Page 163 of Hell Fae King
To save the Hell Fae Realm.
I nearly blinked at that last notion. It’d come from a deep part of me, the part connected to Typhos’s Source.
Whatever Vivaxia was doing on that throne was threatening the realm’s existence. Typhos’s Source. Typhos himself.
Which meant she was threatening my mates.
And me.
I narrowed my gaze. “You don’t belong here, Vivaxia.”
She released a surprised laugh. “You’re just as ungrateful as your mother,” she informed me, her voice seeming to caress every inch of the room.
The stone in my palm burned again, reacting to her voice. Or maybe reacting to her words.
I again wondered at its sentient-like response, but I was too focused on Vivaxia now to ponder it more.
“You two only exist because I created you,” she went on, sounding imperial as fuck. “That means I own you both. Your souls. Your mind. Yourpower.”
Pain rippled from my chest on that last word, the term seeming to strike me physically in the heart.
“You’remine, Camillia De la Croix. Just like Nos and all his Strigoi. Just like Azazel. Just like every other creature I’ve ever brought into existence.”
My knees threatened to buckle as shetwistedher hold on my insides, the protective shell I’d imagined no longer in existence.
It was as though she’d penetrated my very being with a simple thought.
Because she had.
Because shecould.
I’d been so seduced by Typhos’s influx of power that I’d felt invincible. But Vivaxia had fixed that naive notion with a single fucking word.
Agony shot through my being as she canted her head, the simple motion seeming to curl her power inside me more. “It’s really quite simple, darling,” she murmured, her tone turning matronly. “I’m yourGoddess. The one you’re meant to worship.Toserve. All it takes is a thought, and suddenly you’ll forget how to breathe.”
My hand shot up to my throat in response, my lungs ceasing to function.
All the while, the death stone thrummed against my opposite palm, reminding me of its existence. But I wasn’t sure how the hell it was supposed to help when I couldn’t inhale or exhale.
“Another thought could stop your heart,” she went on, her tone underlined with boredom. “It’s just so easy. And, actually, it’s not only my creations that I control, but every single one manifested by my fallen Virtuous Fae.” A little giggle escaped her as she lifted her hand to reveal a swirl of gray energy. “Their essences reside in me now, as do the strings to their nightmarish puppets.”
It took me a moment to process what she was saying, my mind somewhat preoccupied with my frozen lungs.
But slowly, I began to weave together her words with what I’d seen of the Virtuous Fae Realm.And my mother.
Parts of her had resembled a ghost.
A husk.
That’d been the wispy sounds I’d overheard—thehusksof fallen Virtuous Fae.
Similar to the one mere feet from me now, only those ash-like remnants were the remains of a Strigoi King.
She’s absorbing all their powers and killing their corporeal forms.
Like Typhos did to his parents.
Only she was doing thisintentionally.
