Threads of Fate

Chapter 48 ~ Minds Sundered

    Azael stared after Tissaia's receding form, unable to believe what he'd just heard. This whole time, they both knew their father was planning on murdering him and his family to take the throne, and that he was originally using Tissaia to do it. Their betrothal had been a ploy all along.

    She had known, and she never told him. Never tried to warn him. And when she'd watched him fall apart at his mother's death, when she'd held him for so many hours because he couldn't stand to be alone...because he needed her...she had known. She had known that somehow, her father might have been responsible for Elwyth's death.

    Even after all that had happened between them recently. Even after last night, she hadn't told him. He couldn't believe that she wanted to help Roshan accomplish his goals. He didn't believe that she truly wanted him or his father and mother dead...but she had never warned him.

    The stinging in his eyes worsened, the sobs that flooded him internally threatening to spill out for the first time in centuries. Perhaps they might've, if he hadn't been too stunned by a fist colliding with his jaw. Azael hit the ground tasting blood and spat a mouthful, then shoved to his feet and rounded on Talarion.

    The male was already upon him again. Azael ducked beneath his blow but another one caught him in the gut. He stumbled back, and Talarion's foot slammed into him, knocking him down again. Azael caught his next kick and wrenched him off balance.

    "What the fuck!" He demanded, standing once more. "What the Hel is wrong with you?"

    "What the Hel is wrong with you!" Talarion countered. "You don't get to blame my sister for our father's actions! She never knew the full truth of his plans. How could she have tried to warn anyone without proof to back it up? You wouldn't have believed her before! You don't even believe me now!"

    Talarion shoved him backwards. "You fucking bastard! You have no idea what Tissaia has been through for your sake. You expect her to tell you everything? Have you even asked her what our life has been like?" Azael just took Talarion's next blow. "Every choice we have ever made has cost us both, and so have yours!

    "You had Tissaia all last night, and you still only saw what you wanted to see! Our father wanted to throw you a pretty plaything, and that's exactly what you saw her as. You've probably never noticed how she hides her body, have you? How she covers her back at all times, and has never once trimmed her hair in the centuries you've known her?"

    "You probably didn't even notice all of the scars there, and you certainly never considered that they were given to her because of your actions! Have you ever paid attention to how lightly she sleeps? How she curls into herself as if she's afraid of something coming to snatch her? Our father was that something. I can't even count all the times I had to fight him off of her in the middle of the night because he was angry about something you did, and she was punished for it!"

    "I know you've seen some of my own scars," the male continued. "And yet you never bothered to look for Tissaia's. Who do you think gave them to us? Why do you think she never showed them to you or told you anything about our life? You never asked, because you never cared."

    Talarion shook his dark head and grabbed Azael by a strap across his chest. "Fuck you," the male snarled into his face. "Tissaia and I will finish this on our own. Go back to Arcan, or wherever the fuck you want to, since no one there cares about you either."

    Talarion shoved him aside and strode in the same direction Tissaia had gone. He spared Kahari a warning glare when the female opened her mouth as he walked past. She closed it, and neither of them said a word until the male was out of sight.