Blood of Two Crowns (Hallowed Fates #2)

Chapter 51

Chapter

Fifty-One

MAREINA

A fter Nakoa and I had each given Ataraxus a few droplets of blood, lest he choke on the fluid he could not swallow, we made our way down to the dungeons. Azrael had regained consciousness and made no protest or plea to be set free.

And it only served to awaken my rage. I wanted him to fight back. I wanted him to attack me, wound me, cause my physical pain, kill me if only it would liberate me of this pain.

Azrael’s eyes lifted to mine as my crimson magic flowed toward him like a mist pouring over the ground and climbed up his body. He didn’t resist as my arcanum manifested and coiled around him.

My serpent constricted as her fangs sank into the flesh of his right shoulder. Azrael only shut his eyes, eventually grimacing when the pain became overwhelming.

My voice was like a whip cracking through the air.

“Do something. Have you no will to live now that you’ve taken everything from me?”

Azrael’s gaze opened, and through my serpent, I could feel the cracking of his ribs, one by one, as she squeezed further. I could barely make out his words, though the sadness in his voice rang crystal clear, gaze flicking briefly to Nakoa. “Not... everything.”

My words were little more than an inhuman growl. “Bring them back.”

Azrael’s expression tenses. “Them?” Realization filtered through the pain, widening his gaze before he shook his head, guilt and remorse lining his pained features. “I wish more than anything my power was one that brought forth life instead of death. That rare gift was left to my soulbound. Wherever she is.”

Persephone.

All at once, my magic and my serpent left him.

A spark of hope lit my chest.

Somnus went to look for her.

Guilt and watery grief returned, clogging my throat like a fucking fist.

“And where is Malekai?”

Azrael gestured limply to the collar around his throat. “If you remove it, I can tell you.”

I willed away the palladium without a moment’s hesitation. I didn’t bother to threaten him. If he tried to escape, he would fail.

Azrael’s gaze grew distant, his features sinking further into despair. “… His soul is not in my domain.”

His words are like the severing of a cord—that sets me free.

Not in his domain…

Ataraxus’ words echo in my mind, “… When a drakonati claims and bonds with another, the magic infusing their venom weaves itself into your magic, and thus your soul…”

Hope and relief swelled in my chest as I reached out with my magic, scanning the whole of Avernus, the existence of which is a presence in my soul, like my heart within my body.

Like a spindle drawing blood from a finger, I felt a faint pricking sensation the moment my magic found Malekai.

Home.

My gaze snapped to Nakoa’s, and I didn’t miss the unmistakable hope widening his gaze. Nakoa gives me a single nod in understanding.

I willed the palladium collar back onto Azrael’s throat as I folded back to Avernus on beating wings. Instantly, I was drawn towards the mountains lying in the distance.

Is this where your soul has gone, tessari mú?

I let my eyelids fall as my soul carried me towards the male who possessed my heart. Icy wind whipped around me, and I opened my eyes to find myself standing in a towering cavemouth. The tunnel inside dripping with frozen, sickle-shaped icicles. Hope pounded furiously in my chest as I made my way inside, not bothering to glance back at the frozen wasteland behind me.

Ice crunched beneath my boots, and the sound of a beastly huff echoed in the dark recesses before me. I treaded deeper into the cave, willing a fire to illuminate my path. My heart stuttered as my eyes reached the furthest corner of the cave, where two glowing turquoise and golden orbs glimmered, each one nearly as large as my head.

A sob of relief strangled me as I folded to the space in front of him and threw myself at him. The frozen cave trembled as a wail of unmistakable lament rumbled through him, and a foreleg curled around me, pulling me into the warm space beneath his neck.

Part of how my father’s after realm cleansed and repaid karmic debt was by causing the soul to experience all that they had inflicted upon others—whether it be joy and love, or pain and suffering. It could sometimes take hundreds of years before a soul recovered from the atrocities they had inflicted in the living realms. And Malekai, while his intentions weren’t always malevolent… He had wrought death and destruction to countless lives.

Right beside me.

My time for penance would one day come, and I couldn’t help but feel this was part of it.