Page 90 of Hell Fae Warden

“If you’d… just…” She squirmed and pushed at my weight, but I wasn’t going to let her up until I was certain the portal had completely dissipated. It was flickering behind me, sputtering with dying power.

Because I broke her concentration.

Just in time, too.

Lucifer might not kill me for failing—again—but he would absolutely shove me out of his inner circle.

Losing my Warden title would no longer be temporary; it would be permanent. And he might even go as far as severing my loose connection to the Hell Fae Realm, thus casting me out entirely.

On top of all that, he’d also kill Camillia. And while I might want to do that right now, I didn’t actually want to see her die. I wanted her tosurvive. Tolive. To…to be free.

I frowned. She couldn’t be free here. Not truly. But she could be alive. And maybe she would learn to love it.

That must be why Lucifer wants me to teach her—to help her understand this realm and give her reasons to stay.

She had no idea how important that opportunity truly was, particularly for afemaleHell Fae. They were so rare here, the source rejecting ninety-nine percent of them.

But Lucifer seemed to think Camillia might be able to stay. And he wanted my help in guaranteeing she survived.

Alas, I couldn’t do that if she kept trying to fucking run away.

“While I appreciate your fight, little rebel, I really wish you would take a moment to consider the opportunities you’re being offered here. Because I can assure you they’re better than whatever you have waiting for you in the Human Realm.”

She rolled her eyes and tried to shove me off her again. “Ajax,” she managed to get out before I pressed my arm into her throat again.

The portal’s energy was nearly dead behind me, but I refused to move until I was absolutely certain she couldn’t use it.

“You’re not going anywhere,” I informed her, pressing my weight on her chest.

I eased off her throat enough to let her breathe again while I waited for the chill in the air to dissipate.

She’d opened up a portal.

To the Netherworld Kingdom.

What the fuck?

Not a place I’d use to escape, but maybe that was the real way she’d evaded Az and me for so long? Had she been hopping around the various Hell Fae Kingdoms while we’d been off searching the various fae realms?

That seemed… impossible. And also ridiculous. She would have been eaten alive in most of the kingdoms, and we would have felt her.

So maybe it’d been a temporary jump?

Did she travel to the Netherworld last time and escape through the Monsters Night portal? Was she hiding in an alternate reality for thirty days? Why come back?

“Ajax.” She twisted her hips. “Get. Off!”

She shoved her knee between us, making pain bloom in my groin.

Low blow, little rebel.

Momentarily distracted, she managed to roll out from beneath me and scampered behind the couch.

As if that would save her.

“Reveal yourself, Vita. Help me out.” She glanced frantically around the room. “Come on.”

A whirl of pages appeared on the couch, making Camillia sigh with relief.