Page 130 of Hell Fae King

They were real.

And very, very dead.

Dozens of bodies appeared as his veil continued to rise, all of them fallen Strigoi.With one lone woman, I noticed.Did she come from that infamous Monsters Night?I wondered.

“You finally grace me with your majestic presence,” Nos sneered in a tone that had me arching a brow.

He might not be truly on his deathbed, but I could change that in a blink.

Of course, I wasn’t sure there were any Strigoi left to take his place on that throne.

Which had me reining in my temper and narrowing my gaze instead. “What have you done, Nos? Why would you do this to your people?”

Because I was certain that he was responsible for the “rot” the guard had mentioned.

But I’m the one who was responsible for him,I thought, a pang touching my chest.

A pang that just continued to grow rather than abate. The same pang that had been with me since Camillia had blasted Vita.

Frowning, I stroked my Source but didn’t find anything unordinary.

Yet I felt… weakened.

Is it this room?This decaying territory?

“You have the audacity to ask why I’ve done this when you knew the Strigoi were starving?” Nos bit out, recapturing my focus. “You did nothing to stem our hunger,myhunger. Nothingto cure our fields or tend to our weaknesses. Perhaps I took a page out of your book, hmm? Maybe I chosemy needsover everyone else’s.”

“I told Onyx to supply replacements for the damage any Corpse Fae might have caused to your fields,” I reminded him, recalling the conversation and solution clearly. “But I don’t think that’s the real problem here.”

Because something else was going on.

Something beyond Nos and his mishandling of his role as the Strigoi King.

Payan had said he was dying,I thought.Had made it sound like he had hours left.

Which had obviously been a lie.

But why?

Why coax me here? Because he knew this had gotten out of hand? Or had someone else put Payan up to this?

Regardless, this territory needed my help. Which was something I should have recognized well before it reached this point.

Fuck. Melek was right. I was stretching myself too thin, and my fae were suffering for it.

Nos steepled his fingers, causing his long fingernails to tap against one another. “Yes. That five-minute conversation with the Corpse Fae King was such a generous gift of your precious time.”

I narrowed my gaze again. “Are you trying to antagonize me, Nos?” I asked him. “Challenge me for some sort of power gain? Because I can assure you, that would be a very bad decision on your part.”

He smiled. “No, Your Majesty. I’m just doing my part and holding your attention.”

What?I glanced around as the hairs along the back of my neck stood on end.

Everything had felt wrong since the moment I’d arrived.Beforethat moment, actually.

And I’d thought… I’d thought it’d been related to Vita.

But that… that wasn’t the case at all.