Page 19 of Beyond the Darkness

The comment she had made caused Rose to return a small giggle. The smile on the girl’s face was precious. Aerilyn found it hard to imagine that the two people before her were related. “Are you going to be his girlfriend? I think he needs one of those. Maybe he’d be happier if he had someone to love besides me,” Rose blurted. Aerilyn’s cheeks flushed at the comment, not once considering that the king of Korth could be lonely. He could easily have any girl in the kingdom, but he was too moody for anyone to want to stick around. “Rose…” Azazel’s tone changed as he growled the warning. “No, Rose. I’m not going to be his girlfriend. Your brother and I are just friends,” she tried to shut the conversation down, but the girl only looked disappointed. “That’s so sad. You would be such a pretty queen,” Rose wasgiggling again, hiding a hand over her mouth as she did. It was adorable in every sense.

“Rosie, I think it’s bedtime. There are some things Aerilyn and I need to talk about. It’s much too late for a kiddo like you to be awake,” Azazel stood from the armrest and moved towards the girl. He held out a hand towards her and she let out a whine before taking his hand. “At least tuck me in,” she gave him little doe eyes that would make anyone’s heart melt. He nodded his head without hesitation before shooting Aerilyn a glare. “Don’t move. I’ll be back,” he spoke and the warning in his voice was enough to make a shiver run down her spine. She set down the cup of tea that she hadn’t taken a single sip of before she saw the girl move towards her. “Can you come with us? I want you to tuck me in too,” she reproduced the same doe eyes at Aerilyn. She wanted to decline the offer, but she couldn’t help giving in. The girl didn’t seem to have a female figure in her life. She hadn’t heard about the queen of Korth or seen the royals’ mother.

Aerilyn lifted her gaze to Azazel’s for permission. She wasn’t sure why she did so. He clenched his jaw before he slowly nodded his head once. “Of course I’ll come,” she smiled at Rose and the girl beamed with excitement. She grabbed Aerilyn’s hand as she stood from the couch. She followed behind the child, letting her lead her towards her bedroom. When they left Azazel’s room, Rose’s was directly across the hallway. It made sense that he kept his sister so close to him. She was obviously extremely important to the king.

When they entered the room, Aerilyn was in awe. She’d never seen such an elaborately decorated bedroom before. It was all colored in a soft lavender purple, giving it a warm feeling that she’d never experienced. It felt like a home. She had a large bed with four tall posts that had curtains draped over the edges. It was the room of a princess, to say the least. Rose ran ahead of them, jumping into the bed as she wiggled under the covers.Azazel was close behind her, pulling the covers up to her chin. Aerilyn stood awkwardly at the end of the bed, watching the moment between the two.

“Goodnight, my sweet Rose,” he placed a kiss on the top of his sister’s head. The kindness he displayed caused Aerilyn’s heart to ache. He stepped away from the bed, glancing over at Aerilyn. “Your turn,” Rose called out, pulling Aerilyn back to reality. She moved around to the edge of the bed and leaned down to the girl. She kissed the top of her head as Azazel had done, a warmth filling her. It brought her back to when her mother used to kiss her goodnight. Before she could pull away, she felt small arms wrap around her neck in a tight hug. The action surprised Aerilyn, but she quickly returned the hug. She squeezed the small frame of the child, rubbing her hands over her hair to smooth it out. “Goodnight, little flower,” she whispered against the girl's hair, giving her a nickname that her mother had called her. She let go of Rose before she stood, nodding once to Azazel as they both exited the bedroom.

“What the hell was that?” Azazel’s voice snapped the moment they were out of earshot of the bedroom. “I- She asked and I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry. I didn’t know she even existed,” Aerilyn felt her cheeks get hot with frustration. “Little flower? You acted as if you cared for her. Rose is sensitive and I don’t need her getting attached to you. Stay away from the child,” the anger in his voice only seemed to grow. “I didn’t mean any harm, Azazel. It won’t happen again,” she sighed as she gave in to his words. It was an argument that she would never win. Submission was much easier than dealing with an angry king.

