The sound of Elana's gasp followed after the strike landed on his face.
Azael's desire shattered into shock. Elana trembled before him, regret already softening the hand she slapped him with.
Before he could speak or react, a wave of vision struck his mind—his bats.
The carriage Trisha had left in, torn open.
The minion rider already melted into the abyss.
No sign of Trisha.
Azael's heart hammered.
In the next instant, he vanished, shifting into a bat mid-flight as if the air itself pulled him toward disaster.
How could he have been so distracted?
Fear hit him first. Then the scent.
He shifted into human form at the scene—moonlight glinting off overturned wood.
Flowers spilled across the wreckage. Trisha's basket was broken open, and the flowers scattered inside what was left of the carriage.
"Trisha!" he called out.
Nothing.
His eyes swept the area, monochrome vision scanning through shadow and bark until—
A hand.
Her hand.
Dropping lifelessly behind a tree.
Azael teleported, breath strangling in his throat as the full sight of her hit him. His fists clenched.
Her heart was nailed above her body
A hole gaped in her chest, its edges stiff with drying blood.
The scent of Fen's wolf lingered in the air.
Azael staggered, fists clenching, vision scanning with grief and rage—then he saw Fen still in wolf form, surrounded by his pack.
The smug curve of his grin pushed Azael into a place beyond fury.
He appeared among them, grabbed Fen, and hurled him skyward.
Fen slashed at him midair but Azael threw him down, sending Fen's body crashing through the trees, splintering the weaker ones easily.
"Your battle is with me," Azael snarled, eyes glowing red as he launched Fen again.
But Fen dodged, his wolves instantly pouncing on Azael.
Azael's rage exploded as teeth tore at him.
Trisha's smile—
the closest thing to peace he'd known—
flashed behind his eyes.
Now dead because of him.
He didn't need to speak, but the grief inside him ignited the wolves in a burst of flames.
He staggered, not minding the strength he had used up from the attack. "Fen!" he roared. "You bloody coward!"
His eyes searched, Fen was running—he wasn't far, observing until Azael finished the pack.
Azael teleported in front of him. Fen halted, growling as they circled.
"I see it, brother." Fen snarled, "Your exhaustion from burning my wolves. I see your weakness i__"
Azael punched the rest of the words out of him. If he hadn't been merciful before, Trisha would still be alive.
He held Fen by the throat, slamming him to the ground, just as Fen began shifting to human form.
Snarling erupted from the shadows, more wolves.
"When you're gone," Fen groaned beneath him. "I'm gonna fuck that ginger girl real good."
Azael's body pushed past his limits.
Fen screamed as flames consumed him from the feet upward.
More wolves lunged, but before they reached him, Azael vanished—reappearing in the graveyard of the men he once fought beside. The men killed to tag him as an unleashed monster.
His body finally gave in.
Moonlight glimmered off the gravestones as he collapsed to his knees.
Trisha was dead and it was because of him.
His lust. His obsession.
His unsettled dispute with fate.
"Why?" he whispered.
Silently questioning fate's cruelty tied to his downfall. Yet he feared even more for the blind human girl trembling in his castle.
**
Eira seethed.
Despite the victory of eliminating Trisha, jealousy twisted inside her. Almost tempted to kill Elana herself as she replayed everything she'd witnessed between Azael and Zane.
She had woken Zane, deliberately causing Elana to scream.
She hadn't relied entirely on the distraction—but it had worked even better than expected.
So he cared about the slave girl that much?
Eira had never once seen Azael react in anger because of her
But for Elana?
Her lips curved.
Trisha's death was just the beginning.
Elana's death would be sweeter.
And owning Azael in the end—sweetest of all.
**
Elana felt the pang of guilt tearing silently through her. She hadn't meant to hit Azael..
Was that why he left?
Would he stop touching her after this?
She sank into herself, drowning in regret.
How could she slap the man who'd saved her life more than once?
He was probably so mad he had to leave.
She buried her head in her knees. It had been a while since he left.
The door creaked open.
"Elana. You okay?" Cara whispered.
"Cara!" Elana breathed, relief pouring out as Cara came in and sat beside her, taking her hand.
"What happened?"
Tears welled in Elana's eyes, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this."
"No, no. Flower." Cara pulled her into a warm hug. "I don't blame you for anything."
Elana inhaled Cara's mint-sweet scent, clinging to the comfort she offered.
"What about Zane?" she whispered.
"He'll be fine." Cara soothed. "It's morning already. I haven't seen the nice little lady—just the minions."
"Trisha said she'll be away for a few days," Elana murmured.
"That explains it. You should freshen up, it was a long night." Cara said, her voice somewhat heavy.
"And you?" Elana asked, unsure if she should confess the slap.
Cara slumped a little, her usual spark had dimmed. "I don't know, Elana."
Everything in her voice trembled.
"It's gonna be okay," Elana said, gently stroking her back.
It felt like their roles had reversed in who was comforting whom.
Cara was so strong, Elana had hardly ever heard her break but from the hug, she had felt the racing of Cara's heartbeat, almost as if she needed a hug more than Elana herself.
Cara's head fell onto Elana's shoulders in surrender, "I'm no saint, Elana. I deserve everything bad the universe has to give."
"None of us are saints," Elana said softly. "Wanting to be better…that's what counts. The universe would know that right?"
Cara sniffed. "I've never told anyone except Ceasar until now. I always suspected he held it against me."
The feeling of comforting Cara soothed Elana's troubled mind for now. "It stays between us Cara. No one else."
Cara's voice cracked. "I was having an affair with the king…even though I was with Caesar." Cara's trembling voice confessed.
Elana held her tighter. "I'm sorry, Cara. I don't quite understand."
"Sometimes," Cara continued, "You want someone just as much as they want you…but in that time, that world, you can't be together. So you settle for someone else. And hope to forget the one your heart really wants."
"The king?" Elana whispered.
"You love the King."
Cara cried harder. "He's such a monster and I still can't stop. What makes it worse—"
"…is he wants you too," Elana finished quietly, Azael's voice echoing in her mind.
She hugged Cara tighter as Cara wept into her shoulders.
"But I'm nothing, Elana. Just an orphan the army took in and trained to be a soldier."
Elana's heart ached.
Cara could see—yet she still suffered the same kind of love Elana feared.
It made her hope thinner in the gradual realization that wanting someone as deeply as they did always came with consequences.