Page 63 of The Devil In Blue
“No. I didn’t. That was Father Eli’s business. I wasn’t there.”
I picked him up again and threw him into his too-fancy chair. “Did you know she was mine?”
“I didn’t know! Father Eli said he acquired a fae girl from a woman. I didn’t believe him at first. Fae haven’t been around since the war. You can’t even find them in the dark market these days. But then I saw her. Sh—She needed tending, poor thing.”
I blinked at that strange comment, but I didn’t let it distract from my resolve.
“Tending? Like a fucking stray animal?”
“Look, I only provided the funding.”
“Why?” I snarled.
“I…”
“Why!”
“I—I was dying! No doctor could save me. I needed fae blood. That’s what all the old books said. Fae blood can make you better. Make you live longer.”
The idea made me shake with repulsion. Fae blood. Dark market. Harvesting immortal blood to buy a few measly years of a pathetic, empty life. It was sickening.
“I didn’t touch her when she was in the asylum,” he continued. “That was all Father Eli. He’s the one you should talk to. He had his methods.”
I laughed darkly at that. “Father Eli is dead. And before he died, he confessed a few things.”
I propped my foot against the chair between Lucien’s knees and knocked the whole thing back onto the floor. He screamed again, a sound much too high-pitched for a grown man. Circling around, I crouched down by his head and gripped his chin, hovering over his fear-stricken face.
“Such as how you defiled her body,” I continued, those words stinging my throat. My claws protruded from the tips of my fingers, eager to tear and maim as I stroked his stubbly cheek. “While she was immobile and restrained. Your filth and perversion are all over this house. I can feel it.” My talon cut into his flesh and he writhed, trying to escape the pain. “MyBriar.”
“Wh—What are you going to do?” he said with a shiver, his hands grasping the arms of his overturned seat.
I lifted my bloody talon to my mouth and swiped the acrid blood over my tongue, tasting his deceit all over it.
“I’m going to relieve you of your wrongdoings,” I muttered, a cold chill overtaking me. “For her. For me. For you, Lucien.”
I gripped his head and with a hard tug, I slid him off his chair and swung around to straddle his body.
“You always knew I’d come for her, but I don’t think you fully understood. I am Merikoth. The Keeper of the Dead. The King of the Glyn. The Devil in Blue. Call me what you want for the next few moments that I allow you to live, but it makes no difference.”
“Phariel, save me!” he shrieked before tensing his jaw.
I chuckled at that and shook my head. “He really does have you all believing in his horse shit lies.”
Slowly, I gripped his jaw again and dug my nails into his cheeks, forcing him to unclench his teeth. Then I shoved my fingers into his mouth, prying his top jaw from the bottom one. I ignored the ache in my shoulder where the kelpher had stabbed me. It was nothing compared to the satisfaction I was feeling as I tore into Lucien.
“I’d say sorry, but the truth is, after seeing what Briar did to Father Eli when she discovered the truth, I’m saving you,” I said, watching Lucien’s cheeks slowly split as he squirmed and shrieked in horror. “I thought of bringing you to her so you two could sort this out yourselves, but I suppose I’m merciful. I won’t burn you alive like she did Eli. No… but I will make you look like the monster you are. When I’m through with you, you’ll barely look human.”
Finally, his jaw snapped and the blood that filled his throat turned his screams to gurgles. Blood sprayed across my cheek and I reveled in the coppery heat. Leaning back, I got a good look at the monster before me, thinking, for a brief moment, that I was no better. But at least I could admit it and the difference was, I was a monster for Briar. I always would be. He was a monster for himself.
Arms pinned beneath my knees, Lucien’s struggles did little to help him. I was done looking at him. Done listening to him. I glanced down at his chest and my nose twitched with hate.
“May your sins be washed away in my Labyrinth, Lucien. You can thank the beautiful woman you destroyed for keeping me from just destroying you when you get there.”
I sighed, plunging my talon-tipped fingers into his chest so hard that the bones snapped. His gurgling screams immediately went silent, his lax jaw and flailing tongue flopping to the side as his head fell. I curled my fingers over his heart and squeezed, piercing it. Hot blood soaked my sleeve and the front of my clothes. My wings uncurled from my back and encased me in a temporary tomb with the dead Lucien as I pulled back my hand. Arteries and veins snapped as I plucked it from his chest and, standing, I dropped it like a weed I’d torn from my gardens.
I stood over the carcass beneath me, looking down at the foul sight. It did nothing to relieve the guilt I was feeling. I’d let Lucien and all the others destroy the woman I loved and I hated her for it.Iwas the monster and I’d never forget it. She was too good for me. Too good for Lucien.
But I didn’t have the best track record when it came to morals.
