Page 33 of Night Fae (Monsters of Veridia #3)

The shadow paths twisted around them, tendrils reaching for memories, emotions, anything they could consume.

Zev felt them prodding at his mind, tasting his grief, his guilt, his lingering fear.

He shielded Malik as best he could, using his body as a barrier between the human and the hungering dark.

Time lost meaning in the paths. Had they been falling for seconds or hours? Zev couldn't tell. Malik's body grew heavier in his arms, his breathing more labored.

"Malik," Zev whispered against his ear. "Stay with me."

Malik stirred slightly. "Need to... find the thread." His voice was barely audible, even to Zev's enhanced hearing. "Connection to... Shadow Palace."

The paths shifted around them, responding to Malik's words. Zev sensed the change. A current pulling them in a new direction.

"That's it," he encouraged. "Show me how."

Malik's hand fumbled for Zev's, guiding it to grasp something Zev couldn't see—an invisible cord stretching through the darkness. The moment Zev touched it, energy surged between them. The path ahead clarified, a thread of darker black against the surrounding void.

"Hold on," Zev murmured, taking more of Malik's weight as the human sagged against him. "I'll get us there."

He followed the thread, pulling them along its length. The darkness fought him, currents of shadow pushing them off course, tendrils snaking toward Malik's unprotected mind. Zev swatted them away, baring his teeth in silent challenge.

You can't have him.

A tendril brushed Zev's face, bringing with it a whisper of Rhys's voice.

You left me behind.

Zev flinched but didn't slow down. "Not real," he reminded himself.

Another tendril—this one tasting of Malik's memories. The car crash. His family's bodies. The stark emptiness after the shadow paths had fed on him at the excavation site.

Zev grabbed the tendril and ripped it away from Malik's mind. "Stop fighting," he growled at the darkness. "We're leaving."

The paths recoiled briefly, then surged back stronger. Images flickered around them—Rhys's blood-covered body after the Court had finished with him; Malik lying lifeless in the Snow Palace; Lord Darius standing over them both, victorious.

"Illusions," Zev told Malik, unsure if he could even hear. "Don't look."

Malik's grip on his arm tightened fractionally. "Already... seen them. Keep... moving."

They pushed onward, following the thread. Gradually, the resistance of the paths lessened. The darkness thinned, becoming misty rather than solid. Ahead, Zev could sense something. Not light precisely, but an ending.

With a final surge of effort, he pulled them toward it. The shadows parted reluctantly, and they tumbled out onto a cold stone floor.

Zev twisted in midair, making sure his body hit the ground first with Malik protected against his chest. Pain shot through his shoulder as they landed, but he hardly noticed.

They had emerged in a circular chamber—the shadow path nexus beneath the Shadow Palace. The pool of darkness behind them rippled like disturbed water, then settled into ominous stillness.

Zev lay still for a moment, catching his breath, Malik's weight solid against his chest. The stone floor beneath them was cold, but it felt wonderfully real after the nothingness of the paths.

"We made it," he murmured, loosening his grip slightly to check on Malik.

Malik pushed himself up on shaking arms, his face pale but determined. Blood from the creature's attack had soaked through his shirt, leaving dark stains across his chest.

"Are you alright?" Zev asked, reaching to examine the wounds.

"Been better." Malik managed a weak smile. "But I'll live."

Footsteps echoed through the chamber. Zev tensed, automatically positioning himself between Malik and the potential threat. His hand went to his belt, but his weapons were gone—lost somewhere in the Fields or the shadow paths.

"They're back!" Lyrian's voice rang out, followed by the siren himself appearing in the doorway, his aquamarine hair disheveled. Leon was right behind him, his normally composed face showing clear relief.

"By all the gods," Lyrian breathed, rushing toward them. "We thought you were lost to the paths."

Malik sat up fully, wincing at the movement. "I wasn't sure we'd make it either."

Zev rose to his feet, then reached down to help Malik up. The human swayed slightly but remained standing, one hand pressed against his wounded chest.

