Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
The wind was calm as we stood beside the ramparts of the city and stared at the pyre threaded with flowers and herbs.
The final streaks of day died around us as we awaited the priestesses and the final death rite.
My legs trembled with fatigue; I had one arm wrapped around Lilith’s waist while Noah kept all three of us steady.
I couldn’t imagine how Lilith was standing now—around mid-morning the priestesses had offered Noah and I a small stool to sit on. Lilith, however, had refused.
Drumming began far off, growing louder with the procession, but we stared straight ahead at the pyre as the bier arrived, now decorated with lush herbs and dripping with incense smoke.
Humans, Lycans, Vyenurs, and vampires filed in behind them.
A familiar hand slid up my back and curled around my nape.
He was here. I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, to turn and press my face into his chest. We stayed as we were, though, watching as Jules’ body was placed on the pyre, the wreath of asivas still perched on her chest. The high priestess was last to arrive, carrying a bright torch spluttering and sparking with embers.
She approached Lilith, holding out the torch to her with wide, expectant eyes rimmed in kohl.
My friend’s hand was steady as she took it, though the older woman waited a moment to ensure her grip was strong before she let go and gestured for her to approach.
Smoke stung my eyes and I blinked rapidly while Lilith stepped toward the pyre.
Waves crashed across the beach, close enough to break through the silence. She laid the torch across her mother’s body before bowing forward with her sobs.
Noah and I surged forward, drew her into our arms and pulled her away from the flames catching the dry wood. Lilith crumpled in our embrace, clawing at Noah’s tunic as if beneath his skin she might find the way to restore Jules. I kept one hand on her hair, rubbing her back with the other.
Another priestess approached with a smaller torch.
It was Lord Azad who took it and moved around us to light the lower section of the wood close to the head.
When he stepped back, the firelight illuminated the blood tears on his face.
He slipped between us to gather Lilith into his arms and cradle her like a child.
Like the child he’d watched grow, as he had the woman whose body would soon be nothing but ash and memory.
Another torch, this time handed to Noah who placed it at her feet.
A fourth torch handed to me. I felt it should go to someone else, but the priestess pressed it into my palm and gestured toward the center of the pyre.
By now almost all the wood had caught, but I took careful steps forward and thrust the torch into the center.
The heat licked at my hands and face as I moved away in fear my skirts might catch.
One final torch was handed to Lilith, who had quieted in Lord Azad’s arms. He let her go, steadying her with a hand on her shoulder as she took the final, smaller flame, the handle wrapped with fragrant herbs, to throw onto the fire.
As one the crowd behind us lowered to one knee with their head bowed, three fingers pressed to their lips.
When I’d first seen it at Solange’s rite, I hadn’t understood the gesture. It was Noah who had explained after.
They were bowing to Keryes, god of death, who came for us all.
Shortly after, most filed out without a word, slipping back up the path they’d come down and into the city. Lilith watched her mother burn with wide, horrified eyes. I wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder while Noah embraced us both.
“Leave me,” Lilith murmured.
I shook my head. “No.”
Her cold palm wrapped around my forearm, squeezing it once. “Please. Allow me this time to say goodbye to her alone.”
Noah and I exchanged a look. He nodded once, leaning forward to press a kiss to her temple. “All right, love.”
The thank you she whispered was barely more than breath as we let her go. I reluctantly led the way back toward the path to where Lord Azad stood, watching the flames as Lilith was. Noah tugged me under his arm. “I’ll keep my distance, but I’ll watch over her.”
As we approached, Lord Azad shook his head slightly and ran a hand over his face. Noah slipped between two trees, leaning against one trunk with his arms crossed over his chest while he watched Lilith stare at the flames.
“What do you need?” I asked Lord Azad, unable to stop myself from squeezing his elbow.
He dropped his hand to tuck me into his side and pressed his nose to my hair, inhaling deeply. “This. This is what I need.”
I didn’t fight him as he guided us up the path and to the ramparts. People milled around on the edge overlooking the sea and I wondered if the flames had caught their attention. But as we grew closer, I realized I knew at least two of the males standing at the wall.
Henry was closest, his chocolate-brown curls tied back, arm slung around the shoulders of a small female with black hair twisted into an ornate bun on top of her head.
Mateo leaned against the rampart, his head hanging between his forearms as his shoulders shook.
A male with blond hair ran a hand over his back soothingly, though he was not looking at Mateo.
Instead, he watched the pyre burn with an intensity that made me wonder if he did not often see the ritual.
He took a step closer, his eyes fixed on the flames.
“Callum,” Lord Azad called. The blond male looked up with silver eyes. “Make sure he feeds.”
“Yes, Uncle,” Callum answered, his attention sliding back to the fire and the figure of Lilith standing before it.
I wanted to say something to Mateo, to offer him some sort of comfort, but the words didn’t come. Lord Azad guided me through the serpentine streets toward the center of town, brushing his lips across my hair, my temples, my brow. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
My shoulders tightened and I swallowed. “I cannot leave Lilith and Risqeu.”
“I know,” he answered, drawing his cloak around me to stave off the winter chill.
“If…” I took a deep breath, stopping before we reached the market that lined the Rachay River, twisting my fingers together.
“If you wish to be my exclusive client, Lord Azad, then I will agree. I will visit you at your home or you can come to the Souzterain and you can feed when you wish, as you originally discussed with Jules.”
His dark brows drew together and he tilted his head to the side.
One hand rose to cup my chin, turning my face to him.
Goddess, but he was beautiful. The kind of male I’d dreamed of all my life while I sat on the dirt floor of my home and was told I would one day serve powerful immortals just like my mother.
In those dreams I imagined a male like Lord Azad coming to my rescue, plucking me from my imagined tower to ride off into the night.
Safety.
Comfort.
Love.
That was all I had ever wanted. Perhaps now, at least with this arrangement, I would get two out of three for as long as he would allow it.
Lord Azad took a step closer, hand sliding to curl around my throat. His thumb brushed the pulse point behind my ear, citrine eyes dancing back and forth between mine as if he might find some answer there. “I want you to be mine, Adrienne.”
My throat clicked with another dry swallow. “Yes, I will be.”
He shook his head, a lock of dark hair falling across his forehead, and exhaled slowly.
A flicker of pain crossed his face, so tangible it echoed in my heart, sending the grief within my bones to aching again.
He kissed me, and I wondered why this felt like a goodbye.
His next words were so soft, I could not tell exactly what he said, but it sounded a little like:
“I will take whatever you can give me.”