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11
The next day as they packed bags and readied for leaving, Azrail's mind was still in ruins. Maia had seen him,all of him,and still claimed him. She accepted him despite his faults, despite all his fuck-ups and fears. After the way he'd treated her, she could have ripped the wings off his back, and rightly so, but she'd been gentle when she took control of him.
Az had to physically push the memory of her stroking him, watching him with unwavering eyes, out of his mind or he'd never get anything done.
He tightened the strings of his pack and took a long breath until the haze of lust had faded. Saints, his mate was incredible.
It didn't scare him as much—that word. Mate. He'd always been afraid of letting someone close, allowing them to see all his grief and fury and vulnerable dreams, so he'd guarded himself. But Maia had proven he could let his walls down with a single night.
You're safe with me, Az.
Did she know how powerful those words were? Did she realise they'd stayed with him all night and were the first thing he thought of when he woke? He was safe with her, and it was a realisation that made his head spin. He could let down his shields, and she wouldn't run for the hills at what she found, or sneer at his idealism, or judge him for the lies about his parents, or turn away from the fact that he and Ev were a package deal.
Speaking of Ev...
Her presence was like a wild fire in the corner of the map room, blue eyes blazing in her dark gold face and the firm line of her mouth a deadly warning. She'd quietly accepted the news that she and Zamanya would stay to organise their militia—splitting them into two, so a large force could be smuggled out of the empire and across the Venhausian border in preparation for whatever the hell was happening out there, while the smaller half remained in case Ismene unleashed her monsters on Vassalaer.
He double checked that he'd packed everything and then turned to his sister with a heavy heart. "Let's hear it, then."
"I'm coming with you," she replied instantly, heavy brows low over her eyes as she stalked across the room. "I'm more use to you there than I am here. You don't know what the chasm you're going to find in Venhaus; you'll need a healer. Besides, someone needs to check on Maia's injuries."
"Maia's injuries aren't healing," he replied quietly, locking down his dread so she saw only confidence. "We'll see if we can find a healer while we're in Venhaus."
"Az, don't leave me behind," Ev growled, but there was no missing the sheen across her sapphire eyes.
Azrail expelled a rough breath, feeling like the air had been punched out of him. He pulled her into a tight hug, and held on for long seconds.
"I can't trust anyone else to handle this. You and Zamanya are known and respected; the captains will listen to you and keep the rest of them in line. I'm not the only child of Rosenza Plunaron," he pointed out, squeezing her shoulder.
"So you're saying it's my turn to step up," she muttered.
"I'm asking for your help," he corrected, not hiding any of the raw pleading in his voice. "We can't let whatever's out in Venhaus come here. I owe it to Mum and Dad to make sure it doesn’t. They died because of this, Iknowthey did."
Evrille swallowed and nodded. "What if this is bigger than us?"
"Bigger than saints?" he asked dryly, earning a scowl.
"I'd think you were delusional for believing we're saints stuffed into new bodies if I hadn't seen what you all did to the palace."
He'd been more than a little pissed off to learn she'd snuck out to look at what was left of the foyer and grounds the day after Maia's rescue. The wyverns had made a serious mess of the palace's exterior before they’d vanished. Thankfully, they hadn't shown up since, and neither had Maia's vicious aunt.
"And I think I heard one of them," Ev added, blowing out a breath and putting space between them. Az watched her run her fingers down her thick braid, giving her time to speak. "I thought it was my own thoughts, but now I don't know. It told me to be near the bridge in the council quarter—and then Kheir walked into me."
Az processed that, the idea that the saints were meddling, guiding them all together. But he couldn't be unhappy that they'd saved one of Maia's mates; they were one big family after all, and if she lost a mate, it could break her. Mind, body, and soul—a true severing.
"That sounds like the saints," he agreed, half an eye on Maia and Kheir across the room, talking with Zamanya. "If you'd have ignored that voice, Kheir could be captured now, or dead."
Evrille's expression flattened as she guessed his point. "So you can't ignore the Dagger's advice to go to Vevhaus. Iknowthat, you bastard. I just—"
"It won't be forever," he promised, wrangling his sister back into his arms, her sharp elbows and bony shoulders threatening to bruise him. "Promise."
"If you don't come back, I'm hunting you down in the chasm and killing you all over again," she growled.
"Noted," he replied, squeezing her tight. It occurred to him that as the Wolven Lord's vessel, the chasm was his domain—his kingdom. "I'll keep it cosy and warm for you," he joked, earning a deadly elbow to his gut. He choked on a grunt.
"Something to remember me by," Ev crooned with a fierce grin before she hugged him tighter—for a whole two seconds—and then shoved him away. "Go before I change my mind. And be careful with Maia, Az. Her soul's poisoned; she'll lash out at you, get increasingly irritable and unpredictable. Don't hold it against her, it's not her fault."
Cold slid down Azrail's back, but he nodded. He could be patient with his mate. If she accepted him with all his flaws, he could be mindful of how the iron in her system would give her flaws, too.
