Page 21 of The Fallen Fae King

I kick the polished bronze mirror, and it snaps in half.

I twirl to the perfumed, bronze bowl in the corner of the room, which is burning sweet lotus oil and honeyed resin, sweeping it spinning to the floor with my claws.

Is this happening because I sacrilegiously killed my High Priestess for Daire? Because I didn’t heed the warning of her visions, which showed Aurelius resurrected as the tyrant Hadrian, destroying the realms?

Golden flames, bones, and ash…

Nothing but ash.

I catch sight of my carved cedarwood bed, which is inlaid with gold. Its legs are shaped like powerful lion paws. The curved headboard is decorated with bat wings.

My heart wrenches at the sight of the lotus petals that I sprinkled over it, imagining the smile that it would tug from my Omega’s lips.

I dive at the bed, shredding the ivory linens and tearing at the reed mattress.

“Do you understand now, Lanlin Sin?” A voice overflowing with temptation and echoing with the primordial growl of something far older than language murmurs directly into my mind.

The agony of a being from another plane breaking through to speak to me is like being cracked in two.

The Void Devils.

I stagger across the bedroom, clasping onto my desk. “I won’t talk to you.”

“Illogical. We can sense your suffering. We warned that you would be hurt by those who you claimed loved you. An outcast orphan like you knows better than anyone that there is nothing in your realm but betrayal, sorrow, hate, and loneliness. Tell us again what you are saving this world for. Whom.”

I grit my teeth, as pain pulses through my forehead. “Eat burning poison.”

Then I scream as agony lances through me.

I fall to my knees, tearing at my long, black hair to try and block it out.

“This is the pain of the world.” The Void Devils raise their voices, and I cover my ears. “We would devour it. Devour everything. Wouldn’t you like peace? To feel…nothing? Why suffer such torment for creatures who do not recognize how special you are. But we believe that you are special. No one wants you. But we do. Allow us through the Void…and you shall have your reward, while everyone else shall be⁠—”

“Destroyed?” I bang my head hard against the floor, and crimson trickles down from my temple. “Get out of my head. Or shall I kill myself now? Then someone else will sacrifice themselves who you won’t be able to tempt.”

“What is your decision?” The Void Devils howl.

I shudder, paling in pain. “Out!”

As if I’m about to fall, I am left tottering on the edge of a howling abyss.

My mind feels like it will shatter from the single glimpse into an infinity of black…infinity of nothing…beneath me.

And if I give in to the numbness within myself and make the choice that the Void Devils want tomorrow night, then our world will be swallowed whole by it.

I groan, turning to the side and vomiting.

My throat burns. My fangs ache.

I drag myself with shaky arms away to the wall. I struggle to pull myself up against it.

I lean my forehead against the wall, tracing over the pretty painted frescoes of bats, rats, and moths.

When I was first brought to this chamber and realized that I was forbidden from bonding and would grow up alone, I requested permission to be taught by Heka how to paint animals, my only friends.

The animals were also my allies around the court, who I quickly learned to use as spies with the Power, my animalism.

Heka pulled a face, telling me that it was a waste of both time and paint. He said that I should concentrate on hieroglyph magic and scientific endeavors if I wanted to grow strong enough to take on my enemies.