The Underworld Queen's Second Contract

Chapter 2 Three Years Gone

Word Count: 1016 | Released on: 13/08/2026

fabric sometimes does, but rough and jarring. She lay there stiff in the dark, heart beating too fast. Whatever happened just now, it wasn't a nightmare.

und, nothing aching. And the nightgown clinging to her wasn't even hers. Not just

close, furniture shoved into the wrong spots, window on the wrong wall, ceiling uncomfortably low. She could walk the east win

n the vanity. An open wardrobe gaped across the room, letters stacked on the desk in neat, unfam

nuckles went white. Breathe, she to

ge, before the Syndicate turned her life inside out, before Damian Voss

hut. She knew that wax. And then the memory crashed in: the contract. All thos

The cold, trained part of her-the one used to deals a

anded here-maybe in her younger body, on this exact night-b

lf. Almost familiar, but not quite right. Softer, no dark circles, hair still untouched-

taring back-nineteen, just be

o the wood until she th

looking away, Damian by her side as everything unraveled. When the dust settled

ook time, and she knew better than to drea

ront of worse, sh

ime she'd been knocked down, she'd crawled out again-even when vict

wax. Three years sat between her and the ballroom, bet

ough, as long as s

Bianca selling out anyone for a chance, Nikolai lurking, Silas w

r masks. She'd wandered into tr

erself right into disaster. Never again. Love and loyalty were easy to forge, eas

thing untouched, hers. She could play along-let them s

e showed no scars yet, but she could see the anger, the edge-everythin

's what sh

Lucia-her little sister, sixteen, still limping from that summe

this

herself breathe. She wasn't ready to see anyone yet.

already twisted toward tomorrow and her wedding. Last time, that walk felt like surrender. Now sh

s right now. Sharp, amused, always watching. It wasn't respect he had for her-only curiosi

she'd sign it-and this time, her eyes would be wide open. Enemies would get

e and rolled it back and

uth twisting into something too sharp fo

ene wasn't waiting for morning. For the first ti

Chapter End

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The Underworld Queen's Second Contract

Daniel A.D Romance

“Selene Voss died the same way she lived-betrayed, brought low, at the feet of the man she once called her husband. Her first life? Was a mess. They named her Underworld Queen, but it was meaningless. She married into the Voss Syndicate at nineteen and they took everything from her-every scrap of authority, every title she'd clawed into existence. Her own council killed her the moment they decided a woman didn't have the right kind of blood to lead. The last thing she felt wasn't fear. It was pure, burning anger. Then she wakes up-three years earlier, on the very night she's about to sign away her life in marriage to Damian Voss. The Syndicate's deadliest son. The man everyone gossiped about but nobody ever challenged. Now, Selene knows the traitors before they unmask themselves. She knows which friends will stab her in the back, the exact moments the knives will fly. This time, the contract isn't her surrender. It's her weapon. That said, Damian hasn't changed. He's still dangerous. Still fixated on a wife he once watched die, a woman he's never managed to figure out. He remembers nothing of the life where she died, but he can tell she sits across from him like she's already won. Like she's already seen him die. And instead of backing away, he wants her even closer. As Selene works from the shadows, piecing her strength together again-twisting old enemies into puppets, secrets into leverage-she realizes this marriage contract is more than a document. It's the start of a war. This time, she plans to live through it. And the husband she never meant to love? She might lose that battle, twice. "You died once already trying to leave me," Damian says, pulling the contract from her fingers. "I'm not letting you sign your way out again." Selene just grins. "Better read the fine print, husband. This time, I wrote the terms."”