Decade | | Azriel

14

Silence settled over the interrogation room.

The male, much to everyone's shock, bowed his head to Azriel. Despite everything he had done to someone Azriel loved so deeply, there was somehow respect in that movement. Azriel couldn't care less about that respect—he still wanted him dead.

"I have no desire for a crown stained in the blood of innocents," Azriel said stiffly, "when I go to your realm and bring her home, I will kill your king and leave your realm in ruins."

"Killing the King," the male began, slow and careful compared to his previous behavior, "is what would give you his crown. You can't have one without the other, Azriel. And the King has bound her imprisonment to his life. As long as he lives, her soul will remain among the shadows."

"Do you doubt that I would slaughter your entire realm for allowing this?" Azriel challenged, eyes alight with the promise of obliteration. "Do you think I would choose to rule you when I could just as easily wipe out your existence?"

"When you kill the King and therefore take his crown, our realm will bow to your will, even if your will is our destruction," the shadow replied, "so if you want the blood of an entire realm on your hands, you can have it."

Azriel showed indifference, but he knew that it would be a stain on his soul to do it. He could kill this creature without regret, but he didn't know if he could follow through on slaughtering the entire realm. His own shadows came from there. Maybe there were others like his. He could kill all those like the one before him now, and spare the rest. But he didn't know how that would work, how he would sort through it. King. How could he be a King?

But he didn't have a choice. If this was the only way to bring Kyla home, he didn't have a choice.

"How do I get there?" Azriel asked, resignation in his voice. He didn't want to do this, but it was all he could do. There was no other option. He had to do this. Maybe he could find a way to hand off the crown to someone else once he freed Kyla. Rhys could rule over a realm, better than Azriel thought he ever could. "How do I go to the shadow realm?"

"Put your hand on the hilt of the dagger I left in your mate. The portal will open for you," the male informed him, pausing before adding to it as if he had been able to read Azriel's thought. "You must understand, though, the Shadow Crown is passed only through bloodshed. You cannot simply hand it off once you take it. Our crown is traded only through death."

Azriel's breath caught in his throat and he hated himself for reacting.

"Our current King has ruled for over ten thousand years, Azriel," the male said, "and when you take that crown, you will rule until you invite someone to kill you. You will live and you will reign for as long as you desire."

Azriel felt like he might throw up but he managed to keep his expression blank.

"When I take the throne," Azriel started, ice in his voice, "my first act as King after I free my mate will be killing you."

"I have been alive to see and serve three kings," the male informed him, that wicked grin on his face again, "perhaps when you kill me, Death will find me a worthy servant."

Azriel stormed out after that, followed shortly by Cassian and Rhys.

"You've been banned from seeing Kyla," Rhys reminded him as they made their way out of the Court of Nightmares.

"I will tell Quyn exactly what that vile creature told me, and she will allow me to see her. She will not deny me the one thing that could save Kyla," Azriel replied without an ounce of doubt. "You both stay behind. I'll return once she's safe."

Neither of his brothers argued.

Azriel made his way to the club, focus narrowed in on this one task. He didn't pass anyone on his way. Most people had opted to stay in their homes for the rest of the day after the hunt Cassian had gone on through Velaris's streets earlier. It was the quietest the city had ever been.

Azriel arrived at the club and was blocked from going in by a wall of solid air. His bones seemed to vibrate with the impact against that wall. He banged on the invisible wall with his fist.

"Quyn," he shouted, his voice raw with misery. "Quyn, please."

"I recall warning the High Lord that I would not react well if I saw you," Quyn said coldly as she appeared in the doorway on the other side to of the wall.

"We interrogated the male who hurt her. He claims the dagger he left in her trapped her soul in another realm," Azriel explained, and Quyn believed him because the pain in his voice couldn't be faked. "I can get to her by setting a hand on the dagger and going through a portal to her."

Quyn gave a nod, and the wall vanished. Azriel's name was crossed off the magical list—for now.

Quyn led Azriel to the healing room that Kyla had been taken to.

"We wanted to take her to her apartment but we feared moving her too much may only make things worse," Quyn muttered, so much misery in her voice. She paused when they reached the room, her expression once again hardened. "Your hands do not touch her, shadowsinger. You can touch the blade, but if your skin touches hers, you lose your hand. Is that understood?"

"Entirely," Azriel said, his voice surprisingly soft. "I will not touch her, Quyn. I swear it to you."

Quyn nodded and allowed him in.

He stopped breathing at the sight of her. He didn't let himself stare too long. He focused instead on the hilt of the blade. His name was intricately carved in the glass, shadows going even wilder trapped in the hilt at his presence.

He was aware of Quyn and the healers watching him closely as he reached out shakily and gripped the hilt. It seemed to sing to him, calling to him like even these imprisoned shadows were ready to bow to him.

The portal opened, a black swirling thing that reeked of wrongness.

The portal remained open when Azriel released his grip on the hilt and he took a step towards it, pausing when Quyn stepped to his side.

"I'm going with you," she said, certainty in her tone.

"Quyn...I need you to be here for her when she gets sent back to her body. I don't know how or when I'll return. Stay for her," he requested, desperation in his voice.

She took a moment to consider before nodding.

"I don't care what you have to do, Azriel, you bring her home," she spoke with conviction, "and you come home too."

"Thank you for the kindness you have shown me, for bringing her into my life," Azriel muttered, "for these last ten years, thank you."

It felt too much like a goodbye, and he didn't give her a chance to respond. He stepped through the portal, it swirling shut behind him.