Page 45

MELEK

C ami took off down the tunnel, forcing the rest of us to chase after her.

She had no idea where she was going, yet she sprinted as though she traversed this tunnel every day. She deftly dodged right, narrowly missing a pit of skulls, then continued forward while Az ashed several feet in front of her.

An “oomph” left her as she ran right into his chest. Then she growled and tried to maneuver around him, but he grabbed her by the hips and hoisted her into the air.

“Now you listen to me, little warrior,” he began.

“Put me down!”

“Cami, this tunnel is riddled with traps,” Ajax said, joining them with an exasperated sigh. “We have to tread carefully down here. You have no idea what kind of hole you might fall into.”

“Or portal,” Az added. “There’s one just over there that goes to the Human Realm; it’s frequented a lot down here.”

“Yes, that. And there’s the tunnel split to consider, too.”

“Split?” Cami repeated, her tone tinted with irritation.

I could barely make out her face in the shadows—the flickering blue candles nearby casting only enough light to illuminate the enchanted path through the mountain—but I suspected she was scowling.

However, she’d stopped trying to fight her way around Az.

“Half of the tunnel sits under the Netherworld Kingdom Mountain. The other half splits into two enchanted paths, one of which leads to the Ghouls and the other to the Strigoi,” Az explained.

“They don’t really commingle the way the Corpse Fae and Death Fae do.

And, well, the Morpheus Kingdom is… large. ”

“Understatement,” Ajax muttered.

Cami heaved a sigh. “Fine. Then you lead, Commander.”

Az didn’t immediately move, likely mulling over how to reply to the impatience underlying Cami’s tone.

But after a beat, he did the smart thing and started walking down the tunnel.

Had this been any other time or place, he probably would have challenged our mate for sassing him.

But we were all concerned about Ty.

And rightly so.

I could feel the power shift in the air. This was bigger than all the previous incidents combined, yet so much less violent .

That alone told me this was no ordinary attack.

After all these years, it seemed Vivaxia was about to deliver her final play.

Or maybe it was just the beginning.

It was hard to anticipate her moves. She was never forthcoming, and her plans were always layered.

And time meant nothing to her.

I curled my hands into fists at my sides, my stomach twisting. Ty had grown a lot, his power immense.

But Vivaxia would always be older. More vindictive. More flexible in terms of what and whom she was willing to sacrifice.

That was precisely the difference between them.

Vivaxia approached life as though she had nothing to lose. Because she didn’t. She had no ties to anyone or anything other than herself.

While Ty… Ty had grown roots everywhere. They were all around us now in these enchanted tunnels, the very fibers of each kingdom born from his robust power. Crafted via his will. Protected by his heart.

And Vivaxia would use that against him.

She’d use everything against him.

Hurt whomever she desired. Torture whatever poor creature stepped into her path. Dismantle his beautiful creation right before his eyes.

Because that was what Vivaxia did. That was who she was.

A fact that became even more evident as we entered the Morpheus Kingdom.

The vast fields that usually greeted visitors from this angle were nowhere in sight due to a thick, cold smog that had settled into the air. I couldn’t even see the dark spires of the Strigoi Palace, only a haze of reddish clouds illuminated by the blood moon above.

The stench of decaying roses assaulted me as I stepped out of the tunnel, the scent one I knew well.

Vivaxia hadn’t always smelled like a dead flower bouquet. She’d once radiated a rather pleasing floral aroma. But as her intentions became clearer, so did her natural perfume.

She was rotten from the inside out.

Yet she masqueraded as an angel in disguise, her beauty an allure that seduced many Virtuous Fae to her side.

At least until they realized the evil lurking beneath all that pale skin.

But by then, it was usually too late. They’d already been ensnared by her infamous deals—deals that were always drafted in her favor.

Ty had learned from the best but chose to use that knowledge for the greater good.

That was why Cami’s negative commentary about his arrangements had hurt him; he didn’t want to be seen in the same light as his former mentor.