"He pulled me out of the Fields," Zev said, his voice rough. "The shadow paths were... feeding on me through memories of Rhys."

Leon's expression darkened. "We know. Your connection to Malik was draining him too. We could see it happening."

"Which is why this one," Lyrian gestured at Malik with exasperation, "decided to dive into the most dangerous place in Veridia to find you."

"It worked, didn't it?" Malik countered, though his attempt at defiance was undermined by his obvious exhaustion.

Zev studied Malik's face, noting the shadows under his eyes, the strain still evident in every line of his body. Something twisted in his chest. Not the hollow grief he'd carried for so long, but something sharper, more immediate.

"You should lie down," Zev said, not taking his eyes off Malik.

"Yes," Lyrian said. "You both should. Come on, let's get you to your chambers. Then a healer can look at you."

Zev nodded and slid an arm around Malik's waist. "Can you walk?"

"Do I have a choice?" Malik replied—so naturally, Zev picked him up, hooking one arm under his knees to sweep him off the floor. "Hey!" Malik protested. "I didn't say you needed to carry me."

"You didn't have to say it," Zev responded easily. He looked to Lyrian. "Lead the way."

The siren walked ahead.

As they made their way through the palace corridors, Zev tried to figure out what happened in his absence. "Where is Knox?" Zev asked as they climbed a sweeping staircase to the east wing.

"He and Caelen went after Yuri," Leon explained. "We think he's trying to trigger some kind of cascade failure in the paths."

"To what end?" Zev frowned.

"To break down the barriers between worlds completely," Lyrian said from behind them.

Zev processed this quietly. He didn't know why anyone would want that, but the why wasn't important. He only wanted to stop it. Mentally, he moved on to the next question. "What about the Night Court?"

Leon and Lyrian exchanged glances.

"We don't know," Leon admitted. "After you disappeared into the Fields, they retreated."

They reached the chamber Zev had been staying in. Lyrian opened the door and gestured inside. "I'll send for a healer immediately."

"I'll go," Leon volunteered.

As he departed, Zev carried Malik to the bed, easing him down gently. Still, Malik winced, blood still seeping through his torn shirt.

"Let me see," Zev said, carefully helping Malik remove the damaged garment.

The claw marks across Malik's chest weren't deep, but they had an unnatural darkness around their edges.

"This needs treatment soon," he muttered, tearing a clean section from the bottom of his own shirt to press against the worst of the bleeding.

Lyrian approached with a basin of water he'd found in the adjoining washroom. "Here, this might help until the healer arrives."

Zev dampened the cloth and gently cleaned around the wounds while Malik watched him with an unreadable expression.

"Those things in the Fields," Malik finally said. "They were using Rhys against you."

Zev's hands stilled momentarily before continuing their work. "Yes."

"I'm sorry."

"For what? Saving me?" Zev asked, his voice rougher than he intended.

"No," Malik said quietly. "For having to see him like that. Used as a weapon against you."

Zev wrung out the cloth, the water in the basin turning pink with Malik's blood. "It wasn't him."

"I know. But it still must have hurt."

Lyrian cleared his throat. "I'll wait outside for the healer," he said, tactfully retreating from the room and closing the door behind him.

Alone with Malik, Zev felt suddenly unsure what to do with his hands, his eyes, his words. The intimacy of the moment struck him—Malik shirtless and wounded because of him, because he'd been brave enough, foolish enough, to follow Zev into darkness.

"Why did you come after me?" Zev finally asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You knew what the paths would do to you."

Malik met his gaze steadily. "I've lost so many people I love. I didn't want to add your name to that list."

Zev could only stare in response to that. He remembered what Malik had said to the creature in the Fields: Even if he never feels for me what he felt for Rhys, that doesn't matter.

"You know…" Malik looked aside. "There's this game I love.

Dungeons and Dragons. In that game, you can bring someone back from the dead if only you can afford to buy the diamonds to be used in the spell.

" Malik licked his lips. "In real life, I have so much money, but nothing can bring back the dead.

