Page 13 of Hell Fae King

And I was certain they knew Maliki, too.

He might not have an official title, but his reputation as Hades’s pet assassin was well known. Especially in this kingdom.

“This ain’t about you, Ghost,” the Death Fae drawled, using Maliki’s infamous nickname.

In and out in a flash, leaving only ghosts behind.That was his trademark. Most of the time the murders couldn’t even be connected to him.

But the fae knew.

And they feared him in kind.

Which again left me wondering why the fuck he’d opened that portal to Monsters Night. He’d claimed it’d been to help the Ghouls find mates.

Bullshit, I’d told Typhos.

Good deeds weren’t Maliki’s thing.

Violence was his first love, something he displayed now as he slowly looked at the trio of Death Fae. Only, he gave them an easygoing grin, one that belied the blackness of his aura.

“Itain’tabout me?” he parroted back at the Death Fae, applying emphasis to the wordain’t. Knowing my brother, he hadn’t appreciated the poor grammar associated with that contraction. “Then why are you standing within killing range of my favorite blade?”

Said blade was nowhere in sight. But it would appear in a flash if this Death Fae so much as blinked wrong.

“We need to have a word with the Commander,” the male growled, surprising me a bit.

“Then have a word, but make it quick,” I told him as I took another sip of my drink. I didn’t bother to look at the fae. This wasn’t how I accepted meetings. And I had no intention of indulging?—

Pain shot through my chest, causing me to drop my glass. It tumbled to the rocky tabletop with a clatter that I barely heard over the sudden roar in my ears.

What. The. Fuck?

I looked down to find my torso on fucking fire.

I leapt up from the booth, my inner beast raging inside me. The flames went out in a whirl of power, my energy instantly absorbing the unexpected assault. However, another soon followed, the soot-like magic foreign and deadly.

Maliki shouted something, but I couldn’t hear him, my essence swimming around me in a violent wave to counter the attack.

Only this time, the inky enchantment blended with my fire, creating an inferno of heat that made it impossible to breathe.

Fuck.

I ashed out of the cloud.

Except… except itfollowed.

Or maybe my ashing failed.

I… I couldn’t see. I was being suffocated by an impenetrable black smoke.

Az!Cami screamed into my mind.

Cami…

Ajax was there, too. His voice was a rumble of fury that I swore I heard right next to me.Don’t you dare fucking die on me, Commander,he demanded.

I’ll just come back,I muttered to him. Not that I wanted to go through the painful rebirth process. I’d much ratherfight.

Which was the word echoing now in his thoughts, as well as in Cami’s mind.