Page 37

MELEK

C amillia hummed with excitement beside me, something I assumed was related more to Typhos’s licentious promise than my upcoming “lecture.”

In truth, it wouldn’t be much of a lesson, just a story.

Because Vita was very much Typhos’s secret. However, I knew enough to provide her with background information, as well as important context.

Leading her into one of my favorite reading nooks of our private wing, I settled into a well-used love seat and patted the space beside me. “Sit down, angel student.”

She scoffed a bit at the ridiculous nickname. “I’m not calling you Professor , Melek.”

“Not a kink you’re into?” I wondered aloud. “Because you certainly seem enthused by the concept of Typhos’s dominance, and I have to tell you, professor-student relationships are very much defined by their power-exchange dynamics.”

She gave me a look. “I’ll call you My Prince , but I’m not into the whole schoolgirl thing. Plus, if you saw the professors at my college, you’d know immediately why that kink was never unlocked for me.”

My lips twitched. “Fair enough, little angel.” I leaned in to brush a kiss against her cheek. “All right, where to begin…”

“You could start with opening that textbook,” she suggested, glancing pointedly at the text I still had tucked underneath my arm. Then, in her most seductive voice, she added, “ My Prince .”

I narrowed my gaze.

I could see why Typhos kept calling her a little temptress. I also understood why he considered her to be a brat. Her sensual lilt, coupled with the way she now ran her foot up my leg, was very distracting.

And positively delightful, too.

I’ll absolutely be helping Ty punish you later, I told her. Maybe I’ll tie you up for him.

He told me to be naked and on my knees, she reminded me.

Not that I needed the reminder. I was very aware of what he’d said. But he didn’t list any other parameters, which means ribbons are allowed. But I digress…

“I’d be careful calling Vita a textbook, little angel,” I said, switching from our mental conversation to a verbal one instead. “Vita is so much more than a simple book. I’d even dare to call her unique.”

Cami crossed her arms as she frowned down at the magical book I had pulled onto my lap.

“The physical trip through Typhos’s memories was a pretty good hint at her uniqueness ,” Cami deadpanned.

My lips twitched. You really are a bit of a brat, hmm?

She didn’t reply, just arched a brow like she was daring me to repeat those words out loud.

I didn’t.

Instead, I smoothed my hand over Vita’s cover. She vibrated with power, likely from Cami’s explosion. Or maybe she liked our conversation. With Vita, it was hard to know for sure.

“Well, when I say unique , I’m thinking more about her origin. She was actually a journal, not a book.” A very important journal at that.

“Okay, it’s a journal.” Cami’s brow pinched. “Er, she . But, um, why is it a she?” Her eyes widened. “Wait, she’s not some poor soul transformed into an inanimate object because of a reneged deal, is she?”

A laugh bubbled out of me. “No, she’s not a dark soul.” I slid Vita onto the glass coffee table in front of us and unfurled her pages, some of my humor dissipating. “She’s more like… a memory.”

She was a book of memories; that much Cami had been told already.

But she only knew about Typhos’s memories. Not the original owner’s…

I waited for Vita to show what I desired, aware that my thought would prompt a picture.

Only… the pages remained blank.

Odd.

I frowned.

Vita always depicted something, even to me. But now the parchment simply glowed with power residue, giving off red and gold sparks.

Hmm. Perhaps she was still recovering from the energy blast, which both made sense and also concerned me. Something to talk to Ty about when he returns.

But in the interim, I’d teach. Just like he’d requested.

“Vita used to belong to Typhos’s mother,” I began, a small smile twisting my lips. “It was her journal. That’s why I refer to her in the feminine form.”

“Oh,” Cami whispered, her playfulness gone. But a note of interest shone in her stormy eyes, prompting me to proceed.

“Long ago, Typhos asked me to retrieve the journal for him. He’d said it was important to her and filled with memories he never wanted to forget.

And I think that’s why she eventually evolved into being his memory keeper, too.

Only, his version of journaling was a little different from his mother’s. ”

Cami smiled. “That’s actually very sweet.”

Humor touched my heart, making me want to chuckle. Because sweet and Ty didn’t usually go together.

But I supposed she wasn’t wrong.

Ty had wanted to honor his mother. And he had. In a very special way.

“What was his mother like?” Cami asked softly.

“I never met her,” I admitted. “But from the memories I’ve seen through Ty, I know that she was a good mother.”

“She died?” Cami asked, her brow crinkling. “Virtuous Fae… can die?”

