“Six,” Az said, drawing my focus back to the conversation about the bridal casualties. “King Viper says we lost four in the portal, and two others in the landslides.”
I glanced sideways to see Az reading a message off a translucent screen, suggesting he’d sent Lucifer’s bridal count question off to someone—probably the King Viper he’d just mentioned—for an update.
“And one is still missing,” he continued. “The rest have been retrieved and are being treated.”
“Seven,” Lucifer corrected, his voice low and deadly.
Az tilted his head in a birdlike gesture, one glittering with confusion.
“The casualty count,” the Hell Fae King continued. “You said six dead brides, but it’s actually seven.” Lucifer kept his eyes on me, the promise of murder in his gaze.
I continued to stare at him, a thought taunting the back of my mind. One that I was glad I couldn’t voice aloud, as it would probably earn his wrath.
I’m not a bride anymore, remember?was the thought.You denounced my title in front of a club of horny Hell Fae.
Yeah, that wasn’t an argument I wanted to have right now.
Silence filled the room around me as blistering waves of energy simmered through the air like a precursor to the flames about to consume me.
A chilling presence followed, one that settled over my skin like a cooling blanket.
I swallowed, uncertain of whether it was real or fabricated in my mind, only for Lucifer to glance sharply over my shoulder.
“You promised not to hurt her,” Melek said as if it was a reminder of an agreement between them.
A shiver ran up my spine at the thought of Melek vouching for me. I wasn’t sure what I had done to earn his protection, but I was grateful for it right now.
I was not a damsel to be rescued, but sometimes a girl could use a little support.
Especially if that support came in the form of a delicious Hell Fae Prince.
“I promised not to hurt her unless she proved to be a viable threat,” Lucifer responded. His eyes flared with heat. “I’d say she sufficiently proved herself to be a threat today.”
Ajax and Az visibly stiffened in my peripheral vision. And the chilly sensation strengthened against my exposed skin.
“Sometimes the lines between a perceived threat and a true asset can blur, my king,” Melek said softly.
“And sometimes a king has to make difficult decisions in order to protect those he cares about,” Lucifer returned. “Particularly when those he loves are blinded by lust.”
Az visibly bristled, the reaction one I didn’t expect. Especially since he’d done nothing while I’d been locked in that cage on display. But now he appeared to be restraining himself.
Why?I wondered, my focus shifting to Ajax.Is he holding you captive again?
The Midnight Fae’s nostrils flared, suggesting that perhaps Az was controlling him like he had at the club.
I swallowed, my heart giving an aggrieved thump in my chest. While I didn’t know the whole story, I’d sensed the pain in Ajax’s voice when he’d spoken to Az in the Marsh Lands. His fury had been most evident in his tone and words, but an agonized past had shadowed his statements.
A past involving an old Midnight Fae monarch who had killed Ajax’s family and friends in front of him, while incapacitating Ajax with magic and forcing him to watch.
He’d told Az that what he’d done to him in Lucifer’s club had been similar, noting that he would never forgive the Commander for his actions.
And now it seemed Az was doing it again.
Strong fingers wrapped around my throat, choking off my air supply. My eyes widened, my heart skipping several beats as he began to squeeze.
And not just with his hand, either.
The magical bindings around my wrists and ankles tightened, too, the burn seeming to travel along my limbs to my torso.
