Chapter Two
Azazel
“Father broke one of my ribs yesterday. All I asked was why we were better than the eadi. I wasn’t trying to be defiant. I swear.”
Celeste was most definitely panicking. I could see it in the way she nearly vibrated as she looked at her sister. Eyes widening, she shook her head and stared in silence, not speaking in the moments since whispering her odd nickname for Tershetta.
Not that I had a leg to stand on when it came to nicknames.
Was that what Little Void was? A nickname? Stars above, when had it stopped being an insult?
“Where’s Desi?” I asked, my grip on the unconscious girl in my hands still strong. Celeste must have noticed, because she blinked ferociously and launched forward.
“Give me her!” Hysteria seeped from her voice, painting the air with panic in only the way she could.
In the many months I had spent training at her side, I had never seen Celeste get so…
worked up. No, distraught was a better word.
Still, knowing that she was unwell didn’t stop me from tugging Tershetta farther into me, my eyes just catching Maitoza’s wicked smile before it faded.
“I’ve got her. Where is Desi? We need her.
I can’t do this on my own.” Staying calm stole nearly all of my focus.
The only sliver of it left was dedicated to the way Tershetta’s lips and nose pressed into my chest. How she seemed to breathe slower and slower every second.
Just as before, I was suddenly hit with the horrific realization that I no longer eagerly awaited her final gasps of air.
Why, I didn’t know, because Tershetta was nothing to me but an obstacle.
“She was right behind me,” Celeste huffed, her hands reaching for Tershetta a second time.
Again, I found myself clinging to my Little Void, watching in shame and confusion as Celeste sat back and eyed me beneath furrowed brows.
Her head tilted to the side, jaw flexing.
Beside her, Maitoza watched with wide eyes and a startling grin.
I was misstepping somehow. I could see it in the eagerness that lifted the commander’s face.
Celeste’s hand drew my attention once more as it latched onto my wrist. “Give me my sister, Azazel.”
Before I could come up with some excuse, Desi finally shot through the doorway.
“I’m here, I’m here! I’m so sorry. I forgot my medbag and had to have Jonah take me back!
” Her pin straight hair cascaded behind her in a wave of black, her red-tinted, deep skin damp from exertion, beads of sweat dripping down her tattooed cheeks.
A hefty breath tore down my throat, barreling back out of my mouth in relief. Relief? Yes. That’s exactly what it was. Tingles scattered across my body as I adjusted Tershetta in my arms, Celeste’s hand still firmly around my wrist but her eyes on Desi.
“Az, you can set her down now.” Desi’s voice was a commanding boom, though gentle in its own way.
Desi was never soft spoken. Always loud and boisterous, eager to earn laughs or smiles. Six months of time had passed and she still fought tooth and nail to get a chuckle out of me. She reminded me of Cal in that way.
I sent her a glare. Of course she’d unknowingly side with Celeste.
“How about you carry her to the bed, Azazel?” Maitoza cut in, her voice cool but soft, twisted up with faux care. I knew exactly what she was, even if no one else did. But in that moment, she was giving me a win, and I wasn’t too proud to take it.
“Okay.” Bracing myself, I gripped Tershetta tighter and pushed up on my feet, standing slowly. Celeste’s hand fell as I began walking, but I felt her stare burning into my back.
Get a fucking grip, Az.
Gently, I set Tershetta down, the pool of her silk dress and tangle of her matted hair reminding me of what I knew to be true. She was not made for this life.
I felt my fingers slipping from the bare skin of her shoulder, the prickle of my returned blood flow making way for another kind of tingle. One that couldn’t be so easily explained, because I simply couldn’t understand it.
Desi pushed past me, sitting down on the bed and removing her black leather gloves, hand moving to Tershetta’s cheek. Did she feel it too? Could she sense whatever lay within the unconscious woman? Whatever dormant beast within her had awoken?
“Stars above,” Desi gasped out, her breaths accelerating as she continued to press her magic into Tershetta.
Celeste’s hand once more gripped me, this time latching onto my bicep as if subconsciously, her terror seeping into me.
Yes, that was why I felt such fear. Celeste was projecting that pain, making us all uneasy with her steadily rising panic. That must have been it.
