Chapter 99 – Dain #2
Torven crouched again, smug and preening. “Everything you are exists because of me. Everything you’ve become—my design. My blade. My creation. You should be grateful.”
Azaria’s chest trembled. Her head hung against her chest. Blood dripped steadily into the dirt. Her shoulders shook. For a moment, I thought?—
Then I heard it. At first, it was only a rough huff of air, bitter enough to make my skin prickle.
Azaria’s shoulders shook harder, and for one disorienting second I thought she was breaking all over again.
Then the sound came again—a torn, ragged chuckle dragged from deep in her throat.
It built from there, rough and splintered and far too sharp at the edges, until her laughter filled the room in a way that felt more frightening than any sob.
Laughter.
The entire chamber jolted. Kael swore under his breath.
Reyna clapped a hand over her mouth. Quin staggered back like he’d been punched.
Even Tywin’s jaw dropped. In the projection, Torven froze.
Azaria lifted her head—barely—blood streaming from her mouth, and fixed him with a smile dripping contempt.
“Torven,” she rasped, breath hitching. “You’ve had what? A decade?”
Her laugh cracked again, dark and vicious.
“And you still haven’t managed to kill me.”
Torven’s expression fractured. For a heartbeat, he looked stunned.
Azaria leaned forward as far as her bindings allowed, teeth bared. “What’s wrong? Can’t figure out how to stab a girl who’s tied up?”
Reyna sobbed-laughed in disbelief. Zeph muttered, “Seven hells, she’s insane.” But it was full of awe.
Azaria pushed again, voice threadbare but sharpened to a knife’s edge. “For someone who claims I belong to him, you really are terrible at keeping me dead.”
Torven’s face twisted. Not rage, but wounded pride. His boot came down—hard—slamming into her ribs. She choked, her body folded, blood spraying the dirt.
She didn’t cry out. She smirked.
“Missed,” she slurred.
Quin made a strangled sound. My nails dug into my palms so hard I broke skin.
Torven snarled. “Laugh while you can. It won’t save you.”
Azaria spat blood directly at his boots. “Neither will your tiny dick.”
Kael barked a shocked laugh despite everything.
Azaria tilted her head, insulting. “Or do you prefer them young, Torven? Is that why you never killed me?” Her smile widened, feral. “Too old now? Lost interest?”
Gasps rippled across the chamber. Torven’s eyes went flat and cold.
Azaria didn’t stop. “I was seventeen. Easy pickings. You had every chance, but what did you do?” She snorted. “Nothing. Not a single successful attempt. Stars, you couldn’t even accidentally kill me.”
Torven’s jaw clenched so hard a vein bulged along his temple.
“And you call yourself a master strategist?” She shook her head with theatrical disappointment. “I’ve seen farm boys plan better ambushes.”
“You insolent little?—“
“Honestly,” Azaria talked right over him, “I can’t believe Malphyr keeps trash like you around. Does he even know how many times you’ve failed? Or does he ignore your existence the same way the rest of the High Council does?”
Torven sputtered.
Azaria barked a laugh that tore blood from her throat, dripping down her chin. “Wait—does he even remember you? Or are you some errand rat he keeps around because no one else will take you?”
Torven’s hand twitched toward his blade.
Azaria’s eyes glittered with savage delight. “Gods, look at you. Getting angry. Look at the veins on your forehead. I haven’t seen you this upset since you found out I preferred Callan’s cock over your orders.”
The entire room froze.
Reyna whispered, horrified. “No, she didn’t…”
“She did,” Kael breathed.
Azaria grinned wider. “Actually, it’s hilarious, Torven. Callan, Dain, even Quin—they all managed to get closer to me than you ever did.” Her eyes narrowed to slits. “You want to know the real reason you never killed me?”
Torven’s voice came out strangled. “Shut your mouth.”
Azaria ignored him. “You never killed me because you couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else having something you couldn’t touch.”
Torven’s face twisted, ugly and raw.
Azaria leaned in, razor in her voice. “And here’s the real punchline: all those years you spent trying to destroy me? All those attempts? All that planning?” She laughed again—broken, blood-bubbled. “You still failed. Every. Single. Time.”
Torven snapped. He struck her hard across the face, knuckles cracking against her cheekbone. Azaria’s head whipped sideways, blood spraying. She turned back slowly. And smiled.
“Missed again.”
He roared wordlessly and struck her again—hard enough to snap her head sideways. And still—still—she smiled through bloodied teeth.
Torven’s voice softened into something eerily calm. “I guess we’re done pretending.”
Azaria’s body sagged, light flickering in her eyes.
“You had all these years,” she whispered. “And all you did was send idiots after me. You never had the spine to do it yourself.”
His blade flashed. Her eyes never left his.
“Go on then.”
Azaria slumped, breathing shallowly. Torven’s voice was icy. “Kareth will fall. Everything is in place. Lord Draeven has made sure of it. All I need to do now is kill you and release the spell.”
Azaria blinked, dazed. “What spell?”
Torven stepped back, savoring her confusion.
“The Abyssal Boom. I carry it inside me—on my command, it detonates. The initial blast will consume everything within the span of a small village. But it doesn’t stop there.
It grows, spreading outward like a cloud, absorbing everything in its path.
Killing everything. It will expand until all of Kareth is consumed.
” He gestured to the ruins around them. “Thalor has the most fissures in the wards. The perfect place for the Abyss to slip through. Kareth reborn in darkness.”
“One last thing.” Torven nodded to a crystal structure in the corner. “That crystal? Hopefully, Dain is watching as you take your last breath.”
Azaria struggled to lift her head. A savage grin spread across her lips.
“Do it.”
Torven grabbed her hair and yanked her head back. Azaria stared him in the eye.
Torven’s blade flashed, and he cut a single slice across her throat.
The projection ended abruptly. The crystal’s light died, leaving the chamber raw and cold. For a second, no one moved. No one breathed.
Veshar’s voice lashed through the silence like a whip. “Where the fuck is Captain Sylvenhart? And where is that wolf?”
My jaw locked. I forced myself not to break. For her. For the squad.
Kael’s voice stammered behind me. “They… they were supposed to meet Elaria for lunch…”
“Did they manage to meet? Where were they supposed to go?”
“They have a favorite place in the city,” Kael managed, words distant.
Veshar cursed, then barked at Serah. “Send out your scouts. Find her sister and the shifter. Now.”
Serah’s boots faded as she left.
Kael’s voice was thin. “If Kalias was with her, they would have had to take him down first. He wouldn’t have let them?—“
“He’s alive,” I said, quiet but certain. “If they’d killed him, Torven would have shown us the body. He wanted an audience, not loose ends.”