Page 168 of Hell Fae King
This isn’t an illusion. This isn’t Vivaxia’s doing, either.
This is Vita.
She’s showing me her history.
Showing me how this all began.
Because this is the moment that changed everything.
Typhos eyed the journal, confused as to how she had it in her hand. He’d taken it from her nightstand earlier in the day.
Or had he?
Vivaxia was a fan of her illusions.
What journal did I actually take home?he wondered, the words echoing through our strange little bond, like he was here now, thinking those very words.
“You’re going to change everything, my sweet Typhos,” Vivaxia murmured, her voice affectionate and warm. She palmed his cheek again, her eyes crinkling. “One day, you’ll remember this moment, darling. Realize how I’ve been ten steps ahead the whole time. And instantly understandwhy.”
He attempted to step away, but Vivaxia’s hand moved to the back of his neck to hold him near.
Then he jolted as the journal touched his palm, his fingers automatically closing around it.
“Use it as a vessel for your mind,” she whispered to him. “You’ll need the outlet with all that power growing inside you. Share your memories. Your burdens. Relinquish your fears. And grow.”
The words were clear and understandable, but a hint of magic wove through each of them, the hum of a spell forming beneath the commands.
I could taste it.
Seeit.
The strands were all Vivaxia’s, her smoky tendrils clear to my eyes but seemingly invisible to Typhos’s.
Those ribbons wove around him, forming his decisions, taking charge of him in a way Vivaxia had done to so many others.A version of her infamous pet spell, I thought, watching in horror as the magic seeped into Typhos’s being, melding with his spirit.
Fury grew inside him.
Part of him understood what was happening, knew that Vivaxia had just betrayed him in the worst of ways. She was forcing her magic into him, awakening his siphoning power, and making him absorb part of her essence.
So she would always be with him.
Framing his mind.
Masking his memories.
Stroking his hatred.
Everything he’d become, everything he’d done, was rooted in this experience. His distrust of women went far deeper than this mere moment of betrayal. It was a seed Vivaxia had planted in his soul.
She hadn’t wanted competition.
Melek was fine. She’d even given him Azazel, too.
But not a female mate.
Never aqueen.
Only, she’d sent me to him. I was a woman. A female.A potential mate.
