Page 120 of Hell Fae Captive

A job that makes him a blind follower, I reminded myself as I attempted to stretch again.

More popping sounded, my body screaming at me for overdoing it yesterday.

Definitely not a dream, I muttered, a grumble of irritation leaving my mouth.

Ugh.This would take a while to recover from. Yet Melek had implied I would have another trial in a few days.Fuck.

I shuddered, my instinct to curl into a ball only dispelled by a pair of brilliant blue-black eyes.

Ajax.

My movements must have woken him up because he was staring at me now with a hint of wonder in his gaze.

I swallowed.That’s the kind of look that leads to trouble.

Trouble I did not want.

No. That was a lie.

A sinful part of me absolutely wanted that kind of trouble.

A sinful part I was trying very hard to ignore.

A sinful part that warmed my veins as Ajax reached over to draw his thumb along my lower lip, his touch oddly comforting against the blister healing there. “I’m glad you’re alive.”

I shivered, his words seeming to touch my very soul.

“I’m sorry for doing this to you,” he continued, his touch moving to my cheek and onward to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “I would tell you I didn’t have a choice, but I fear that would be a lie. Because I absolutely chose this life. It afforded me a distance I very much craved. A distance I felt yesterday in a way I never anticipated.”

My brow furrowed. “Distance?”

“From loved ones. Former friends. New friends.” He pulled his hand away, his gaze intensifying. “You told me that you will choose your fate. Well, mine was chosen for me. So I responded by altering the path as much as fate would allow. Or so I thought, anyway. However, yesterday taught me that I didn’t much care for the alternative life I’ve decided to pursue.”

“Oh.” I didn’t really understand what he was saying or why he felt the need to tell me this, but it seemed to mean something important to him. And for whatever reason, it had led to him apologizing to me.

An apology I wasn’t quite sure what to do with.

Because he was the reason for my capture in the sense that he’d come for me personally.

But my father was the true culprit here.

“You were just doing your job.”

“A job I chose,” he replied, his gaze falling to my mouth as he lifted his hand to touch me again, that sense of wonder escaping his features once again.

It was almost as though he needed to reassure himself that I lay beside him—an instinct I understood because I almost wanted to do the same to him, to see if he truly was shirtless on this bed. But I kept my hands to myself, mostly because I didn’t trust my sinful side not to take over.

“But I chose this job as an escape. And when I thought you had died, I suddenly realized that there was no escape. The pain can be ignored, but it can’t be forgotten.”

“You…?” I trailed off, swallowing again. “You thought Idied?”

“In the trial.” His palm slid to the back of my neck, the touch intimate as his gaze captured mine. “I know a few details about what to expect because of what I’ve either overheard or been told, but I’m not a Hell Fae. I wasn’t privy to the full details of how everything would be televised. Hell, I’m not even sure I was supposed to be watching. But it came on in my room… and your screen went dark.”

The mention of the televised trials didn’t anger me like it had last night.

Perhaps because of Ajax’s tone or the words he’d chosen to use—they implied that he hadn’t intended to observe. That he wasn’t supposed to watch them, even.

And when he had, he hadn’t enjoyed it.