Page 41 of Hell Fae King

“They look almost normal,” she whispered after a few moments of silence.

“You mean, like they weren’t kidnapped and dragged here?” I drawled, using her previous terms purposefully.

She cut me a look. “You can’t blame me for saying that. It’s exactly what happened to me.”

“I would never blame you for anything, little angel,” I promised her. “I’m merely trying to show you that your experience is unique. Very few brides were unaware of the contract arrangements. Many even penned their own signatures in those contracts.”

“Well, I didn’t.”

“A fact that isn’t Ty’s fault, but your father’s,” I told her gently.

“Lucifer still shouldn’t have agreed to take my life without talking to me,” Cami muttered.

“Maybe,” I conceded. “But he had no way of knowing that your father wouldn’t share the contract with you. As I said, most of the other brides were more than aware of their fates. And not only that, but they also embraced their candidacy with open eagerness.”

I returned my focus to the screen and brought up an image of two females sparring on a mat. Cami frowned at it, her anxiety spiking as the fae spun around each other, their flare of magic blurring across the video feed.

When a glint of metal appeared, Cami winced, her mind telling me she expected the worst.

But then the girls went tumbling down in a fury of fire and ended up laughing on their backs, their daggers thrown carelessly to the side.

My lips twitched. “They’re power-drunk.” The longer the Hell Fae Brides remained in this realm, the closer they came to the Source.

Not in the same way as Cami, of course. She was literally able towieldLucifer’s power. However, all Hell Fae tapped into the realm’s Source as a result of merely existing here. The candidates were no different.

I explained all that aloud while the two brides were replaced by a pair of male Hell Fae. Cami listened to me while observing them engage in a routine similar to that of the females, only they didn’t land on their backs in a fit of laughter. Instead, the energy built until it exploded around them in a wave of spectacular fire.

Cami gasped as it almost instantly vanished, leaving embers behind that fluttered to the mat below.

“How did you do that?” one of the females asked, clearly as impressed as Cami beside me.

“I’ll show you,” the Hell Fae offered, inviting her onto the mat. “It’s all about control.”

“An excellent segue into our training discussion,” I mused, closing the screen.

“Hey!” Cami reached for it like she wanted to bring it back up. “I wanted to see what happens next.”

“He’s going to do exactly what he promised—show her how to harness and manage the power humming through her soul from the Hell Fae Source.”

My little angel blinked at that. “Because the brides are strengthened by Lucifer’s power.” Not a question, but a statement.

“Yes,” I confirmed, even though she didn’t need it. She’d been listening when I’d elaborated on how the beings in this realm benefited from the Hell Fae Source.

“So what they were just doing is basically what Lucifer plans to do with me.”

I hummed, agreeing and not agreeing. This was a delicate discussion, one that required finesse and privacy.

While I could switch to a mental conversation, I opted to weave a quick incantation instead that masked our voices to anyone stupid enough to be eavesdropping. Almost all the fae who strolled by acted as though they didn’t see us sitting here in the middle of the courtyard, but I wasn’t naive. This area of the palace grounds typically saw maybe twenty Hell Fae throughout the day, most of them opting to enter through the main doors around front, not the back doors.

Yet several dozen had meandered by throughout the last hour, confirming word had spread that the Hell Fae Prince and his new mate were picnicking out here.

If they thought they were being clever with their sneak peeks at us, they were wrong. I saw them. Each glance. Every tiny smile. Glimmers of intrigue. All of it.

However, I didn’t mind.

This was all part of being a member of Ty’s personal court, and it was something Cami needed to get used to.

Once the privacy barrier—not too dissimilar from the one Ajax had crafted the other day in the Netherworld Kingdom—settled into place, I magicked up another cappuccino for Cami, handed it to her, and set about finishing my crêpe.