CHAPTER16
CAMI
What the fuck just happened?
One moment, I’d been admiring the Phoenix. And then…and then he bit me.
Mated me.
Claimedme.
Just like Ajax had. Except not. It was entirely different.
I was just bitten by a damn Phoenix.The thought kept circulating in my mind, my feet moving quickly over the floor inside the palace. I had no idea where I was going, and I didn’t care. I’d told Ajax to spell me some clothes, and then I’d left.
“I need to go on a walk” was all I’d said to him before leaving the room.
It probably wasn’t safe for me to be wandering here, nor was it very appropriate as a guest, butfuck. What the hell was I supposed to do? I needed air. To breathe. To befree.
Only, I’d never be free again because I now hadtwomates.
Actually, no. I hadthree.
Melek.
“Fuck,” I muttered aloud.I suppose this is one way to die—connected to a bunch of male souls.
They could all at least gift me a few hundred orgasms before Lucifer finally killed me. That’d be the kind thing to do in this situation, right?
I nearly laughed at the inane concept.
This is insane. I’ve lost my mind. And I have three mates.
“Absolutely nuts,” I told myself as I turned down a random hallway. “This place is a maze.” I’d only been wandering for a few minutes, but I was already lost.
“A tour might help,” a soft voice replied from behind me.
I grimaced and glanced over my shoulder to see a woman with blue-black hair only a few feet behind me.
“Sorry, I overheard you as I was leaving my room.” She gestured to a wooden panel that looked like a door, except it was missing a handle.
Actually, all the “doors” in this corridor seemed to be decorated similarly. “How do you enter and leave a room without a door handle?” I asked dumbly.
“The gargoyles handle it,” she replied, her lips twitching. “It takes some getting used to.” Her nose crinkled. “Actually, there are a lot of things that take a while to accept. Like the perpetual night sky. Lack of flowers. Fluffy animals that want to kill everything in their paths. Hmm.” She shrugged. “But it’s home.”
I blinked at her. “Oh.” This realm certainly seemed to have its quirks.
Something that became increasingly evident as I glanced around the corridor.
There were trees built into the walls. And their roots were all over the floor.
It was a miracle I hadn’t tripped.
Perhaps I’d been more aware of my surroundings than I’d realized. I just hadn’t taken in the scenery so much as moved through it.
My fingertips danced along the nearest tree, my mind expecting it to be textured plastic, similar to a vase of fake flowers.
But no.
