Page 65 of Hell Fae Prince

I stared at his fingers, unable to shake that this was exactly how it had happened the first time.

Except now, I knew that Melek had not betrayed me. When he had offered me his hand so long ago, I had pushed it away.

This time, I took it.

My prince gave me a smile that broke my heart, because this little reenactment healed something inside of him. We rarely spoke about the tricks he had played back then. Those tricks had saved my life, but they had still hurt.

His perceived betrayal had broken me.

However, my rejection had broken him, too.

That deep scar was something I had never been able to fully heal, and yet, here we were, mending it.

Thanks to Camillia De la Croix.

Melek and I held hands long after I had managed to stand. My suit had burned off my body, but I wasn’t broken any longer. I wasn’t suffering the loss of my wings like my first fall. Instead, a rush of fire echoed in their place like a haunting memory.

My Source blazed across my skin, healing me with fiery waves that I could see reflected in the golden threads of energy pumping through my veins.

Just like the statue, I marveled.

As though to finish my return to power, heat blazed at my back and my inferno-like appendages stretched to their full grace.

I sighed, renewed. Replete. Fulfilled.

And my Source finally began to calm, its core throbbing like a gentle heartbeat, pleased with its restored balance.

“Where’s Camillia?” I asked, because even though her essence was everywhere, she was clearly not physically here.

And I had questions—as well as concerns. She had expelled an incredible amount of energy all at once.

Melek had come alone, which only made that concern grow.

What if…

Shadows twirled in the air as Ajax appeared, followed by the fiery ash of my Commander on his heels.

They both stared at me for a moment, and I realized this was the first time either of them had ever seen me like this.

Reborn.

New.

In my raw form as the Hell Fae King.

My hair waved around my face from an invisible wind as power crackled through my veins. Melek released my hand and reached for me, paying the snapping energy no mind as he took a lock of my hair between his fingers.

My hair was dark, but the piece he held now was white.

Is that from whatever Camillia had done to me?

Not when she’d returned the Source, but before. When she had beentakinginstead.

And now that all of my inner circle was here, it was apparent that Camillia was… not.

All of my men seemed to come to that realization at the same time. Ajax’s eyes widened, and Azazel’s head tilted to the side as his irises took on a deep shade of black.

Melek’s jaw clenched before he spoke. “She’s not with you?”