Power exploded between us, our spirits winding together in a binding way that secured our future. Our present.Our past.
Melek was suddenly there, too, his arms wrapping around me from behind as Az—now in his human form again—fell to Typhos’s other side. Their energy mingled with ours, creating a surplus of strength and vitality that whirled inside Typhos to replenish his reserves.
Ajax was last, his Midnight Fae essence a kiss to my senses that helped ground me in the moment. It gave me focus.
And focus I did.
On blasting Vivaxia into her own fucking universe.
I clutched Typhos with one hand and the stone with the other and allowed them both to amplify my siphoning talent. I absorbed the rest of Vivaxia’s presence in the Hell Fae Realm, absorbed all the negative energy I could find anywhere nearby, and absorbed the gifts provided by my mates.
By Ajax.
By Az.
By Melek.
By Typhos.
They were all mine and I was theirs. Just as this realm was mine and I was its queen. I wanted to protect the fae here. Honor them.Free them.
I’d felt the gates deteriorate as Typhos had begun to overload Vivaxia with power. He’d opened his realm for the first time since he’d created it. Because the bride trials didn’t count. Those females had been selected by his Source and provided special permission to enter.
However, now his realm would be available to everyone.
His Source would protect those who chose to remain, but he would no longer decline entry to others. Specifically, female fae.
Because something he realized was that he’d failed all the female Nightmare Fae that existed. He’d blocked most of them from entering his realm because of whatever seeds Vivaxia had planted.
Now he would rectify that.
If they even still exist,I heard him thinking, his mind a whisper against mine.
If they do, we’ll help them together, I promised him as the stone burned hot in my hand. I nearly dropped it but held on when an echo of power zipped up my arm.
It felt oddly familiar.
My mind searched for the cause of that familiarity, but Typhos took a strangled breath, his mind seeming to blink in and out of existence.
Because he was still feeding his light to Vivaxia and keeping nothing for himself.
It reminded me of my experience in the paradigm when I’d been hell-bent on pushing all my power away from Vivaxia and into his Source. Only, he was doing the opposite now and trying to overwhelm her with his essence.
At the expense of himself.
I filled him with more power, as did Az, Melek, and Ajax. But he didn’t accept any of it. All that energy simply spiraled around him and…and flowed back into me.
My eyes narrowed.Stubborn fucking king.
I tried again.
And again.
And again.
Each time, he returned it to me while giving up the last of his light to Vivaxia.
His corporeal form was dying, his energy moving on to a new phase of life.