Page 141

Taly. They wanted Taly.

But he would never give her over to them. He would die first.

Skye snarled, and then spat in the man’s face.

To which Vaughn responded by giving him a shake so vicious, it made his vision blur at the edges.

“It seems you need some time to think on the matter,” Vaughn said.

The world was going dark now.

“We’ll see how you feel when you wake up.”

Vaughn was still talking, but the words became garbled and twisted as Skye finally gave himself over to the pain.

I’m sorry, Taly.

Skye closed his eyes, knowing he wouldn’t find the strength to open them again. He had come so close. So close to finding her…

But in the end, he was the one that had led the wolves straight to her door.

Two figures watched from the shadows.

Watched as the burly shadow mage finally released the boy.

Continued watching as he slumped to the floor, unconscious and barely breathing.

The burly mage’s afterimage began to flicker, and Azura decided it was time to intervene.BeforeVaughn managed to beat Skye’s unconscious figure to a bloody pulp.

Taly would be very unhappy if she allowed that to happen, and Shards that girl was bothersome when she was unhappy.

And loud.

Bringing her hands together, Azura began to clap, slow at first but gaining speed as she stepped from behind the throne, Leto following close behind.

“Oh, that was marvelous,” she trilled, enjoying the look of befuddlement—and yes,fear—that quickly twisted the mage’s expression. It had been far too long since anyone had properly feared her. The fairies tried, but it wasn’t genuine.

Smiling a bit wider, she loosened the damper on that power she usually kept leashed so tightly, letting it expand to fill the space around her.

“How…?” Vaughn stuttered, blinking furiously. As though he could make her go away. “This is impossible. You’re dead.”

“My dear, you really shouldn’t listen to rumors.” Azura stepped around… what was her name again? Carin? Yes, she stepped around Carin’s body, and a slight tug on her magic had the head rolling back across the floor and reattaching itself. Shecouldhave put the poor girl’s anima back in her body, but considering the things she had been made to do… She had wanted to die. And Skye had given her a painless death.

Vaughn reached for his sword, only to find that his arms had been frozen in place. He tried toback away, but she had already snared his legs as well.

“That was a lovely monologue, by the way. Very evil. And it’s been quite a long time since I heard a proper evil speech. I especially liked the part about personally carving out a piece of his soul. Gave me chills.” She circled him, mindful of the blood on the floor. It would be a shame to ruin her shoes.

“However,” she went on, “and this is only if you’re open to feedback—it was a bit brief for my taste. You see, I was expecting you to wax poetic about your evil little plan and your evil little master for just a little while longer, which means we’re now running ahead of schedule. So, with that in mind, I’m afraid I’m going to have topausethings. Just for a bit.”

The spell snapped into place, completely entangling Vaughn within her web of frozen time. Only his eyes moved now, tracking her movement as she practically skipped the last few steps toward him, hopping over the puddles of blood.

“Just for now,” Azura said, waving a hand in front of his frozen form. Another quick tug on the spell had his eyes glazing over as she fully halted his timeline. “I do hope you don’t mind. And if you do—well, I don’t really care. You were already a right bastard back when I knew you, but apparently, you’ve moved on to brutalizing young women in addition to other atrocities I won’t even mention. As far as I’m concerned, you deserve everything that’s coming to you.

“Although…” Azura murmured, noting the way Vaughn’s eyes had gone wide, the way his mouth hung open. “This won’t do at all. You look a bit like a carp—not terribly menacing if you ask me.”

Pressing a finger to his chin, she closed his mouth and began rearranging his features into something a little more intimidating.

Azura turned, frowning when she saw Leto floating over the water mage’s body. She had retrieved his head, and her hands glowed with faint wisps of golden aether as the shredded muscles and tendons of his neck began to slowly weave themselves back together.