Page 77 of The Fallen Fae King

It’s jarring.

I can’t make myself let go of him, however, even though deep down, I know that something is wrong.

May the Shadow Devils curse me for this weakness, but I have dreamed of this moment for so many years.

What if my sacrifice for the world has been enough for this miracle to occur?

He strokes my hair. “I thought about you every night that I was trapped in the Void Cult, scared and alone. Did you forget me?”

“Not for a single moment.”

“Did you eat cake?”

“Honey and date bat cake in your honor. I gave it to my nestmates. I wish that you could have met them. Maybe you can.”

“How?” He hushes me. “Don’t cry. You’re the one who didn’t find and rescue me like you promised. But then, you were out living, while I was buried.” His voice becomes cruel in a way that I never remember it being. “Where are these nestmates now? Were they worth sacrificing yourself for?”

Slowly, I pull back from him.

Cold seeps through me. My skin crawls.

I stare into the face of the being who isn’t my twin.

The Void Devil wears his face — identical to mine — but he could never be him.

I shove Void Devil away from me.

He stumbles back from me with a laugh that is a mockery of the one that I remember. He is tainting my memory.

Suddenly, Void Devil’s red-wine pupils fade to white, until it’s like he has no pupils at all.

It’s unnerving.

“You’re not Laz.” My voice is flat.

“But I could be.” Void Devil’s smile is too wide.

“It’s a lie.”

“But a sweet one.”

“A sick one.”

“Aren’t I being kind? I have created this pocket of your own world for you. I could be cruel and create a hell instead…one that you live in for eternity.” He tilts his head, studying me as if I am a beetle that he has found beneath a rock. “You’re fun to play with.”

I extend my claws, slashing at him.

Void Devil flickers out of existence like lightning and appears behind me. He grabs me by the hair.

I thrash, growling and trying to pull myself free. Void Devil is stronger, however, than anyone I have fought.

“I am a Void Devil.” He yanks me against his chest, “the most senior amongst my brothers. I have been in your mind for years. So many pointless feelings. I offered you a place in our new world. An end to suffering. I would have found your twin and united you like this for real. But you defied me.”

“I chose,” I pant against the pain, “my own path.”

Void Devil shakes me. “Why? I have seen your memories. What do you know but betrayal, suffering, and abandonment? I would have given you a new family larger than any you can imagine — everything.”

“You have nothing I want. Kill me, or are you planning to talk me to death?” I slip my hand stealthily down to my Ankh bond mark.