Chapter 69 – Azaria
AZARIA
The next morning, I planted myself beside Dain in the common room with a stack of reports, forcing my attention on the ink. My quill moved steadily until?—
A flicker brushed my senses, metallic and smoky. Quin’s magic. My head lifted, my pulse quickening. What in the seven hells?
I glanced across the room. Quin was in the far corner, speaking easily with Thorne, not even looking at me. The scent of it clung anyway.
Enough.
Without thinking, I slid my hand down into Kalias’s fur where he lay beside my chair. Thick, silver, warm. I tapped three times on his coat. Come with me.
Then I pushed back my chair, parchment in hand, keeping it casual.
Dain looked up immediately. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah,” I raised the parchment. “Just need to check something with Rylen. I’ll be back soon.”
His eyes lingered a moment longer, but he nodded.
Kalias rose silently at my side, padding after me as I left the wing. The door shut behind us, and the air in the corridor felt suddenly colder.
I kept walking until I found what I needed: the back entrance near the storage rooms. It was forgotten and tucked away, the perfect corner of stillness. I stopped, turning to face him. His silvery-blue eyes caught the torchlight, bright and unblinking.
“Kalias,” I said, voice low but steady. “I’m going to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me.”
He waited.
“You can sense Quin’s magic, right?”
Yes.
“Can you sense it on me?”
Yes.
A tight breath left me. I’d known the answer before I asked, but hearing it confirmed—even through the wordless press of his mind against mine—made my stomach drop.
“Do you know why?”
Connection.
“His magic is connected to me?”
Yes.
“It’s been circling me for a while. He told me it only happens sometimes. That it slips out, reacts to his emotions.”
The wolf gave me a long, flat look.
I froze. “He’s lying to me.”
Yes.
The parchment nearly slipped from my fingers. My pulse hammered. Something cold settled in my chest. Not anger, but the slow recognition that the person I trusted most with my body had been keeping something from me about the very thing I had trusted him with most.
“You know exactly what’s happening, don’t you?”
Silence. Then, firmer: Speak to Quin.
“Your human side knows too, I reckon. But he won’t tell me either.”
No. Speak to Quin.
“Fine.”
I stepped closer, wrapping my arms around his thick neck, fingers sinking into his silver coat. He leaned into it, a low rumble of pleasure vibrating against me. “Thank you, Kalias. You’re a good friend.”
Then, without warning, he lifted his snout and swiped his tongue across my cheek.
I jerked back, stunned. “Did you just kiss me?”
His huff was loud, proud, and utterly shameless. Yes.
Heat flooded my face. The wolf had kissed me. Which meant Kalias the man had kissed me.
“I wonder what your human will say about this,” I muttered, still scarlet.
Don’t care.
I couldn’t help it—I chuckled, shaking my head. “You act like a pup, Kalias.”
I stayed there a moment longer, arms looped around his neck, fingers combing through his coat while my thoughts spun.
Quin’s magic wasn’t slipping by accident.
It was tethered. To me. Every too-quick reaction, every perfectly timed word—it wasn’t instinct alone.
He felt me. He’d been wrapped around me for weeks, and I hadn’t even realized.
If I walked back into the common room now, Quin would see it all over me.
He’d sense whatever had shifted in me, because that was exactly the problem.
No.
“Change of plans,” I muttered. “We’re going to Korr’s.”
Kalias fell into step beside me as I headed for the back exit. I needed space, ale, and a man who’d always known how to pry the right truths out of the dark.
When we arrived at the familiar building, I pushed the door open and stepped inside. Kalias padded in behind me. The place was empty, as usual, and Korr was standing behind the bar, wiping glasses.
“Captain Child,” he chuckled. “And her new companion. Gods, that beast is huge.”
Korr stepped from behind the bar and opened his arms. Normally I’d have offered a dry, snarky compliment as a greeting, but I wasn’t up for that this morning. I stepped into his embrace and squeezed.
“You need a cold drink and good food, I see,” Korr rumbled.
I stepped back and turned to the wolf. “Could you shift back—with clothes, please,” I added. “I’d like you to meet him properly.”
Kalias stepped back a few paces and shifted.
“Well, I never thought I’d see the day,” Korr said, stepping forward.
“Kalias Fenwynd, meet Korr. He has eyes and ears everywhere on the continent. He’s helped me a great deal.”
Korr extended a hand, and Kalias took it. Korr eyed Kalias’s pointed ears. “You’re fae too?”
“Yes, my mother was fae.”
“I may be old, but I’m not dumb, boy. Sit down.”
“I am older than you, I believe,” Kalias said.
“You’re still a boy. Sit,” Korr disappeared into the back. I sat, then turned to Kalias.
“How old are you, exactly?”
Kalias smiled. “I am sixty-three years old.”
He didn’t look a day over thirty, maybe not even that.
“I’m guessing that’s thanks to your fae blood?”
“You are correct. I have a slightly longer lifespan, thanks to both fae and shifter blood.”
