The Queen of Traitors (The Fallen World Book 2) (23 page)

73 years later

Serenity is healed.
Completely.

Every single strand of DNA mutated by radiation has been repaired. Externally she retains her scars, but on a cellular level, she’s flawless. It took the better part of the century, but I did indeed cure her.

So why does it feel so wrong?

I rub my mouth with my hand as my stomach contracts, sickened by where we’ve ended up. I’m still no closer to reclaiming my lost lands and she’s still enshrouded by glass and metal. My vicious Sleeping Beauty. This is our violent fairytale.

To the world, she’s a martyr and a mascot of all that is good and free.

The irony isn’t lost on me.

Dear God, it isn’t lost on me.

I stare at her golden sarcophagus.

Not dead, but not alive.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. I need to wake her. I need to let her see sunlight for the first time in nearly seventy-five years.

But.

I can’t go back there. Back to a time when I had a weakness. When I lost control, and lost loved ones and territories in the process. The WUN still remains out of my hands. If I woke her now, what would I lose next?

I don’t want her to see the man I’ve become. I don’t want to fall for her all over again. It took decades for the pain of her absence to dull.

Here my wife’s safe. And so is my heart.

So is my heart.

104 years later

I slip down
the passageway and head straight for Serenity’s subterranean temple. This visit should be like the thousands of others I’ve made over the last century.

But it isn’t.

The sarcophagus lid is askew, and the chamber inside—it’s empty.

Serenity’s gone.

Keep a lookout for the final book in the Fallen World series

The Queen of All That Lives

Coming May 15, 2016!

For free books and the latest news on upcoming novels, make sure to join Laura Thalassa’s mailing list!

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Be sure to check out the Laura Thalassa’s young adult paranormal romance series

The Unearthly

Out now!

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to buy it on Amazon

She’s dead.

Samantha, her wavy caramel-colored hair, her little Bambi eyes, her angel face…dead.

Killed in a car crash at 1:45 a.m. last night.

But what if there was a way to save her? What if there was a way to send back a warning? What if there was a way to undo it all? The crash. Us. Falling in love. All the way back to the beginning.

What if there was a machine?

Be sure to check out book one in a brand-new contemporary YA time travel series by Dan Rix

A Strange Machine

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to buy it on Amazon

Be sure to check out Laura Thalassa’s new adult science fiction series

The Vanishing Girl

Out now!

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to buy it on Amazon

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Other books by Laura Thalassa

The Unearthly Series:

The Unearthly

The Coveted

The Cursed

The Forsaken

The Damned

The Fallen World Series:

The Queen of All that Dies

The Queen of Traitors

The Vanishing Girl Series:

The Vanishing Girl

The Decaying Empire

Novellas:

Reaping Angels

Born and raised
in Fresno, California, Laura Thalassa spent her childhood reading and creating fantastic tales. She now spends her days penning everything from young adult paranormal romance to new-adult dystopian novels. Thalassa lives with her husband and partner in crime, Dan Rix, in Oakhurst, California. For more information, please visit laurathalassa.blogspot.com.