Page 26 of Hell Fae Warden

I paused near one of the larger tree stumps, watching the embers play over the burnt limbs, aware that a very large explosion was about to occur. The fire gnats danced in the air in expectation, looking forward to the fireworks that would inflame their wings.

What if she’s telling the truth? What if she truly has no memory of the last thirty days?

Then my priorities would need to shift, wouldn’t they? I’d need to find out what had actually happened to her. Because it might have been bad.

“Is there a reason you’re punishing an innocent?”

Zakkai’s question had irked me before. Now it just left me uneasy.

Was I punishing the wrong person? Should I have spent the last thirty days trying to save her instead of capturing her again?A powerful vibration rocked my spine, this uncertainty unnerving my very spirit.

I’d been so sure of my course, so steadfast on what I had to do to fix my reputation. Then Zakkai had lit everything on fire with a truth serum that had worked in entirely unexpected ways.

I kept thinking of that narrow-window view, the one Emelyn had been trapped behind, and wondering if Camillia had that in common with her, too.

They were so much alike. Strong. Defiant. Emotionally impenetrable.

“You mean a female fae ran away from the bridal trials she was forced into against her will?”

That sarcastic query repeated in my head, Zakkai’s words wrapping around my heart and squeezing. Because he was right. It wasn’t all that shocking that Camillia would try to run. Emelyn would have done the same thing.

Gods, she must think I’m just as bad as the Councilmen,I realized, thinking about how Emelyn would look at me if she could see me now. She’d be horrified.

Taming cursed Nightmare Fae creatures was one thing.

Rounding up unwilling brides for a series of deadly trials was entirely another.

And then I’d secured one of those brides to a chair with snake vines…

I blew out a breath just as the burning thwomp exploded, its fiery display reaching high into the sky above.

Who even am I?I marveled, staring directly into the flames.Who do I want to be?

My mind revealed nothing, the response impossible to fathom. So I observed the inferno instead, reveling in the heat waves pulsing through the previously chilly air. They reminded me of the Hell Fae Realm—my new home.

But is it my true home?

Being here was fucking with my head.

Seeing Shade hadn’t helped matters.

And Camillia’s replies, well, those certainly hadn’t improved a damn thing.

My teeth clenched together as I suppressed the urge to shout into the night. But then a flicker of black flame caught my attention, drawing my eyes up to the top of the burning thwomp’s blaze of glory. It was beginning to subside now, lowering back to its burnt limbs, and on top of it was a rare Black Phoenix.

Az.

His bird appeared agitated even while it roosted on the top of the flames, the wings an exotic mix of obsidian feathers and bright orange embers.

I arched a brow at him. “Out for a midnight flight?” I’d expected him to appear in a cloud of ash as he usually did, not as his Phoenix.

He didn’t reply, incapable of human speech while in this form. His feathers ruffled, their majestic gleam glinting in the moonlight.

Az usually considered shifting to be an intimate affair. But he often shifted in front of me when he felt like showing off. However, flying in like this suggested he’d needed a break to stretch his wings—which he did now as the fire died completely, leaving him perched on the burning thwomp.

I had to admit, his wingspan was impressive. Intimidating, even. But he didn’t appear to be trying to fight me, just reveling in his magnificence.

“Well, if you want to sit there and listen for a bit, that works for me,” I admitted, my hands slipping into my pockets.