Page 84 of Hell Fae King

A knifelike sensation pierced my ears, and I pushed the pain away as I struggled to see beyond the mask this creature wore. Her shriek felt real and made my knees weak. But it didn’t mean this was a true Banshee. Dark souls were forced to wear Nightmare Fae forms, and that included access to some of those forms’ abilities.

Those abilities were defensive in nature.

The Nightmare Fae weren’t evil—quite the opposite, if I understood correctly—but this beast had a dark soul. Its cold, icy intentions didn’t match what I had learned so far of the species that Lucifer’s realm protected.

It made sense now as to why Lucifer had said there weren’t any unmated females accepted by his Source.

Because thereweren’tmany female Nightmare Fae in his realm, not real ones. They had been masked forms for dark souls to wear.

They sure look real, though.

The topless creature before me had scraggly hair and spindly wings with puffy down in the center arches, which were covered in spots, as well as long, twisted claws from otherwise human hands.

When I really studied her, I could see the true fae underneath. A twisted face on a fae boasting pointy ears and dull blue eyes shone through.

I didn’t know who she was, but she wasn’t one of Lucifer’s Nightmare Fae.

Her nostrils flared as she swept one foot in front of the other and slunk closer to me.

Then her head was gone a moment later, severed in a flash of gold as blood splattered over my face.

I flinched, then glanced at Melek, who held out a sword I hadn’t even seen him summon.

“Go to Ajax,” he said, his voice more serious than I’d ever heard it. He kept his gaze on the headless body as it crumpled to the ground.

“Melek—”

His multicolored eyes found mine. “I know. I heard your thoughts. That’s why I killed her before she…” His jaw flexed. “Go to the Warden. I’ll keep them at bay.”

I blinked. Melek hurting a creature seemed so unlike him. He was all sensuality and mischief.

But apparently he could be deadly, too. A finely honed blade at the right hand of the Hell Fae King.

“Go, Cami,” he said again, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Right.I took off toward Ajax, then slowed as I noticed the shimmering barrier around him.Is that a protection spell?

Yes,Az confirmed, my question clearly having been broadcast to my mates.

And is that a Siren?I wondered next.

No one responded to that.

But they didn’t have to.

Because my eyes confirmed the answer.

A similar barrier shimmered around the creature, only it seemed to be containing it in an enchanted pool of water.

One sweep of my eyes over its form told me why.There’s no darkness surrounding this beast. However, it appeared to be in pain, its milky eyes exuding a frantic kind of agony.

Panic, I recognized.

But it was safe.

I glanced at Ajax, in awe of his show of power. Not just his demonstration with the magical bubble, but his obvious deduction that this being wasn’t a dark soul.

Praise graced my thoughts.