So I have to protect my loved ones with all I've got. "

Even though he was talking about a game, what Malik said made a horrible amount of sense. Zev could agree with that logic all too easily.

"About what happened in the Fields..." Zev began.

A knock at the door interrupted them. Leon returned with a severe-looking woman with silver-streaked black hair.

"This is Healer Carah," Leon explained. "She says she knows what to do."

The healer approached immediately, her sharp eyes assessing Malik's condition.

"Field's corruption," she diagnosed after examining the wounds, her fingers probing the edges where shadow taint darkened the skin. "Not deep, but it needs to be drawn out before it spreads."

She selected several herbs from her kit, crushing them in a small mortar she extracted from her bag. The mixture released a sharp, medicinal scent that cut through the air.

"This will draw out the shadow taint," she explained as she applied the poultice to Malik's wounds. "Keep it on until morning."

When she was done with Malik, Carah fixed her stern gaze on Zev. "And what about you? The Fields leave their mark even when there's no physical wound."

"I'm fine," Zev dismissed.

"He's not," Malik contradicted from the bed. "The Fields were feeding on him for hours."

"I'm stronger than you," Zev reminded him.

The healer snorted. "Strong enough to ignore treatment and collapse later? Or would you prefer to be sensible now?"

Lyrian poked his head in the doorway. "I like her."

Carah shot Lyrian a quick smile, and then she selected some more herbs to mix a bitter-smelling drink in two cups, handing one each to Malik and Zev. "Drink. All of it."

Malik grimaced at the taste but drained his cup.

Zev wrinkled his nose, but figured he could not refuse the medicine when Malik had taken his so easily. He downed the contents of the cup quickly.

"Rest," Carah ordered. "Both of you. The Field's influence lingers in mind and body." She gathered her supplies. "I'll return in the morning to check the human's wound."

After the healer left, Leon and Lyrian lingered awkwardly by the door.

"We'll leave you two alone," Leon said finally. "When Knox and Caelen get back, we all need to be rested."

"Go," Zev said. "We'll be fine."

After the door closed behind them, silence fell over the chamber.

Malik was the first to break it. "I can go back to my own chamber."

Zev raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"If you need space. After... everything." Malik gestured vaguely. "I understand."

Something close to anger flared in Zev's chest. "You think I would leave you alone after what just happened?"

That sounded wholly wrong.

"I don't know," Malik admitted quietly, and Zev hated that uncertain look on his face.

Maybe he'd been keeping his distance a little too well if this human still thought Zev might not care about him.

He moved closer, perching carefully on the edge of the bed. "When I was trapped in the Fields, caught in memories of Rhys... I wasn't fighting to get out."

Malik's face fell slightly, but he nodded. "I know. That's why they were able to feed on you so easily."

"But when I heard your voice," Zev made himself continue, "something changed. I remembered there was something beyond grief."

Malik's eyes widened slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Zev paused. It was so difficult to put his feelings into words, but he owed it to this brave little human who had come to his rescue. "The Rhys I loved would never have wanted me trapped in memories of him. He would have wanted me to live, to find... something more."

"Something more," Malik repeated softly.

"When you were in the Night Court, I killed to keep you safe," Zev said, his voice low. "In the Fields, you risked everything to free me. There's magic between us. There's… a connection."

Malik reached out slowly, giving Zev time to pull away. When he didn't, Malik's fingers found his, twining together.

"Yes," Malik agreed. "There is."

Zev looked at their joined hands, let himself feel the warmth of Malik's touch. The other night, after they'd given in to carnal desires, he'd briefly thought of Malik as his mate.

He'd be blessed to have someone so fierce by his side.

He hadn't been ready for it, though.

Was he now?

"I'm not asking for promises," Malik said. "Just don't push me away."

It was the simplicity of the request that resonated with Zev. Not promises of love or forever, just presence. Acceptance of whatever lay between them, however complicated or uncertain.

"I won't," Zev said finally, tightening his grip on Malik's hand. "Not anymore."