Page 17 of Night Fae (Monsters of Veridia #3)

Zev stood frozen in the chamber where the shadow path had spit him out, Knox's words echoing in his mind. Knox had told him to stay away from Malik.

And he was right too.

Zev had lost control. He still didn't have it back. The remnants of power sparked beneath his skin, wanting to be used, wanting to feed again.

Zev shuddered.

He'd let himself turn into a monster.

Two Shadow Kingdom guards appeared by the door that Knox had left through. Zev paid them no mind. Neither did he let himself think about the weird fact that he was relieved to be in the Shadow Kingdom of all places.

His family would not follow him here.

But did that matter?

They'd already destroyed him.

Pull yourself together , he told himself sharply. He'd only done what he needed to do—and then he'd over done it, yes, but there was no use crying about that now.

He pressed his palms against his face, feeling the unfamiliar sharpness of his features.

His glamour had completely faded. He breathed deeply, trying to calm the storm inside him enough to pull his appearance back into something resembling normalcy.

It was no use. The effort felt like trying to contain an ocean in a teacup.

Power still surged through him, wild and untamed.

Power he'd taken from a human who hadn't even tried to fight him to save himself.

"Zev?"

His head snapped up at the familiar voice. Adrian stood in the doorway, eyes widening slightly at Zev's appearance before he schooled his expression.

"Are you all right?" Adrian asked, approaching cautiously. "I just saw Malik. Knox brought him to the healers."

A flash of guilt surged through Zev's chest, hot and painful. He pushed it aside, focusing on what mattered.

"Take me to him." It came out as a command rather than a request.

Adrian hesitated. "Knox said?—"

"I don't care what Knox said." Zev stepped forward, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "I need to see him."

Adrian held Zev's gaze for a long moment, then nodded. "This way."

They moved through the wide corridors of the Shadow Palace in silence. Guards and servants moved aside as they passed, eyes tracking Zev's transformed appearance with undisguised curiosity. Idly, Zev wondered if they knew who he was and how quickly rumors would fly.

He found that he didn't give a damn.

"What happened?" Adrian finally asked, his voice low. "Knox wouldn't say much, just that Malik needed healing immediately."

"The shadow paths drained him," Zev said. "I took the rest."

The truth was simple and damning. He didn't bother softening it.

Adrian stared at him. "Why?" he asked after a moment.

Zev didn't have an answer for him. Not a good one, anyway. Not one that explained anything.

Eventually, Adrian stopped in front of a door and pushed it open without ceremony. "We're here."

They stepped into a chamber lit by the glow of amber crystals that floated in the air over a bed surrounded by two fae healers and Knox.

Malik lay on that bed, his form still and pale.

Knox looked up as they entered, concern evident in his eyes.

"How is he?" Zev moved past Adrian, approaching the bed.

Malik's face was ashen, his breathing shallow but steady. The healers had removed his shirt to place some smaller crystals directly on his skin.

Knox stepped to Zev's side, eyeing him up and down. "Tell me what happened."

Zev kept his gaze focused on Malik. "We had to travel the path to escape the Night Court. I needed power to get us out."

One of the healers, a willowy fae with silver markings around her eyes, glanced up at him. "His life force was severely depleted. We're stabilizing him, but recovery will take time."

"Will he be okay?" Zev asked.

"That depends on his strength," the healer replied. "He's fighting."

"Of course he is," Zev muttered. Malik had shown nothing but determination since they'd met. Even after the shadow paths had feasted on his emotions, he'd fought his way back with nothing but a kiss.

Zev's kiss.

Swallowing hard, Zev pushed the thought aside.

Knox rested a hand on Zev's shoulder. "You should rest too."

Zev shrugged him off. He did not wish to rest. Now was not the time for it. "These are Caelen's people." He gestured at the healers working on Malik. "How do we know we can trust them?"

The healer who hadn't spoken so far snapped at him. "We would never harm a patient."

Zev was about to argue with her when Knox cut in.

"Zev," he said. "Do you know any other healers who could help us right now?"

He did not. But that didn't mean he had to like it. The healers were winter fae. Zev could tell by all the silver on their bodies. At least there was that.

They weren't related.

"Caelen isn't plotting against us for now," Knox said.

