“He is fine,” Regar said. His voice sounded livelier than before. Amused?

I’d not asked for the state of the fight. I’d not inquired about Sinister. I’d been dead focussed on Karmuth. What that said about my confusing condition was perfectly clear: I was no longer only insinuating interest in one of the fighters, I was clearly stating it.

Chapter 23

KARMUTH

THE LAST OF OUR OPPONENTS STOOD BETWEEN ME AND SINISTER, his knife hand shaking slightly, but the sneer on his face refused to let up. “Fuck you, quaffer. You will not get me.”

“I was actually saving you for my friend here,” I spat right back, nodding towards Sinister, who’d done a fair share of drinking of his own.

He couldn’t get to another death fae, but the rest of the dark fae? Fair game. I’d heard they gave a slight resistance and tried to get to you first, but even if they succeeded, ending up numb sure trumped ending up dead. In the end, we always won. There was no coming back from death.

I enjoyed his fear way too much. I saw the appeal in drawing it out of a victim before feasting on the terror. But that wasn’t what my other half needed, right? It was passion. I knew it had to be passion. Or was it both? The draw that unexpectedly tugged me towards the other fae’s fear was unexplainable. I wanted to taste it, needed to grasp it. Licking my lips, I tilted my head and studied the sensation, prolonging his certain death.

“Quaffer sounds about right, doesn’t it, Sin? I feel an unsatisfiable thirst all of a sudden. Does your lot talk about me often?”

Sinister shrugged, twirling his knife around. His contentment to wait and see how this all played out was thrilling me as much as the scent of fear from the emotion-feeder. I was the one in control, I was deciding his fate, and no matter my next move, Sinister would back me up. He likely enjoyed the tension just as much as I did.

“You’re full of yourself. We don’t care about you.” The Felrothian made a move to stab at me, but I easily avoided his manoeuvre.

“Really? Because you’re the second fae today calling me that. Can’t be a coincidence.” I grinned when his next attempt was rushed and sloppy, and he was too slow to step away before I grabbed at his arm, ridding him of his lousy weapon.

His eyes widened in surprise when he didn’t immediately turn to ash. Instead, I grabbed at his emotions, and they flooded me with practised ease.

“I’m offended you’d treat one of your own this way. You’ve got no sense of kin, do you? No worries, I don’t hold grudges. Except for Terwyl; he has to die. Coming after what belongs to me is low, even for him.”  I bared my teeth.

The fae in my grasp was no longer afraid of me. No, he wasn’t anything at all but the shell of who he used to be. Empty eyes stared back at me. Even his voice was empty when he said, “Lord Terwyl will come for you.” Then he slit his own throat.

Sinister lowered his knife and raised his eyebrows at me. “What did you do to him?” he chuckled in disbelief.

My grin died on my lips as the hunger I’d been fighting finally settled. “Apparently, I’m half of what he was.”

Kicking the corpse at my feet for good measure, I let out a frustrated sigh.

“When did you plan on telling us?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “I just found out recently. Been soaking it all in, really. I think Isay was the eyeopener.”

Saying her name, I snapped out of the bloodlust and jerked my head toward the car. Her golden-brown head was barely visible through the smashed back glass.

She hadn’t been looking. I thought I’d feel relieved, but what bit at my heart was sharper. Rejection by disinterest. She hadn’t cared if I lived or died. No that wasn’t it. Couldn’t be it. She’d said it herself, that she’d been afraid for me when the delthers attacked. Something else kept her focus.

“Hiko,” I breathed. “Fuck!”

I ran down the road to where the car had slid to a stop and pried the front door open. Hiko was across the centre console, all cuddled up with Regar, and he was fucking fine.

“Getting cosy while the rest of us are doing the hard work for you?” I studied the two males. While Hiko was paler than usual, he didn’t seem hurt. “I could swear I saw a bullet hit you, man.”

Pushing himself out of Regar’s embrace with a blush that striked out on his bleached face. “Got your girl to thank for still being alive.”

“My gir—Isay!”

In the back seat, Isay was staying awfully still. Except for her breathing, which was frantic and raspy. This girl did not know what it meant to take care of herself. No. Hell no. She had to tend to everyone else first. Ripping open the back door next, I squeezed next to her in the back seat while Regar warned me off with, “Don’t touch her!”

Too late, my arms came around her and I pulled her back to my chest where she belonged. Other than a strangely comforting current sizzling through me from the contact, I didn’t sense any danger, nor did her ecos respond to my touch of death. I gave Regar a questioning glare as he huffed out a relieved sigh.

“She’s not wearing the ring. I saw her pull it off to help Hiko,” he explained.

“Shit,” Sinister cursed. He’d been about to get back in, too, but stopped since Isay was now in the middle. “I’ll fucking walk.”

“Take one of their rides.” Regar pointed at the sedans still running idly where they’d rolled through the portal. “Hiko, you’re okay to drive?”

I didn’t care who drove, if Sinister walked, lifted a ride, or stayed the fuck behind. Isay was a mess again, and it was because of me.

“Hey, beautiful, you’re going to be okay. You’ll be just fine.”

“You won,” she croaked with a small smile. “I knew you’d win.”

“Yeah, I won, sweetheart. Took care of it. Now I’ll be taking care of you.”

“You shouldn’t be touching me. I lost the ring.”

My heart hammered in my chest, fear and excitement fighting for attention. The taste of her was at my grasp, but so was her death. She wasn’t dying, though. Swallowing hard, I ran a hand through her hair, “Something is different. You’ve got… a shield?”

That’s what I was feeling. A force keeping me out, keeping her out of my reach. Running my fingers across her cheek, I marvelled at the softness of her skin even as the current sizzled under my touch.

Her eyes fluttered, a soft whimper escaping her lips that got me even more excited as my fear took the back seat.

She had a shield. How? No clue, but there was no way I wasn’t going to take advantage of it. Wait, no. Isay was still off limits, no matter the situation. I dropped my hand but left her leaning against me, too weak to sever the contact completely. I didn’t only need her permission, but also the permission of the king and queen.

“Where did you lose the ring, Isay?” I inquired, partly to keep her talking, partly to get my mind to stop its decline under her bedsheets.

She only mumbled softly. “Can I taste you again?”

Fuck. My world stopped. I wanted to give into her. Her quiet pleas, her every demand, anything she desired. All of it was hers. There was something stirring within her, the same thing that had killed the fae in the club, the same thing that had tried to kill me.

“A little later, beautiful.” My voice was raspy. That’s what her asking for a taste did to me. I’d give her a taste. A taste of all of me, fuck the king’s permission.

“Karmuth?” Her eyes flew open. “I didn’t mean to… I don’t know what got into me. There is this darkness inside. It’s growing every day. I… I think I’m becoming a delther. We’re connected. Somehow, we’re connected.”

“You are not becoming a delther, Isay. Their influence on you is not growing. We are what we feed on, but you’ve got more me in you than delther at this point.”

“I’m becoming a death fae then?” Isay asked.

“You can’t become a death fae, beautiful. It doesn’t work like this.”

“I’m feeling starved.”