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CAMI

H ell Fae Queen .

The three words echoed in my mind as Typhos set my legs aside so he could stand and reach one of the shower wands.

I just… stared at him. Admired his back. All those muscles. All that strength. Then took in his torso when he turned, my mouth going dry at all the defined lines on display.

He was a work of art.

And he just called me a Hell Fae Queen .

He’d been using queen as an endearment, had even said a few times that he wanted to turn me into a queen. But he hadn’t said Hell Fae Queen . Nor had he ever referred to himself as my Hell Fae King.

Yet…

Allow me to demonstrate what those words mean—by worshipping you as your Hell Fae King.

I licked my lips, my body seeming to come alive at the prospect of what he intended to do. It didn’t matter that I was still recovering from what Az, Ajax, and Melek had done to me. I was already heating up at what might happen in this shower.

Except, Typhos didn’t lose the boxer shorts. He simply stepped forward with the wand and started rinsing my hair.

Okay, maybe he has something kinky in mind for after…

No. Nothing kinky.

Just shampoo.

Followed by conditioner.

My lips twisted, my mind trying to process that the Hell Fae King was bathing me.

Okay, yes, he’d said something about that before. And he’d claimed he intended to worship me now. So maybe this was what he’d meant? By thoroughly washing me off?

As the soap slid into his hand and he knelt before me, I realized it was exactly that. “You’re taking care of me,” I marveled in a whisper.

“That’s what I said I would do,” he replied, glancing up at me. “Surprised I meant it?”

“Just… surprised you want to.”

His sapphire gaze darkened to twin oceanic pools.

“You’re surprised I want to touch you, Camillia?

” He pressed the bar of soap to my abdomen, then slipped upward to my breasts.

“You’re my forbidden fruit, little temptress.

The first female I’ve desired in eons. And I’ve told myself I can’t have you. ”

“Why?” I asked on a breath, trying to understand him. Trying to figure out how we’d gotten here , to this intimate place where we expressed our desires.

I’d dreamt of him for weeks. Or was it months? Time was elusive here.

And all the while, I’d told myself I didn’t want him. Yet it was a lie. It’d always been a lie.

Just like the lie I’d believed about him hating me.

Melek kept telling me it wasn’t true, but I refused to believe him. Because believing him meant embracing the idea that Typhos might feel something else for me.

However, the Hell Fae King wasn’t hiding now. He was letting me see his desires and not even trying to hold back.

Except he said he wasn’t going to fuck me…

“Are you listening to me, Miss De la Croix?” Typhos asked, making me blink.

“I, uh…” I licked my lips, my brow furrowing.

“Hmm,” he hummed. “I didn’t think so. You asked me why I told myself I couldn’t have you—and I just admitted that you’re not mine to touch.” He brushed my nipple with the soap, stirring a gasp from my throat. “You belong to Azazel and Ajax and Melek. And they belong to you.”

I swallowed as he began massaging my breast with the bar, lathering the soap in slippery suds.

“But Melek wanted me to bathe you, to show you how to remove his mark. So I suppose that means you’re temporarily mine”—he switched to my other breast—“to caress.”

“Only temporarily?” I echoed in a whisper.

“Unless you choose otherwise,” he murmured. “Then yes, only temporarily.”

“But what about what you want?” I wondered out loud. “Why is it my decision?”

“Because you’re our queen, Camillia,” he replied. “That means you’re in charge.”

I arched a brow at him. “That’s not what you said in the bedroom.”

“Because I’m in charge there,” he returned, the soap bar slipping south to my abdomen.

I gave him a look. “Pretty sure you’re in charge everywhere, Typhos.”

His lips curled. “A good king knows when to bow to his queen.”

“And that’s what I am?” I asked, still trying to understand this shift in our relationship. “Your queen?”

He paused, his eyes holding mine as the bar remained against my lower abdomen.

I shivered, his kneeling position exceptionally intimate. He’d left me on the bench, just maneuvered me as needed and used the wand to rinse the shampoo and conditioner from my hair.

But now he was using that soap like some sort of sensual toy, stroking my overheated skin as he knelt between my sprawled legs.

It left him with an uninhibited view of my core, yet his gaze remained focused on me.

“Yes.”

A single response.

No elaboration.

Just uttered with a resolution that sent a tremble down my spine. “Okay,” I whispered. That was all I could say, merely a simple word of consent, something I knew he needed.

Which I supposed was the point. He’d said I was in charge, that the decision was mine as to whether this was temporary or absolute. And all it took was a few seconds of conversation to realize what he meant.

