes. One tear breaks free and then another, until the floodgates open, and I’m sobbing uncontrollably. The noble mare doesn’t pick up her foot impatiently, or swish her long, dark tail as I rest my head against her shoulder. She stands strong and patient, nose close to me, sending warm reassuring breath down my back. In many ways she is my soulmate; our spirits connected on a level beyond definition. I can’t imagine my existence without her, but I know that day will come, because unlike me, she will not live forever. Even though that day is years away, it hurts to even think about it because it reminds me of just how alone I am now, and never believed I would be. I wipe away my tears with the back of my hand, then kiss the dark star on her forehead, and make my way out of the stall, closing the gate behind me. Sinking down onto a fresh pile of hay in the corner, I pull my legs up to my chest, and look up through one of the skylights lining the roof’s pitch. From this vantage I can see both the moon, and stars, and can’t help but laugh at the irony. No matter where I go, nor the passage of time, they will forever be a reminder of why I exist. Sometimes I still can’t believe the story my parents used to tell me at bedtime is real. That once upon a time my mother was the stars, and my father the moon, and it was their love that led to the angels and the Fall, and Luke’s creation of Hell. But it was. Only that existence was before time itself began, and in this one, my parents were legends.