Page 47 of Hell Fae Prince

Yes, I was supposed to be havingmyversion of fun.

I should be deep in the verbal sparring of making a deal, but that required a certain little Hellion Bride, my Warden, and my Commander to play.

Alas, they were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, I was subjected to the display of overdressed fae of all heritages dancing on a glassy floor, its otherworldly sheen surface one that reflected the moon. The succulent scents of nightshade and charred burning thwomps in the distance were distinctly different from the aroma of home, but not entirely unpleasant.

Any other night, I would have appreciated Queen Aflora’s invitation and what she had accomplished with the ElementalFae Queen. The Interrealm Fae Ball was one of the few events I had already planned on attending, given its purpose.

To celebrate those who were otherwise suppressed and ostracized.

Abominations, as the purists among the fae called them, were frolicking about and enjoying themselves. “Abominations” were ironically closer to the original fae kind than any Elemental Fae or Midnight Fae could possibly realize. Still, to see so many out in the open was refreshing indeed.

This level of freedom and acceptance reminded me of my own realm and all that I’d worked to achieve.

This was an echo, though, a blip of peace that wouldn’t last.

Such achievements had been made before, and they always ended the same way—in failure.

Of course, there were little records or history of those uprisings because whenever fae of mixed heritages gained a foothold, some overseeing entity unraveled it and then destroyed all evidence of its existence.

I was surprised that this effort had come as far as it had.

And I feared for its inevitable collapse.

This peace, though, was nice to witness. The ambience around it was suitable as well.

Half-built walls stretched over the room in massive arches, as if the palace itself was about to cradle us all in its dark grip. The main stairway, one I kept checking while waiting for a certain female to appear, remained empty at the top of the walls, with the steps delving deep through cut stone.

Craggy spears formed of woven trees and vines—courtesy of the Midnight Fae Queen with an Earth Fae heritage—sent shadows stretching over the venue with an ominous prophecy only I seemed to be able to see. The structures created a sensation of being both trapped and freed.

Appropriate for tonight’s festivities, and its inevitable failure.

I hoped I was wrong. Only time would tell.

And if I’m right, then these very fae might require the safety of my realm.

Meaning I needed to get a handle on Camillia De la Croix and the threat she served to my Source.

My chest tightened. Camillia was the first entity in several millennia to challenge me and make me question the future.

And now she’s making me fucking wait formyWarden,myCommander.

With the way that Melek had pined over her, I felt like I was losing him, too.

I was losing everything.

But not for long.

Tonight, the unraveling of everything I held dear ended.

I would do that by doing what I did best.

Bringing chaos under control.

They’d better not be trying to run,I growled inside Melek’s head.Because I have no qualms about leaving this soirée right now and hunting them down myself.I didn’t say the words aloud because they would likely thunder through the ballroom and cause a stir.

I was already tired of the attention. We’d been here much longer than I had intended, which had invited more than a few unwelcome greetings.