Page 98 of Above
Perhaps there was something different we could do with the of eadi. Maybe we had been wrong before, and the stars were trying to tell us something with Tershetta.
Obviously they weren’t as pure as us, therefore less likely to be useful, talented, or powerful. That didn’t mean they had to be…mistakes.
Just thinking it made my skin crawl. It was wrong to suggest they were anything but akhatas. The mere consideration that they could be more was enough to make my stomach twist. All my life I had been reminded that they were worse than eadi. Thieves of our birthright. Poisoners of our dynasty. How could I dare think differently now?
I wasn’t like Cal, who had been so neglected that he hadn’t been properly taught. Nor was I like Talon, who was apparently suffering from traumatic brain damage. Even he didn’t suggest that all of eadi were worthy. Onlyher.
How strange that he seemed to know before anyone else that she was meant for greatness. I hated that he saw it when I didn’t. That he had somehow beaten me in this way.
Sitting up, I gasped at the revelation. The Zade’s would have an upper hand, even if it was a nontraditional one.
Talon had spent the last couple of months gaining her trust and affection. He had steadily become her ally and friend and—albeit, creepy and obsessive—lover. Now, he was fully primed to bring her into his orbit. She’d lose her family eventually, which meant he’d likely have her marrying him within a few years.
“Fuck,” I groaned, rubbing my eyes and then letting my head fall fully into my open hands. This was such a mess.
Suddenly, I could hear shouting from across the hall. Screaming, even. My head flicked up.
Talon only had power for as long as he could keep her. From what I saw during academy, she seemed reluctant to commit. I could capitalize on that.
Priya was going to hate this. Cal would love it though.
Throwing myself off the bed, I darted to the bathroom, summoning the light and then looking at myself in the mirror.
When Tershetta stared at me, where did her eyes go? Usually mine. But she seemed to regularly look at my hair, too.
Not knowing how much time I had, I chose to make the messy style of my hands running through it look more intentional, parting strands and flattening others. Then I splashed my face with water I summoned up the pipes and dried it with a towel.
My lips were dark from worrying them, my cheeks sporting a rare pink hue. I already wore my training uniform, rings on and cloak ready on the hook near the door.
“Okay, Az, time to get to work,” I told my reflection.
Making my way to the door, I adjusted and straightened my clothes, making sure every piece was in place. Then I grabbed my cloak and secured it, smiling at the sound of Talon’s furious shouts.
He’d make it so easy.
Opening the door, I readied to win overmyLittle Void.
Father was livid.
Our tea room was in shambles, three servants dead on the ground where he had ripped them to shreds. Blood and innards were staining mother’s silver rug, so she had left crying.
Now, with no one else to turn on, he faced me.
“You will fix this, Azazel,” he ordered. I stood there, my mask in hand, still riding the high of graduation and the conversation with Tershetta, unsure what to say.
His pale face was splattered with gore, his right hand holding a dagger with a hilt shaped like a snake and his left hand gripping his thick glass of bourbon. His thin lips and pointed nose were made even more menacing by the shadows of the singular light above us. As he began approaching me, I wondered if he’d finally give in to his incessant urge to kill me.
“From here on out, it will be your job to make this right. You’ve failed our family, and now you’ll be the one to save it.” Why had I expected him to take accountability before? Of course he’d still blame me. How could he not when the only other option was to accept that he was at fault?
Did I tell him my plan? Explain that bringing Tershetta into our family was our only hope of maintaining control and rewriting the narrative?
Now or never, I supposed.
“What if I married the akhata?” I asked. He froze, his eyes looking distant as they blinked. When he appeared to register my suggestion, his anger seemed to double. He took the glassand threw it at me. I didn’t dare dodge it, letting the glass smash into my forehead.
The pain was instant and excruciating, my vision blurring and my head immediately aching. Blood poured down my face, burning my eyes and leaving a metallic taste in my mouth. I allowed myself only a moment to feel the pain as I bent in half, then I stood up, wiped my eyes, and looked forward.
“You idiot! Sullying yourself won’t solve any of our problems!” he screamed, getting so close that his spit sprayed across my bloody face.
