Page 97 of The Crimson Walls Of Algorath

She stepped into his line of sight and held out a glass to him. “I didn’t think so. Drink up.”

He didn’t take the offered drink. He glanced at it before shaking his head. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

“No.” She snapped her fingers, and one of the guards slipped into the room.

Before he could register what was happening, the guard slammed their fist into Liulund’s stomach. The high fae doubled over with a wheeze. After a moment, he sputtered and straightened…only to be met with another blow. This time, when Liulund’s body caved forward, the guard followed up by cracking their knuckles across the fae’s temple.

Azriel grit his teeth. “What are you doing?”

“Drink.” She held up a hand, the guard stopped, and she offered the glass again.

“I know what you’ve been doing to me.”

Melia’s silver eyes glittered. Anyone who didn’t know her would say her lids lowered with mischief. Azriel knew better. He knew the slight uptick of her lips and crinkle of her eyes meant she had the upper hand.

The guard struck again. Blood dripped from Liulund’s nose. The fae bared his teeth, his body locking up as his attempts to summon his fae magic were kept at bay by the cuffs around his wrists and neck. Every spark seemed to double in on itself, lighting him up from the inside until he let out a groan of pain.

“You’re going to let your little friend pay for your disobedience?” Melia leaned a little closer. “What kind of dhom would that make you?”

Azriel sneered. “I am no prince. He is not my responsibility.”

Her smirk grew. “A monster just like your father.”

The taunt hit its mark. She’d believed him to be in league with his father’s plans all those years ago and continued to see him as nothing more than a gilded pawn. He’d played her game…and lost.

He took the glass from her hand and swirled the blood inside. “Where’d you get it?”

“Don’t think about that,” Melia said with a satisfied tone.

Behind her, the guard stepped away from Liulund, who watched him with curiosity, blood dripping from his mouth. Whatever the high fae saw as he drank from the glass, Azriel wasn’t certain. Perhaps he saw a monster, as so many considered the vampires to be. Perhaps he saw a dhemon with nothing left to lose.

Azriel didn’t know. Azriel didn’t care.

And within a few heartbeats…Azriel couldn’t keep track of anything.

Guests came and went through the dining room. Some stopped to speak with him, but his head felt heavy, and his tongue was like lead. Faces blurred. Hands groped at him, over and under the too-short tunic.

He tried to move away when people got too close. He tried to push away the hands that felt his muscles or tugged on his horns. He tried to tell them to stop, but the words wouldn’t form any more than the movements to separate himself would come.

It wasn’t until he saw her that he felt any semblance of normalcy.

Because the bond would know her anywhere. He could smell her from across the room. The gentle scent of florals. He saw her dark hair cascading around her shoulders loose, and perfect, just like she wore it when they were home together. Just as he liked it so he could run his fingers through the soft curls.

Through the haze, he even heard her soft voice. “Does he know how to complete the oaths?”

Azriel lurched forward, his gaze fixed on her. The words meant nothing. Not when he needed her. Needed to hold her. To breathe her in. To kiss her.

Then she was gone. As quickly as she’d appeared, she vanished.

He blinked, trying so desperately to clear his vision. Fuck the rules. Fuck Melia. Fuck all of them. He wouldn’t let her just walk away.

So he followed her. Out of the dining room, he stumbled into a wall. Someone shouted at him, but he still couldn’t get his tongue under control. If she left him there, it would be because she didn’t care…right?

A gentle hand laid on his chest. He looked down at a curtain of dark curls. Ocean blue eyes. The scent of flowers. It smelled odd. Something wasn’t quite right, but it’d been weeks since he’d seen her. Weeks since he’d held her.

“It’s okay,” she said and laid a hand on his cheek. He leaned into it, as he’d done so many times before, but something about it felt strange. “I’m here.”

Azriel frowned. His brain frantically scrambled to keep up. To find purchase on something, anything to say. To do. He blinked down at her. Her skin was tanner than he remembered. Maybe it was just Melia’s drugs again.

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