"Oh, I feel a loss of millions," Arkilla explained how it felt to have this person here.
But to Ren, it was his emotions that she felt. He felt him live like a shallow dull river that watched everything or everyone that ca to cross paths with him wither.
"What is he doing here?" Agara’s voice cut through the air, intense and cold. His expression hardened the mont his gaze landed on Azrael.
"I need him," Kai replied, his tone firm as he stood a ground for his brother.
"I don’t intend for this war to drag on another year. We’ll lure my brother to the Ice Lands. Azrael will handle the Lord Vampires and drag them down to the underworld. All we need are their nas, he’ll take care of the rest."
Ren allowed a slight smile. "And why should we trust him?"
"At least one sane person after all!" Agara agreed.
Azrael stepped forward, positioning himself beside his brother. His eyes locked onto Ren’s. Always so still, so unreadable, like a statue carved from the abyss. Why was he always like this?
"You don’t need to trust ," he said flatly. "I’ll deal with the Lords. But the abominations they’ve created? Those are yours to kill." He was blunt, harsh, and honest. Who could say he wasn’t after seeing that he didn’t give a damn what they thought about him.
"Can we hear the rest of the story?" Rail asked, unusually eager. "What happened after they descended, when they were nad Fallen? Did they start producing us? Taking wives?"
"May I tell you?" Azrael mused aloud, a cruel smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "I can. But know this, this tale carries no warmth."
Was that a joke? This story was horrible! They hated how nasty the rest of it could be or if their King wanted to express the details.
"Did Nimoieth betray them again?" Gloria asked suddenly, drawing his attention. She could swear that Fallen was jealous to the bone. She could predict it from the way she abused her sister to reach the lower world.
Azrael tilted his head, intrigued. "What’s your na, girl?"
Gloria opened her mouth to answer, but Ren gripped her hand tightly and shook her head. "Don’t tell him your na," she warned, her voice was low, more like a whisper. "He’s the Lord of Death."
Gloria flinched, the realization striking her a beat too late. Azrael’s only response was a slow, lazy chuckle as if the title ant nothing to him anymore.
"That’s her blood that made curious. Not her na actually." Az said casually.
"I’m not an important person." She waved her hands quickly. Why the hell was the lord of death curious about her?
Az raised his brow! Then, why did she have that scent of blood... a royalty bloodline?! Maybe he was wrong...
"Yes, Gloria," Kai replied, his voice like the brush of wind over gravestones. He loathed this story. "Nimoieth was jealous, jealous of her sister, she was taking over everything Nimoieth craved and planned. Her sister birthed a son with the power to end lives, to command death itself. So, she murdered her sister and stole the child. She raised him as her own until he turned ten."
He cast a glance toward the shadows as if rembering a place no one else could see. Did Luther torture him with that?
"Then my father found Azrael. Nimoieth fled. My father, already wielding the seven shades of magic, rose higher, ascending to beco King of the Underworld, a new god of the dark. He left the Saints’ realm behind, taking his firstborn with him. He didn’t want Lillieth."
Ren’s grip on Gloria’s hand remained firm, her silence heavy with questions she wouldn’t dare voice. The maiden was a bit shaking too.
"You tell the rest, I’m disgusted," Kai demanded.
"No way! Just tell them, everything that happened before and after Lillieth’s death." Az replied.
"My uncle stayed," The alpha King cursed and continued, "begging Heaven for forgiveness. They granted it. He was allowed to rule the mortal world, beca king of the Fae and all other species, and took Lillieth as his wife. But Nimoieth was watching. She despised it. The gods chose her sister again."
His eyes narrowed. "She wanted that throne. She wanted to be Queen of the mortal realm."
He caught a breath, then trailed off, "She gathered followers, those hungry for power, and incited rebellions," as he continued his tone grew colder. "She wove dark magic into the fabric of the world, using humans as her tools. They were the weakest, the most desperate... so she chose them. Twisted them."
He suddenly paused, his gaze snapping to Azrael.
"What?"
Kai gave him a half-smile. "Nothing. This part just gets... bloody. But let ask you sothing: Nimoieth had a mighty Lord by her side. Do you know what happened to him? Do you even know what he was?"
Azreal didn’t answer instantly. He didn’t have to.
Azrael’s voice dropped as if unearthing sothing ancient. "The vampires you see today, they’re not new. I saw it happen. Nimoieth married a Fae. She bit him, fed him her blood, and corrupted him. That Fae beca a monster, ravenous, immortal, unrecognizable. I caught him myself and delivered him to my father. That was how my father recorded that in his book."
A truth buried too long. One Kai had never heard before, and for the first ti, he cared.
"And Nimoieth?" Ren asked softly, unable to hide the curiosity threading through her voice.
"The Gods of Heaven punished her," Azrael said, voice devoid of sympathy. "They burned her soul. She had three shades of magic, too. The sa as yours. She could ta, and weave magic."
A chill slipped down Ren’s spine. Three shades, just like her. He didn’t think she was anything like that monster... did he? That woman had no sense of sympathy for her since the beginning, so scheming...
Cruel man.
"Is that why that land is cursed?" Orgeve asked, his voice tense.
"Yes, Org," Kai answered. "The ice walls were built by magic to keep the vampire army out. But they breached them because a butler betrayed my uncle... and they slaughtered thousands. The land froze in their wake. My uncle had no choice, he led the Fae to another realm, where no human could enter. This grudge could ruin the entire world."
The cold in Kai’s tone matched the mory. The devastation still echoed. He agreed with his uncle. Look what King Benkin had done.
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