“Why are you showing up at my bedroom door in the middle of the night?” Azazel’s entire demeanor changed as he tilted his head to stare at her. She took a step away from him, feeling uncomfortable under his predatory gaze. “I’d rather not talk about this now. It was a mistake,” she bit her bottom lip,trying to find an excuse to get away from him. She wanted to confront him, but she knew he was already angry. “Then let's get you back to your room. I need to make sure you’re not wandering off during the night,” he sighed, running his hands through his hair.

Aerilyn was silent as she walked beside Azazel. His presence spoke for itself. She wasn’t sure what was going through the man’s mind. She was reminded of why she had come looking for Azazel so late in the night. Remembering the events of the day made her fists clench and a wave of anger rushed over her. She knew two things for certain: Bastian was dead and Azazel was responsible for his death. She slowed her pace, letting Azazel’s long strides carry him a few feet in front of her. She felt the weight of her dagger on her thigh and let her fingertips curl around the hilt. She only had one chance for this and knew she couldn’t fuck it up. Aerilyn drew the dagger and threw the entirety of her body weight into the man from behind. If Azazel had seen her actions coming, she knew he would’ve easily been able to fight her off. The unexpected attack gave her a small advantage over him.

The two tumbled to the floor, hitting the stone harder than she’d intended. She landed on top of the man, her weight pressing down on him as she straddled his back. She grabbed a fistful of his white locks, tugging his head back as she pressed her blade to his throat. Her chest rose and fell quickly from the actions, trying to regain control over her breathing. A small chuckle escaped the man below her, but he did not attempt to move away from her grasp.

“What do you think you’re doing, little doll?” Azazel’s deep voice made a shiver run down her spine. “Why did you do it?” She growled. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he tried to play it off which only sparked more frustration within the girl. “Don’t play dumb Azazel. You were in my head. You helped me,but you let one of my friends die. You killed Bastian. You killed the man who saved my life,” Aerilyn’s voice broke as the stream of words came falling from her lips. She pressed the blade harder against his throat, feeling a small drop of blood hit her hand as she broke the skin.

“I did no such thing. You all agreed to these trials. I cannot save your friends when they fail to meet the task given. We made a deal, I’m only upholding my end of the bargain. Which might I remind you that you have failed to do,” she could hear the arrogance in his tone. “You’re a monster!” She cried, the emotions beginning to consume her. The dagger in her hand was capable of slitting his throat, but the king of Korth made no attempts to fight her hold. She knew he could escape her easily, but he didn’t think she’d do it. That thought only made her want to go through with harming the man.

“If you want to see a monster, Aerilyn, I can show you just how terrible I can be.”

Aerilyn felt the threat in his words as his body seemed to tense beneath her. “Don’t fucking move,” she snapped, pressing the blade tighter. “I will end you right now,” she gave him her threat. Azazel laughed, the deep sound was almost as beautiful as it was evil. “Little do you know I’m into this doll. I find having a blade pressed to my skin incredibly sexy, especially when it’s you wielding the dagger,” he hummed, his words vibrating through her.

It all happened so fast, she couldn’t process it.

Within a second, Azazel had her knife in his hand. He rolled them over so that her back was pressed into the stone before he straddled over top of her. His eyes narrowed at her as a small smirk played on his lips. One of his hands captured hers and pinned them above her head. She tried to wiggle from his grasp before she felt the prick of the blade against her jaw. “The question is… Are you?” He lowered his face to hers, running theside of the blade along her cheek. There was a devilish look in his eyes, the same one that had been there when he waved the antidote in front of her. He enjoyed playing with her life and his expression showed just that. “I could cut you up into a million little pieces. I could drain every drop of blood from your body with little effort. But that would be such a waste…” he trailed off, his eyes running over her as he dragged the blade further down her body. Aerilyn didn’t move as she felt the tip of the dagger run down her throat and down the valley between her breasts. “Get the fuck off of me, Azazel,” she hissed, shooting him a glare.

