Purchased
ASH
My body goes cold. “What madness are you speaking, Azrael? Do you think to trick me into supplying your aid? Because I will strike you before you can so much as shift your dick into the air if that is the case.”
Azrael’s face loses the usual amusement it is wont toward, his golden eyes banking dark as his pupils grow into reptilian slits. “Trick you, no. Purchase you. Yes.”
“What could you possibly have to barter with?” My hackles raise and sharpen as I study him in wonder. “You had better start talking or I might have to assist my lochness companion in procuring his very next meal.”
Azrael whispers, “The day after you left I heard a rumor… one that since then has been verified as truth. Would you like to know what it is?”
“Azrael…” I warn, dark energy roiling at my fingertips.
Fire blazes in his eyes as his muscles rock up, his body preparing for me should I decide to attack. “You’ll not attack me for many reasons, but the most important one being this… I know your betrothed’s secret. I know whom she really is. And unless you want everyone else to know too, you will renegotiate!”
Damn him.
I feel Laksha and Bregda tense up behind me, despite that we are not connected by anything other than purpose. It’s there in the tremble of their horseflesh and in the way they suddenly cease breathing.
I think of my peasant and what she might say. Think of her sister whom we once rode for and Dionie who walks virtually alone and I curse the Goddess above.
“In the words of another prince I once knew,” I say, mocking him. “You’ll have to take that up with my queen.”
Azrael smiles bright and mischievous, the lowlife bastard. “There is more. It was said that the mortal girl taken by Winter Fae has escaped. That she is on the run.”
I snort, “Impossible. A human on the run in Faery? By herself? She is dead then. The Winter Queen probably found out she was not who she thought her to be and then murdered her.”
“Perhaps,” Azrael chirps. “Or perhaps she travels with another. One who is an enemy to my court. The Prince of Winter himself, they say.”
”They, apparently, say too much. Come now, Azrael. Since when do you fall prey to meaningless talk,” I bark giving him my back as I prepare to remount. “That bastard has even less of a soul than I do.”
“It was the Shadow Witch, Anhiyeelde, that visited that morning after you left,” Azrael says coolly. “And it is her tale I tell you now.”
My body freezes and when I turn to face him there is a new wariness in my eyes. “Go on… speak.”
Azrael nods. “It is the witch who told of the girl’s escape. Speaking in riddles and foreseen truths. So naturally, I set out to track her and that… scum. Truth be told, I still track them. But it is upon my visit to the border of the Winter Realm, that I saw it.”
“Saw what?” I ask, fear rising against my spine.
Azrael growls, “The armies of winter preparing to march. Their numbers are great behind their queen who rallies them. Much greater than the platoon her bastard son attacked us with. It is my belief she played us the fool. She wanted to appear weak. She wanted my mother emboldened and thinking we could beat her easily. In that, the Winter Queen has succeeded. My mother refuses to see what is right in front of her eyes. Yet, the Prince of Winter was not among their ranks when I sat at the edge of their land watching. So I believe what the witch said and when I capture him and the girl… I’d like to strike a bargain with you.”
My mind reels, thoughts of Daphne, of finding her at the forefront of my mind although I know that if she were present… if she were here… she would beg me to go after her sister. But… I cannot. Daphne’s safety comes first. I will not stray from the new course I have set myself upon. I cannot.
For one, I long to have her in my arms again.
She carries my child for Goddess sake, surely she will forgive me for what I decide next.
Locking eyes with Azrael, I say, “You spoke of a purchase to be made. What might that be?”
He grins. “They travel by winged beast toward the Sky Realm,” he confides in me. “I have already scented them in the air. That is why their tracks were not followed by her cold majesty and that is why she blames another for the disappearance of both the girl and her son. I will capture them and when I do, I expect your armies at my back as an ally.”
Knowing that my curse is now broken and that I am no longer in charge of such things, I nod. “Then you shall have it. Rescue the girl, and every vessel under my command is yours.” For I have no armies anymore. My mother commands them now.
“The witch spoke of an unknown ally hiding in plain sight. Someone who the Winter Queen will never see coming. Someone she should fear.” Azrael’s eyes sparkle with satisfaction as he begins his half shift in front of me. “And I do not believe she spoke of that bitch’s son.”
Daphne. He is speaking of Daphne. Damn him.
“One more thing,” Azrael says, as he swings himself back up onto the highest Marrow branch. “The head the armies of winter shouted for was not my mother’s.” His eyes go full on dragor. “It was yours.”