“Not in the typical sense,” I told her. “It takes a very powerful event to remove a Virtuous Fae’s soul. And even then, their energy can’t truly be destroyed.”

I had no proof of that. Although, Typhos’s accident certainly provided a significant clue as to what happened in a Virtuous Fae’s version of the afterlife.

“My kind is often likened to angels for a reason,” I mused aloud, finishing both my reply to Cami and my train of thought.

“Do I want to know what happened to his mother?” she asked warily, her mind telling me I was being cryptic again.

But it wasn’t on purpose. I just… I didn’t have all the answers where Virtuous Fae deaths were concerned.

However, I did know the response to this particular query.

And it wasn’t one I wanted to voice.

Alas, Cami needed to know because the incident defined Ty’s existence. His very purpose in this realm. “Ty…” I trailed off on a swallow, then sighed before forcing the sentence to leave my lips. “Ty killed his mother.”

Cami’s eyebrows flew upward. “ What ?”

“By accident,” I added. “He was young and didn’t realize what he was doing.” My lips twisted. We’d deviated off topic a bit, which I should have realized would happen when bringing up Vita’s origin. “This is really Ty’s story to tell…”

But given the look in Cami’s eyes right now, it’d just become my responsibility to tell her about Ty’s past.

She’d only recently begun to trust him.

I couldn’t let this be the reason she backtracked. Especially when it wasn’t his fault.

“You remember how he said he used to be a siphon like you?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, her face paling as her mind no doubt anticipated where I was heading. She’d nearly killed a dozen or so fae in the Netherworld Kingdom recently. She knew what her power could accomplish. “He… he lost control?”

“He had no control,” I replied. “He didn’t even know he was a siphon. He just knew something he was doing weakened his parents until… until they simply no longer existed.”

“Parents?” she echoed, making me realize that I’d only focused on his mother because of the journal.

“Yes. He siphoned the energy out of his mother and father until their physical bodies disappeared,” I explained. “I wasn’t there, but from what I understand, their souls fractured and are now a part of Typhos… forever.”

It wasn’t a pretty tale.

It also wasn’t one I could share many details on, as I hadn’t been there and I wasn’t a siphon.

But I went on and told her what I did know.

Which was that Ty had fed on their energy for years as a child, his soul consuming theirs as sustenance. And while they clearly knew what was happening, they didn’t try to stop him.

“His mother’s journal had several entries about it,” I said, explaining Vita’s importance.

“Many of those entries were written in the form of letters to Ty, letters she knew he would one day need. Letters of forgiveness and understanding. And assurances that she would live on, through him, and she’d always be with him.

But physically, she would be gone and they’d never talk again. Hence the importance of her journal.”

Cami lifted a hand to her mouth, her eyes filling with tears. “That’s horrible.”

“It’s love,” I countered. “The love of two parents willing to give their child everything to survive, even their own lives. Some would say that’s the ultimate sacrifice.”

“Or incredibly unfortunate,” Cami countered. “Why didn’t they help him?”

“They didn’t know who could assist him,” I replied, shrugging. “And no one wanted to help. Virtuous Fae create, and many saw Ty’s gift as destructive, which is the opposite of our nature.”

My lips twisted, my mind spinning through the agony I know Ty must have experienced back then.

“In truth, though, it’s an entirely new form of creation,” I went on slowly, processing my words as I spoke them.

“Ty can take energy and create something completely new. He can transform .” Just as he’d done to himself.

That day he’d fallen, he’d changed his Virtuous Fae energy into an entirely new manifestation.

That was the day he had become a king.

“So what happened? After his parents died? No one… no one helped him?”

“Not at first, no,” I confided, the history a sad one to recount. “His family wasn’t royal, and he didn’t have any relatives. So he handled the loss alone, and eventually, he left, thus leading him to me. And… Vivaxia.”

Cami stared at me. “He must have been so sad.”

“Sad. Angry. Bitter. Broken.” I winced, hating to use that last word, but it was apt. “Typhos felt a lot of ways, but guilt was probably the most prevalent emotion. That guilt is actually what guided him in creating his Source.”

“Guilt?” Cami repeated.

I nodded. “Yes. He wanted to find a way to siphon power for good, to atone for his past sins. And he did that by manifesting an outlet for his power, an outlet for all of his light . But the key was, he didn’t use that energy. Instead, he gifted it to others. Primarily those who needed protection.”

“The Nightmare Fae,” she translated.