He wanted to be a leader his fae respected, not a king they feared due to distrust.

“Does it always smell like this?” Cami asked, her voice low.

“No. Vivaxia is here,” I replied, my gaze scanning the concealed scenery once more.

This wasn’t a natural fog, nor was it enchanted. It just felt like an ominous cloud of death.

Surely that’s a bad omen…

The words echoed in my mind, sounding more like Ty than me. Somewhere deep in my soul, I sensed that he’d recently shared that thought.

Where are you, my king? I wondered at him. Why can’t I feel you?

I couldn’t remember a time when we’d ever truly been cut from one another. It concerned me, but I also couldn’t sense Cami. Yet she was fine and standing right in front of me.

So Ty is probably okay, too , I told myself.

Although, deep down, I knew that wasn’t true at all.

The sky and fog proved that. His Source was breaking, his power shuddering through the very ground we walked upon now.

Az still led the way, his steps sure as he moved us in the direction of Strigoi territory.

Ty had gone to meet with Nos, which made this his last known destination. And given that the entire kingdom now reeked of dead roses, it seemed like the right move.

Unless Vivaxia is fucking with us…

My eyes narrowed as my footsteps slowed.

Cami must have noticed because she matched my pace, her gaze finding mine. “Not being able to connect to your mind is rather inconvenient right now,” she muttered.

My lips twitched. “You miss my thoughts, little angel?” I sauntered a step closer. “The dirty ones? My wicked promises? Maybe my praise?”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Seriously? You’re flirting? Now?” She gestured to the eerie smog thickening around us. “ Here ?”

“That’s just who I am, love,” I murmured. Besides, flirting with her was a nice distraction from the darkness growing inside my head.

Alas, I couldn’t smile for long.

Because that darkness only grew as the red moon above turned into a murky haze that spread across the sky like a diseased cloud. That explains the absence of fae, I thought, noting the unguarded tunnel exit.

I swallowed. “I can’t tell if Vivaxia is really here or if she just wants us to think she’s here.”

Cami followed my focus upward, her own throat seeming to bob in a motion similar to my own. “I take it that’s not normal for this kingdom either.”

I shook my head. “It’s usually a clear night, illuminated solely by the blood moon above. Although, it is the Dream Realm. So illusions are not necessarily uncommon either.”

“And you think Vivaxia might have crafted the illusion of her presence?” Cami asked.

“I think it’s possible,” I hedged, looking over her shoulder to meet Az’s violet gaze. “What do you think?”

“I think there’s only one way to find out, and it’s not by standing here discussing poss?—”

A crack rent the air, one that had dozens of lightning bolts splintering across the sky.

My lips parted.

And my heart fucking stopped.

Because I knew that crack. I’d lived through it before. Experienced the outcome. Saw a Virtuous Fae fall…

I was running before I even processed where I was going, my soul screaming in agony for the male I called mate . Cami screamed my name, her terror an invisible ribbon that wrapped around my core and nearly caused me to stumble as my spirit literally split in two.

One half going to Ty.

The other back to Cami.

My king.

My queen.

I… I… I started to shake. Everything was… was so fucking cold. Yet hot at the same time.

Hot because of Cami , I realized, her hands suddenly on my face. Cold because of Ty.

My angel wrapped herself around me, her eyes giant orbs of terror and concern. She must have felt what I’d felt. Knew… understood…

Except…

My brow furrowed. Why are her hands covered in blood?

Her hair, too.

I reached for her as horror ripped me to shreds. “You’re hurt,” I whispered, searching her for a cause.

But she shook her head. “No. It’s the rain.”

“The rain?” I blinked. “What…?” I glanced up, then winced as a glob hit my eye.

It… it wasn’t rain. Not in the traditional sense, anyway. Because that hadn’t been water.

With a flick of my hand, I pulled it away and found it smeared with blood .

Blood I knew.

Blood I recognized.

Blood I’d tasted .

“ Ty ,” I whispered, agony shredding me from the inside once more. “ Ty !”

