Page 59 of Hell's Queen

“What?!” Ryker snaps. “Who knows if she can even hear us? Why would you fucking say that?”

“They swapped spit, and they are deeply in love,” Ozias says right in my ear.

My body heat rises as the thought of them together pisses me off. He doesn’t love her. He can’t love her. Did he lie to me? Has he been seeing her this whole time? Has he been a rat to her? Fucking her and me and giving her our secrets?

“Back up,” Khazon mutters.

I sit up quickly, breathing hard and looking at the pink-haired fae. Heat melts the cold around me and makes me wet, but the cold disappears as the sweet familiar vengeful heat fills me. I am not going to die letting Evara take Ryker from me; he betrayed me and will have to pay for it.

“Holy fuck… You’re alive!” Ryker wraps his arms around me but recoils. “Fuck!”

“You did what?”

“It was a lie! Guys!”

Khazon catches my attention, pulling my cheeks to face him. “I lied to get you from the ice... You should have seen Evara getting her ass beat by him, and he would have killed her.”

“Almost did if the gates didn’t open,” he mutters.

My mind shoots back to all the recent events. I should be dead; Edris died when the sword and The Flame overpowered him. I should see my father, praying The Flame didn’t go to Evara. I swallow, my body sagging. I reach out and touch Ryker’s beautiful face. “How?” It comes out as a whisper.

“Well, she got the sword and opened the gate—”

“How are you alive?” Khazon asks. His dark eyes move to someone behind me.

I twist around to see… Inarian. His arms are severely burnt, yet his face has ice on it, and Hollister is trying to help him. Our eyes meet.

“Inarian?” I scramble to my feet, but they are still frozen slightly.

“I couldn’t let you get all the glory, Asura.”

Ozias helps me to my feet, and I remember all the pain covering my body. The fight that I couldn’t kill her with. I lean onto him, and he lets me.

Hazen cups my face, smiling. “I can’t believe that worked.”

“I couldn’t kill her,” I say, shaking my head.

Hazen kisses my head. “Fuck her. You are alive, and the gates are closed. Fuck her!”

My eyes water as I look at all eight of my men. They are beaten up badly, but still, they are all here and alive. Or maybe… we are all dead together. I set a foot down and hiss in pain, and the pain lets me know I’m alive. My heart pounds in my chest as I sob.

Hazen is the first to wrap his arms around me, cheering. Louder cheers come, making me look and see all the warriors that waited on the hill for me to be alive. Tears rush down my face as most of my men try to hug me at once. I let out a cheer, holding up my fist and causing the warriors to scream.

I am alive. Most of them are too. This almost feels like a dream.

For the next few days, I am in and out of consciousness as the doctors work on me to maintain my body heat. My men are in and out of the hospital to check in on Inarian and me, but they look ten times better.

Early one morning, I realize I’ve been awake for hours, watching the sunrise, and can’t go back to sleep. My mind is on Inarian and how he is doing. Moving through the halls, I sneak into his room, closing the door behind me and putting the curtain over the window in the door.

“Will you leave me the fu—” Inarian starts before he looks at me. “Oh.”

“Hi… I just—” I look at my hands. “I just wanted to see how you are doing.”

He remains silent before shrugging. “I’m better than I was.”

I bite my lip, thinking about when he was stabbed in the chest by Draco. With a nod, I continue speaking. “How did you know when to save me, or why did you even save me?”

“I was supposed to let you die?” His brow cocks.

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