"You would trust the Shadow King?" Zev asked.

"Sometimes we have to forge strange alliances to get what we want." Knox didn't like it—that much was clear from the sound of his voice. But he was focused on the bigger picture.

Zev always struggled to see things that way.

The same way he struggled to see all the shades of gray that supposedly existed between black and white.

Zev liked his world in black and white.

Things were infinitely simpler that way.

This moment, he was black and Malik was white.

He didn't know about anything else.

"Adrian and I got here last night," Knox said while Zev was barely listening. "Caelen's people are still looking for Leon and Jamie. We have some reason to believe that Lyrian wound up in his hometown."

"With his grandmother?" Zev asked.

Before Knox could respond, Malik stirred, taking up all of Zev's attention as a small sound escaping his lips. The healers paused in their work, watching as his eyelids fluttered.

He was slipping into dreams.

Zev sensed it the same way a hungry wolf scented the faintest whiff of blood in the air—and his body responded without his permission. Power stirred beneath his skin, hungry and eager. His mouth went dry, senses sharpening until he could almost taste the dream taking hold of Malik.

"I need to go." Zev backed away from the bed, fighting the pull of his own desires.

He would not lose to those again.

Never again.

He left the room without turning back.

Footsteps hurried after him in the corridor.

"Zev, wait—" Adrian called.

"Leave me," Zev snapped, not slowing his pace. The sharp edge in his voice left no room for argument.

Adrian's footsteps faltered, then stopped completely.

Zev moved through the palace without direction. He didn't care where his feet took him as long as it was away from Malik . Servants and guards gave him a wide berth, likely sensing the dangerous energy that radiated from him.

After several minutes of aimless wandering, Zev turned a corner and found himself in an open courtyard. Moonlight spilled over flowers with glowing petals. As the night breeze touched them, they released soft, haunting notes that blended into a beautiful melody.

The Singing Gardens.

Zev had heard of them but never seen them for himself.

He stood transfixed for a moment.

Then he noticed two figures approaching from the opposite side of the courtyard. Daniel—colorful and vibrant even in the midnight hour—walked beside the Shadow King. They were deep in conversation, Daniel gesturing animatedly until he stopped abruptly upon noticing Zev.

His eyes widened and he rushed toward Zev, leaving Caelen behind. "Zev! We heard you'd arrived! How's Malik? We were just heading to check on him."

"He's alive," Zev said tersely. He couldn't fault Daniel for worrying about his friend, but he had no patience for this particular human's energy levels.

Daniel studied him for a moment longer. "Why do you look like that?"

Before Zev could lash out at Daniel for asking such a stupid question, Caelen laid a hand on the human's shoulder and told him to run ahead.

Daniel protested. "But I want to know?—"

"Go," Caelen said with a meaningful look. "Visit your friend. We'll talk later."

Daniel looked like he wanted to argue more, but then, fortunately, he gave in and listened to his mate.

"Glad you made it here," he said in parting to Zev before he ran along to see Malik.

Caelen, however, made no move to follow. Instead the Shadow King stood there and watched Zev with cool assessment.

As if he were any better than Zev.

"You look terrible," Caelen said. "Veridia's Deadliest Assassin, indeed." His gaze swept Zev. "You lost control."

Fury sparked to life in Zev's chest.

The half-fae assumed he could judge Zev? "You would know a thing or two about losing control, wouldn't you?" He shot back.

"True." Caelen's lips twitched. "I guess we're not so different, you and I."

"We are completely different." Zev was never going to let anyone say anything else.

"Are you sure about that?" Caelen asked. "I heard a whisper that you drained Malik's life force. Did you get a little too hungry? It feels good, doesn't it? Feeding that thirst for power."

"Shut up," Zev warned. "We're not the same."

"I suppose," Caelen said. "I was possessed by a God. Why did you fail to control your appetite?"

Zev moved without thinking, closing the distance between them in a blur of motion. His hand shot out, fingers curling around Caelen's throat. "Stop," he warned again.

"You'd threaten me in my own palace?" Caelen's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Did your brain leave you along with your glamour?" A blast of freezing air erupted from Caelen's palm, shoving Zev back several steps. Frost crystals formed on Zev's skin where the magic had touched him.

