The Dark Passage: Queen of the Damned (Book 1)

Chapter Fourteen

Diana looked at her reflection in the mirror as the girl tailored her wedding dress to fit to her body. Normally when a girl gets married at eighteen she's knocked up. This would look odd to normal people. But she wasn't normal. She understood it was tradition to jump the broom before taking the throne, but it's top three the most stupid thing Diana will ever do in life. Yes, she does love Bishop in ways she never thought she would. Call it animal instinct or basic human feelings, they were there. But Diana always viewed marriage as being with someone that you love unconditionally and will do anything for. Once you say those vows, there's no turning back. Diana wasn't sure if she was ready for that. Especially knowing she's going to have to kill him to free him from his curse. Diana had Tiko looking into some spells and potions that could possibly loophole her out of having his blood on her hands but he hasn't come up with anything yet. She hasn't seen Valder take over Bishop since that night in his basement but she's sure he's had an episode. And if he hasn't, he's going to show himself today. She didn't know it for sure, but she felt something bad was going to happen. Which ultimately sucks being as though it's her wedding day.

"You are the daughter of queen Amethyst, right?", the girl tailoring her dress asked. Diana thought of a million smart-aleck responses she could have said. Her nerves were already bad and she didn't need stupid questions being asked to her. If she wasn't the queen's daughter she definitely wouldn't about to be signing away the rest of her life to be a wife and rule over a kingdom she knows nothing about. But Diana didn't want to start off on the wrong foot with anyone so she decided to give in into the dumb conversation.

"Yes, I am", Diana answered.

"Must be nerve wrecking to know you're about to take her place as queen".

"Oh trust me, you don't know the half. I don't even know where to begin".

"I heard from some others in the castle that you took on Agatha all on your own".

"Well, it was my duty".

"Did you kill her?"

Diana wondered if setting Agatha's body on fire worked. She saw no sign of her around since but you could never be sure. However, she didn't want the workers walking around worried.

"You no longer have anything to worry about".

"Oh, I was never worried. Agatha treated me good, with mother like care. I never imagined someone would be bold enough to kill her".

It was something about the girl's tone that made Diana uneasy. She could hear the hurt in her voice from hearing that Agatha was killed. Why would a vampire be sad over the death of their dictator?

"Hey, what's your name?", Diana asked the girl.

She stood and placed the last pin in the back of the dress. She turned to Diana, looking at her reflection. Her eyes were a dark brown but Diana could have sworn they flashed red, which was odd for a vampire.

"My name is Adana", she spoke.

"Is there meaning to your name?", Diana asked out of curiosity.

"In Nigerian it means 'her father's daughter'. Congratulations ... your majesty".

Adana bowed and exited out the room just as Maat walked in. Tradition or not, Diana wanted bridesmaids and things of a normal American wedding. She still didn't feel it was best to have Ciara around her, so she asked Maat to fill in as her maid of honor. Three fights and a million curse words later, Diana managed to get Maat into a dress. She could tell by the expression Maat had on her face that she was uncomfortable, but to Diana she looked amazing. Maat would really be an amazing force of beauty if she would loosen up from time to time. She bared a scar, much like the one Azul has on his face. Normally Maat covers it up with her long fiery red hair. Her eyes, while most of the time were red, sometimes had a blue ring around the iris. With her hair pulled off her face and the dress hugging the hips Diana was sure Maat never knew she had, she looked breathtaking.