Children of Sun and Peace

Chapter 73. - A Plan, A Curse

Freya sat on the small couch in Nolan's little tattoo studio, sipping on her cup of coffee and intently watching Az get his pack tattoo when Connor walked hand in hand with Liv. The rest of the group, just like Freya herself, already had the tattoo done and they were currently playing Monopoly upstairs, much to Nolan's dismay. But given that he was now in his element of putting ink on their skin, he got over it pretty quickly.

"Morning, lovebirds," Freya chuckled and Liv went bright red. Seriously, where was the girl from Moonvalley? Then again from the little Freya did remember, Liv was never a relationship kind of girl. She liked to explore her options as she often put it. It wasn't the sex part which threw her off, it was the feelings that did. Or so Freya assumed looking at her now.

"You're here, good! This means I can get everyone done before we leave for the match today," Nolan noted. Today was the day Freya and Az would find their opponent for the final match. After skillfully eliminating their opposing couple during the banquet, they got to skip the semifinals, but their Delila opponents weren't so lucky. Still, Freya was almost certain that Malakai and his mate would make it through. It seemed almost impossible for them not to. Malakai may not have been good enough to outsmart her or Az, but he practically toyed with the rest of the competition, manipulating them to do his bidding.

"Oh, we're getting the pack tattoo today?" Liv chimed in, suddenly excited.

"Yeah, well you're also getting the Midnight City one. Can't have you running around without it for much longer and I finally got the licence from the Army to do it legally, which frankly is a first," Nolan replied without looking up, his focus still on Az' chest, where he was just finishing the tattoo covering just about the last remaining patch of skin completely untouched by ink prior to this.

"Careful, brother, Midnight City may make a good citizen out of you yet," Azazeal chuckled, making Nolan laugh.

"Brother you and I both know that ship has sailed and sunk a very long time ago. For us both," Nolan replied as he put his tattoo gun away to clean and change needles. Az took that as a sign that he was done and he got up from the chair.

"Touche," he replied and reached out his hand towards Freya, who gladly took it. Then they left the room together, leaving Nolan alone with Liv and Connor. The room was too small to be occupied by five of them anyway. They passed Demi, Lucia, Devan and Aaron on their way, the four of them so focused on the game they didn't even bother acknowledging their alpha and luna. Not that Freya cared for any of that. If she could, she'd go back to the time when they were all equal again. But she understood why the decision to create an official pack bond was necessary. They weren't just a small criminal gang getting by on scraps in Duskfall anymore. And they could never be again.

"What's the plan today?" she asked Az once the door of their bedroom closed behind them. She understood her mate more now. Enough to know there was a reason Malakai was so scared of him. Enough to know Az was always ten steps ahead. Even if he didn't fully figure out the part where he was supposed to fill her in on his own just yet.

"Reading me like an open book now, winter rose?" he teased as he sat down on the bed and watched her pull out her clothes for the day, before he reached out for her and pulled her towards him so that she now stood between his legs, looking down at him.

"I may love you, Az, but I'm not blind. I saw the way Malakai watched you. The way anyone looks at you when they don't know you. I was one of those strangers once. People fear you, that I was always aware of. But Malakai was terrified," Freya said while she played with his hair.

"You love me?" he asked her, like it was the most unexpected thing he ever heard. It almost made her chuckle, but then she realized that in all his confessions to her, she never gave him one of her own.

"Yeah, I do," she said and leaned down to kiss him. And when they parted and she looked at him again, he was grinning in a very unusual fashion.

"Az, you're getting distracted," Freya whined, partly because it was the truth, partly because this conversation was making her insecure.

"Well, you are quite distracting," he shrugged and she gave him a light shove in return. He chuckled again before his face turned serious and he stood up, "but you're right. Let's just say Malakai isn't the only one who can manipulate people."

"What exactly did you do?" Freya asked.

"Well, let's just say I wanted to make sure Malakai makes it into that final match with us. And that he will do so knowing he is going to die," Az replied, his tone serious.

"And how did you do that?" Freya closed the distance between them again and began to trace the tattoos on his chest with his nails.

"I offered his opponents something they couldn't refuse. Something they would be willing to die for while delivering my message to him right in that arena," he said while putting some of her hair behind her ear.

"You offered to protect their families," Freya connected the dots.

"My beautiful, smart winter rose," he said and kissed her, "that's exactly what I did. They will die for a good cause today. Because thanks to them Malakai and his woman will know that when they walk into that arena to face us, they will have to choose between their own lives and the lives of their closest ones," he explained.

"And how will you make that happen?" she looked at him, curious.

"A curse, of course. I may not be able to cast one myself, but they don't call us witchborn for nothing. As long as there is a witch in the city, the Silverstar clan will always have their favor," Azazeal smiled wickedly at her. Ezra's face popped up on Freya's mind. The enigmatic witch who was supposed to be serving the king. The high witch and protector of Midnight City. But of course that meant little when the king was a Delila by marriage and there was a Silverstar running for the throne. It wasn't fair. But then again none of this was. There were no rules in the Royal Trials except for mandatory masks which may have protected the contenders from the public, but did hardly anything to hide their true identity from their opponents, who all came from a military background and knew of each other.

It was a political charade on the front and legally approved bloodshed on the back of it. Delilas and Silverstars knew this better than anyone. In fact Freya wouldn't be surprised if they came up with it to begin with. There was nothing human about this World so far in the North. She knew this of course. After three years, how could she not know? But somewhere deep within her soul, whatever was left of that girl she once was, the girl who grew up in lands full of sun and peace, the girl who was more human than a wolf wept silently for her own innocence.

"Is there anything in this World that can stop you?" she asked him, unsure if she really wanted to hear the answer spoken out loud.

"Aside from you? No," he said and she knew he meant it. Winterlands were the frozen hell of their World and Azazeal Silverstar was without a doubt one of the worst inhumans to ever roam it. Because even if there were many people out there who were angrier, blood thirstier than he was, he actually wielded enough power to burn the World to ashes like ancient dragons once did. And Freya was the only one who could hold him back, the only person who could ask him for mercy. Maybe that's why he trained her, why he helped shape her into the woman she was. Because he knew. Because even in the darkness and chaos of his own existence he decided to give the World just one single shot at facing him.