Page 79 of Acolyte (Tempris #2)

He kept pushing. Against the pain, against the poison.

Somehow, he found his feet. Somehow, he pulled a pistol from his belt.

Only to double over, groaning at the fist that slammed into his gut. He fell to his knees, but Vaughn caught him, twisting his fingers in his hair and jerking his head up.

“Or two,” Vaughn said, still smiling that small, horrible smile as he wrenched Skye’s head back so far that he was sure he felt something snap. “We ascend you.” He held up a vial filled with something sickly and red.

Skye sputtered as the vial was tipped into this mouth. More poison. He felt his remaining strength stutter .

“I will personally carve out a piece of your soul,” Vaughn went on, “placing you under my thrall, and then we’ll use you to make sure that little chit of a girl doesn’t give us any more trouble.”

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. Before Vaughn 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.

She could have 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 to back 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 to pause things. 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 bi t 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.

“Why do you waste your magic with such foolish things?” Azura huffed. “You have so little left.”

But Leto didn’t stop. “I am simply granting him the same courtesy you gave Lady Fenmar.”

“Lady Fenmar was ascended,” Azura pointed out. “This man was not.”

“Asher Venwraith only joined this war to protect his mate—because he blamed himself for her abduction. He did terrible things under the banner of an enemy he despised. Perhaps he went too far in the name of love. But now he is dead, and the least we can do is show him the most basic respect.”

Grumbling under her breath, Azura waved a hand. The boy’s body instantly reassembled. “You always were the romantic.”

“You used to be as well,” Leto replied, then turned her head, listening. “I just felt their souls pass.” The dead could always sense the dead. “They were together—both happy to be free.”

“Satisfied?” Azura drawled.

Leto’s light shivered. She gave a stiff nod. “I will have the bodies moved to the crypt before the Lady Caro arrives. ”

“Good.” They would only detract from the scene she had envisioned: Skye lying prostrate on the floor in a pool of his own blood with Vaughn standing over him.

There was just one thing missing.

Azura began patting down Vaughn’s pockets, producing a cloth-wrapped bundle from inside his coat.

“What is that, Majesty?”

“Just a little extra motivation.” Azura unwrapped the bundle, revealing a small viridian dagger with delicate swirls of metal and pearl swimming across the scabbard.

Leto glanced at Skye, then back to the Queen. “Majesty—I feel I must once again protest. We cannot undo what has been done, but if you’ll allow it, it would be my pleasure to dispose of Lord Adamaer. I will make sure he suffers appropriately given the nature and frequency of his transgressions.”

“As much as I like watching you work,” Azura said with a sigh, “this kill belongs to Taly. I know you don’t agree with my methods concerning the girl, but believe me when I say that this is necessary.

That trick with the crystals was clever, but Taly’s still holding back, and I will not have that be the thing that gets her killed.

She needs to know what she’s capable of. ”

“But Majesty, the odds that the young Ma’am survives this trial—”

“Yes, I know.”

“She could destroy herself.”

Azura hesitated. It was true. That was always the problem with powerful mages. Pushing them to their limits inevitably meant endangering their lives, and today, Taly would be pushed to her limit. If she lost control of her aether for even a moment—it could consume her.

And this place.

And everyone in it.

Though at least that would finally take care of the mimic.

“Please,” Leto said urgently. “There must be another way to test her. If she fails, if Lord Adamaer manages to escape—”

Azura waved a dismissive hand. “Yes, yes, I know. We’ll all die, evil will reign, and so on and so forth.” She forced a smile. “However, that’s a problem for tomorrow. For now, I want you to move young Skylen over just a smidge. That gorgeous face needs to be visible from the door.”

Leto’s light pulsed, but she said nothing else as she moved to follow the Queen’s command.

“Perfect,” Azura said, taking one final look at the room. “Now, all we need to do is wait for our young heroine to arrive.”