Page 14 of Above (Darkness Reigns #1)

Azazel

“The first time I saw an eadi die was when I was four. Father snapped his spine like he was a toy. I didn’t even flinch. I had already known by then that, like cattle, their lives were so much less important than ours.”

I had never met an of eadi before. Father and Mother would have rather died than let me be so near one that I might be sullied.

Mother was certain that any of eadi would surely displease the stars eventually, which meant being punished.

Like Father had been. I wondered often if they had felt giving him their essence was as much of a mistake as giving magic to those born from eadi.

Meeting Nova Tershetta reaffirmed that idea.

From the start I knew something was off about her. Cal didn’t recognize her, and he was always using his ridiculous curls and outlandish jokes to pick up shaytan women in the Star District. Which meant he knew everyone around our age.

But not her.

Not the girl with curls so wild they would make any core mother scream. Who assessed those around her with keen, honey eyes and a calculating mind. Yes, I had suspected from the first moment I laid eyes on her. But when Talon started probing her to no success, I knew.

An of eadi getting shadow magic was not an option. There were already three of them tainting the history of the elites, we didn’t need another. She would have to go. And perhaps killing her would win me enough favor with Father to get him the fuck off my back.