A fucking joke.
Aziel opened his eyes to the smell of patchouli wafting his senses, his head already pulsing and nausea coursing through him from the memorythat plagued his dreams. He looked around Camalia's room, shame weighing heavy at his shoulders, those words lingering like burn.
The night before he took her into the Beyond, when the guard standing at his father's office door had called her a slur, he'd left the room to take care of it. Only to be met with the nightmare that was his reality.
Oran meant well. He always did, but he had very horrible timing.
Aziel would love to claim Nymiria as his mate, but his denial would save her from all of this—from having a mate that was not worth more than a piece of meat for the queen to hump whenever she desired. The thought of it made his skin crawl.
He righted himself as she approached, smoothing the look of disgust he wore to the image of calm acceptance. She leaned against the edge of the chair he was waiting for her in, a single finger curling around a lock of his hair.
There was nothing he hated more than this.
Camalia leaned closer to him, breathing him in, the sultry look on her face shifting to one of anger. He felt her go rigid against his arm. “Good gods. You smell likeher.”
“I carried her out of the forest, Camalia. Her blood got on me.”
“No,” sharp nails curled around his chin, jerking his face in her direction. “No, it’s not her blood I smell, Aziel. Youfuckedher.”
“I swear on everything I hold dear to me that I did notfuck her.”He gripped her wrist, yanking her nails away from his chin. Skin tore, blood bubbling up in those very crescent shaped marks. “Don’t touch me like that again.”
She let out a breathy chuckle, eyes roving over his face before settling on his lips. “Getting brave, are you?" She hummed, one brow quirked in surprise before she leaned down again—her lips grazing his ear as she spoke. "I can fix that." Pain flared up his spine, white exploding behind his eyes as the invisible fire spread from his runes and pushed into each layer of flesh and muscle, pulsing through his veins until he was paralyzed in torment. Aziel lurched forward, folding into himself as her dark magic filled him.
Chapter 18
Desi crushed Nymiria in her arms, wrapping her up in an embrace so tight that the air could hardly enter her lungs. She gave a strained chuckle, pressing her forehead to Desi’s shoulder before pulling away.
“Are you alright?” Her friend asked, thumb grazing over the slash on her face. “Trio told me the plan to get you back here, but you look like you’ve been through utterhell.”
The furthest thing from it.
Having been in Yaar for only a few hours, she’d been stripped and searched, and forced into a chastity belt. Oran was said to be the only one that held the only key. Which was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because she now knew that he was doing everything in his power to help Aziel so they were theoretically all on the same side, and a curse because she didn’t really enjoy the thought of having him unlock it every night.
Thankfully, the new markings Aziel had given her were concealed by the layers of dirt and grime they’d smeared all over her. The guards that searched her were quick and careless, really. Only searching for new runes and weapons. She had nothing new to show them in that respect.
But she hadn’t been through hell at all, not beyond these walls. Her brief time in the Beyond was akin to melting out of a glamour at the end of a long day. Like removing her corset and filling her lungs with a large gulp of air for the first time in hours.
She had been completelyfree.
“Let’s get you cleaned up.” Desi whispered solemnly.
Nymiria hadn’t realized she looked so sad, she believed in her ability to mask her emotions for the most part, but there was a deep and separate melancholy inside of her that seemingly insisted on rising to the surface.Seeing the Beyond, being in the place she’d only seen in dreams for the last ten years, roused so many emotions inside of her—memories of her guard, of of the friends she once had, of the life she'd had before.
That comforting warmth settled over her chest again, erasing the dull ache around her heart completely.
Nymiria sighed. “A bath would be nice.” She grumbled, reaching down to knock on the harsh metal enclosed around her lower half. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure how long that will be.”
Desi waved a hand at her, flashing a mischievous grin before digging into her pocket and procuring a silver key. "Aziel slipped this to me on my way up. You're as good as free."
Although it was peculiar that Aziel was in possession of the key instead of Oran, Nymiria shrugged it off, giving her thanks to Desi before she took the key into her hands and unlocked the belt. The moment the metal loosened from her hips, she let out a sigh of relief and kicked the contraption as far away from her as she could.
She washed herself over and over again until the feeling of Dorid's clammy hands and the smell of metal were cleansed from her skin. The dirt and grime that she and Aziel had spread all over her body turned the water brown within minutes. Another two tub-fulls of water later, Nymiria deemed herself clean enough and walked out into her rooms, throwing herself onto her bed.
It wasn't nearly as soft as Aziel's bed and if she had to guess, it would have to have been due to the difference in materials. All the beds in Yaar were stuffed with straw—hard and with very little bounce. Whereas Aziel's bed was surely stuffed with goose-feathers and more than likely sewn together by fluffy white clouds.
Everything here smelled like fatty meat, smoke, and damp, porous stone. The Beyond smelled like cherry blossoms and warm teas, like blooming flowers and grass and…
No. Loving that place had only ended up with her disappointing everyone. She didn't want to go there. Shecouldn'tgo back.
