Page 28 of Hell Fae King

Hell Fae King or not, I was done submitting to him.

His sapphire gaze held mine for a beat, his own lips curling at the edges. “Who says I’m on the other side?” he asked before returning his focus to Hades. “You seem rather keen on this portal, Hades. Perhaps I want more than information as payment for allowing it.”

“Let’s be clear, Typhos. If I want to open a portal, I will. This exchange of favors is purely for your benefit, not mine.”

Lucifer folded his arms, the muscles seeming to flex beneath his dress shirt. “You mean you’ll have Maliki open the portal on your behalf and test my mercy again.”

Silence fell, the two dominant males squaring off once more.

Maliki opened that portal for Hades?I asked, my mental words for Az.The one that went to the monsters’ ball thing?

Monsters Night,Az corrected me.And apparently, yes. This is the first I’m hearing about it.

I glanced at Az’s muscular back since I couldn’t meet his gaze.Is that why he allowed your brother to leave his custody?

Maybe,Az replied.However, I think Maliki’s release had more to do with whatever conversation Typhos had with Hades.

I wonder what they talked about, I thought more to myself than to Az, but he heard the words anyway.

Me, too,he echoed.

“To understand the hows and the whys, you must first evaluate your realm and the satisfaction of your fae. What makes a former creation vulnerable to his creator? Displeasure, perhaps?” Hades’s cultured tones echoed through Death’s Den, the power underlining his voice causing the hairs to dance along my arms.

His ability to break through my privacy spell—one I hadn’t bothered to disable even though Az had recommended it—wasn’t surprising. I’d never met a Mythos Fae in the flesh, only heard rumors of their strong auras and obvious prowess.

Seeing Hades now, I believed those rumors.

“Your fae respect you,” he went on. “You saved them. Cared for them. Created this realm for them. But doing so also isolated them. Until the trials. You knew they needed mates, yet turned it all into a test. I understand that. Admire it, even. However, your fae might not feel the same. And that hint of uncertainty…”

He trailed off.

But Lucifer finished for him by saying, “Creates a fracture that can be exploited.”

“Yes.” Hades took a step back. “Although, that fracture goes deeper than a fragile mental state, Typhos. One can turn a fae into a puppet with a mentally channeled spell. Controlling a few dozen fae at once, however, requires physical access.”

“Meaning my walls have been breached.”

“A fact I believe you already knew,” Hades drawled as he looked at Cami. “A siphon’s energy goes both ways.” He shifted his dark eyes to Maliki. “Now you have no need to time-travel and can return to the task I gave you.”

The lethal fae merely folded his arms and leaned against a nearby cracked wall. “We’ll see.”

Hades narrowed his eyes, clearly not pleased with Maliki’s dismissive words.

But rather than comment on it, he looked at Lucifer again and said, “Might I suggest you handle the issues in Morpheus Kingdom? I suspect the building tensions there could be considered a weak spot in the realm. All those vulnerable minds…”

He trailed off once more.

This time Lucifer didn’t finish the sentence, just nodded and replied, “I won’t interfere with your hunt.”

“Good.”

“But keep me in the loop, at least until thisvirtuousproblem is fixed,” Lucifer added, his emphasis on the wordvirtuousclearly intentional.

“There won’t be any ‘loop’ for a while. My quarry doesn’t appear to be ready to run.”

I frowned, wondering what Hades meant by that.This guy talks in riddles just like Melek.

Except Melek is playful,Az returned mentally. Hades is just deadly.