Chapter Twenty Seven

Aerilyn

Sweat trailed down her brow, her eyes burning from the salty liquid. She blinked away the pain as she circled Blaise in the small sparring ring. “Come on, princess. I know you can do better than this,” he teased her with an arrogant smirk. Blaise was more fit than she was. Even though her father had taught her how to wield a blade, Blaise was a weapon himself. “Stop running your mouth,” she groaned, rolling her eyes as she panted for air. They’d been at it for hours in the blasting heat. Most of their sparring consisted of Blaise knocking her on her ass and beating her with the sparring stick. “You’d be the first woman to complain about my mouth,” he joked, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “You’re disgusting,” she pretended to gag. “You wouldn’t say that to your prince who’s been sleeping in your bed would you?” He raised a brow. Aerilyn’s eyes went wide as the words left his lips. She knew that he and Brinley probably had caught on to the two of them, but his making the comment about something sexual between her and Everett made her flush with embarrassment.

Aerilyn tried to find a response for Blaise, unsure of how to defend herself against the comment. It was truthful after all. She couldn’t deny her relations with Everett now that they shared a bed. She still hardly knew what they were. She didn’t know what to consider their dynamic. She was thankfully saved by Brinley running towards them, stepping into the ring. “What the hell, Brinley? Get out of the way. I’m trying to beat Aeri’s ass,” he jokingly yelled at the girl. The two of them also had a dynamic going on that she couldn’t quite understand. They’d all developed a deep bond. The loss of Bastian only pulled them all closer in fear of losing another one of them.

“They just brought in another group” she bent over, gasping for air. She was completely out of breath from running, her cheeks more flushed than her usual rosy cheeks. “What are you talking about?” Aerilyn’s eyes widened as she tried to process what the girl was trying to say. “There’s another group. Five of them. They were sent from Orissia. The guards found them and just brought them into the dungeons,” she tried to explain the situation, but it was all so confusing. “It hasn’t been six months yet?” Blaise looked between them as they all tried to understand.

“What’s going on?” Everett approached the group, confusion written across his features as he left his throwing knives behind at targets. “They sent another group out from Orissia. The guards just found them roaming outside of Korth,” Brinley re explained to him. They all exchanged a silent look, trying to consider what that meant. “We need to question Azazel. We need to get any information that we can on this,” Aerilyn ran her fingers through her hair, the braid falling loose. “He’s not going to tell us anything,” Blaise shook his head in disagreement. “He will. I’ll make sure of it,” she tried to convince the others, but they all had a weary expression. “How are you so sure?” Brinley tilted her head. “Because he has an odd obsession with her,” Everett spoke, his eyes only locked on Aerilyn’s. “We can use that to our advantage. We need to find out what is going on here,” Brinley ran her hands over her face in frustration.

The entire group was a mess after losing one of their friends. It made everything too real. She needed to find out what was going on with the new people from Orissia who had arrived in Korth. The odds of them being from the last mission seemed slim. The king must’ve sent out a new group early which meant he was desperate. That led her to believe that something had happened. “I’ll go talk to him. I’ll find you all when I get some information,” she looked between her companions before setting her sparring stick back on the rack where it belonged. A hand grabbed her wrist and she whirled around to meet Everett’s eyes. “Please be careful, darling. Azazel is dangerous. I refuse to let anything happen to you,” he squeezed her hand tight before pressing a kiss on her lips. The kiss, even as short as it was, made her melt inside. Any time he touched her, it felt like she was floating on a cloud. “I will, I promise. I’ll come back to you the moment I can,” she squeezed his hand in return before she went off on her search for the king.

Aerilyn had been wandering the palace hallways in hopes of finding Azazel. He hadn’t been in his room, which wasn’t a surprise. He was dealing with torturing new prisoners from Orissia. She found her feet wandering towards the dungeons. She hadn’t returned to the horrible place since they’d been released. That was the only other place she guessed that the man could be. She looked down the darkened staircase that led deep under the castle. She sucked in a deep breath before starting down the stairs. The cold air hit her skin quickly. The light around her was sucked away and darkness began to fill her vision. She could hear voices deep within the dungeon. She tried to remember the route of tunnels that led to the prison she had been trapped in. She followed the sound of voices, her hand placed on her dagger. The comfort of the blade was enough to push her to keep walking forward.

