Page 61 of Above (Darkness Reigns #1)

Azazel

“Today Pri told me she doesn’t like men.

She said she was terrified that I’d hate her, but that she needed me to know since Father decided we’d one day marry.

Truth be told, it does hurt. I’m pretty sure no other woman will ever truly love me.

But I won’t make her marry me, not at the expense of her happiness.

I guess I’ll just be alone instead. Forever. ”

“ P lanet nine-three-four fell days earlier than we anticipated. Should I move up the graduation?” Captain Zade asked Father, her eyes never leaving Tershetta’s unmoving form.

They had tied her up to a chair in the interrogation chamber when I brought her back, and now we all were attempting to plan what would follow.

“Yes, that is likely the best course of action. It seems we will have need for more elites seeing as we now have the ability to sense magic once more.” Father’s tone was stiff, but it didn’t portray the fury I knew he felt inside.

He was good at faking it, even amongst his peers he had been raised around.

“How many of the remaining graduates were on the final execution list?”

“Including the akhata?” Captain Zade asked, the question pointless when she knew the answer. There was no killing Tershetta now. “Eight.”

“All eight will graduate.” Father’s voice became distant, his eyes unblinking as he stared at the unconscious trainee before him. At the future general of the shaytan forces.

“All of them?” Captain Zade sounded baffled, her words breathy. I tried to remain quiet, to avoid her attention, but stars if I didn’t want to huff out in annoyance.

“All of them, Benadell.”

Captain Zade nodded, her eyes darting to me and a sickening smile splitting her face, momentarily revealing the beast beneath the true mask.

With Father slightly in front of me and facing Tershetta, the captain was free to lightly run her hand up my thigh, gripping my soft cock before moving to one of the pockets in my tactical belt and dropping something into it.

When I heard the door shut behind me, I sighed a breath of relief and looked up, only to find a pair of star-flecked eyes already on me. She had woken up? When? Had she seen what Captain Zade did?

“Ah, you’re awake. Excellent. Now, what you’re going to do is be a good little soldier and tell me exactly what happened,” Father ordered, his voice far softer than I expected. The calm before the storm.

Tershetta didn’t so much as glance at him, her big eyes unblinking as they stared at me. Father tried again to get her attention, and once more, she ignored him.

The storm arrived. Father backhanded her, sending her face flinging to the side. Getting closer, he placed his hands on either side of the wooden chair we had tied her to and leaned in. “Tell me what happened, you worthless akhata!”

A chilling, echoing laugh exited Tershetta’s mouth, her posture altering just as her voice did. Back arching and head swaying, she looked like a woman possessed, a sharp smile creeping onto her face.

“You disappoint us yet again, General Iblis Altair,” the stars said, their many voices coming out of Tershetta’s mouth as if she were a puppet.

Father straightened, a slight tremor beginning in the hand he had struck her with.

From my position, I couldn’t see his face, but when Tershetta laughed again, I knew it must have been full of fear.

“My celestial rulers,” he whispered, falling to his knees. “I apologize, I wasn’t aware you were speaking for the girl.”

“Soldier, akhata, burden, waste, and now girl. So many names you have for our catalyst.” Though her lips barely moved, the voices of the stars came out clear and concise, a haunting ring beginning to emanate from her throat.

As if she—or they—could sense my assessing gaze, Tershetta turned to me. Everything within me screamed to run. To turn away. But I stood firm in my place, not taking my eyes from hers.

“Oh yes, how could we forget? Add Little Void to the list. It might just be the most interesting yet. Right, Azazel Altair? Our host’s wicked snake.

Her enemy and rival and…” They went silent, Father’s head rising like a whip as he looked between her and I.

What had they been insinuating? “No matter. She will serve us well.”

“Please, help me understand, Your Holinesses,” he pleaded, a devout and subservient tone overtaking his normally demanding tenor.

Unlike most, Father knew the stars rather intimately.

He had lived with them in his mind for decades.

In that moment, I realized how truly desperate he was to have them back.

Beyond anger and defiance. Father was begging now.

“We have gone over this, Iblis. You were not exciting or new. Nothing about you was what we needed. At every turn, you disappointed us,” they scolded, Tershetta’s brows knitting together and her mouth forming a disgusted sneer.

A slight whine came out of Father, his words sounding like a sob. “What about the boy? Please, he can do what I… couldn’t.”

I gaped at him, so utterly baffled by his willingness to admit failure and suggest I could be better.

Tershetta’s face lit up, her smile broad as she faced me.

A burning smell began in the air, the ropes around her body bursting into flames.

The stars didn’t seem worried about her skin, simply choosing to rip her arms upward and push her torso forward.

Then she was standing, looking at me in a way she never had before.

Her eyes smoldered, wild hair a mess, brown skin coated in blood from our fight.

“Azazel Altair. The self-proclaimed prince of the shaytan. A spoiled, heartless boy. One with raw talent and endless determination. You boast everything we could ever want in an Altair heir.” She walked to me, her hands reaching up to my hair.

I caught her arms, not wanting to be touched by them .

“Yet, we see too much of your father in you.”

