Azzaro: The Owl’s Talon (Dons of Trenton #1)

Chapter 1

Fury spread through me like a blazing inferno as my sister’s scream filled the room, breaking my heart, before I met my father’s gaze.

I tightened my fingers around the handle of the knife in my hand before plunging it into my best friend’s chest, right above his heart.

Without taking my attention off my father, I tossed the blade to the side and reached inside Joel’s chest, the warmth of his blood seeping into me.

My fingers grabbed rib bones one by one, pulling each back with a final crack, and with every one, Rhea flinched and crumbled a bit more, tears streaking down her face.

White bone slick with red protruded from his chest as I tore the flesh open wider.

Finally, with my mind unable to make a coherent thought and rage and pain balled in my throat, I worked by muscle memory.

I reached into his chest and wrapped my fingers around his still cooling heart and tugged.

There was the sound of wet squelching as I pulled it from his lifeless body.

The smell of iron filled my senses, the feel of the blood spray sprinkling onto my face.

The normality of that calmed a touch of my rage.

Slowly, I rose to my feet, blood streaming down my hand and splattering onto his chest. I turned and took methodical steps toward my sister, who was wailing, tears streaming down her face, as two bodyguards held her back from the man she loved so thoroughly.

I swallowed the regret that balled in my throat.

Rhea had gone behind our father’s back for him, almost igniting a war within the family.

When I reached her, I knelt on one knee in front of her as my gaze met hers.

She didn’t see me. She was still looking at Joel’s cooling body in a pile of blood. I lifted his heart to her.

“This belonged to you. Now, I present it to you.” Blood ran down my forearm until it met where my white button-up was rolled up at the elbows, seeping into the fibers, turning them crimson, permanently staining the threading as a reminder of what I had done under the orders of our father.

Her scream stopped as her attention snapped from his corpse to me. The devastation in her eyes pulled at my cold, dead heart. She was the only person I protected with everything I had in me, even if that was from herself.

Rhea’s words were hard and hissed through her teeth, her eyes closed as she shook her head in disbelief. “I will never forgive you for this.”

Our father’s voice was dismissive. “It doesn’t matter. Gavriel does his duty and will always protect the family and its interests. Regardless of who or what it is. Don’t forget that, my dear Rhea.” Then he commanded the guards, “Take her home. Let her mourn before she marries Don Juarez.”

I stayed where I was, kneeling on the floor, hands outstretched and holding Joel’s heart, as everyone stood back.

The organ turned cold, blood still leaking out of the torn tissue down my arm and onto the carpet.

My father came to stand in front of me. “I am proud of you, son. You put aside your personal feelings and did what was required for the betterment of the family.”

He plucked up Joel’s heart, looked it over a moment, twisting it at different angles, then tossed it back behind me, where I heard it land with a soft, wet squelch.

With a snap of his fingers, he commanded me to stand and look at him.

When my gaze met his, there was deception in those eyes, and I knew that whatever he had planned was not going to end well for anyone.

“I’ll have Perkins's body removed, but go and fetch his daughter.”

“Yes, Father.” I turned and closed my eyes as I walked past Joel and thought of Elin. She was a spoiled, snot-nosed brat, and there was a part of me that was looking forward to this visit.

This will be fun.