Page 81 of Hell Fae Warden
“Because I don’t trust Prince Melek,” she returned. “He read a whole passage to me about talismans and gave me this.” She pointed to the charm hanging from her slender neck. “And that didn’t end well.”
Lucifer considered that for a long moment before saying, “Are you sure about that? Because from my standpoint, it landed you in the Warden’s cell, which eventually led you to his and Az’s bed. And now you’re in a guest suite reserved for those I consider family rather than stuck in the bridal barracks with the other candidates.”
Both of Camillia’s eyebrows lifted. “Are you suggesting I strived for all this to happen? That I asked Melek to”—she held up her hand—“sorry,PrinceMelek, to show up in my room unannounced countless times with strange gifts, just so I could end up here, withyou?”
She scoffed loudly, clearly not seeing the thunderous blue waves rolling in Lucifer’s gaze. I almost reached for her leg to give it a warning squeeze, but she wasn’t done.
“I’ll admit, a meeting with you in the beginning might have appealed to me a little, if anything so I could renegotiate whatever deal you struck with my asshole sperm donor, but this?” She waved her hand around the room. “The burning walls. Stripper poles. Okay, the pizza oven is nice, and I don’t mind the bar, but trust me when I saynone of thishas in any way been a goal for me. I just wanted to go home.”
“Which you managed to do,” Lucifer pointed out. “By way ofmysource.”
That made her pause, her chest heaving from the exertion of her outburst. “Well, that wasn’t planned either. The book led me there. I didn’t understand any of it.”
“I think you understood plenty,” he replied. “My fall. The creation of the Hell Fae Source. It might have seemed unbelievable, but you know it’s all true, just like everything else Vita has shown you.” He looked down at the item in question. “Tell me about that day, Vita. Show me what you showed her.”
The pages whirled with magic once more, only to reveal yet another blank slate.
However, obviously there were words I couldn’t see. Words Lucifer was reading without issue, and—I looked at Camillia—she seemed to be reading them, too.
I was beginning to feel like I shouldn’t be in this room, like I was being shown things that might lead to my death.
Because these were Lucifer’s private dealings, a book he clearly considered important.
Perhaps not being able to see any of it would save me. But something told me I was in far too deep now for Lucifer to just let me walk away without a scratch. And not just because of today. I’d been clawing my way up the ranks into his inner circle for years without even trying.
All because of Az, really.
We’d started as friends who enjoyed fighting and fucking.
However, things had evolved. And Camillia… she seemed to have pushed us a full step further, making it feel even more impossible to back out now.
“That’s not what the book showed me,” Camillia said after a minute. “That’s… something different.”
Lucifer glanced up at her, then set the book on the obsidian coffee table. “Vita, stop fucking around and show me what happened when you took Camillia De la Croix to the source.”
The leather binding appeared to vibrate in reply, almost as though it was saying,This, you idiot.
Camillia seemed absorbed by whatever the book was displaying, her eyes scanning over the text as she shook her head. “I don’t understand. The book showed me your fall, like you said. But I felt like I was there and experiencing it with you. This… this is a bunch of circles. And…” She tilted her head. “What looks like a family tree.”
Lucifer turned the page without a word.
“Well, itdefinitelydidn’t show me that.” Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. “I have no idea why it’s displaying me in a crown while holding a ball of fire. Or maybe it’s someone who looks like me? But that’s not what happened. At all.”
Rather than reply, Lucifer flipped to the next section, his attention on what again appeared to be a vacant page to me.
But it clearly had something bad on it because Camillia’s features went white. “And that also didn’t happen. If Prince Melek says otherwise, he’s lying. I did not do that to him.”
That had my eyebrows lifting, my curiosity piqued.
However, Lucifer just kept skimming pages, almost as though he was reviewing a picture book instead of text. Which, given what Camillia had said, might be accurate.
“Oh God…” Her eyes were as round as saucers.
“Wrong deity,” Lucifer murmured. “But that reminds me, I owe a certain Mythos Fae an update on the trials.” He pulled the book back into his lap as he continued to scan whatever it was showing him, his expression giving nothing away.
Meanwhile, Camillia looked deathly pale. “I don’t have any interest in your source. The book took me to it, I touched a strand because it… it called to me… and then it vibrated with anger, and I ran for what felt like minutes but was apparently thirty days.”
“I’m aware of your version of events, Camillia.” Lucifer didn’t look up while he spoke. “I’m now learning Vita’s point of view.”
