A Court of Death || ACOTAR

59

Astryn hadn't ever been to Azriel's torture chambers before, and she kind of wished she hadn't come. It reminded her of places she would rather forget. Azriel and Rhys were radiating cold fury.

"Either you can let the wall in your mind down and the High Lord can get all the information we want about Hybern," Azriel began, "or I can force answers out of you. One of these options would be far more fun for me than the other."

"Mm, shadowsinger," the male purred, "the roles are reversed but being in a cell with your former mate does bring back some fond memories. Cauldron, her body hanging there for me to carve into however I wanted to, to do whatever I wanted with...we had some good times, didn't we, Astryn? You remember all the time we spent together? I bet Azriel never even crossed your mind when we were together in that cell."

"You do not speak to her," Azriel demanded, "you do not say her name. You don't get that privilege."

"Awfully protective over a female who isn't even yours," he taunted, "how did it feel? I don't think anyone else has lost a completed mate bond like that...well...ever."

Azriel unsheathed Truth Teller and prowled over to the male.

"Last chance to do this the easy way," he told him, "but I hope you choose the hard way."

The males gaze flicked to Astryn, a grin on his face.

"Why don't you take charge, Astryn? Don't you want to get back at me? Cut me up like I cut you up? I bet you'd do it real good," he teased, not even reacting as Azriel stabbed him, still just staring at Astryn. "Come on, sweetheart, I know you want it. Tell the shadowsinger and the..." he trailed off and laughed before continuing, "and the High Lord to get out and we can do this just you and me."

He opened his mouth to speak more, but no sound came out. His eyebrows furrowed and he kept trying to speak. Rhys stepped forward, looking every bit the ferocious High Lord the rest of Prythian quietly feared.

"You don't need your eyesight to tell us what you know," Rhys said, "stop looking at my sister, or I will pluck your eyes out of your head and feed them to the rats."

"Apologies, Rhysand, I wasn't aware that you had finally decided to care about your sister," the male said, grinning at him. "You know, my King was so confident that you would try to bargain for her safety but...well, if you hadn't pulled that stunt with Death, I bet she'd still be chained to his bed. You wouldn't have risked anything to actually go there yourself and save her. Just another casualty of war. It's pitiful, really, that neither you nor the King ever saw her true value. Her power and yours, High Lord? You could have decimated armies together. You probably could have conquered Prythian before my King even got the chance to try again. And my King...I respect him, of course, but breeding has to be the lowest on the list of things she's useful for."

"Thirty five years," Astryn spoke up, surprising herself as she moved towards him, brushing past Azriel and Rhys, "thirty five years you spent every single day in that little cell with you. Does it bother you that I never even bothered to remember your name? I'm sure you told me at some point but it just seemed so...insignificant. I was the center of your world for three and a half decades. All your days were spent with me, all your nights spent thinking of ways to break me. And even after it was over, you still thought of me, didn't you? And I never even remembered your name."

"My King promised me a night with you if I returned you to him," he sneered, and she smiled.

"I do remember what you said, though, about how a wounded male ego is at the heart of every conflict." She threw the full force of her power at the wall in his mind. "And I also remember that you didn't put much value on the skills of a daemati." His body went stiff, eyes set in a furious glare as she chipped away at his wall. "Maybe you'd have put more care into maintaining this wall if you had." His mental shields crumbled beneath the full pressure of her power.

She slithered into his mind and flung everything she learned out to Rhys and Azriel, anything that could be useful for infiltrating Hybern. And then she misted him.

"You..." Rhys trailed off, eyes darting between where the male had been to Astryn. "You killed him."

"If I hadn't, you would have kept him prisoner in here and tortured him for a century, at least," she pointed out, "I see no value in that. It's better this way."

Azriel stared at her before looking away. He wiped the blood off of Truth Teller and sheathed it at his thigh, trying hard not to look at her again.

"We should share this information with Feyre, Cassian, Amren, and Mor so we can plan out how we'll infiltrate Hybern," Azriel said, "let's go."

"Wait," Astryn blurted out, "I can't—I..." she trailed off, expression impossible to read.

"I know," Rhys replied, "and I'd never ask that of you. We can handle going to Hybern. Stay in Velaris. It's best to keep someone powerful here anyway. I don't think leaving the city defenseless would end well."

"Thank you."

He nodded and gave a forced smile, imagining a million different ways to kill the King of Hybern. Astryn didn't have a taste for violent retribution, but he did. And Azriel did. And Cassian did.