But I… I couldn’t run to him. I was glued to Cami, her warmth the only stable presence in my life. The only thing keeping me upright.

She grabbed my hand, her mouth moving with words I couldn’t understand. Because the rain— the blood —had turned into a downpour.

It was loud.

So. Fucking. Loud.

And it became all I could hear.

Yet somehow I started to run. Because of Cami . She had her hand in mine, her body pulling me toward a fate I didn’t want to face.

Not again. Fae, not again.

But it was inevitable.

I knew that. Sensed it. Felt it.

However, nothing could prepare me for the scene before us. The scene that had haunted my nightmares for eons…

Oh, the background had changed.

Instead of pristine palaces with too-perfect white sidings, I saw a gothic, cathedral-like palace instead. A courtyard sprawled out before it… just like the one in my memory. Except that one had been layered in flawless greens and pebbled with crystallized flowers.

This one was dead .

Black.

And centered around a bloody fountain.

A bloody fountain that’s been shattered, I thought, my stomach twisting. Shattered by the fall of a king…

Because half of it had been taken down into a hole.

A crater.

A pit .

Cami said something that I couldn’t hear, my mind caught somewhere between reality and the past. I saw a black hole, one shaped like a vortex that had sucked my intended mate down, down, down…

But he wasn’t my intended now.

He was mine . My mate.

I also couldn’t define the vortex here. Because it doesn’t exist, I realized.

Only crumpled rocks. Dead flowers. And blood .

So. Much. Fucking. Blood .

Ty… Ty’s wings had been burned to near ash during his fall. Harmed beyond repair. But I… I didn’t recall there being this much blood at the site of his fall.

Was there this much near his landing site? I wondered, trying to remember.

Yet I couldn’t. It was as though that memory had been stolen from my mind, or perhaps blocked .

Or stolen , I thought, purposely repeating that word. Because it seemed important. It reminded me of something.

Of… of Vita .

My eyes widened. “When you shoved the energy into Vita…” I looked at Cami, only she wasn’t where she’d been before, her touch having left my face.

And we were no longer running.

We’d stopped near the edge of the courtyard. Or maybe only I had stopped. Because I couldn’t see Cami now. She’d disappeared.

As had Az and Ajax.

I spun around, trying to find them.

“It’s Ty’s memories!” I shouted, hoping like hell they could hear me. “Vita protected his mind. But Vivaxia hid a funnel inside it—a funnel that Cami activated when she hit it with power!”

No one replied.

It was like they’d abandoned me in this courtyard. But I knew they wouldn’t do that.

This is another illusion, I realized. Does that mean the crater isn’t real? Is this my own personal nightmare?

I growled, my gaze narrowing. “You and your fucking tricks,” I said, my words for Vivaxia.

“I seem to recall you once being quite fond of them,” the witch whispered in my ear.

I whirled around, trying to find her. But I was just met with more fog.

More blood rain.

More emptiness .

And that fucking crater.

“Do you remember the last time we played this game?” I asked, a taunt in my tone. “I believe it ended when I introduced a blade to your heart.” Which had happened right before I’d jumped after Ty and followed him to literal Hell.

Vivaxia had physically died. But it’d only been temporary. It hadn’t been a death like Typhos’s parents had experienced—one caused by his siphoning ability, not a mere blade.

Thus, Vivaxia had easily regenerated and brought her corporeal form back to life. Only, the Virtuous Fae Source had forever changed in that moment.

It’d shattered.

Created all the realms.

And became part of Ty .

He always said it was because I’d killed her to avenge him. But it was his easy explanation. Deep down, we both knew the truth—the Virtuous Fae Source had shattered for him .

I stared at that familiar crater once more, my gaze narrowing as the past mingled with the present.

There was only one way to determine if this was an illusion or not.

One way to break whatever mirage Vivaxia had woven through my mind.

By facing my fear.

I didn’t think; I just ran.

Closed my eyes.

And jumped .