18. Melek
CHAPTER 18
MELEK
M y wings beat at my back, my heart threatening to pound its way out of my chest.
I’m coming, Cami, I promised her. I’ll catch you.
Nothing.
Just static.
Like her brain had gone offline.
Fuck, I thought.
What’s happening? Ty demanded. I can feel your panic.
Cami’s falling! I shouted at him. Vivaxia had her. She jumped, Ty. She fucking jumped .
Which was what I’d told her to do because I knew it would bring her here. But that didn’t stop my insides from shattering at the thought of her falling .
This wouldn’t be like Ty falling from the Midnight Fae Realm.
This was something else entirely.
From a realm that hovered above us all, one that shouldn’t exist but did. And that distance couldn’t be measured in time or space.
Because Cami was falling from the heavens themselves.
Just like Ty.
Broken wings shredded.
Fire enveloping his form.
Blood everywhere.
I swallowed, trying to shove the vivid image from my mind, the pain of that day threatening to derail me.
Az and I are on our way, Ty told me.
My feathers strained, my ethereal magic surrounding my form as I misted myself to the center of the red sky, my gaze frantically scanning the horizon for Camillia.
The two suns blazed hot, their colors vibrant and illuminating every inch of the Hell Fae Kingdom.
Lucifer’s palace was in the distance, glittering like a beacon. Camillia might appear there—in the place Ty originally fell. I told him with a thought to station himself above our home, just in case that was where she landed, too.
He didn’t reply, merely appeared in position with his fiery wings glowing at his back.
Az’s Black Phoenix cawed as he ascended nearby, the powerful being searching, hunting for our mate. His tracking abilities would allow him to potentially find her before me, his senses heightened even more via their connection.
But if I couldn’t feel her, he might not be able to sense her either.
Come on, little angel. Where are you? I thought, my chest aching at our disabled connection. We weren’t fully bonded, our souls only loosely tied, and it hurt so much more right now than it should.
I wanted her.
Craved her.
Maybe… maybe even loved her.
She’d been my obsession since that day in the library, the exciting new chapter in my existence. The mate I hadn’t even realized I’d needed.
We’ll find her, Ty promised me.
I know .
I was just worried she might be broken beyond repair when we did.
Her genetics were still utterly confusing to me, her immortality an unknown. What if the fall kills her? I wondered. What if I sent her to her death?
Stop, Ty hissed into my mind. She’s going to be fine.
But I felt his rising concern, his mind gluing all the pieces together.
He’d completed that fall once. He knew what it was like.
And he knew a human could never survive it.
We’ll catch her, he vowed. I’ve never let you down before, Melek. I’m not going to start ? —
He cut off as he shot up into the sky, Cami’s tumbling form finally visible and heading right for him. My wings engaged, my ethereal form teleporting me to his side just as he deftly caught our angel in his arms.
Relief struck me.
Followed by instant terror.
“She’s not breathing!” I shouted over the wind our wings were creating.
Ty didn’t reply, just disappeared with her, his mind telling me he’d teleported to our suite. I followed, my heart shattering in my chest.
She can’t be dead. I could still feel her soul. She’ll survive. She has to fucking survive!
“Melek,” Ty said, his voice holding a note of dominance that forced me to look at him. “Listen. Her heart is beating. She’s already healing. She’s going to be fine.”
He laid her on our bed as Az appeared with Ajax right beside him, the pair searching the room with frantic gazes.
“She’s alive,” Ty told them before they could rush the bed. “Just give her time. That fall… it’s brutal. But she’s stronger than any of us have realized.”
I heard his mind whispering thoughts on why that was, how that could be. Virtuous Fae heritage , rolled through his thoughts. A connection to Melek? Or something else entirely? And what am I sensing…
He trailed off, his gaze roaming over her mostly nude form. It wasn’t a look of masculine admiration so much as curiosity, like he was searching for information about her origin.
With his lips twisting slightly, he grabbed a blanket from the side of our bed and covered her. “She’s breathing now,” he told me. “The fall just knocked the wind out of her.”
“How is that possible?” I asked. “When you fell…”
“I landed in the pits of hell,” he replied without looking at me. “She landed in a pillow of power.” His eyes finally met mine. “I caught her with my energy before she landed in my arms.”
Az took a step forward, his Phoenix peering out through his blazing gaze. In a blink, he relaxed and then yanked Ajax into a hug. The Midnight Fae male clung to him, showcasing an emotional side I’d never seen from him before, but I more than understood it.
We’d nearly lost her.
I could feel it in my chest, my soul .
“Vivaxia had her,” I breathed. “But I don’t understand how. The Virtuous Fae Realm… it was destroyed.” Yet I’d felt Camillia’s location in my spirit, her mind supplying all the visual details to confirm where she’d ended up.
“Not as destroyed as we thought,” Ty muttered, running a palm over his face. He’d taken a step away from the bed, but he was still standing the closest to Cami, his opposite hand opening and closing like he was fighting the urge to touch her. “They’re behind all of this. The portals. The attacks. Cami .”
I swallowed, hating that he was right. But it made too much sense for me to deny it.
She possessed Virtuous Fae power. I’d known that from the beginning. However, I’d thought Vita had chosen her as Ty’s potential mate.
Now… now I wasn’t sure what to think.
I hadn’t been able to access enough of Cami’s thoughts to understand what was happening with Vivaxia or how she’d ended up there, but I’d sensed her fear and her inner chaos. She hadn’t wanted to be there. That had to mean something, right?
“I don’t think she…” I trailed off, my throat working. “She’s not working with them, Ty.”
He glanced at me, his sapphire gaze thundering with dark oceanic waves. “I know.”
I blinked, surprised. “You… you know?” He’d already said that he’d realized she was innocent. But this—falling from the Virtuous Fae Realm after admitting that she was with Vivaxia—was rather damning.
“I’ll know for sure when she wakes,” he clarified. “But she’s a pawn. Another pet. And I’m very familiar with how Vivaxia tames her toys.”
“You think she’s a puppet,” Az translated. “Like I was.”
Ty considered him for a moment. “We’ll find out when she wakes,” he reiterated. “Until then, I have some reading to do.” With a snap of his fingers, his book appeared, and he grabbed it from thin air. “You three watch her. Notify me when she’s up. I’ll be in my den.”
He disappeared before any of us could say a word, his presence a passing kiss to my soul. Why are you running? I asked him, confused by his abrupt departure.
Because she’s not mine to heal, he answered briskly. And I’m too tempted right now to change that fact.
My eyebrows rose. You choose now to be attracted to her? When she’s unconscious in our bed?
We both know I’ve been attracted to her since the moment you chose her, he returned, not saying anything more.
Part of me wanted to press him, to push his boundaries into admitting more.
However, for once, I was too exhausted to try. Too consumed by the female on the bed. Too startled by her fall to care about planting thoughts or weaving webs.
All I wanted was for her to open her eyes.
And tell me how the hell she’d ended up in the Virtuous Fae Realm.