Page 114 of Hell Fae Warden

I scoffed at that. “It’s not about her pussy, Ty. It’s abouther. She’s special. And you’re the only one who refuses to see it.”

“Oh, I see it,” he snapped. “I see exactly what she’s done to you, to Az, to Ajax right fucking now. I just don’t seewhy.”

“Exactly.” I stopped right in front of him. “Because you refuse to see beyond your own bias. She’s a female and therefore can’t be trusted. But not all women are Vivaxia, Ty.”

He flinched at the forbidden name, the traitorous bitch one we rarely discussed. However, he needed to hear this.

“You’ve spent thousands of years hating female fae because of the one who wronged you, and I’ve stood by and allowed it because I understand. Fuck, I was there. But at some point, we have to heal. We have to believe again. We have totrust.”

The source was a part of him. It rarely accepted females for a reason. It was time he realized that.

I pressed my hand to his heart, only for him to step away from me, his expression thunderous. “And you want me to do that withher? The female who curtsies like a demented pelican?”

I blinked at him. “What?”

He waved a hand. “It doesn’t matter. None of this matters, Melek. She’s a passing fancy, one I’m allowing you to have while the enjoyment lasts, but there will be nousinvolved here. She’s your toy for you to fuck and throw away. I want no part of it.”

“Then why is she in the guest wing?”

“Becauseyouput her there,” he returned. “I would have kept her in a dungeon, except she’s proved to escape them rather easily. So I allowed it and used it as an opportunity to test Ajax. A test he is currently failing, I might add, because he’s just as hung up on this female as you are.”

I shook my head. “Ajax doesn’t deserve to be tested. He’s faithful to us. He always has been. Az guaranteed that.”

“Then why is he playing with the female when he’s supposed to be guarding her?”

“Because Az’s Phoenix has imprinted on her, and Az and Ajax are more mate-bonded than they realize. So both of them are drawn to her,” I answered bluntly.

Shock was a rare emotion for the Hell Fae King, but his eyes widened with it now.

I merely looked at him. “You would have noticed this if you weren’t so busy trying to vilify the female. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were a little jealous. Telling her to call mePrince Melek?” I snorted. “You know I hate that,King Lucifer.”

Ty took a few steps away, his hand running over his face. “I’ve been distracted by the portal issue and managing the various Hell Fae Kings.”

I allowed him the excuse, as it was a good one.

But that didn’t detract from the point I needed to make.

“If you kill her, Ty, you’ll be hurting everyone in your inner circle. Not just me. Hell, Az’s Phoenix may not even let you. It tried to kill Ajax the other day for simply interrogating her.”

Ty winced and sat on our bed, a variety of emotions spilling through his usually stern features. It was moments like this that allowed me to see the heart of my mate, the true vulnerabilities he hid beneath an iron shield of confidence.

But he didn’t look all that confident now.

He looked concerned. A little broken. Forlorn.

“She’s a threat,” he whispered.

“If the source saw her as such, it would have annihilated her. Instead, it allowed her to live.”

“By shoving her back to the Human Realm,” he pointed out.

“I think she put herself there because she didn’t know how to return to our realm,” I told him. “So she went to the last place she’d felt safe. That wasn’t the source’s doing; it was her own.”

I brought him his drink, but he didn’t try to sip from it, just held it in his lap as he met my gaze. “Then why did a strand darken from her touch?”

“Perhaps it was meant as a sign, a way to tell you she was there.” I shrugged. “There are a lot of reasons I could come up with, but they would all be guesses.”

Which made it a senseless game of trying to say why the source had reacted the way it had. The important point was that it hadn’t tried to kill her. That had to mean something, right?