The weight of my decision hit me with the breath of fresh air.
I’ve really done it now, haven’t I?
The palace courtyard stretched out before me, boasting a wide array of trees, flowers, and life. So quiet. Yet so alive. Nature everywhere. All of it illuminated by the moon above.
Including a set of peach trees—something that wasn’t native to this realm at all but was very human in nature.
I made a mental note to ask Shade about it later. That strange creation had to be Aflora’s doing. Same with the patch of shrooms and purple leaf plants beside it.
Definitely Elemental Fae food,I thought.Maybe that’s Aflora’s personal garden.
How surreal,I marveled.
I’d never thought I’d come here.
Despite Shade’s open invitation, I’d thought I’d settled on what my life would look like after meeting Az. He’d been death incarnate, more of the kind of invitation I had craved after Constantine’s antics had shattered my heart.
When I’d first met Az, he’d challenged me to a fight and had seemed surprised when I’d accepted. A broad, inky black tattoo of his Phoenix had spread over strong muscles, and a gleam of dark magic had twinkled in his cruel, violet eyes.
I’d taken him up on his offer, expecting to die.
But I hadn’t, and thus my role as Warden had followed.
Picturing the Commander made me grip the railing until it cracked.
I’d thought that taking the position of Warden had been a solution. If not death, then servitude to the Hell Fae King as a wrangler of monsters.
A purpose greater than myself.
Something that Emelyn would have been proud of—but if she saw me now, she would have been disgusted with me.
Where do I belong? Who am I? What kind of future can I hope to have?
I couldn’t answer any of those questions. Not anymore.
I’d just made a life-altering decision.
One that could bring war to my friends here if I wasn’t careful.But what choice did I have?
Cami couldn’t be left in the Hell Fae Realm to be mistreated, abused, and inevitably killed for no other reason than attempting to survive.
For being true to who and what she was. Just because none of us understood that didn’t give us the right to snuff out her life.
Like Constantine would have done.
Cursing, I ventured back inside, my nose reminding me that Shade’s grandmother Zenaida had sent along her famous cookies.
Because she’d known I’d come here. Just like Shade had known. Their penchants for fortune-telling were intimidating but useful.
Especially considering my half-starved state.
I plucked a cookie off the plate and studied the note card beside it.Of course you sent along a note,I mused, my eyes rolling in amusement.
Finishing off the cookie in a second bite—I wasveryhungry—I picked up the note.
My lips curled down at the words scrawled along the top.A spell.Not just any spell, but one meant for a Midnight Fae to wield with a wand. “Okay…”
There was a smaller handwritten inscription underneath it that read,You may need this to tame a certain beast. Good luck.
