Page 185 of Hell Fae King

My heart skipped a beat. “Oh, I do like the sound of that.”

“I thought you might.” He kissed me with a lot less force than I’d anticipated, his touch abnormally sweet. As was his mind when he mentally whispered,Thank you, little prince. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for protecting me, even from myself. And thank you for seducing Camillia De la Croix.

I chuckled a little at that last line.Trust me, the pleasure was all mine.

I have no doubt.

She’s mine, too, you know.

I do.His tongue traced my lips, seeking entrance.She’s ours.

Ours,I echoed.Our mate.

Our mate,he whispered back.Now let’s make sure the realm welcomes her properly. And afterward, we’ll show her what it means to be our Hell Fae Queen.

CHAPTER 45

TYPHOS

Istood back as Melek kissed Cami, his hands roaming over her beautiful form as though ensuring every inch of her still existed. Az and Ajax had done the same thing, but now they stood beside me, their gazes on the diseased Strigoi blood fields.

A sigh left me as I took in the damage. “I should have visited sooner.”

“It wouldn’t have changed the outcome,” Az replied. “King Nos betrayed you and his people.”

“And a lot of Strigoi died as a result,” I muttered. I had to fix this. To help them. To rebuild the kingdom. But I didn’t want to overstep again.

The throne had been my way of helping them survive without a Sigil. While it’d worked for a while, it’d clearly bred resentment, too.

With the gates no longer existing, they would be free to find mates and establish a proper hierarchy. However, they wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything without a royal bloodline to keep their hive-like energy alive.

Which meant I had to give them something to hold them over.

Something to help them thrive and survive long enough for a Sigil to be found and crowned as the Strigoi Queen.

Cami’s mind stroked mine, our thoughts aligning as power rippled out of us over the deteriorated fields. The black rot spread far and wide, the decaying plants wilting with death.

“They used to be sturdy and tall with blood fruits on the ends,” I told her, describing what the area around us should look like.

“There are humans down below,” Ajax said, his vampiric senses no doubt picking up on the live blood bank used to power the field. It stemmed from a combination of human lives in stasis and the power from a Sigil. When one failed, all failed.

“They’re not in pain,” I assured him. “Just… frozen.”

“Because that’s a better way to live,” he muttered, clearly not pleased by this development.

“Humans are food,” I replied, glancing at him. “As a Midnight Fae, you should understand that.”

His black irises flickered, the blue rim around the edges seeming to pulse. “I prefer to bite.”

My lips curled. “Yes, you do,” I agreed. “Mate.”

Cami pulled away from Melek to face us both, her gaze assessing. I could feel her searching for how and when Ajax and I had mated. I didn’t make her hunt for it, instead sharing that he’d bitten me to make me wake up.

Approval radiated from Cami, surprising me.

But on the heels of that approval came a wave of disapproval as she surveyed the fields. “Holding human life in stasis like this isn’t okay.”

I’d already pointed out that humans were food for Strigoi, so I didn’t repeat the explanation. Instead, I folded my arms and stared at my pretty little mate. “Without the blood fields, the Strigoi will die. And the blood fields require two things—a Sigiland the human essence energizing the crops. So what would you propose we do?”