“Is this the part where you demand our first born?” Zakkai tossed back.
He looked affronted. “I would never do such a thing.”
Zakkai grunted, his disbelief palpable.
“You’re right, I absolutely would and have, but your pretty mate is free from my negotiations.”
“Good,” Zakkai and I said at the same time.
Lucifer met my gaze, his amusement carrying a lethal edge that made me uneasy. “I’ve always liked you, time meddler. You’re… exceedingly resourceful.” He smiled before focusing on Ajax. “Are you ready to begin welcoming the bridal candidates?”
“I am, Sir,” Ajax replied, his serious tone nothing like my easy going friend from our academy days. This new version was hard around the edges, strong, and held a sorrow in his dark gaze that never seemed to abate.
He’d taken Emelyn’s death hard, having wanted to lash out with revenge.
But with Aflora taking over and reforming the full council, there hadn’t been anyone for Ajax to hurt.
So Tadmir had brought him here… where Lucifer had recruited him.
He’d seen a broken soul, and he’d offered him something he couldn’t refuse—a chance for retribution.
Which was the whole point of this project.
Lucifer would take female fae from all the realms and force them to fight. Those who won would be rewarded with a forced marriage to a group of his men. Those who lost, would die.
Either way, it served a wicked form of justice against those who had ostracized abominations for over a thousand years.
It made me wonder what trick my grandmother had up her sleeve. She would never agree to such a ploy without some sort of secret path up her sleeve.
As I glanced at her now, I caught the knowing twinkle in her gaze.
It was similar to the one she’d given me years ago when I told her about Aflora.
A plot was unfolding.
And it seemed Ajax and Lucifer were at the heart of it.
I would have laughed, but something told me this would be a dark tale lacking in humor.
Fae were going to die.
But in the end, perhaps the deadly Hell Fae King would find something he never knew he needed. Love.