Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-two
Jacinth
Isaw nothing but a cloud of silver until the smoke slowly cleared, leaving me standing in a familiar room. My eyes immediately locked onto the people sitting around it—my mother, my father, my aunt, and my uncle. Servants also filled the room, coming and going as they served my family.
I stepped forward, my entire body shaking as I forced my feet toward them.
A tear slid down my cheek as I watched my parents laugh, my mother leaning into my father as he wrapped an arm around her.
I couldn’t help a small smile at the familiar sight.
Unlike many nobles, they were so truly in love, and they never failed to show one another how deeply that love went.
I heard a crash from the front of the room, and my eyes fell closed automatically as more tears streaked down my face, but I couldn’t remain blind; I had to see.
The men swarmed into the room, some of them wearing masks while others didn’t bother, and they instantly began cutting down members of our household as our guards tried fruitlessly to defend against the unexpected attack.
My father jumped to his feet, slipping a potion from a pocket and throwing it at the attackers.
I sucked in a breath as I watched a handful of them be consumed by the resulting smoke, screaming as their flesh boiled off their bones, leaving me wide-eyed in shock.
My father didn’t hesitate, taking the distraction the potion afforded to wrestle one of the men to the ground and take his sword. But it was all in vain. There were too many of them, and they quickly overpowered him, the sword falling to the ground as another blade slid deep into his stomach.
My gasp was so loud that I covered my mouth with my hands like someone might have heard me. But I was merely a ghost here—or perhaps, I was surrounded by ghosts, and I remained the only real thing here.
Watching as my mother tried to get to my father, my heart broke entirely, ripping straight down the middle.
One of the attackers grabbed her, dragging her across the room as one of the men propped my father up so he could see her.
Two other men got their hands on my aunt and uncle, and I couldn’t stop the sob that left my lips as both their throats were slit.
Their bodies were thrown to the ground like trash, their blood leaking out and pooling on the marble floors. My hands fisted as I struggled with my inability to act. I wanted to kill these men more than anything, but I knew it was useless. None of this was real, not anymore.
My eyes turned back to my parents, where the men were taunting my father with what they would do to my mother.
“I’ve never had a lady before.” One of them licked his lips, his hands trailing up my mother’s side.
My mother’s eyes narrowed as she snarled, and I watched in shock as my very ladylike mother snapped her head back, breaking the nose of the man threatening her.
A surprised smile lit my face as I watched her turn quickly and knee him between the legs.
The man crashed to the ground, but a couple of the others moved in, and I grit my teeth as they slapped her so hard she fell to the ground. They manhandled her back up, each man holding an arm and keeping her in place.
“You bitch,” the man she fought stumbled back up, “We could have made this painless for you, but now, it’s going to hurt.”
“Rue, we have our orders, and they don’t include playing.
” Another man stepped forward, chastising the snarling man, who was clearing fuming.
I squinted in contemplation, his voice sounding eerily familiar, but I shook off the thought as I watched his eyes cut to my father, who was struggling against his bonds, and then back to my mother.
Suddenly, he surged forward, and my parents cried out in tandem, my own voice adding to the chorus, as a dagger went through my mother’s chest.
She slumped forward, with only the two men holding her arms keeping her upright, while the clear leader snarled at this Rue. “If you can’t behave yourself, then go elsewhere.”
The man fell back, his eyes going to the ground as he mumbled angrily to himself.
“What do you want?” My father asked desperately, his eyes glued to my mother.
When he finally pulled them away, they went to the doorway on the left, leading back to where our bedrooms were located.
He gulped audibly, sucking in panicked breaths.
I could see how terrified he was already, but now most of that terror was for me.
He forcibly looked away from the path to where I lay sleeping, not knowing that it was too late and other attackers were already on their way there.
“We are merely getting rid of the opposition. Ensuring that when the time comes, the path to the throne will be clear,” the man said, confusing me as he walked up to my father. He removed his mask then, and I staggered backwards in shock.
“Casaan,” my father spat angrily, “I should have known. Your father has always desired more than he’s owed.”
“Oh, Elros,” Casaan stepped forward, slithering toward him. “My father will be High King. As long as the blood of House Marit is extinguished from Adamah, of course.”
My father stilled completely. “What?”
Casaan laughed, a cruel sound that echoed around the room as my father’s eyes slid past the heir of Ruby to lock on my mother’s.
Both looked horrified, and I knew at that moment that, even despite their wounds, their only concern was me.
Tears flowed ever faster from my eyes as pain consumed me, but my anger kept me standing, kept me watching, and prevented me from falling into a pit of despair.
“Oh yes, a little prophecy gifted to my father.” Casaan smiled widely. “If a single member of House Marit lives, my father will fail to take the throne. Should your house fall, however.” He shrugged casually, “Then his path is assured.”
“All Hail High King Carnelian.” One of the men in the background cheered, prompting whoops and cheers from the other men.
My blood turned to ice in my veins.
“All hail the High King.” I’d heard one of these men say that night as I hid within the closet. I thought it was straightforward. Simple. The High King was to blame for this tragedy that had befallen my family.
Azurill was innocent.
