Page 43 of A Dance of Water (Moon Song #2)

VENGEANCE

AZ

B lood sprayed on Azgorath’s skin as his fist hit against the captive’s jaw. A tooth clinked against the stone floor as it was forced from the fae’s mouth.

"Fuck, yes. Good hit," Tharen commented as he lounged by the side of the room. Az waited for the mage to start clapping as his amber eyes shot to the Prima, a sardonic snarl curving on his lips.

Graves wiped his blade on the edge of his cloak, uncaring that he was dirtying himself with enemy blood. "The King should arrive shortly."

Az wiped the sweat from his brow, leaving streaks of red on his tanned cheeks. He sighed heavily as he viewed his handiwork.

The fae male was drenched in water, shivering and broken, and cut in a litany of scars.

Skin hung from his torso in strips. Fingers broken and twisted and smashed.

A knife stuck out of his thigh, crusted blood stuck to the hilt where Graves had forced the male to swallow it down before stabbing him in the leg.

A large smile was carved into his mouth.

With the slower healing of the fae, he was left to hang in a state of near death, at the mercy of them to mete out his fate whenever they so wished.

"Fun’s over then, beast." Tharen walked forward and slapped a hand on Az’s chest.

"I still get the killing blow?" the demon asked .

Tharen rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yes, I assume so."

Graves began straightening his cart of sadistic instruments. "If the King allows it." His words were low under his cowl.

"You told me I would," Az snarled.

" I did," Graves responded. "The King must give his permission."

Blood-soaked, his muscles straining with violent exertion, Az turned his fury on the male. He eyed the amulet that glinted on Graves’s chest. Then, he surged forward, gripping the stone.

His breaths were warm between them, and Graves’s deep blue eyes didn’t falter—even as Az felt his breath stutter when he wrapped his hand around the stone, tugging until the chain cut into his neck.

"What would you do without this?" Az hissed. "Without your protection?"

All the demon could see was a strip of Graves’s eyes, nothing more.

Graves called his bluff. "Take it, then."

Az’s lips pulled back from his teeth.

"And risk her," said Graves.

"I suppose it would put the little lamb in danger, beast, but if you want…" Tharen inclined his head.

They both knew this act was a hoax.

"Fuck," Az snarled and pulled away, ripping his hand off Graves’s amulet. His palm was hot from touching it, and he flexed his large hand.

He couldn’t remove the amulet from Graves’s neck, not if he wanted his angel safe…

Az ached to get back to her, sleeping soundly as he avenged her.

"Are you done?" Bastian announced as he walked into the dungeons, Vale right behind him.

The pair took in the destruction of Lu’s attacker. His eyes were closed as he hung from the ceiling, unknowing or uncaring that his death was quickly approaching.

"Gods." Bastian’s eyes glowed red at the scent of blood. "It appears as though you three had a good time."

Vale stepped over a puddle of piss and blood. "You got the information?" he asked Graves .

The Knight nodded once.

"Very well," Vale said. "Kill him. We’ll string his body up near the Luna border."

Az intervened, voice low and dangerous. "I get to kill him."

The King arched a golden brow. "Oh, you do? And who are you to make that determination?"

The demon clenched his bloodied hands into fists—he’d have to bathe before he saw Lu again. "I am the only one of us who has laid his heart bare for her."

Tharen snorted a laugh, kicking a dirtied boot on the captive fae’s shin to jostle him awake. The mage put his face right in front of him, singing, "Wake up, mousy. It’s time to die."

Bastian mouthed, " Mousy ?"

Tharen shot back a taunting reply about the captive’s pained squeaks.

Vale and Az ignored their antics, the King looking from the demon back to the ruined body of the male. Detritus, as far as Az was concerned.

To hurt a female, and one as defenseless as Lu… Even savage demons would band together to avenge such an act.

But the demon would not beg, not to Vale and not for this.

Smoke filtered from the King’s nostrils. Time stretched, broken by the occasional pained moan and drip of water as it fell from the ceiling.

Az didn’t know how Vale did it. The demon watched as the dragon shifter visibly wrangled control back, forcing his beast down as the smoke ebbed, the scent of embers faded, and his clenched fists released.

Finally, Vale stepped back, waving a hand to the strung-up sack of meat. Az’s eyes tracked the motion with swelling emotions.

"He’s yours, Azgorath," the King softly decreed.

Bastian’s red eyes swept between them, wide with shock.

Az was never one to turn away a gift as good as vengeance. He cracked his knuckles, arms flexing.

He slapped the captive’s cheek, and he let out a soft noise, golden eyes drifting open and growing large with terror as he saw Az before him .

"Please," he wheezed.

Az grabbed the male’s neck and lifted his head. "You’ll look at me when I kill you."

Strands of sweat-soaked, golden hair fell into his eyes—the shade reminded Az so much of Lu that his throat closed up. But no. His angel had white hair now.

"The time to beg has long passed," Vale stated, standing beside the male.

The demon remembered Lu’s nearly crushed windpipe, and he saw nothing but red .

Blood vessels popped in the male’s eyes as Az squeezed his throat.

Harder.

Harder .

Blood leaked from his nose and eyes, dribbling from the corners of his open mouth. Az grinned at the violence. He hadn’t been able to let himself give in for so long. Bone snapped under his hands, and all the light left the male’s eyes.

It was done.

"Have his body dropped at the border of Luna. I’m sure one of the Umbra will find it," Vale said.

His tone was tinged with exhaustion. "And send scouts to check on his family. Ensure they are safe. Relocate them to one of our villages if you have to. I don’t want the blood of innocents on our hands. "

Graves nodded quickly, leaving the room as cool and silent as he had inhabited it.

Az swallowed thickly at the mention of the male’s family. A cold rush of water swept over the demon; his eyes burned. This was why he hated to be like his kind, to revel in killing and violence.

He was too ruined to lay a hand on his angel. Too tainted to touch something as pure as her.

Do not forget, Az, she knows death, too, Bastian murmured in his mind.

Az shuddered at the intrusion, too focused on the truth of the vampire’s words that he missed the familiar shortening of his name.

She did know death. That was why Az wanted to keep her far away from it.