Page 53 of Above (Darkness Reigns #1)

Azazel

“Mother says that real love is reserved for the stars. We will never know love on Dajahim unless we give our lives to our sacred deities above.”

T ershetta’s illusion had been difficult to watch, but it was necessary to understand what Father and Captain Zade were looking for.

It didn’t take a genius to see the truth.

They were testing our loyalty to the stars.

With Tershetta, I was also pretty sure they were testing her loyalty to the core families.

That was something to think about. Our line moved far quicker than normal today, giving me less time to consider all the possibilities.

Even worse, no one was leaving. Every time a trainee finished, they moved to the back, eager to see the illusions of others. With each passing test, I grew closer and closer to losing my calm.

What would they show me? How would they see if I was loyal?

Would it be Father that appeared? Silently, I begged to the stars that the intels had mercy on me.

If they showed everyone my father beating me, I would never live it down.

My only saving grace had been my ability to remain quiet during every illusion.

But now, that didn’t matter, because they would all see and hear everything that I did.

Dutifully I stepped forward, watching as the line shortened to thirty. Twenty. Sixteen. Twelve. Six.

Dove went. Then Quinn. Next Priya. Finally, Cal stepped up. Each of them faced their parents, each beaten senseless. None of them fighting back until they were told to get up and defend the stars. Our shame on full display. When Cal was done, only one remained.

Me. I was all that was left.

Father did not walk out. Did not greet me or demand I impress him.

I was not encouraged or put down. He only nodded as I stepped forward, the intel gripping my head with claw-like hands.

When they dove into my mind and seemed to begin tearing it to shreds, I didn’t scream or flinch.

With all my strength, I willed a stoic expression on my face.

And when I was released, I willingly stepped forward, welcoming the grasp of the silver dome and embracing the coming illusion.

To my surprise, buildings began to form.

No, houses. Ones I faintly remembered. Each was close to one another, chimneys cracked and paint chipped.

Lawns were overgrown, windows bordered up with planks of wood.

Then came a small home with a candle shining from within.

The door remained closed, but I could hear others whipping open, the sounds of terrified screams echoing so loud across the ever-reaching black sky that I swore the stars above and the three moons felt their pain.

An odd vibration began beneath my skin, like my magic was building up for something yet to come. Everywhere around me, eadi began converging, all of their eyes trained on the house I stood in front of.

No. They all stared at me.

“Kill them,” came the vast and chilling order of the stars, their voices seeming to summon swords into my hands. “Kill them all, Azazel.”

So I did.

Charging forward, I began the slaughter.

It was nothing to cut them down with the blades.

Relentlessly I attacked, not pausing to think about their age, or their gender, or their ability.

Each was only a body in my way. Again and again I screamed as I swung, blood coating me and my magic sizzling beneath my skin.

I was a hurricane. A destructive force that could not be stopped. Their screams were the wind and their bodies the trees. Blood poured like rain—rivers—seas. Pleas of help were met with shrieks of pain. Death consumed the village.

When I was done, breathing heavily and wishing I were dead too, I heard her.

She had been silent before, but I knew somehow that she had watched from the safety of her home. The shack-like place she had brought me. Where her family had fed me. A place that seemed to be so full of love that it might burst from the force of it.

Turning, I locked eyes with her. She stared at me from only a foot away, honey and venom there in her irises, and I wondered if Nova Tershetta knew something that I didn’t. If she had somehow cracked the code to this existence and was keeping it all to herself.

“Kill the akhata,” the stars urged. “Kill her and we will give you what your father lost.”

Without so much as blinking, I cut off her head.