My mind spun in so many directions, and I didn’t know how to process any of them. Watching as my parents were killed, as Casaan left and gave the others an order to clean up and leave no witnesses, didn’t help with my clarity of mind either.
It was a horror show. All of it.
What I didn’t understand was why Azurill had seemed so guilty when speaking of my family, but as my vision turned silver again, I wondered if perhaps I was about to find out.
When the fog cleared, I was greeted by the sight of Azurill standing over a field of bodies. I recognized a few of them, men who had participated in the murder of our household. So many lay dead before me, and I couldn’t help my mouth from falling open at the grisly sight.
Azurill himself was shirtless for some reason and completely covered in blood.
It was so wrong to feel myself grow wet at the sight.
He looked like a wild animal, bloody from head to toe, and with a crazed light in his eyes…
but he’d killed the men who helped kill my family.
He’d brought the vengeance I had been aiming for all this time, years before I had ever met him.
“Azurill. It’s time to go.” Balthazar walked up to him, wiping blood from his forehead.
“These men were pawns,” Azurill spat angrily, shaking his head. “They can claim what they like, but I know this was no robbery, I know it, Zar. No one kills an entire household just to rob a lord.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Balthazar reassured him carefully, putting a hand on his shoulder. “But this is not the way. Not for the king. I doubt anyone will shed a tear over an entire crime ring being wiped out, but this isn’t who you are.”
Azurill’s eyes seemed to clear, and I only noticed as they returned to their regular hue that they hadn’t been teal at all, and I wished I’d paid more attention to see what in Tartarus they’d looked like.
He looked down at the bodies arrayed around him with clear despair as he staggered back, hanging his head. “Fuck, what have I done?”
“Nothing we ever have to speak about again,” Balthazar promised, gulping as he looked over the carnage Azurill had somehow wreaked singlehandedly.
It didn’t make sense. It looked more like a Fae had done this.
While Elves were strong, we weren’t as strong as they were.
This looked like someone had ripped through these men.
Azurill carried no sword in his hand, no weapon that could explain their state.
What in the Otherworld had he done to them?
The silver smoke returned, and I swore to myself, wanting to know more. But the potion, the magic, the gods, they were running the show here, and I was helpless to do anything but be taken along in its wake.
Azurill was right about one thing, though. He didn’t get everyone.
Vengeance was still possible.
I knew it would be difficult. With Ula’s life in Carnelian’s hands, I would have to play this very carefully. But a smile came to my face as I thought of what Casaan had said.
With a member of House Marit alive, Carnelian would fail to take the throne. Which meant one thing…
I was the threat hanging over Carnelian’s head.
And whether he’d figured out I lived and sought to manipulate me to ensure his rise, or if he planned to kill me at the end of this, his plans didn’t matter, because I would see the end of House Rousseau the way he sought to end House Marit.
I would avenge my parents and everyone who died thanks to one man’s greed for more than he was given. I would be the knife in the dark coming for the lord’s neck. Or perhaps I would stick it through his chest to return the favor his thugs paid my mother.
The silver smoke cleared, and I found myself sagging into Azurill’s arms. I was panting, and my entire body was shaking uncontrollably as he staggered and then brought us carefully down to the floor.
“Jac, what’s wrong?” Azurill asked frantically, concern and panic fighting one another for dominance in his voice.
All I could do was whisper, my shaking hand coming up to clasp his, “I was wrong. Everything’s changed now.”
“What’s changed? What did you see?” He asked quietly, forcing his anxiety back to be there for me, and it made me appreciate him even more. I smiled up at him, stroking his tan cheek.
“I saw the truth. I know now I was wrong, and that everything must change.” I said quietly. “I know…” I struggled with my next words, the admission taking much from me. “I owe you the truth as well.”
His eyebrows flew up in surprise, and he opened his mouth to speak, but my fingers fell softly across his lips, silencing him.
“I do. You deserve the truth. But I can’t—” I cut off, my words choked in my throat as I struggled not to cry.
Seeing my visible struggle, Azurill pulled me into him, hugging me to his body.
As his hand began to stroke my hair, so gently, so at odds with the blood-soaked warrior I’d witnessed, I let my head fall to his shoulder.
For once in my life, in the arms of a man my heart couldn’t help but yearn for, I let everything go. In great heaving sobs, ones I’d never allowed myself after that day, I let the grief explode from my soul, pouring out in tears and tremors.
And Azurill held me through it all. Stroking my hair and back, murmuring gentle words of comfort. I’d never experienced anything like this before. I hadn’t allowed myself to get close to anyone outside of Ula until I came here. And now my heart was so tangled up over this man, it was ridiculous.
I would have to tell him the truth. Tell this man comforting me so sweetly that I’d planned to kill him. I would be lucky if he listened, if he didn’t order me imprisoned or executed. The fact that this could go very badly wrecked me all over again.
He didn’t need me. He had plenty of options. Noble ladies of the realm were literally fighting to become his queen, and I was nothing but the lost little girl who’d planned to assassinate him. But…something about the way he held me gave me hope.
If I’d learned one thing living on the streets, however, it was that hope was the most dangerous thing of all.