Chapter Fourteen #2
Ahead came an inhuman groan that curled through the corridor, rattling the stone. A single torch sputtered against the far wall, its light reluctant to illuminate what lay beyond the iron bars.
Aurelie’s breath caught in her throat as she stepped closer.
Her father looked worse than she’d dared to imagine.
His face was swollen, widened. His split lips were caked in blood and bruised purple from the fangs that tore beneath them.
Once, his hair had been as pale as moonlight, always neatly bound.
Now it hung in gray strands that slipped from a tangled knot at his neck.
He was a shadow of himself, worn at the edges and unraveling like a frayed tapestry.
In place of the eyes she’d known for twenty-five years were sunken pits of white with veins of crimson webbing out from the corners. They froze her heart, but worse were the sinewy wings at his back, a deathly shade of gray.
Varen was chained to the wall, shackled at his wrists and ankles. The weight of his bound wings forced him to bow low, and when his gaze caught hers, he cast it lower, too ashamed to meet her eyes.
“You shouldn’t be here.” His voice was thunder reverberating through the chamber, shaking the bars between them.
Aurelie staggered forward, her legs buckling as she sank to the floor before a father who looked every bit the monster she’d trained her entire life to destroy.
She glanced from his mangled wings to his skin. The darkness hid its unusual jeweled glimmer, but his tongue …
“Have you spoken to anyone yet?”
Varen turned away, concealing his bloodied claws against his chest. His chains rattled with the motion, keeping him locked in place. “Where is your angel? It’s not safe for you here.”
“Have you spoken to anyone?” she demanded again. Then, quieter, “Has anyone else noticed?”
He stiffened. For a moment, Aurelie wondered if Varen himself hadn’t yet realized. But then, softly, he said, “No one has come close enough.”
Relief burned her eyes, the tears hot and heavy.
They still had time.
“This isn’t your fault,” she told him, stepping closer. “Come with me, I have a plan—”
“It’s too late for a plan.” Varen’s voice cracked, sorrow thickening every word. “You need to leave this place.”
She ignored him. There was no key in sight, but if she could break the lock …
“Aurelie, stop this.”
Steel rang through the chamber as she drove the butt of her blade against the lock. The impact jolted up her arm, sweat slicking her brow. She hit it again, breath hitching.
“Aurelie!” The force of his bellow hit her like a physical blow, sending dust trembling from the walls. She gasped, clamping her hands over her ears as the sound rattled through her skull.
When she finally pulled her hands away, her fingertips came away slick with blood. When Varen next spoke, his voice was softer. Desperate.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“It’s fine. Just stop fighting me. We don’t have time.”
She struck again. This time the lock gave way with a crack, the iron clattering to the floor. She shoved the door open and rushed to her father’s side, fumbling with the chains.
Varen flinched at her touch, a low growl rising from his chest. He pulled back as much as the chains allowed, wings trembling, their bound edges scraping the wall.
“There’s a shadow descending upon me, Aurelie. It’s consuming me, and I don’t want you here when it eclipses the light.”
“I’m not going to let that happen.” She knelt before him, clutching his bound wrists.
The touch caused Varen to shudder as he struggled to keep his hands steady, the muscles beneath his skin rippling.
Aurelie staggered back as he roared, her pulse pounding as he thrashed against the chains, arms and legs straining as if he could tear himself free by force alone.
A sharp crack echoed through the chamber as the shackles dug into his skin, blood seeping where the metal tore into flesh.
Varen was right—whatever he was becoming, it didn’t belong in this world. And for his sake, she couldn’t allow anyone else to realize it.
His bared teeth snapped inches from her face, and she didn’t think. She surged forward and seized his jaw, fingers digging into his skin as he thrashed beneath her grip.
“I’m sorry,” she cried. “We can’t let anyone else see what you’ve become.”
Her stomach turned as she pried his mouth open. Varen fought her, thrashing like a snared beast. She pressed her weight into him, the blade shaking in her hand.
Her body moved on its own as she clutched his forked tongue before she could second-guess herself, the heat of it slick and wrong in her palm. Only then did he still, milky-white tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.
Aurelie didn’t wait. She clamped her eyes shut and sliced the dagger clean across his tongue.
“It’ll grow back,” she rasped, her own tears spilling now as his scream split the air. Her ears rang with the sound of it. “I swear I’m going to fix this. Don’t you dare give up.”
She watched in horror as her father’s skin grew ashen, his veins protruding as black blood poured from his mouth. The sound of distant yelling and footsteps echoing overhead was the only reason Aurelie was able to keep standing.
She’d planned to take Varen and Azriel with her. To see if Severin did truly have a cure she could force into them. But if they wouldn’t come, she’d just have to bring them the cure herself.
Aurelie felt the pulse of Yuri’s anxiety as he searched for her, and knew she couldn’t stay here any longer.
She swallowed hard, blinking past the burning in her eyes.
She was going to fix this. She had to. But first, there was another demon she needed to save.