Page 53 of City of the Lost
Valance’s throat bobbed and then he took a deliberate step away from Azren. “I was commissioning another dagger for Azren and Elora found out. She now knows you lost the first one and she’s furious.”
Azren growled and stalked off toward the kitchen, but pivoted on his heel before reaching the door and headed back toward me. “I’ll go alone.”
Valance sighed through his nose. “No. She won’t accept it. She wants to see you both. She’ll want her pound of flesh for the disappointment, for the loss of the dagger, but Wila won’t be her target.” His tone was tight.
“She’s going to hurt Azren?” My eyes were wide. “Hell no.”
Valance frowned, looking from me to Azren and then back again, and then he tucked in his chin and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh, you fool, Azren. What have you done?”
Azren locked gazes with Valance.“It wasn’t intentional.”
Valance exhaled sharply. “No, of course it wasn’t.” His eyes roved to me, skimming over my face. “It never is. But you’ve put her in danger now, and we have no choice but to deliver her into it. If Wila refuses to attend the meeting, Elora will utilize the clause in the contract that allows her to send Shedim to claim her, and Wila will have broken the agreement, which means she’d be back to the original sentence of death.”
“And if she goes, she’ll wish she were dead,” Azren said softly.
This was me they were talking about? My fate, and the possible pain Elora may put me through, but Valance had been certain she wouldn’t hurt me a moment ago, and now, not so much. What had I missed? “Hey, guys. Talk to me, why would she hurt me?”
“I explained this to you already,” Azren said. “I told you what would happen if we went to her emptyhanded.” Azren kept his back to me, but Valance met my gaze, his mouth twisting in annoyance.
“Enough.” He glared at Azren. “Tell her the truth, demon.”
Azren hung his head.
“Fine, I’ll do it.” Valance stepped around him and faced me. “Azren is Elora’s ... pet. He belongs to her. He isn’t permitted to have outside attachments, particularly not the feminine kind.”
Oh, God. My dream. It was real. “She killed one of his lovers.”
Azren turned sharply. “How could you know that?”
I swallowed hard. “I dreamed it. I’ve been dreaming stuff. It’s like I’m in your body when it happens.”
His chest heaved as he stepped closer. “What else have you dreamed?”
I glanced at Valance. “I saw you about to beat Valance.” I winced.
Valance’s face drained of color, and he took several steps back.
Crap, Gilbert had been right. “Oh, shit, it’s true. She made you do that? But why?”
Valance was breathing heavily. “How is this possible?”
The question wasn’t directed at anyone in particular, but I answered anyway. “Gilbert seems to think it may be something to do with the whipping the rogue Shedim gave Azren. The whip touched me too. He thinks it may have linked us somehow.”
“Elora can’t know about this,” Valance said, waving a finger between me and Azren. He pushed past Azren, who was staring at me dumbfounded, and gripped my shoulders. “Do you have feelings for Azren?”
My mouth was suddenly dry and the words failed to come. I slid a glance the Shedim’s way. He parted his mouth as if to speak but then snapped it closed, his expression shuttering.
Valance released me. “Your face ... Not a poker face. She’ll read you like an open book. Fuck.” He looked to Azren. “It’s up to you now. You need to convince her Wila means nothing to you.”
Azren nodded.
“And you,” Valance said. “You’re with me.”
Bossy much? “Firstly, I have an excellent poker face when not taken off guard, and secondly, what do you meanwithyou?”
Azren made a low sound of disapproval in his chest.
“Seriously?” Valance rounded on him. “You want to get all territorial now?”
