Page 9 of Burn in Ruin
Frowning, I wondered if I had already fulfilled all of those fears.
Was I really connected to Lily now that she was in a coma because of my failure?
Was I really still sane after everything that had happened?
And the death of her mates… wasn’t that her nightmare come to life?
Clenching my jaw, I faced Azrael with conflicting emotions. “Which theory are you going to test first?”
He tilted his head as his glorious wings spanned menacingly behind him.
Wings that briefly blocked the camera’s view.
Magic swept over us for a moment, creating a sound-proofing barrier that I recognized from the many talents I’d read about when it came to divine supernaturals.
“I’m sorry, Kaito, but this is going to hurt.”
AZRA
Five hours.
It might as well have been five thousand years that I was forced to torture a demon I’d grown to care about.
I never would have expected to struggle to find enjoyment in my favorite sort of torment, but none of this felt right.
Kaito’s mortal form all but hung from him in tatters. His chest, now jutting with broken ribs, heaved as he gulped in air.
Black blood splattered the walls. The floors.
Everywhere.
Even my wings, tarnishing them with dark spots that made me feel like I was the one being Corrupted.
“Give in,” I growled for the thousandth time. “End this, Kaito.”
Kaito could barely move. He gripped the torture chair I’d shoved him into and ignored the nails that sank into his hand.
He lifted his chin and glared at me. One eye had swollen shut, but the other was wide open. The silver scar that ran up his face gleamed with angry power.
He was so close to letting his Kami take over.
He was also very close to dying.
I wasn’t sure which one he preferred more. Pushing him further was a risk that this wasn’t going to go my way.
And for the first time… I feared I’d made a mistake.
“Kaito,” I growled as I decided to give into my last resort. “Don’t make me do this.”
Heat blazed through my body as I summoned my angelic weapon.
The Whip of Penance.
I’d been trying to get him to talk to me in my head again so that we could talk freely, but he’d closed himself off from me the moment the torture had begun.
We were going to have to do this the hard way.
“Do your worst, Az,” he growled, using the shortened version of my name.
