The words echoed in my mind, sounding more like Ty than me. Somewhere deep in my soul, I sensed that he’d recently shared that thought.
Where are you, my king?I wondered at him.Why can’t I feel you?
I couldn’t remember a time when we’d ever truly been cut from one another. It concerned me, but I also couldn’t sense Cami. Yet she was fine and standing right in front of me.
So Ty is probably okay, too, I told myself.
Although, deep down, I knew that wasn’t true at all.
The sky and fog proved that. His Source was breaking, his power shuddering through the very ground we walked upon now.
Az still led the way, his steps sure as he moved us in the direction of Strigoi territory.
Ty had gone to meet with Nos, which made this his last known destination. And given that the entire kingdom now reeked of dead roses, it seemed like the right move.
Unless Vivaxia is fucking with us…
My eyes narrowed as my footsteps slowed.
Cami must have noticed because she matched my pace, her gaze finding mine. “Not being able to connect to your mind is rather inconvenient right now,” she muttered.
My lips twitched. “You miss my thoughts, little angel?” I sauntered a step closer. “The dirty ones? My wicked promises? Maybe my praise?”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Seriously? You’re flirting? Now?” She gestured to the eerie smog thickening around us. “Here?”
“That’s just who I am, love,” I murmured. Besides, flirting with her was a nice distraction from the darkness growing inside my head.
Alas, I couldn’t smile for long.
Because that darkness only grew as the red moon above turned into a murky haze that spread across the sky like a diseased cloud.That explains the absence of fae,I thought, noting the unguarded tunnel exit.
I swallowed. “I can’t tell if Vivaxia is really here or if she just wants us tothinkshe’s here.”
Cami followed my focus upward, her own throat seeming to bob in a motion similar to my own. “I take it that’s not normal for this kingdom either.”
I shook my head. “It’s usually a clear night, illuminated solely by the blood moon above. Although, it is the Dream Realm. So illusions are not necessarily uncommon either.”
“And you think Vivaxia might have crafted the illusion of her presence?” Cami asked.
“I think it’s possible,” I hedged, looking over her shoulder to meet Az’s violet gaze. “What do you think?”
“I think there’s only one way to find out, and it’s not by standing here discussing poss?—”
A crack rent the air, one that had dozens of lightning bolts splintering across the sky.
My lips parted.
And my heart fucking stopped.
Because Iknewthat crack. I’d lived through it before. Experienced the outcome.Saw a Virtuous Fae fall…
I was running before I even processed where I was going, my soul screaming in agony for the male I calledmate. Cami screamed my name, her terror an invisible ribbon that wrapped around my core and nearly caused me to stumble as my spirit literally split in two.
One half going to Ty.
The other back to Cami.
My king.