He considered me to be his; it was my choice whether or not I wanted him to be mine.

But we were already linked via our mates.

Which makes me a Hell Fae Queen , I realized. Not just because of my bonds, but because of my siphoning ability.

A talent that came from my Virtuous Fae ancestry.

A talent that rivaled Typhos’s gifts.

A talent that made me an ideal mate.

“Our souls are compatible,” I marveled aloud, the truth hitting me right in the heart. “They always have been.”

He nodded, his touch resuming once more as he drew the soap down to my hip and lower to my thigh. “Melek realized that the moment he saw you reading Vita in the library. He knew then that you were meant to be our queen. And I think he’s loved you ever since.”

I snorted. “Love might be a bit of a stretch.” Fated mates existed amongst some fae species, but not all. And definitely not for me.

“Obsessed is probably more accurate,” Typhos agreed.

“However, he knew your potential as a mate, while I denied the possibility. I know he thinks I created the trials to find an ideal match, and maybe I did. But I didn’t do it intentionally.

Honestly, I was too caught up in the demands of my realm to even consider my needs. ”

After everything I’d witnessed with Typhos, I believed that. “You put everyone and everything above yourself.”

“As do you,” he replied, his gaze searching mine. “You couldn’t control your export of power because your focus was on everyone else’s survival, not your own. It’s a selfless response, the kind made by a queen. But if you’re going to survive in your role, you need to master the art of balance.”

He drew the soap down my inner thigh to my knee and lower to my shin, momentarily distracting me from the weight of our conversation.

“Can you stand up for me?” Typhos asked after a long beat, his touch near my ankles now.

He didn’t back up, just looked up at me with silent expectation.

Swallowing, I reached for his shoulders and used them for balance as I slipped off the bench to stand, the action placing my intimate flesh within inches of his mouth.

However, he still didn’t look there, just up at me as he circled his hand around to my heel and drew a sensual path up my calf.

My nails bit down, this erotic dance undoing me inside.

I used to have reservations about Typhos, concerns about trusting him, worries about what he might do to me… to Ajax…

But seeing the Hell Fae King on his knees like this… it…

My throat worked, my heart hammering in my chest. I couldn’t find the words I needed to articulate my feelings. Everything was jumbled. A chaotic mess of sensations. Of needs. Of fears. Of desires .

And that gentle touch, I thought, my eyes nearly closing as he switched legs. Gods, I never knew Typhos could be like this…

I half expected to hear Melek in my head, telling me that he always knew, but my mates were oddly silent.

A realization that had my forehead crinkling and my mind instantly seeking them out. Ajax? I whispered first, his name and connection the ones that made the most sense in this moment.

Because he didn’t trust Typhos.

Or, well, he hadn’t before, anyway. But now… now I wasn’t so sure.

Hey, little rebel, he replied softly, his mental voice sleepier than I expected.

Where are you? I wondered, confused.

In the bed I just fucked you in, he murmured, sounding a little more awake now. Are you all right?

I… I blinked and looked down at Typhos again, only belatedly aware that I’d broken our stare. However, he was no longer gazing up at me but instead focusing on my legs, his expression lacking the heat and intensity of earlier. Almost like he’d chosen to hide behind a mask.

Did I hurt him? I asked myself. A strange question, one I never thought could be possible where Typhos was concerned. Yet… the clenching of his jaw suggested…

Cami? Ajax inquired, drawing me back to our mental conversation.

I’m okay. I was just… trying to figure out why you all are being so quiet, I admitted.

Lucifer said he wanted to take care of you, so we’re giving you privacy. But we can hear you just fine, Cami. You’re in the bathroom only about fifteen feet away from us.

Oh. I knew that. Or, well, I assumed that, anyway. Inferred it? I nearly shook my head to clear it, the inane babble unimportant. Thank you, I told Ajax.

Then I released one of Typhos’s shoulders so I could grasp his chin and pull his gaze back to mine. His eyes were just as blank as his expression, giving me nothing.

Yet somehow I could sense the hurt beneath the surface. Maybe Melek was projecting it to me. Or maybe… maybe my soul just knew.

Still, I felt compelled to say, “I’m sorry.”

His brow furrowed. “You don’t need to apologize to me, Camillia. I understand your distrust. And not only that, but I deserve it.”

“I…” Now I frowned. “No. It’s not about distrust. I was just distracted by the silence in my head. It made me seek out my mates, to make sure they were still there and okay.” An instinct likely born from the few moments I’d been cut off from them.