Chapter 29
Gemma
T wo days later, Azur appeared in my rooms as Ludayn was fussing over wrinkles in my dress.
“ Kyzaire ,” she gasped softly, wide eyed with surprise before stepping away from me, dropping back from view to allow my husband to stride forward.
“Good morning,” I murmured, meeting his eyes, feeling my belly flutter with anticipation.
“We’re going down to the village today,” he told me. His red eyes swept my body, nostrils flaring when he saw the slit that ran up the length of the sky-blue dress Ludayn had insisted I wear today. I’d given up trying to fight her on my outfits about a week ago. She was incredibly strong willed, I’d come to find.
“Oh,” I said, a wiggle of excitement making my fingers twitch. “Really?”
“The marriage was announced to the Kaalium yesterday evening. It’s expected we make an appearance in the village.”
That deflated my excitement a little bit. This was a duty for him. Not because he wanted to take me down to the village, even though I’d been hinting the last couple days at breakfast.
“Just yesterday evening?” I asked, tilting my head. “But we’ve been married for close to a month.”
Azur didn’t say anything. He stretched his neck, and I heard a small pop .
“All right,” I murmured, shrugging it off. “Will this dress be suitable?”
He’d called my others hideous , after all. I knew perfectly well that this dress was more than suitable for a visit to the village, but I wanted to hear him say it. It was made of a light, buttery-soft material that hugged my breasts and hips. The neckline was open, and Ludayn had left my hair up at my request, though she’d tucked the strands into a soft bun, decorated with a glimmering silver pin, instead of the severe bun I usually raked it back in. My neck was on display, and I knew that Azur could just make out the bite he’d left on me last night, the one on the top of my right breast.
“Yes,” he grunted, those red eyes sweeping me again, and my toes curled in my slippers, trying to ignore the little bloom of desire between my thighs. In a dark, husky tone, he said, “Perfectly suitable.”
A thrill went through me.
I might not have been a great beauty, not like my sisters, but Azur could hardly take his eyes off me. It was a heady sensation. Addicting like the pleasure that coursed through me as he fed.
With Ludayn trailing us, though at a great distance, we left my rooms and the northeast wing entirely. Keepers bowed as we passed, and when he reached the landing that opened up to the bottom floor, Azur stepped up to it. His arms came around my waist. Over his shoulder, to Ludayn, he said, “Meet us at the village.”
All I heard was, “Yes, Kyzaire ,” and then Azur was stepping us off the edge.
I clung to his shoulders and gave a little shriek when the skirts of my dress billowed open. Azur actually laughed , a brief, huffing sound, as he watched me scramble to cover my exposed sex, flaring his wings wide about halfway down the core of the keep to stop our quick descent. My skirts settled, though his warm hand slid up my thigh, getting dangerously close to where he’d find me wet and slick for him.
“Now I know why Kylorr females don’t wear dresses,” I grumbled, my cheeks hot, hoping that no keepers had seen. Or worse, Zaale . I shuddered to think about that.
I slapped at Azur’s hand when it strayed too close, and his lips twitched. “I’ve never noticed how enticing dresses are until just recently.”
My cheeks burned hotter. Was he…was he flirting with me?
We landed gently on the bottom floor. The stretch of the grand staircase was to our left. Poor Ludayn, she’d probably just made it to the second floor. I’d seen keepers use the landings and watched them fly up to the different levels, but I’d never experienced them myself.
Instead of taking the back entrance, however, Azur led me down another wide, bright hallway just to the right of the staircase. I’d never liked traveling down this particular one, though I’d discovered it a couple days into living here and it was the easiest path to the front of the keep. The carvings on the walls depicted Kylorr in various stages of battle. Panels in the stone that had been smoothed with time—but time that had done little to soften the gruesome scenes and the expressions of blood-splattered victory.
I kept my eyes away from them until the hallway funneled us to the front of the keep, to the grand and awe-inspiring foyer. The main entrance of the house. The neck-craning, tall double doors—inlaid with silver leaves and polished regularly—would be open wide for the harvest ball, as Kalia had informed me.
