Page 5

AZ

A Few Minutes Earlier

I sat across from my brother, his golden eyes flaring with power he couldn’t conceal. I understood that problem—my Phoenix energy always hummed beneath my skin, the vitality threatening everyone around me.

Maliki possessed a different kind of aura, though. His was deadly in nature, his actions precise and his words as sharp as a blade.

“Why are you really here, Azazel?” he asked, his deep voice holding a lazy drawl to it that contradicted the violent air about him.

Many fae had fallen for his charm, only to end up on the wrong end of his blade. But I knew him well. And I could more than feel the dangerous intent defining his every move.

“I need a favor,” I admitted as I settled into the black leather booth behind me.

Death’s Den, the place at which my brother opted to meet, was nothing like Typhos’s club.

There were no eternal-fire pits or red velvet ornaments here.

Just gothic architecture outlined in bones and skulls, the obsidian interior reminiscent of a crypt.

I supposed that was accurate given its location in the center of the Netherworld Kingdom.

“A favor?” Maliki echoed, sounding amused. “Interesting, that. I believe I could have used one of those recently while being held by your king.”

“He’s our king,” I corrected him. “And our brotherly relation is what kept you alive. Many would consider that a favor in itself.”

He snorted. “If that’s the hand you want to play, so be it. What’s the favor?”

“It’s not a hand, Mal. It’s the truth.” I leaned forward on the rocklike table, careful to avoid the untouched pitcher of spider ale in front of us, and gave him a hard look. “Typhos wanted to kill you. He held back for me. I felt it in our bond.”

“Then I’m thankful we’re related,” he deadpanned, clearly not at all grateful for said relation.

“Why the fuck did you open that portal?” I wondered out loud. “You didn’t even venture off in search of a mate. Hell, last we chatted, you didn’t want a bride.”

“And neither did you, yet my nose tells me that’s changed,” he tossed back.

“Circumstances changed,” I said through my teeth.

“Indeed.”

I remained quiet for a beat as a Death Fae wandered by us in a flowing black robe.

There were several others lingering around at the bone-laden bar, their attires similar in nature as they knocked back shots of translucent liquid.

Some Corpse Fae were in another booth at the back, a set of cards sprawled out before them.

This was the Netherworld Village, the area of the Netherworld Kingdom where both Death Fae and Corpse Fae came to mingle. And Death’s Den was the heart of it all.

A quiet place filled with lethal secrets, like the one I was about to reveal to my brother.

“Actually, my new mate is why I’m here,” I told him softly. “Vivaxia has done something to her.”

Maliki’s posture went rigid, the name one he knew well. Not from his personal history, but from mine.

He was fortunate to have been born in the Hell Fae Realm after Lucifer’s fall, our sperm donor of a father having survived long enough to fuck another female—Maliki’s mother.

Neither of us knew if our father was still alive, but we hadn’t seen him in over two thousand years. Of course, with our father having a strong amount of Paradox Fae blood in him, it was very likely he had just lost himself while time-traveling.

Or perhaps he’d opted to live in another timeline entirely.

I didn’t fucking care. He’d never been a father to me.

Which was one of the many reasons I often avoided the small amounts of Paradox Fae magic inside me.

I much preferred to embrace my Phoenix Fae heritage over the mixed origin that had created my father.

But Maliki wasn’t like me. He indulged in all aspects of his nature, particularly the dangerous parts. Which was why I’d come to him with this specific favor.

“You’re going to need to give me more information,” he told me as he grabbed the full pitcher between us to pour himself a drink. “Like how the fuck a Hell Fae Bride ran into Vivaxia.”

I replicated his movements to take some spider ale for myself. It wasn’t my favorite drink, the venomous bite of the liquid leaving a numbing effect behind, but I could use a stiff drink.

Settling back into the plush leather, I held my brother’s golden-eyed gaze. “Hit the button.”

He smiled. “Finally. All this small talk was giving me a headache.”

I gave him my best unamused look. We both knew I would have asked him to put up the privacy screen when we first arrived, but he would’ve demanded a reason.

