The Final Downfall [Inter-Universal Protectors Series: Book 2]

Amneris Topanga woke up, just like any other morning.

She stretched, feeling the spot next to her, and frowning when it was cold. She rolled onto her side, running her hands through the messed sheets to be sure. Apparently, Colt had left some time ago.

With a grunt, she sat up, running a hand through her long, curled auburn-gold hair. Once again, she frowned, tugging at the strands. For some reason, Amneris though she’d cut it. Or perhaps that had been a dream. Who knew in this crazy world? She tied it into a loose bun, pulled clothes on, and made her way downstairs to where food was no doubt waiting in the kitchen.

It was strangely quiet. The thing with living with nine other people was that there was always some sort of noise – Nikki’s cooking, Jay’s commentary, Colt and Dan’s chess matches. But there was no noise. Only silence. It bothered her more than she cared to admit.

Grabbing a chocolate pastry, Amneris wandered outside and stood in the morning sunlight. She felt her power wake as soon as it entered the light, stretching itself like a cat. She gobbled down the pastry and stretched herself before lulling her power back into rest. There was no need for it now.

Her arms fell to her sides. “I am so bored!” she yelled at the sky.

Nothing happened anymore. Well, nothing interesting.

There had been no fights since the War ended. Amneris was bored out of her mind with nothing to do and the rest of her Court was . . . Well, she had no idea where they were. There were no notes, no meetings, no summonings, no missed calls or unread messages. Perhaps they’d taken the day off. They deserved it.

Amneris went back into her house. She was about to head back upstairs but stopped, backtracked, and looked at one of the midnight blue doors on the first level. She stared at it as though something would jump out and eat her. It wouldn’t have been surprising. Who knew what were in some of the rooms in this gods forsaken house?

She reached slowly, cautiously, for the doorknob. The door was swung open. Amneris stepped inside, sneezing suddenly at the smell of dust. A layer of it covered everything. She brushed a finger over a set of drawers, marveling at just how much dust came off.

She walked over to the curtains, opened them, and screamed, all but jumping to the other side of the room as a large spider dropped down from the web-covered window.

“Spiders,” Amneris muttered. “Why can’t it ever be kittens or puppies?”

She used a strand over her power to open the window it push the large arachnid out, clearing it and all its spidery friends from the room. A second strand of power cleared the room of dust.

Amneris turned back, hands on her hips, and surveyed her old room.

With all the dust removed it was exactly how she left it so long ago. It was an almost exact replica of her old room in the Kemetic Palace. This room had been abandoned shortly after that one, five thousand years ago. Too many memories she wasn’t at the time ready to deal with. Or stable enough to deal with. Or willing to deal with. Dealing was a big no-no.

Out of the corner of her eye, Amneris saw an old photo frame. Unable to stop herself, she picked it up, brushing a finger over the faces in it. Her old friends. The few humans she actually liked at the time. Plus one. There was one face in particular she was drawn to. Not her own, but the other like it. She stared. Couldn’t stop staring. Needed to stop staring.

Amneris put the picture down and left the room.

Arms snaked around her waist as she woke on the lounge hours later, a book still open on her lap. A kiss was pressed behind her ear. Amneris leaned back against Colt who moved the book on her lap to the table. He pulled the blanked which had fallen to her knees around them.

“When did you get back?” Amneris asked sleepily.

“Not too long ago,” he answered softly, stroking her hair.

She noticed their fire had been stoked, the wood restocked, and the smell of something good cooking in the kitchen. There was even a light cover of snow outside that had not been there the last time she looked.

Amneris smirked, leaning into his warmth. “Liar.”

“You looked too cute sleeping,” he said. “I did not want to disturb you.”

“Of course, you didn’t.”

“Have you been reading all day?”

She nodded, not wanting to talk about the brief visit to her childhood room.

“Have you eaten? Had a drink?”

Had she? Amneris shook her head.

Colt huffed a laugh, untangling himself from her. “Once again, I have to take care of you.”

“Rude,” she snorted as he walked into the kitchen.

He came back with a plate of warm cookies, presumably made by Nikki. Had she come back while Amneris was asleep? She didn’t know.

“Hey,” she said to Colt. “Does this all seem strange to you?”

“Strange?” he asked.

“Nothing bad has happened,” she started. “We can sleep easy and do whatever we want. Hell, I haven’t had a single nightmare since we got back! It’s just so . . . wrong.” She sighed. “I’m being stupid, aren’t I?”

“You’re not.” He took her hands and pulled her to her feet. “You have been a part of the War your whole life, Amneris. It only makes sense you would feel strange now it is over.” He kissed her hair. “Enjoy yourself. Spend time with me, your friends, and family, start playing music, draw, do whatever you want.”

“Since when can you pep talk?” she laughed.

Colt smiled. “You require many pep talks,” he said, slipping his hand into her own. “Walk with me.”

“Okay.”

As they walked, Amneris found herself lost in her thoughts. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. It had been like this for some time now. Everyone assured her that things were good, that they were happy, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling. It was like . . . something was missing. Something obvious.

She knew the War was over. She’d been at the final battle and had been the one to land the final strike on Enliatu, the Dark King. She wouldn’t deny the deep satisfaction which came with being her killer’s . . . killer. Strangely, Amneris knew she’d been the one to kill him but had no idea what she had actually done to do so. But that felt like it happened ages ago. Now she felt bored. Empty. Some other negative word that was yet to come to her.

She had nothing to do aside from her usual Queenly duties. Even those had become less urgent. She could take her time. There was the occasional visit to the other cities and the Academy, but it was the usual stuff. Making sure everything was going well, the people were okay, and had what they needed to do whatever project was next. Aside from that, most of her time could be spent with herself.

Perhaps that was why she felt something was off.

Amneris had never had time to do what she wanted. There was always some emergency. Hell, every time she’d been on a vacation of some sort, something would always happen which resulted in a cliché chase or escape scene or an attempt at world domination. Like the time Leo burnt down a fifty-story building when the two were apart for not even five minutes. He still insisted it wasn’t his fault. There were plenty of stories Amneris had like that but lately . . .

She linked arms with Colt as they walked the snowy outskirts of Lapide. The city had suffered damage and it had taken . . . She couldn’t remember how long it took to fix. Amneris knew she’d used her own wealth to fix the damage to the city. There was no way in the worlds she’d make her people use their own money for that. Especially when so many had lost everything they had because of the War she brought to the shores of Lapide–

“You are overthinking again.”

Colt’s voice brought her back into reality.

He was frowning down at her. “You need to stop ding that before you get a headache.”

“Always my best interests in mind, eh?”

“But of course.” He pulled her fur-lined hood over her head before moving his arm around her waist, tucking her into his side for warmth. “It is still bothering you. Everyone can see it no matter how much you try to hide it.”

“What’s bothering me?”

“This.” Colt gestured around them. “Not having to worry about anything coming after you.”

She sighed. It was true. She hadn’t been in a proper fight for what felt like months and was itching for some action. Needed some action. Would go crazy without it.

“Try to relax,” Colt murmured. “You needed it more than any of us.”

Amneris looked up at him. “I already promised to try.”

“That you did.”

“And I intend to keep my promise.”

Though he clearly wanted to say more, he kept quiet.