Azriel
~93 days after Hybern~
The cold burned my skin as I rushed toward the manor. It looked like a festering wound in the heart of the Winter Court's frozen forest. My shadows swarmed ahead of me, racing through cracks and crevices, hunting. They tugged and pulled, frantic and erratic, certain this was where she was. They had to be right.
I landed hard in the snow outside the gates, the frozen ground cracking under the force. My siphons flared, the power in them pulsing like a second heartbeat, barely contained. I didn't bother with subtlety. The gates of the manor shattered with one kick of my foot, the wood and iron splintering into the snow.
A guard stood just beyond, his eyes widening as he registered who I was, and who was behind me.
"Where is she?" I snarled, my voice dark, low, vibrating with rage.
He didn't answer—didn't even have the chance. I closed the distance between us in a blink, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him into the wall of the manor. His head cracked against it, and his body went limp before he could so much as draw a blade.
I stepped over him and into the manor, my shadows slithering ahead like hunting hounds, desperate to find her.
Where is she where is she where is she
Doors lined each hallway, each one a barrier between me and her. I didn't stop to check them one by one. I ripped them off their hinges, one after the other, the wood splintering beneath my hands.
She wasn't behind the first, or the second .
My chest tightened, my teeth clenched.
The third door exploded beneath my fist and still—nothing.
I roared in frustration. I didn't care if the whole damn manor heard me. Let them come. Let them all come.
The sound of rushing footsteps reached my ears, and I turned just as two guards rounded the corner. Their swords gleaming in the dim light, their faces hard with determination.
It wasn't enough.
They weren't enoug.
"You have no idea what you've done." I growled, advancing on them.
The first guard swung his sword, aiming for my chest, but I caught the blade mid-air with one hand, the steel cutting into my palm. I didn't feel it. Pain was nothing compared to the fury roaring through me. With a flick of my wrist, I wrenched the sword from his grip and drove it through his throat.
The second guard hesitated—just for a heartbeat—but it was long enough. My shadows lashed out, wrapping around his legs, dragging him to his knees. I didn't bother with mercy as he began to beg. Truth-teller found its mark, and he crumpled to the ground.
More footsteps. More shouts.
Good.
Another group of guards surged into the hallway, their weapons drawn, their faces grim.
"Where is she!" I demanded, my voice a snarl that shook the walls.
None of them answered, instead they charged.
YOU ARE READING
A Court of Watchful Shadows
Fantasy"I don't need to tell you pricks anything, I have my own reasons for being here and they don't concern three idiots who won't-" I was cut off as a force came slamming into me. I look up in anger at the man who was now towering over me, his nostrils...
