Page 92 of Hell Fae Prince
Oh, fae, I kissed him… like, really kissed him.And his hand was still in my hair.
He’d let me shift my attention to Melek, but he hadn’t released me.
Why? Was he leashing me? Holding me in place? Preparing to throttle me?
“Camillia,” he said, drawing my gaze to his mouth. The one I’d just kissed.
Fuck.“I’m sorry,” I blurted out. “I thought I was dreaming.”
He released my hair, sending a chill down my spine. Then he grabbed my chin to draw my focus away from his lips and back up to his intense gaze.
“You don’t owe me an apology, little one.” His soft tones were at odds with the king I knew, the king Ifeared. “But I would like to know what Vivaxia said to you.”
I shivered. “You’re going to imprison me.”
He frowned. “For being a siphon?”
My eyes widened.He knows I’m a siphon.Az had already told me this, but hearing Lucifer say it aloud drove the knowledge home.
Lucifer released my chin and sat a little straighter. “I felt you fight the pull, Camillia. You shoved my light back into me when you could have taken it. Maybe it was all for show. But I don’t think so. I think Vivaxia is using you to harm me. Convince me otherwise.”
The subtle command in those last three words caused my brow to furrow. “Convince you that I want to hurt you?”
“Sure.” He stared at me. “Well?”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I snapped, fed up with this stupid cycle between us. “And I don’t want your Source. But apparently, I was created to absorb your light and restore the Virtuous Fae Realm. Because according to Vivaxia, you shattered their Source when you refused to atone.”
I nearly rolled my eyes at that last part. Saying it out loud was almost as insane as hearing it.
But Lucifer’s features hardened. “Is that what she told you?”
“Yes. She said you created all the Nightmare Fae and Hell Fae for your own twisted enjoyment, therefore breaking avow—not adeal, by the way—to protect life. So you were cast out as punishment, but the light followed you in an effort to help you atone. When you refused, the Virtuous Fae Realm fell apart.”
I was surprised I’d retained all that, given how strange my brief experience in the Virtuous Fae Realm had been.
“Oh, and while I’m rambling, Vivaxia is also apparently my grandmother.” Might as well get that little fun tidbit out of the way. “And my mother is alive, but my father is dead.”
My lips curled down at that last bit.
I didn’t exactly like my parents but… but I…
I cleared my throat. “I don’t actually know what happened to him, but I think Vivaxia ordered his death?” I phrased it as a question, as my mother had somewhat implied that his passing had been necessary.
I shook my head.
Everything she’d said, that Vivaxia had said… it was… a lot.
“They told me I was created to steal your light and rebuild their realm.” I had no idea how it worked or how to stop it. “Vivaxia kept trying to imprint a spell on me, one that altered my reality. I kept forgetting things, then seeing mirages, and… and…”
I wasn’t sure what else to add. Or what had made me speak in the first place. But I’d said my piece.
“I don’t want your Source,” I stated in conclusion. “I don’t want to be a siphon. And I think I might hate my mom.”
My lips twisted as I stopped talking.
No one spoke, causing my insides to churn.
Their sworn enemy is my fucking grandmother.Of course they didn’t have anything to say. They probably hated me now, too. As they should.