Aerilyn wanted to scream for help, but she knew help wouldn’t come at this hour of the night. She debated trying to summon the light that had erupted from her the last time she was in danger. It was a possibility, but she was also afraid of the damage it may cause to her own body. “I like you in this position. Completely under my control. One little slip and I could end you. Oh, how the roles have reversed,” he continued to run the blade down to her belly button before he dragged it back up the same path. She jerked her body, trying to pull her wrists from the hold he held on them. He clicked his tongue and shook his head at her attempt to escape. “Don’t make me hurt you, love. As much as I like watching you squirm, I’m quite angry. You drew blood on me and ruined my shirt,” he challenged, anger flashing in his eyes. She almost laughed at the thought of the man being angered by a ruined shirt. He was a king. He could afford plenty of shirts.

“What do you want from me?” Aerilyn clenched her jaw, trying to hold back any other words that threatened to escape her mouth. “I want you to get me more information from your prince. You’re only alive because you’re useful to me. If you don’t get me the information you’ll no longer have use and may just find yourself dead in the last little game. I will break you, Aerilyn. Do not cross me again. You will find that next timeI won’t be so pleasant,” he lowered his face to hers, dropping the dagger as his hand squeezed around her throat. She tried to breathe, but her airway was completely cut off. She struggled against him, kicking her legs violently. Her cheeks got hot as she began to see black dots clouding her vision. She felt like she was on the verge of losing consciousness.

Azazel loosened his hold at just the right moment, allowing the air to flow back into her lungs. She coughed hard as he moved off of her chest, allowing her to sit up as she struggled to regain air. “Just remember that your life is in my hands. I own you now, little doll. I can take your life away that easily,” he bit his lower lip as he pushed himself to his feet, his eyes roaming over the entirety of her body. “Now go back to your prince and warm his bed. I’m sure he’s missing his whore. Use that pretty body of yours to get me what I want,” he gave her a wink before he turned on his heel and left her alone in the dark hallway. She continued to claw at her throat, gasping for air. His words echoed through her mind as she grabbed her dagger, debating chasing after him. Her hatred for the man only seemed to grow as she watched him walk away without a care in the world. As if he didn’t just threaten her life.

Chapter Twenty Seven

Aerilyn

Sweat trailed down her brow, her eyes burning from the salty liquid. She blinked away the pain as she circled Blaise in the small sparring ring. “Come on, princess. I know you can do better than this,” he teased her with an arrogant smirk. Blaise was more fit than she was. Even though her father had taught her how to wield a blade, Blaise was a weapon himself. “Stop running your mouth,” she groaned, rolling her eyes as she panted for air. They’d been at it for hours in the blasting heat. Most of their sparring consisted of Blaise knocking her on her ass and beating her with the sparring stick. “You’d be the first woman to complain about my mouth,” he joked, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “You’re disgusting,” she pretended to gag. “You wouldn’t say that to your prince who’s been sleeping inyour bed would you?” He raised a brow. Aerilyn’s eyes went wide as the words left his lips. She knew that he and Brinley probably had caught on to the two of them, but his making the comment about something sexual between her and Everett made her flush with embarrassment.

Aerilyn tried to find a response for Blaise, unsure of how to defend herself against the comment. It was truthful after all. She couldn’t deny her relations with Everett now that they shared a bed. She still hardly knew what they were. She didn’t know what to consider their dynamic. She was thankfully saved by Brinley running towards them, stepping into the ring. “What the hell, Brinley? Get out of the way. I’m trying to beat Aeri’s ass,” he jokingly yelled at the girl. The two of them also had a dynamic going on that she couldn’t quite understand. They’d all developed a deep bond. The loss of Bastian only pulled them all closer in fear of losing another one of them.

“They just brought in another group” she bent over, gasping for air. She was completely out of breath from running, her cheeks more flushed than her usual rosy cheeks. “What are you talking about?” Aerilyn’s eyes widened as she tried to process what the girl was trying to say. “There’s another group. Five of them. They were sent from Orissia. The guards found them and just brought them into the dungeons,” she tried to explain the situation, but it was all so confusing. “It hasn’t been six months yet?” Blaise looked between them as they all tried to understand.