Azur opened them for me now.
Outside, the morning sun was warm and inviting. I smiled, breathing in the crisp air, the scent of the sea drifting over my tongue.
“ Kyzaire ,” came Zaale’s voice behind us.
Azur’s hand was on the small of my back, leading me down the flared stone steps. Beyond the keep, I had a breathtaking view of Laras. The villages were spread out on a wide, sweeping stretch of land before the keep. Even still, some of the buildings were tall, spectacular in their architecture, and I saw defined, well-used roads, a haphazard pattern that wound around Laras, connecting it like the pathway of veins in a body.
Zaale stopped at the door, and Azur climbed the steps he’d just descended to meet him. The keeper spoke close to Azur’s ear, and I watched my husband’s face tighten, a brief downturn of his lips, before he nodded at Zaale.
“Inform Rivin,” he said. “I’ll be back within the hour.”
Zaale inclined his head, disappearing back into the keep and sealing the doors behind us.
Worrying my lip, I watched as Azur returned to me, guiding me down the last of the steps. Small white stones crunched underneath my slippers. There was a tree-lined path a short distance from the stairs, shaded and cool as we walked beneath the canopies.
“Is something wrong?” I finally asked. Azur’s hand was on my back again. The heat of his palm felt like a brand, and I couldn’t help but press into him.
Azur didn’t say anything at first. The gravel disappeared beneath my feet the farther we walked. On the tree-lined path, the cobbled road was worn with time and use. On either side of the aged stones, between each of the trees, I saw flowering bushes, thriving in its shaded condition. Bright red blooms, unfurling into thick, plush petals. And at the very center, the stamens glowed yellow. Like a Halo orb’s light. They lit up the path like little beacons.
Beautiful, I thought, having never seen anything like it.
“Maazin has disappeared,” Azur finally said, his voice cutting through the silence.
I stilled, coming to a stop beside him. “What do you mean?”
“He likely came to the keep yesterday, saw that the records were missing, and slipped out,” Azur said. “I had all the doors watched, but there’s been no sign of him. Zaale just informed me that his room in the village has been cleared out. His neighbor said he left in a hurry yesterday afternoon.”
My hand came to my throat and I felt my hard swallow. “So…so you think he was stealing from you?”
“I checked the transactions from the accounts he managed the morning after you found the records. The payments were just as they were written. Hundreds of thousands of credits that should have been there. My only guess is that he has connections to Kaazor. Connections that didn’t show up when Zaale vetted him for the position at the keep. He’s been funneling cheap lore to them for years. Crates of it that they might have been selling themselves to interested buyers.”
I breathed out an incredulous breath.
“We only sell lore to reputable and trusted buyers throughout the Quadrants,” Azur informed me next. “Those that cannot get it directly from us…they would likely pay exorbitant fees for genuine lore from the Kaalium. Perhaps that’s what the Kaazor are doing.”
“Why can’t they just grow their own?” I couldn’t help but wonder. “Why steal it from you?”
“Because of the land. It’s always about the land. The Kaalium,” Azur answered. His fingers pressed into my back, his claws digging slightly, but I didn’t mind it. “There’s a long history there. Between my ancestors and the Kaazor. Bloody too. This land is soaked with Kaazor blood. And Kaalium blood. It’s only in the Kaalium that lore grows strong. The Kaazor can grow it. As can the Thryki and the Koro and the Dyaar across the seas. But it’s our soil and our earth that make it renowned across the Quadrants. And we’ve fought many wars over this land because of it. We’ll likely fight many more.”
My lips parted. Again I felt a dizzying wave of overwhelming ineptitude. That I truly didn’t understand anything about the alien race I’d married into.
“War?” I whispered.
His face softened. My heart thudded and skipped in my chest when I saw it.
“Do not fear, wife,” he told me. “Between Laras and my brothers’ territories, the Kaalium has the greatest army on Krynn. If war does come, it will be over swiftly.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” I informed him.
