Page 67 of Hell Fae Captive

But because she’d defied the Elders in her beliefs that Quandary Bloods shouldn’t be rounded up and killed at random.

A rebel until the end.

Just like Camillia, I thought, sighing.Fucking Camillia.

I couldn’t shove the woman from my mind. She was giving me a damn headache and holding my dreams hostage.

“Flames,” I muttered, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

Az had never returned after the party, probably because his other duties had held him back.

Maybe I’d go find him now and try sparring again. Because I really needed to hit something.Or fuck someone, I mused darkly as I rolled out of bed to find some appropriate fighting clothes.

I’d chosen to sleep in my forest cabin rather than in my dungeon quarters tonight, mostly to get away from Camillia. Yet she’d followed me here like some dark phantom I couldn’t de-spell.

A portal allowed me to venture between the two residences with ease, so I spent most nights here and relied on my spell alarms to let me know if anyone acted out in their cells.

Things were usually quiet with the magic holding everyone captive.

But I wouldn’t put it past Camillia to test those limits, just like she’d done her first night here.

Maybe I should have stayed underground.

However, I preferred this home on the edge of the paradigm. It allowed me to visit Zen—the creator of this little kingdom—as I wished. She reminded me a bit of home with her mixed Fortune Fae and Midnight Fae heritage. She also happened to be my oldest friend’s grandmother. So she sort of felt like family, but without all the emotional strings.

That didn’t stop her from trying to mother me from time to time.

Hence the fresh batch of cookies on my table.

I stole one with a whispered “Thank you” on my way out the door. She wouldn’t be able to hear the words, but she likely hadseenthem.

Her powers sort of freaked me out.

Just like Shade’s, her grandson.

I really needed to call him soon just to check in. Ever since mating the Midnight Fae Queen, Aflora, he’d been a bit busy. What with becoming a dad and all. His little hellion of a daughter had him wrapped around her tricky little fingers. An adorable sight, yet it left me feeling uncomfortable.

Because it was the life I’d once craved.

A life I would never have.

Still, I owed him a visit. If anything, just to amuse myself by watching his creation wreak havoc everywhere she went. As the daughter of his and Aflora’s bloodlines, she was immensely powerful and difficult to control.

The perfect little abomination.

Even Lucifer had liked her when he’d met her, and Lucifer did not enjoy children. At all.

I nibbled on my cookie as I walked through the forest, deciding to take the long way back to the campus part of the paradigm.

Zen had originally created this place to protect the Quandary Bloods—a Midnight Fae bloodline that had been hunted and killed by Constantine Nacht for being “too powerful.” They were Midnight Fae who could reroute power to the source, which meant they could easily unseat him from his position as king. He’d called them abominations, saying they needed to be exterminated. And enough Midnight Fae had agreed to lead to mass genocide.

But Zen, being part Fortune Fae, had foreseen the chaos.

And she had struck a deal with the Hell Fae King.

One that had allowed her to create a paradigm—a magical world invisible to those who weren’t invited to see it—within his Hell Fae Realm.

In return, she’d agreed to let him use it as needed when the time came.