I smiled faintly. “I’m starting to envy you a little.”
“Why?”
I exhaled. “Everything you’ve told me about yourself, your family, your land, your culture—it all seems more settled. More alive. I—” I shook my head. “Never mind.”
He put a hand on my shoulder. “It is all right.”
I smiled. “You’re not going to kiss me, are you?”
Kalias sighed deeply. “That was unfortunate.”
I chuckled. “Well, he was definitely smug about it.”
Kalias shook his head, fondness and exasperation in his eyes. “I apologize for his behavior. He really feels deeply for you.”
“It’s all right. It was sweet, although rather unexpected. I suspect he’ll do it again.”
“I’m afraid he might.”
Korr returned with three mugs: pear cider for me, ginger ale for Kalias, and dark ale for himself.
“Now talk to me, kid.”
I got straight to the point. “Where is Torven Kaelor?”
Korr studied me for a moment. “He’s in Dravareth, Azaria. Not as a prisoner, though.”
He stood, jerking his head toward the back. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
We followed him into his private room. Maps covered the table, marked with routes, hideouts, and border crossings. He tapped a spot on the largest map, just outside the capital of Dravareth.
“Here. That’s where my contact last spotted him.
” His finger moved inland. “But intelligence from inside Dravareth confirmed something worse. He’s been in Malphyr’s castle, the Obsidian Palace in Draevenholt itself.
At least a week, maybe longer. My contact suspects he’s being trained in abyss wielding. ”
My chest tightened. Torven, wielding the Abyss. The same magic that had nearly killed me. Of course he’d seek it out. More power. More control.
“Shit,” I muttered. “Tywin said he’s been given some sort of power. He’s been pushing more of his men through the wards.”
Korr nodded grimly. “And it’s not just that.
Malphyr is working on some big spell, Azaria.
Not like the Sea of Rot he unleashed ten years ago, but something more destructive this time.
He’s been spending more time in the dungeons below the Obsidian Palace than usual.
Whoever he took down there with him hasn’t come back out. ”
I froze. Big spell. The vision Dain saw back in Solmarin. The abyssal cloud.
“Azaria?” Kalias asked. He could no doubt hear my heart hammering.
“I’m fine.” I wasn’t.
“He’s experimenting,” Korr continued. “Whatever he’s working on, it’s burning through a lot of energy and magic. And don’t forget—Torven’s obsessed with you. He’ll send more scum after you and the Thornvale kid too.”
Kalias’s expression didn’t change, but I caught the way his jaw tightened.
“So we really have painted a target on our backs,” I muttered, following Korr back to the main room.
“You’ve had a target on your back for years. Quinton? Only since he defected. Malphyr was enraged when he realized the siblings had left. He hasn’t forgotten.”
I knew that much. Something made me ask the next question. “What about their parents?”
Korr studied me before replying. “Haven’t been seen in months. Fled or dead—I can’t say.”
I took a long drink.
“That’s not all, is it?” Korr asked dryly.
“No. It’s not.”
“Quin has been lying to me about his magic,” I said.
“I can feel it circling me, wrapping around me. It’s gotten more potent lately.
When I tried to ask him about it, he said it slipped out by accident, reacting to his feelings.
But I know that’s not true.” I shot Kalias a look.
It wasn’t his fault, or even his business, but I would have appreciated a heads up.
“You think he’s tethered to you somehow?” Korr asked.
“Yes. I’m upset he didn’t tell me. I don’t even know how it works. He promised to be truthful, and he’s been hiding this from me for weeks, at least.” I let out a long breath. “I don’t know how to feel about it, Korr.”
Korr leaned back in his chair. “You’ve every right to be upset.
Trust is all you’ve got, especially with someone like Quinton—someone with magic like his.
If he’s keeping something this important, it’s bound to rattle you.
” He paused, leaning forward. “But listen. Blood magic’s messier than most. It can bind, slip, and tangle people up in ways even the caster doesn’t fully understand.
Maybe Quinton’s scared too—of what it means, of what you’ll think.
Doesn’t make the lie right, but it means he’s likely floundering, same as you. ”
He fixed me with that old, steady look. “If you can’t take another lie, then tell him so.
Lay it out bare. It doesn’t have to be neat, but if you want this to last, you both have to bleed a little for it.
” He raised his mug. “And for what it’s worth, kid—I’ve never seen you back down from anything that mattered. ”
I took a breath. “I know. But we’ve been at odds so many times, Korr. We argued almost every day when he first joined, made peace, then argued even more. We’ve both hurt each other. I’m not sure I can handle yet another lie.”
“Some bonds get bloodier before they get stronger—or they break. That’s the way of people like us, who don’t know how to walk away, even when it hurts. Quinton’s a stubborn bastard, and so are you. That’s why you butt heads, but it’s also why you work.”
“Thank you. I knew I could count on you to make me see a little bit of reason.” I tipped my glass toward him.
“Enough pouting,” Korr said, standing. “I’ll bring you food.”