He grunted and turned us so that we could continue walking down the path, getting closer and closer to Laras. I could just make out a bell ringing, the deep chimes spreading over the land. It rang at the same time every morning. I’d often heard it from the back of the terrace, even over the crashing of the waves below.
“Then it’s a good thing that your husband is a berserker,” he answered me. “Because I would tear anyone in two if they came for you.”
I barely stifled my gasp. His words had been so flippant. My mind flashed back to carvings in the hallway, depictions of bloody battles and endless violence.
It was easy to forget that the Kylorr’s brutality was infamous. When humans fought in wars, we used weapons. Tech.
But the Kylorr?
They used their bare hands, their fangs, their claws, their blades.
So why wasn’t I frightened by his words?
To distract myself from that startling realization, I asked, “Will you go after Maazin?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t help but imagine Maazin being torn in two.
“Don’t,” I pleaded softly.
Azur growled, stopping on the pathway again. “Don’t?”
“He’s young,” I whispered, meeting his eyes. Maazin was younger than even me. He’d been kind to me. He hadn’t needed to be. In fact, it would’ve served him better if he’d kicked me out of his office entirely from that very first day.
But he hadn’t.
“He made a mistake. Does he deserve to…to die for that?”
“It was a betrayal, not a mistake,” Azur told me, his voice hardened like steel. “No one takes from House Kaalium and gets away with it. There must be punishment for any wrongdoing, or else the balance of the realms is threatened.”
There was an edge in his voice that felt off . His gaze burned into mine. My lungs suddenly felt tight.
“Please,” I whispered, reaching out to take his hand.
A rough sound rose from Azur’s throat, guttural and raw. His eyes were angry, but he pulled me closer until I could feel the strength of his body against mine. My back arched so I could look up at him.
“And what would you do, wife , to ensure his life?”
I sucked in a sharp breath. There was a dangerous gleam in his eyes, one I was bewildered to say made my pulse flutter and my thighs squeeze together.
“Anything you want,” I answered. Softly. Carefully.
Another of our games. Only this time, it felt much, much more serious.
His hands tightened on me as his nostrils flared. His cock was thickening against me, hard like his voice but hot like the fire in his gaze.
He leaned down and I held my breath, tilting my neck back. He liked it when I submitted to him like this. And a part of me liked it too. To let him take control. It felt freeing to just let go .
I was thrumming in anticipation, but his bite never came. Instead, he leaned back.
He grunted, “No. There is no time.”
Disappointment crashed into me. Azur saw it, and the maddening male actually smirked.
Then I watched it slowly die.
“We’ll discuss Maazin later,” he told me, straightening.
Relief threaded through me. “All right.”
He pulled me along the path, and I stumbled after him. The path was widening, more light filtering in, and I saw a silver gate at the very end. Was this the only path up to the keep? I wondered.
“Thank you,” I couldn’t help but say quietly.
“I haven’t decided to spare him yet, Gemma,” Azur informed me, frowning down at me.
“No,” I said. “I meant thank you for telling me about Maazin. You didn’t hide the truth from me. You told me when I asked. I…I appreciate that.”
Azur went quiet, but I was proud that I’d voiced the sentiment. There were too many lies in my life. From my own parents. Lies I’d told my sisters. I appreciated the truth for once, even if it led to unfavorable conclusions.
“I will endeavor to be honest with you, if I can be,” Azur finally grunted, leading me through the silver gate at the end of the pathway. “Now, come. We’ll take our morning meal in the central square.”
Now that we’d broken through the line of the trees, it seemed like the sounds of the village hit me in the face, though it was still early in the morning.
“Can we get steam cakes?” I asked instead. “From Ludayn’s mother?”
Azur stilled. “Steam cakes?”
“Yes,” I said, want threading through me, my belly rumbling at the mere thought of them. “Please? I’ve wanted to visit her shop. And it’s still early, so the line might not be too long.”
Azur sighed. “Very well.”