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“What? You’re not going to deny it?” Az asks. “Oh, that’s right. I forgot you fae are cursed with the inability to lie.”
“You speak as though you’re not the one who blackmailed Ophelia, the one whose plot ended up with her dead,” Fin says through his teeth.
Az taps his fingers against his side. “Yes, but I’m not the one who touched her, am I? And as much as you’d love to hate me more than you hate him, you just can’t quite burn the image out of your mind.”
I don’t know what I’m expecting, but it’s not Dinah’s voice, piping up for the first time. “Az, stop.”
Az glances at his best friend’s little sister, a softness overcoming his features that I’ve only ever seen him use when referring to Asha.
“Dinah, I know this family has taken you in over the past year. But you have to know, better than anyone, what they’ve done to Asha. She’s changed in the time she’s been with them. I know you know what I’m talking about. They took the Asha we knew and loved and replaced her with…with…”
“With someone who has enough self-respect not to fawn over the likes of you,” Dinah says, each word carefully placed.
Az’s eyes narrow.
“If you wanted me to support you, you probably shouldn’t have kidnapped me and trapped me in a cave with a bunch of mercenaries,” says Dinah.
“We both know I never would have let you come to harm.”
Dinah, sweet, quiet little Dinah, scoffs.
“Though I suppose,” Az says, his sage-green eyes sliding to Fin, “I can see why you feel the need to defend Fin’s hatred of his brother, to change the subject. Does it remind you that you’ll always be the second choice?”
Dinah and Fin both go still, but it’s Lydia who speaks. “Are you going to get around to killing us, or do you have a few more souls you’d like to crush first?” She even has the audacity to sound bored.
“You’re probably right.” Az sighs dramatically, then turns, locking his eyes on me. “Thanks for bringing them to me, Blaise. I never would have known if it weren’t for your message.”
CHAPTER 102
NOX
I watch faces turn toward Blaise, Az’s words replaying in my head, threatening to undo me.
He thanked her.
This monster thanked her.
“You. You tricked me.” It’s Dinah speaking now, her voice trembling with what I first think is despair, but now recognize as anger. The type of anger that usually gets pent up for years before truly revealing itself.
Blaise refuses to look at Dinah. Instead, she keeps her neck long, barely breathing as she looks at Az.
“I thought you might need my help one of these days,” says Az, a smile staining his lips that I’d like to wipe right off of him.
“Blaise.” My mate’s name escapes my mouth, almost involuntarily.
The way she shakes her head is almost imperceptible in the dim torchlight.
Almost.
“I assume this is payment enough,” she says, refusing to look at her friends.
Dinah’s weeping now, mumbling something about her sister. Lydia curses under her breath. Fin still looks stunned from his heart being borne out for all to hear, but he wraps an arm around Dinah all the same, pulling her into his chest while she cries.
All of this, I keep track of with my peripheral senses.
But it’s Kiran who I have my eyes locked on.
Because he’s pinning Blaise with his stare.
