Page 25 of Hell Fae Warden
Rather than accept his duel, I shadowed outside to stand on the gravelly path. I’d accidentally kill the little gargoyle in my current mood, and I really didn’t want to do that.
I wove a spell behind me, telling it to alert me if Camillia tried anything funny in the room—including touching the walls—and started walking.
It’d been a long time since I’d been anywhere near this ancient building and its deadly landscape. All the trees here were black, their tops burning with hiccups of fire that never died. It was eerie, and ancient, and so incredibly gothic.
The stone walls all added to the effect.
As did the black torches billowing with smoke.
I glanced up at the perpetual Midnight Fae moon and found it oddly comforting. I suddenly missed the constant sea of night here. The cool kiss of air on my skin. The buzz of familiar magic.
It’s a trap,my mind whispered.We hate it here.
But for the moment, I accepted the familiarity of it all and tried to clear my head. However, Zakkai’s assessment revolved through my thoughts instead.
“Her aura is clear. She’s not lying.”
Somehow, he and Zeph had taken charge of my interrogation, asking all the questions on my behalf—including a few I would have preferred not to hear the answer to.
“You like them? Or at least, you did before now?”
“I thought we were becoming… something. But they’ve made their feelings for me very clear. Instead of listening to me, or even attempting to believe me, they’ve treated me like a prisoner. Which hurts…”
Camillia’s response had me rubbing my chest.
Youareour prisoner,I’d wanted to argue.How else am I supposed to treat you?
But a softer part of me had thought,Is this how Emelyn felt when everyone misunderstood her?
Emelyn had been viewed as a bit of a bully in our youth, her haughty persona covering years of hurt and familial trauma. Her entire life had been decided for her, without her permission. So whenever there’d been an opportunity for her to dictate to others, she’d taken it. And she’d been villainized in response.
I’d picked apart her shell, learned more about the female beneath, and I’d fallen madly in love with her. We’d planned to run away together, perhaps to the Human Realm, where she could escape the requirements bestowed upon her at birth.
But I hadn’t always liked her.
There’d been a time when I’d seen her through the same narrow window as everyone else—an entitled bitch with a power complex.
However, one night had changed that. A night when I’d found her at her most vulnerable and heard the way her father spoke to her.
It was like I’d fallen witness to a second beginning, my narrow window broadening into a full-blown sky as I suddenly viewed Emelyn through new eyes.
Would I have ever given her a second look had it not been for that night? Likely not.
But it left me wondering about Camillia now.
Was I being narrow-minded again? Looking at her through a pinpointed view rather than taking in the scenery around her?
She’d touched a part of me I couldn’t define. A part of me I’d thought had died with Emelyn. Was that all a trick? Or was it real?
“No. I mean, I thought about asking him to help me, but I knew he wouldn’t, so I never did. And I wanted to escape on my own. I’ve been trying to find a loophole in the book.”
How did she know I wouldn’t help her? I supposed she wasn’t wrong, but why did hearing that unnerve me?
I’d wanted to help her survive the next trial. Did that not count for anything?
Why did I want to help her?I wondered, wandering through the paths of the burning thwomp garden.Do I still want to help her?
I’d spent the last thirty days thinking she’d used me to escape. Thirty very long, angry days. But now… now I no longer knew what to think.
