Page 44 of City of the Lost
“Azren, yes, just like that.”
My pulse skips and my body tightens as I spill my seed into her.
“You’ll come see me again?”
Why does she ask when she knows it is only in her arms I find comfort?
I leave without giving her an answer.
Time, so little time.
My liege is smiling and yet her eyes are filled with fiery vengeance. “I have a surprise for you, my pet.”
A chill slides up my spine and yet I remain impassive.
Someone screams and thenherscent is in my head. She is here. My comfort, my hidden haven. Not a secret any longer. Elora has found her and she is here.
“You’ve been visiting this whore so often I thought I’d do you a favor and bring her to you.” My liege taps her chin with a taloned finger. “But then I thought, Azren is the kind of Shedim who would share his bounty with his brethren, and so I’ve given her to your brothers to play with.”
Another shrill scream, and it is all I can do not to run to her. I lock my knees and remain stoic, for if I move now, if I make a sound, there will be much worse to come.
My liege circles me, slow and deliberate, while screams and grunts echo through the chamber. They have her in the neighboring chamber. They have her, and they are hurting her.
“You don’t mind, do you, Azren?” my liege asks.
A response is required. “No, my liege. I do not mind.”
“You don’t care, do you, Azren?”
“No, my liege. I do not care.”
“Who do you worship?”
“I worship my liege.”
“Who do you desire?”
My throat closes up briefly, but I push out the words. “I desire my liege.”
Her hand is around my throat, her talons sinking into my flesh. “You will go and clean up the mess your brothers have made, and then you will come and show me just how much you desire me.”
I control my heartbeat. I swallow my pain. My liege walks away, but I wait. I wait a long second until I am sure she has gone, and then I run. I run into the neighboring chamber filled with beastly, carnal sounds, saturated with the scent of blood. I tear them off her dazed, abused form.
Her eyes lock on mine, lucidity flaring. She is broken, but there is life in her yet, and they will continue to play, to hurt her.
“Please.” Her plea is a whimper.
“Out of the way, Azren. Ours. Ours to play.” Balen is eager, his sex hard and ready. They reek of carnal hunger. They reek of madness.
I press my talon to her throat and slice it open. Her smile is beatific, and then the others close in, eager to feed.
My liege waits for me, because I belong to no one but her, and no one belongs to me.
“It was awful.”I sipped the hot cocoa Gilbert had made and tucked my feet up onto the leather sofa in the study. The blanket he’d draped over me seemed to adjust itself, but it was Gilbert tucking me in.
“You think it was a memory?” Gilbert asked.
“It has to be. I mean, how would my subconscious even come up with that shit?”
