Page 55 of Hell Fae King

“I’m not!” She threw her hands out to the sides and spun to face me. “Lucifer hurt you, then told me to use his power to help end your suffering.”

“He wanted you to kill Dakota,” I translated, nodding. “That’s the training exercise—extinguishing a dark soul.”

Her lips parted, her arms falling at her sides. “He wants me tokillsomeone?” She turned on Lucifer in the next blink. “Why the hell would I want tokillsomeone?”

I winced.

When Lucifer and I had been discussing our plans, I hadn’t quite consideredthispotential reaction. But seeing her fury now, I wasn’t exactly surprised by it.

Cami wasn’t a killer, let alone an executioner.

Fuck, I thought.This is going to get bad…

CHAPTER 15

AJAX

While my mind spun with potential ways to fix this, Lucifer pressed onward.

Because he clearly didn’t grasp or sense Cami’s mounting fury.

“You want a reason?” he asked, sounding bored. “Okay. Thatsomeonehurt your mate. You felt his pain. She was part of the cause. And if you look into her soul, you’ll see just how dark and twisted it is, how there’s no coming back from everything she’s done. So technically speaking, she deserves to live in agony for eternity. But I’m offering you a chance to end her cruel existence, should you choose to.”

“Cruelis a rather ironic term coming from you, given that you’re the one who created thiscruel existence,” she told him.

“No, Dakota did that to herself,” I said before Lucifer could explain. “All of the cells are crafted by the inhabitants’ nightmares. Their memories and sins create the illusions; Lucifer’s magic just fuels them to life.”

She blinked at me. “Wait. Do you… do youagreewith this lesson?”

“I agree that Dakota should die,” I answered vehemently. “But if you don’t want to kill her, I’ll do it myself.”

She blinked at me. Then she looked at the still-frozen Unseelie inside the room. She hadn’t moved an inch despite her cell door being wide open. She literally couldn’t. Because her nightmare had essentially turned her into a statue—just like Constantine’s magic had done to me.

“Okay, so… so maybe she deserves it,” Cami conceded after a long, thoughtful moment. “But what about the others? How many of thesedark soulsare here because of deals you tricked them into signing?” Those questions seemed to be for Lucifer because she looked at him, not at me. “We both know your deals are never fair.”

“Do we?” he countered. “Or do you just assume you know everything aboutmydeals?”

“Can you prove otherwise?” she challenged him.

“Yes,” he answered without hesitation, causing her jaw to snap shut. She obviously wasn’t expecting him to respond so quickly and adamantly in the affirmative. “In fact, I think that’s where you and I will go once this is done. Because you clearly need a lesson on how I draft agreements.”

She took a step away from him, only to realize that it put her nearly in Dakota’s cell, so she paused mid-move. “I…” Her brow furrowed, and she returned to her spot beside me, only she fully focused on Lucifer. “You would show me your deals?”

“Yes.” Uttering the word the second time had the same effect as before, causing Cami to blink at him.

He arched a brow, his expression challenging her now, just as she had with her previous tone.

She remained silent in response.

“Well?” he taunted. “What do you see in Dakota? Is she redeemable?”

Cami’s jaw ticked, but rather than reply, she looked at the former Midnight Fae. It only took her a few seconds to say, “No. She’s not.”

“Why not?” Lucifer pressed. “Because of how Ajax feels about her?”

Cami slowly shook her head. “There’s no light inside her.”

“And what about Ajax? How much light is inside him?”