“What’s going on?” Everett approached the group, confusion written across his features as he left his throwing knives behind at targets. “They sent another group out from Orissia. The guards just found them roaming outside of Korth,” Brinley re explained to him. They all exchanged a silent look, trying to consider what that meant. “We need to question Azazel. We need to get any information that we can on this,” Aerilyn ran her fingers through her hair, the braid falling loose.“He’s not going to tell us anything,” Blaise shook his head in disagreement. “He will. I’ll make sure of it,” she tried to convince the others, but they all had a weary expression. “How are you so sure?” Brinley tilted her head. “Because he has an odd obsession with her,” Everett spoke, his eyes only locked on Aerilyn’s. “We can use that to our advantage. We need to find out what is going on here,” Brinley ran her hands over her face in frustration.

The entire group was a mess after losing one of their friends. It made everything too real. She needed to find out what was going on with the new people from Orissia who had arrived in Korth. The odds of them being from the last mission seemed slim. The king must’ve sent out a new group early which meant he was desperate. That led her to believe that something had happened. “I’ll go talk to him. I’ll find you all when I get some information,” she looked between her companions before setting her sparring stick back on the rack where it belonged. A hand grabbed her wrist and she whirled around to meet Everett’s eyes. “Please be careful, darling. Azazel is dangerous. I refuse to let anything happen to you,” he squeezed her hand tight before pressing a kiss on her lips. The kiss, even as short as it was, made her melt inside. Any time he touched her, it felt like she was floating on a cloud. “I will, I promise. I’ll come back to you the moment I can,” she squeezed his hand in return before she went off on her search for the king.

Aerilyn had been wandering the palace hallways in hopes of finding Azazel. He hadn’t been in his room, which wasn’ta surprise. He was dealing with torturing new prisoners from Orissia. She found her feet wandering towards the dungeons. She hadn’t returned to the horrible place since they’d been released. That was the only other place she guessed that the man could be. She looked down the darkened staircase that led deep under the castle. She sucked in a deep breath before starting down the stairs. The cold air hit her skin quickly. The light around her was sucked away and darkness began to fill her vision. She could hear voices deep within the dungeon. She tried to remember the route of tunnels that led to the prison she had been trapped in. She followed the sound of voices, her hand placed on her dagger. The comfort of the blade was enough to push her to keep walking forward.

“They won’t talk. We need to get the Neuro down here,” a deep voice spoke, echoing off the walls. “Call him. I don’t have time to play these games,” she recognized the second voice. Azazel. She rounded the corner and found him casually standing with his arms crossed over his chest speaking to a guard. The two of them snapped their attention to her and anger took over Azazel’s features. “Leave us,” he motioned to the guard and the man walked away without any protest. Azazel approached her, his arms staying crossed. He was much more intimidating in the darkness.

“What are you doing down here?” Azazel stopped in front of her, their toes almost touching. “I heard that you brought in another group from Orissia. I wanted to get information on what’s happening. You wanted me to get information for you from the prince, but maybe if you let me talk to them they’ll tell me something willingly. They know my face from my Choosing Day. They might trust me more than any of your guards. You can only torture so much information out of someone,” she tried to reason with him. She hadn’t thought any of that through. She pulled the idea out of her ass, hoping the king would fall for heract. He let out a sigh before slowly nodding his head. “As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right. Don’t do anything stupid or I will have to slit your throat,” he warned before turning on his heel. She followed him down the long hall before he stopped in front of five cells that contained faces she didn’t recognize.

“Give me your dagger. I don’t trust you with that right now. You can have it back after you’re done talking to them,” he held his palm out. She wanted to protest, but she knew they needed that information more than anything else. She slid the knife out of his holster before placing it into his hand. She turned her attention to the dirtied, bloody people that were chained up inside. One of them looked up at her and their expression changed.

“You… You were a Chosen. Aerilyn?” The stranger observed and she nodded her head. “Is the prince here too?” The man questioned, crawling closer to the bars. She slowly squatted down before him, looking at him through the bars. She didn’t recognize his face, but he knew who she was. “He’s here. Four of us are still alive. We’ve been here in Korth all this time,” she tried to give them some information, but not everything. She wanted to trust them, but they were still strangers. Even if they came from Orissia, they couldn't all be trusted.

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