She leaned closer, rising onto her toes until her mouth nearly touched my chin, both of her wrists tight in my grasp. I froze, my heart pounding so violently in my chest that I wondered if they were doing something to it.

“Don’t worry, wicked snake,” they whispered, nearly sounding like Tersehtta once more.

I dared to look down into her eyes, seeing the pupils shrinking slowly, honey seeping free for a single moment before the silver dotted blackness returned.

“We will give her back to you. And we’re so very excited to see what you two can accomplish together. ”

Tershetta collapsed, her body going lifeless. On instinct, I caught her, chills erupting across my skin when her head landed on my chest. Was this what it felt like to be corrupted? Infected?

“Fuck!” Father shouted, standing up and whipping around before slamming his fist into the concrete wall.

A sickening crack hit my ears, but Father didn’t cry or flinch.

Instead, he gripped the broken bones and began the slow process of self healing, which wouldn’t get him far.

Through clenched teeth he whispered, “Wake her up.”

Nodding, I slowly lowered her to the ground, brushing curls out of her face before tapping her cheek with my hand. “Time to wake up, Tershetta.”

Though her eyes darted around beneath her lids, she didn’t open them, instead gripping my biceps in a tight, panicked hold.

“Why is your voice the first thing I’m hearing right now?

What did I do to deserve that?” she asked, the rhetorical question nearly making me laugh.

But this wasn’t a joking matter. Blinking, she seemed as if she were trying to focus her gaze on me, though she clearly struggled to do so. “You tried to kill me.”

“I always told you I would.”

“I hate you,” she muttered, shoving me away from her. “Get off me.”

I listened, scooting away to give her space, but also remaining close enough that Father didn’t have full access to her. I feared what would come of this horrible turn in fate.

“Trainee Tershetta, you have been awarded the most sacred gift,” Father boomed, his voice once again fierce and commanding, the general returning.

He walked toward our spot on the floor, his eyes only on her, his hand still not fully healed where it hung at his side.

Tershetta didn’t attempt to run, only stiffening in place.

From his position above her, he spoke one last time.

“You will begin working with me immediately after your graduation. I expect you to be ready to take on your position of general as soon as the stars see fit.”

With that, he turned and walked to the door, slamming it hard behind him.

Tershetta’s eyes found mine, a strange silent conversation happening.

She had the stars.

I needed them.

She craved acceptance.

I’d never live without it.

“You have the stars,” I whispered, peering at her.

Something had changed. More than just her having what I had always dreamed of.

A sort of vibration began beneath my skin—in my very bones.

It was cold and warm at the same time. Both soothing and unsettling.

Blinking repeatedly, she watched me. I found myself missing the honey in her eyes.

Perhaps because the darkness there was now a reminder of how powerful she was and how much stronger she’d become.

“I have the stars,” she repeated, not moving. Yes, something strange was happening.

“Are you ready for what will come?” I dared to ask. Not that I was on her side. In fact, I quickly fought off the concern for her, willing my pinched brow and pursed lips to relax. It wasn’t my job to care for her. Not my burden.

“No, but I figure I don’t have a choice.

” Her voice shook, her chest rising and falling in rapid succession.

Without looking, I knew she had begun to rub her fingers together, those nerves getting the best of her.

She wasn’t built for this. It was so obvious.

Why hadn’t the stars seen that? “Are you?”

Was I? Cocking my head, I studied her, thinking over the question.

Was I ready for what was to come? Would I ever be?

She had stolen everything from me, and now I would suffer for it.

A part of me hated her. Wanted her dead still.

Another part, the stronger one, hated myself for not despising her nearly enough.

She was still hurt, blood seeping in various places, her wild curls matted.

Such a mess. Such an eadi. Without letting myself second guess it, I scooted toward her, watching with barely tempered glee as she tensed in what had to be fear.

I liked her terror for some reason. The tension that bled from her.

Despite how cool, calm, and calculated I liked to think myself, I threw caution to the wind for a moment.

Allowing myself to act without thought. Without worry of the consequences that would surely follow.

My hand moved to her cheek, a smirk lifting the left half of my mouth when her fingers wrapped around my wrist. I didn’t stop though.

My face was just mere inches from hers, our breaths mingling, tainting one another.

Poisoning ourselves and everything around us.

Just as the stars had suggested, Tershetta and I could destroy worlds together.

I didn’t know how, but I felt it deep in my chest. In the electrified air.

For a split second, her eyes flicked down, stilling on my lips before rising to my own once more. Perhaps she felt it, too.

“I’m always ready, Little Void,” I hummed, willing my magic into her, healing her as best as I could with my limited expertise. She flinched, her eyes scrunching closed. For some reason, I hated that. “Eyes on me, Tershetta. It’s the least you can do.”

To my surprise, she listened. Her eyes met mine, enemies acknowledging one another, born to hate and loathe. To tear apart everything the other held dear. We both stood in one another’s way.

Together we absorbed that mutual understanding. Then, with her body mostly healed and nothing left to do, I got up and moved to the door, the two of us sucking in desperate breaths as I put distance between us. The space seemed to clear my mind, the sound of my revelation loud now.

Tershetta was the last thing standing in my way, and I was beginning to doubt that I could get past her.

Maybe, just maybe, there was freedom in such a truth.