Page 81 of Never Kiss a Fae

His breath rattled out of him on a sigh that sounded like my name, but the voice was wrong.

I glanced backward to find a handsome face with ebony eyes and a head of long, dark hair. The silver edging his irises was distinctly different.Definitely not Exos. The arms around me were leaner, too, but still strong.

What in the world?

I tried to move, to shift away from Vox and find Exos, except something heavy held me down. My hands fluttered over the solid muscle, relieved to find my Royal Fae. He didn’t move, still unconscious, but breathing.

I sighed, relaxing my head, causing Vox to inhale sharply.

Shit.

How did I keep finding myself in this position? Sandwiched between hot men?

“Exos,” I muttered, giving him a shake.

He didn’t move.

Vox’s arms loosened beneath my breasts, sending a wave of heat through my body. “Are you okay, Claire?” he asked, his deep voice a rumble beneath me.

“I, uh, yeah. But Exos is—”

“Suffering from a splitting headache,” Exos finished for me, his voice low. “While also rather enjoying lounging between your legs, princess. I think I’ll stay.”

Vox chuckled beneath me. “I think he’s fine.”

“More than fine,” Exos murmured, slowly sitting up and cracking his neck.

It granted enough room for me to squirm out from between the two men, not that either of them seemed too keen on moving, if their matching smiles were anything to go by.

Smiles that quickly shifted to frowns as shrieks sounded from across the room.

Vox was on his feet in a second, his long hair loose around his shoulders. Whatever tie he’d used to secure that thick mass of beautiful brown strands was long gone, thanks to the tornado. Now it billowed in the breeze being cast from Professor Helios—a breeze aimed at me and carrying words of accusation.

“Your Highness,” he said slowly. “I suggest you get Claire out of here.”

Exos joined him, surveying the mess of the room before holding a hand out to help me up off the floor. My limbs shook with the effort, causing me to frown. Taking down that vortex had exhausted me more than I realized. I actually felt a bit woozy now that the adrenaline of the moment had subsided.

The nausea only worsened as I took in the massacre of the room.

“Oh God…,” I whispered, finallyseeingthe destruction. Bodies littered the floor. Some of them were moving. Most were not.

And the one screaming was Ignis’s friend. The one with wiry blonde hair who’d joined Ignis in the courtyard where I caused the fire.

Her violet eyes found mine and widened in horror. “You!”

Great…

“She didn’t do it, Aerie,” Vox said, startling me. “It wasn’t her magic.”

Exos glanced at him in question while my eyebrows rose.Vox felt that, too?

The Air Fae—Aerie—screamed, the sound causing me to flinch and my knees to buckle beneath me. Exos caught me by the waist as I pressed my palms to my bleeding ears.

What is that?The shriek had knocked me off-kilter, splitting my head in two, and worsened the ache in my gut. It left me dizzy and unstable, Exos’s arm around me the only thing keeping me upright. And even then, the room seemed to be spinning.

I winced as the shriek deepened, worming into my mind. It knocked the air from my lungs, leaving me floating in a cloud of confusion and deafness.

My hands fell as I tried to find them with my eyes.