“What is it?” Celeste questioned, her voice breaking. Desi’s eyes scrunched closed as she tilted her head to the side, nose rising towards the air and jaw clenching. I wanted to scream. To force any words out of her. Celeste beat me to it, thankfully. “Desi!”
“Sorry, I’m trying to figure it out. This is…
” Again Desi’s voice faded, her warm chestnut eyes scrunched and her brows furrowed.
“I’ve never seen something like this. She must have been hit from a pretty close distance, and it had to have been pure magic.
It will take all of my focus to heal her, and even then, it will be days until she wakes. ”
“But she will wake. And she’ll heal fully?” Maitoza’s commentary was an unwelcome sound. Always plotting. Never thinking beyond how those around her could benefit the almighty cause.
Her delusions in regard to the stars were not my problem, but, oh, did she annoy me.
“Yes, she most definitely will fully heal if I have anything to say about it.” I watched as Desi’s eyes went to Celeste, gaze softening.
Celeste still held firmly onto my arm, tears dripping steadily down her cheeks as she stared at her sister.
I wasn’t exactly sure how to console her.
We cores had always been an odd bunch, not raised on love, rather taught that having such emotions beaten out of us was a blessing.
Even though we tried to love one another, it was hard to fully understand what normal people would want in situations such as this.
So, like the idiot I was, I reached up my free arm and patted Celeste on the top of her head. She immediately swatted at my hand, wiping her tears and glaring up at me.
“Ew, don’t do that.”
I couldn’t stop the chuckle that bubbled out of my lips.
There was something so horribly odd about all of this.
The entirety of the last six months had been an exhausting spiral of what the fuck am I doing right now?
But something about Tershetta being here had it all feeling that much more impossible and ridiculous.
A soft pressure began on my ankle, Murder’s—was that its name?
—meow tiny. Squatting, I sighed and obliged, scratching the little black cat behind its ears.
Celeste cleared her throat before saying, “Okay, Pretty Boy, we need to figure out what our next moves are.”
Rolling my eyes at the exhausting and annoying nickname Celeste had given me, I silently considered what the next step should be. We didn’t even know who had done this. Nor did we know how Tershetta found us.
Me. She found me.
What did it mean that she’d come to me of all people?
I’d heard she was looking for me—hunting me, really—but I didn’t expect her to find me.
I’d been fortifying the cloak around the islands for months.
In fact, my magic was stronger now. So her showing up here wasn’t only surprising, it was baffling.
“I really don’t know what we’re meant to do right now.”
Maitoza stayed silent at our sides, Desi grunting as she shoved her magic into Tershetta. They were both listening though. I knew that for certain, because they’d both have opinions.
“We could just wait for her to wake up” I suggested. “Once she sees you, she’ll probably automatically commit to the cause. Though I was hoping we’d have time before introducing her to it. Give her a chance to breathe.”
I was talking to Celeste, but it was Maitoza who finally cut in. “Now, now, let us think through our next moves a little more thoroughly.”
Celeste turned towards the commander, falling into line as always.
I felt this from Celeste the first time I met her; a rage, a desperation.
She was a rebel through and through. I couldn’t understand how when she had a sister who was a shaytan.
Regardless, she was probably one of Maitoza’s most dedicated followers.
The commander used that, keeping Celeste at her side, molding her and shaping her.
For a few moments, they both stared at each other, Desi and I forced to watch in dread. Desi might have always fallen in line too, but she, like me, saw their odd relationship for what it was. Unlike me, Desi had a lot more stakes in the game. More interest in Celeste’s wellbeing.
“Maitoza is right. We need to thoroughly think through our next steps.” I waited with bated breath to hear what they had somehow silently communicated to one another. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would hate it. “We need to wait to tell Nova that I’m alive.”
Yep, I hated it.
“Are you fucking insane?” I asked, my mouth opening but jaw still tight.
Stepping away from Celeste, I dug my fingers into my hair, which I had recently poorly cut, tugging on the strands in frustration.
How could they possibly come to that conclusion?
What would that secret get them that was worth the risk of Tershetta’s fury? The sacrifice of her…peace?
“Az, calm down,” Desi mumbled, though I knew even she couldn’t have possibly been on Celeste’s side with this one. Desi was too good. She never chose the wrong side, even when that meant standing alone. At least, that was what I had continuously seen from her the last few months.