"Come on, Assassin," Caelen called. "Show me what the Night Court's prized killer can do." The half fae's voice dropped lower. "Or are you only dangerous to humans now?"

Rage exploded through Zev's body. He lunged forward, shadows gathering around his fists. His first strike missed as Caelen sidestepped with infuriating grace, countering with a shower of ice shards that sliced across Zev's cheek.

"Too slow," Caelen taunted, frost swirling around his fingers. "I expected more from the legendary Zevran vel Nacht."

Zev conjured more darkness, compressing it between his palms before hurling it at Caelen. The Shadow King raised an ice barrier that shattered upon impact, sending frozen fragments scattering across the courtyard. The force knocked Caelen back several paces.

"Better," Caelen said, wiping a thin line of blood from his lip. "But still holding back."

Zev wasn't holding back—but his power was wild, untamed, and difficult to control.

It pulsed through him like a second heartbeat as he unleashed a blast that struck Caelen square in the chest, sending him flying into a stone column.

The impact cracked the marble, and Caelen slid to the ground, momentarily stunned.

Caelen recovered quickly, eyes blazing with cold fury. He slammed his palm into the ground, and sheets of ice spread outward, transforming the courtyard into a frozen battlefield. Ice spikes erupted beneath Zev's feet. He leapt aside to avoid them.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Caelen growled, just as he conjured a whirlwind of ice and snow that engulfed Zev.

The cold burned his lungs.

Gods damned that was cold.

Almost icy enough to touch the hot rage in his core, the rage he drew on now to create a sphere of darkness around himself.

If he forced just a little more power into it…

The sphere expanded outward, shattering the ice storm.

The two fae circled each other, both breathing heavily.

There was still so much corrupted power within Zev, begging for release.

He obliged.

Caelen was the perfect target for all this darkness, and Zev sent blast after blast of shadow-energy at the cursed half-fae.

Caelen deflected some attacks and absorbed others with his own magic.

Marble cracked. Statues toppled. The singing flowers screamed discordant notes as they were crushed underfoot.

Zev lost himself in the battle, barely registering when Caelen whistled sharply and six palace guards rushed into the courtyard, weapons drawn.

"Restrain him," Caelen ordered, ice forming a protective shield around himself.

The guards circled Zev cautiously. One lunged at him with a sharp blade, and Zev moved without thinking. He caught the guard's arm, twisted, and flung him into two others. Their bodies collided with a sickening crunch.

The remaining guards attacked simultaneously.

Zev ducked beneath a swinging blade, kicked one guard in the chest, and sent another flying with a blast of pure energy. The last guard he seized by the throat, power surging through his fingers, tempting him to strike, to kill.

No.

He released the guard, but the momentary hesitation cost him.

A spear of ice struck his shoulder, pinning him to a wall. More ice formed around his limbs, holding him immobile as he thrashed and snarled, shadows whipping around him in violent tendrils that lashed at anything within reach.

Three more guards fell before Caelen finally shouted, "ENOUGH!"

The command reverberated with power that cut through Zev's rage.

Caelen approached him with a calculating gaze. Frost glimmered in his white hair, and his breath fogged in the unnaturally cold air of the ruined garden.

"Have you expended enough of that cursed magic running through you now?" he asked. "Or do we have to go another round?"

Understanding dawned slowly through Zev's rage. Caelen hadn't been trying to humiliate him—he'd been offering an outlet for the dangerous energy that had been consuming Zev since his feeding on Malik.

The ice restraining Zev shattered as he slumped forward, suddenly exhausted. The wild power had indeed diminished, leaving him drained but clearer-headed than he'd been since emerging from the shadow paths.

Caelen gestured to one of the uninjured guards. "Take our guest to the east wing. Give him a chamber where he can rest." To Zev, he added, "You're safe here for now. The Night Court has never been welcomed within these walls."

"Why help me?" Zev demanded.

"I'm not helping you," Caelen replied coldly. "I'm helping Daniel, who cares about his friend, who cares about you for reasons I can't begin to fathom."

The guard approached Zev cautiously. "This way, sir."

Zev followed without argument, still tempted to stab Caelen but too drained to fight anymore.