“They won’t talk. We need to get the Neuro down here,” a deep voice spoke, echoing off the walls. “Call him. I don’t have time to play these games,” she recognized the second voice. Azazel. She rounded the corner and found him casually standing with his arms crossed over his chest speaking to a guard. The two of them snapped their attention to her and anger took over Azazel’s features. “Leave us,” he motioned to the guard and the man walked away without any protest. Azazel approached her, his arms staying crossed. He was much more intimidating in the darkness.

“What are you doing down here?” Azazel stopped in front of her, their toes almost touching. “I heard that you brought in another group from Orissia. I wanted to get information on what’s happening. You wanted me to get information for you from the prince, but maybe if you let me talk to them they’ll tell me something willingly. They know my face from my Choosing Day. They might trust me more than any of your guards. You can only torture so much information out of someone,” she tried to reason with him. She hadn’t thought any of that through. She pulled the idea out of her ass, hoping the king would fall for her act. He let out a sigh before slowly nodding his head. “As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right. Don’t do anything stupid or I will have to slit your throat,” he warned before turning on his heel. She followed him down the long hall before he stopped in front of five cells that contained faces she didn’t recognize.

“Give me your dagger. I don’t trust you with that right now. You can have it back after you’re done talking to them,” he held his palm out. She wanted to protest, but she knew they needed that information more than anything else. She slid the knife out of his holster before placing it into his hand. She turned her attention to the dirtied, bloody people that were chained up inside. One of them looked up at her and their expression changed.

“You… You were a Chosen. Aerilyn?” The stranger observed and she nodded her head. “Is the prince here too?” The man questioned, crawling closer to the bars. She slowly squatted down before him, looking at him through the bars. She didn’t recognize his face, but he knew who she was. “He’s here. Four of us are still alive. We’ve been here in Korth all this time,” she tried to give them some information, but not everything. She wanted to trust them, but they were still strangers. Even if they came from Orissia, they couldn't all be trusted.

“I-I have a message from Prince Roman for him,” he stuttered, his eyes widening as he watched Aerilyn from between the bars. Azazel leaned against the wall, staying in the shadows as he listened to the conversation. “I can deliver the message to Everett,” she explained to the man. He seemed weary around delivering the message to her instead of directly to the prince. He was quiet for several moments before he finally sucked in a breath.

“There was an attack on Orissia. One of the hounds breached the wall. Fifteen citizens were killed in the attack. The king sent us out early in hopes of rushing the mission of finding the sword. We need it now more than ever. Our people are dying and we’re their only hope,” his voice was shaking as he tried to explain it all. An attack. There hadn’t been an attack on Orissia before. There was always patrol on the walls. There had been attacks on the wall, but none of them had ever breached the forcefield. “Prince Roman asked me to find Prince Everett. He said if his brother is still alive to tell him that he needs him now more than ever. He’s afraid their father is losing his mind. He asked Everett to return to Orissia. Even without the sword. The kingdom needs him,” the man continued. Her stomach twisted at the thought of their kingdom falling apart. Nobody was ever allowed back into the walls after being Chosen. If they didn’t find the sword, they weren’t allowed back. The fact that they were going to make an exception for Everett showed their desperation.

Aerilyn debated how to answer the stranger. She wanted to calm his panic, but it wasn’t possible with the situation at hand. “Listen, I need you to do what they say. This kingdom isn’t so bad as long as you play by their rules. Do what they say and participate in the trials. I’ll do everything I can to get Everett out of here, I promise,” she let the words fly from her lips. She noticed Azazel’s body language change, his anger spiking. He moved, grabbing her arm as he yanked her to her feet. “We’re done here,” he growled as he dragged her down the hallway back to where they’d come from.

“You just had to run your mouth didn’t you?” He shook his head, not stopping his quick pace before they stopped at the bottom of the staircase that led back up into the palace. “I got you useful information didn’t I?” She snapped, narrowing her eyes at him. “You did. I was trusting you until you had to tell that pathetic man what to do. Now I know he won’t truly agree to the trials of his own free will. You just killed all of them. Sleep well tonight knowing that five people are dead because of you,” his voice got louder, he was yelling then. Her heart dropped in her chest as the words left his lips. He was going to kill them.

“Please don’t kill them, Azazel. Stop all of this murder. These people haven’t done anything wrong!” She shouted back, grabbing onto his arm. He yanked it from her grasp, the fire in his eyes glaring into her own. “Get the fuck out of my face before I kill you right along with them. You’re just as pathetic as the rest of them,” he pointed to the staircase, obviously ending the conversation.

“I hate you,” Aerilyn whispered before turning and running back up the steps. She tried to get as far away from Azazel as she could. Tears filled her eyes, threatening to run down her cheeks as she thought about the blood that was now on her hands.