Page 72 of Hell Fae Captive

I blinked, startled by the closeness of that voice.

Ajax.

I jolted my head up from my knees to find him standing at the cell door with a tray in his hands. I frowned, momentarily frazzled by my surroundings.I… I’m… I’m awake?

But I hadn’t even felt myself stir. One minute, I was in the darkness, and now…I’m back in my cell.

What just happened?

“Cami?” he repeated, his use of my nickname befuddling me even more.

Ajax calls me Camillia. Did that mean I was still asleep?

The tray in his hands suggested this could be a dream. His last words to me were essentially,You’re going to die. So why would he bring me food?

I swallowed, my throat scratchy as though I’d just spent hours screaming. Then another chill swept over me, eliciting goose bumps along my arms and legs. Yet my dress was soaked through, the fabric clinging to my skin. It felt like I’d just jumped out of a lake into an air-conditioned room.

My teeth chattered.

Ajax frowned, entering.

His magic was tangible, his presence warm and oddly appreciated.

What’s happening to me?

I tried to recall what had happened before I fell asleep. Melek had visited and asked me to whisper those strange words. I’d felt something snap into place inside me, a strange flicker of comfort and protection underlined in his essence.

An essence I still felt thriving through every inch of my being.

What did he do to me?I wondered, shuddering at the foreign presence consuming my being.

Ajax said my name again as he settled onto the floor beside me, his appearance bewildering me even more.Why is he here?

But as he set the food down beside me, I no longer cared. My mouth was watering, my stomach aching with the need to devour everything on the plate.

I grabbed the sandwich, stuffing it into my mouth and swallowing several bites before another thought hit me.This could be poisoned or bespelled.

That realization was quickly followed by,I don’t even care.

Because I wasstarving.

I had no idea how long I’d been out, but clearly, it’d been a while.

A bottle of water appeared in my peripheral vision, and I grabbed it without thinking. I was just an animal reacting to the nourishment, something that seemed to sober Ajax significantly because he didn’t comment at all. He just watched me eat and drink with a look of concern in his features.

This is definitely a dream, I decided. Because the Wardenneverlooked at me like that.Better enjoy it while it lasts.

I finished off the plate, then accepted the second bottle of water he passed me, before I finally started to wonder if this was real again. Because dreams weren’t usually this long or this coherent.

Ajax shuffled beside me, drawing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his strong forearms around them.

It was then that I realized he hadn’t just fed me, but he’d also sat with me on the floor.

“Is this real?” I asked him dumbly.

“Yeah, Cami. It’s real,” he murmured softly.

I narrowed my gaze. “If this was a dream, you’d still say that.”