Chapter 88
Eden
My eyes fly open with a gasp.
The room is too warm. The air too still. My inner fox doesn’t trust it. She moves within me with all her tails on high alert. She must be the one who woke me up to warn me about what’s out there. I should listen to her. Close my eyes and ignore the feeling of danger in my bones.
But I’ve never been a good listener.
I sit up since there’s a tug in my chest. Almost like a thread being pulled taut. Something is calling me. Question is, do I dare to leave my room?
I sit there, listening to my own heartbeats until I hear a distant sound. A choked cough. Followed by something wet. Strangled.
Azriel?
Is he in…danger?
The mate bond flares, telling me he is at least in pain.
I don’t waste another second. I throw on my nightgown and pad out of the room on naked feet. The halls seem darker. I but I shiver regardless. The sounds are louder now too, and the walls tremble.
It sounds like a monster is crying. Any other person would probably not follow the sound, and yet, I do.
Past the library.
Around the corner… And there he is.
Azriel.
that’s only my imagination,
On all fours, clawed fingers digging into the marble floor. His wings are half–spread, twitching violently. But it’s not the wings that make me freeze.
It’s his skin.
Black scales shimmer on his arms. They spread down his neck. Is he shape–shifting? Or in the middle of doing it? His spine arches. His body convulses.
And when he lifts his face to look at me it gets harder to breathe.
Gods.
I take a step back.
His eyes aren’t glowing white anymore.
They’re back to being violet.
Soft and hauntingly familiar. And despite the monstrous shift overtaking him, his face is still… stunning. Like something carved from heartbreak and starlight. Beautiful, even now.
“Don’t,” he rasps, voice cracked and distant. “Don’t go.”
His arms buckle. He collapses to his side, chest heaving.
I should run. Everything in me screams to leave since whatever it is he is becoming is something dangerous and out of this world,
But I don’t.
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Because there’s something in his voice I’ve never heard before.
Fear.
I kneel slowly. “Azriel?”
He doesn’t answer.
He’s shaking. His body curling inward, like he’s trying to hold something in. The scales are spreading faster now. His claws scrape the floor. His teeth clénch.
“The shadows,” he mutters. “They’re loud tonight. Too loud. I tried to sleep. Tried to keep them quiet. But they want you.”
His head drops. “They want to devour you. And I can’t… I can’t shut them up.”
My heart twists.
“You’re not well,” I whisper.
“No.”
“Is it… Mara’s heart?”
He nods, slowly. “It gave me power. But it’s unraveling me. I can’t stop the shift. I feel it. Like fire in my bones. Something horrifying is trying to crawl out
of me.”
I hesitate, then reach for him. My hand brushes his temple, sweeping his damp hair back.
He flinches at first.
Then he sighs. Shuddering.
“I didn’t mean to lock you in,” he whispers. “I just… couldn’t think. It’s quietest when you’re near. You’re the only thing keeping me in control.”
My heart cracks.
He rests his head against my lap. Scaled cheek pressed to silk.
I hold him, gently. Carefully. My fingers drift through his cotton–soft hair. He likes that. My high–lord melts into the contact like a dying flame.
Is this really the strongest high–fae alive?
My lips curl. Amusing how the most powerful magic being on earth is like a kitten with me.I continue brushing my fingers through his hair. Just breathing, Just existing. Azriel falling into pieces. Me trying to gather them.
“Are you going to die?” I ask.
There’s a long silence.
Then. “Yes. Unless the corruption stops. But I don’t know how to stop it.”
Tears burn my eyes. “You can’t leave me.”
He doesn’t answer.
“I know you’ve changed. I know you’re not all.. you anymore. But you’re still my mate. You’re still the one who held my hand when I thought I was nothing. Who saw me when no one else did. Don’t you dare die, Azriel.”
His hand twitches, like he wants to reach for me but can’t. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “For everything.”
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“There has to be something,” I say, desperate. “A way to undo this. I’ll find it. I’ll fix this?
He closes his eyes. “Just stay. Tonight. Please.”
“I will.”
Together, we rise slowly. I help him walk, supporting his weight. He’s tall and heavy and still strain with each step.
“You’re going to crush me if you fall,” I mutter.
Azriel’s mouth twitches. “I will crush you like a grape, Eden.”
A laugh breaks out of me, choked and shaky. God
I’ve missed him. The real him.
half shifted. His claws drag slightly on the marble. My legs
“I’ll take the risk,” I whisper.
We make it to his room. He sinks onto the bed, trembling. I help him lie back, adjusting the pillows, drawing the blankets over him. My fingers never leave
him.
Suddenly his hand shoots out. He catches my wrist and I have to fight the instinct telling me to pull away from his touch. “You’re not afraid of me?”
“I am,” I admit in a whisper. “But I’m more afraid of losing you.”
His eyes soften. “You never really had me.”
He means that we never marked each other. Never completed the mate bond.
“I know,” I say. “But I want to.”
Something in his face crumples. He looks so young. So tired. Not the monster. Not the High Lord. Just Azriel. My mate.
He says nothing. Just closes his eyes, my hand still in his.
I don’t want to leave him. He might have locked me up in here. And yes, I’m his prisoner. But he is still my mate and my heart beats for him.
I get in bed with him. He moves as if wanting to give me space. I smile and get closer to my big, bad fae high–lord. He smells like the rain. Has he been out
in it? I inhale it and lay my palm on his chest, feeling the thunder of his heartbeat under scaled skin.
His eyes open.
Violet. Wild. Wanting.
And then he leans in.
His lips brush mine.
Soft. Hesitant.
Then deeper.
My breath catches. His hand curves around my waist, pulling me closer. My whole body responds. There’s heat flooding my chest, my b nerves spark with every breath between us.
His kiss is desperate. Like he’s trying to memorize the shape of my mouth in case he forgets it tomorrow.
He presses his forehead to mine. “You still want me?”
I nod, breathless. “I never stopped.”
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Chapter 88
He smiles and my heart flip flops. He looks less like the terrifying man he has become and more like the boy I fell in love with. It makes me want him even more. I’m longing for him and when his lips find mine again, it is my undoing. My whole being lights up like a phoenix when he kisses me. Tastes me He- is so good at it that I forget everything else. The curse. The shadows. The scales.
It’s just him and me.
Fox and fae.
And maybe we’re broken.
But we still fit.
The blankets move in the bed when his hand trails lower, curling around the small of my back. My fingers knot in his shirt. I want it off. I want his lips again. And just before the kiss turns hungrier, I whisper the one truth I’ve been too afraid to say aloud.
“I love you.”
AD
