Page 169 of Hell Fae King

However, she’d groomed me in her own light. Had carved me into a weapon, one she’d fully intended to use.To unlock Vita. To grant her access when the time was right.

I saw it all, her plans, her intentions, the wicked web she’d woven.

Because the Source knew. It had felt her intrusion. Sensed her intentions. Knew she’d crafted the perfect plan to take down its master.Typhos Lucifer.

Which meant Typhos knew, too. On some hidden level, he’d been aware of her endgame. And he’d crafted his own retaliatory moves.

I understood everything now, this game of chess, the strategy at play. Thepower.

Yet, in a blink, I was back in the Strigoi Palace, balancing on my knees and gasping for breath.

A breath that Vivaxia had allowed me to take.

No, I realized.No, she hadn’t allowed any of this.

The stone in my hand was cold. Dead. Drained of power.

Because it’s inside me now.I could feel it warming my veins, the energy familiar, yet not.

And Vivaxia… wasn’t even looking my way.

How much time has passed?I wondered. Because it felt like several lifetimes in my head, but I suspected it’d only been mere seconds.

Time was elusive when delving through a memory of the past.

Vivaxia’s power swam all around me, holding me on my knees like some sort of doll she’d placed for her amusement. Energy compressed my chest, her mental grip still wrapped around my heart.

I could see those infamous strands again, the signature smokelike tendrils circling my being.

All the Strigoi nearby wore similar bands, the magic clear to my eyes now. And not just because of my siphoning ability.

I simplysawher. The vitality she wielded. Her creationist gifts. It was everywhere. Suffocating the room. Drowning out the free will of the Nightmare Fae.

And it stretched for miles.

Kingdoms.

Throughout the entire realm.

I knew that from the Source, couldfeelit with my own being.

My gaze narrowed.

This female was heartless. She possessed no compassion for the beings she and her kind had created. Considered everyone her servant. Took lives for her own personal amusement. And all because she wanted to become some insane Goddess with a creationism complex.

Shehad destroyed the Virtuous Fae Source. Not Typhos. Not Melek. Buther. With her derisive games meant to tempt her fellow fae tosin.

And I once thought Typhos Lucifer was the devil.

He was the true angel of this story.

The hero.

The one who bore the world on his back and saved the innocent.

This female—thisbitch—was the one who deserved tofall. For good.

I pushed to my feet, causing her to glance at me in surprise, one wicked eyebrow rising. “Well, that’s interesting.” She tilted her head. “Trying to use the gifts I’ve given you against me?”