Hence the purpose of the five minutes of small talk he’d just referenced.

“Just put up the damn screen,” I told him.

He smirked and reached for the skull icon etched into the tabletop, only to pause right as his finger met the metallic symbol.

“Can we help you?” he asked flatly, his glittering gaze on me while his words were meant for the trio of Death Fae who’d just approached our table.

I didn’t look at them, just sipped my ale. They knew who I was; everyone in this fucking realm knew my name.

And I was certain they knew Maliki, too.

He might not have an official title, but his reputation as Hades’s pet assassin was well known. Especially in this kingdom.

“This ain’t about you, Ghost,” the Death Fae drawled, using Maliki’s infamous nickname.

In and out in a flash, leaving only ghosts behind. That was his trademark. Most of the time the murders couldn’t even be connected to him.

But the fae knew.

And they feared him in kind.

Which again left me wondering why the fuck he’d opened that portal to Monsters Night . He’d claimed it’d been to help the Ghouls find mates.

Bullshit , I’d told Typhos.

Good deeds weren’t Maliki’s thing.

Violence was his first love, something he displayed now as he slowly looked at the trio of Death Fae. Only, he gave them an easygoing grin, one that belied the blackness of his aura.

“It ain’t about me?” he parroted back at the Death Fae, applying emphasis to the word ain’t . Knowing my brother, he hadn’t appreciated the poor grammar associated with that contraction. “Then why are you standing within killing range of my favorite blade?”

Said blade was nowhere in sight. But it would appear in a flash if this Death Fae so much as blinked wrong.

“We need to have a word with the Commander,” the male growled, surprising me a bit.

“Then have a word, but make it quick,” I told him as I took another sip of my drink. I didn’t bother to look at the fae. This wasn’t how I accepted meetings. And I had no intention of indulging?—

Pain shot through my chest, causing me to drop my glass. It tumbled to the rocky tabletop with a clatter that I barely heard over the sudden roar in my ears.

What. The. Fuck?

I looked down to find my torso on fucking fire.

I leapt up from the booth, my inner beast raging inside me. The flames went out in a whirl of power, my energy instantly absorbing the unexpected assault. However, another soon followed, the soot-like magic foreign and deadly.

Maliki shouted something, but I couldn’t hear him, my essence swimming around me in a violent wave to counter the attack.

Only this time, the inky enchantment blended with my fire, creating an inferno of heat that made it impossible to breathe.

Fuck .

I ashed out of the cloud.

Except… except it followed .

Or maybe my ashing failed.

I… I couldn’t see. I was being suffocated by an impenetrable black smoke.

Az! Cami screamed into my mind.

Cami…

Ajax was there, too. His voice was a rumble of fury that I swore I heard right next to me. Don’t you dare fucking die on me, Commander, he demanded.

I’ll just come back, I muttered to him. Not that I wanted to go through the painful rebirth process. I’d much rather fight .

Which was the word echoing now in his thoughts, as well as in Cami’s mind.

Fight. Fight. Fight.

I tried, but I couldn’t fucking see, let alone breathe. The inky substance was all around me, encasing me in liquid fire , burning my skin, and searing me to my soul.

What the fuck is this magic? I marveled, dizzy.

Death, Typhos replied, fury in his tone. It’s fucking death magic.

I blinked. Or I thought I did, anyway. Regardless, Typhos’s claim didn’t make any sense. Death Fae sucked out souls. Corpse Fae possessed deadly touches.

But this… this didn’t feel like either of their brands of pleasure.

I coughed. Gagged. Fought to breathe. All while my lungs and insides burned .

My inner Phoenix growled, furious that fire was eating us alive. Furious that his element of choice had betrayed him. Furious that we could no longer move.

Or hear.

Or see.

Barely even think.

Because the world… had gone utterly still.

The rebirth process was on the verge of a new beginning.

I recognized it well. It’d been ages since I’d last died.

My eyes fell closed, my soul resigned.

At least it was quick, I thought softly. My memories will return just as fast. I hope.