Page 100

I beheld it, for a moment, in her eyes. The vision of the two of us, sisters, back-to-back and fighting our enemies. Protecting our family.

But I gestured to the blade. “Watch over it a little longer.” I frowned toward the window, the world beyond. “Until the blood truly needs to begin spilling.”

Until I did precisely what I needed to do.

CHAPTER

23

Azriel

Sweat dripped from Azriel’s brow, his nose, his shoulders as he braced himself on his forearms and held a plank. Even with the crisp autumn day, the sun was merciless and had quickly set him perspiring soon after beginning his morning workout. His stomach muscles trembled, sweat dripping off them, too, and his back strained with the effort of keeping his wings from drooping onto the ground.

Seconds ticked by, one after another. He swallowed down the discomfort, the exhaustion. The sun seared his back, and he swallowed down the heat of that, too.

His shadows kept to the interior of the mountain, avoiding the sunny training area.

He’d awoken this morning hoping, in that second before he opened his eyes, that he’d be at the river house, in his bed, and nothing as catastrophic as last night had occurred. That the morning at the temple, with Bryaxis, hadn’t occurred, either. But he’d scented the familiar red rocks of the House of Wind, felt the clearer sunlight streaming through the wall of windows—he hadn’t bothered to close the drapes—and knew.

It had happened. The swarming fear. Then the desire, the need, the pleasure—and the implosion.

It seemed odd that Velaris, the world, was still standing. That people were going about their lives as usual far below. How could any of that be possible when his own life had been turned inside out?

His arms shook, but he shoved back his heels, willing strength through his legs, his whole body. His chest ached, and it wasn’t just from the position he was holding.

“What happened to training?”

Az managed to lift his head enough to see Cassian leaning against the archway, arms crossed.

“They were done for the day when I got up here,” Az grunted.

He began to lower himself to the dirt, but Cassian said, “Thirty more seconds.”

A commander’s voice. The general of the Night Court’s voice.

Great. Another brother here to rip him to shreds. He refrained from telling Cassian there wasn’t much left to tear up as he obeyed, holding the plank.

“Ten,” Cassian counted down. “Nine . . .”

After his workout ended today, what then? What could he even do that wouldn’t be considered licking his wounds?

“. . . two . . .”

Az gritted his teeth, knowing that Cassian was dragging out the last second, getting five, then ten more seconds out of him, the fucking asshole—

“One,” Cass declared, and Az let himself drop to the dirt. The grit and small stones scraped against his bare torso, little stings that he welcomed.

He buried his head between his arms, Siphons cool against his brow, and panted great, heaving breaths to steady himself.

His shadows remained crouched by the shade of the doorway. He’d never forgive them for last night, for not alerting him when Lucien had been approaching, for causing all this—

“You get thirty seconds down there, then we’re doing another plank.”

Azriel pulled his face off his arms to find Cassian pushing off the archway, stripping out of his own shirt. Lowering himself onto the ground beside Az.

Cassian threw him a grin, spreading his fingers to get into position. “You’re in such deep shit.”

Az blew out a breath through his nose, as close to a laugh as he’d get today. “I know.”