1. Seraphic

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚-𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓. twisted key in the cage

a z r i e l

☽ ☾

She didn't trust him.

Why did that hurt so fucking much?

Why had it made that thing in his chest hurt and ache and sink until it felt hollow and empty and broken?

Whatever cage had been around his heart, she had found a key to it. And not only had she found a key to it, but she'd placed it in the lock and twisted it halfway, the dangerous possibility of her completely unlocking it lingering as a warning.

Do not let her get close. Do not get attached. That was what the warning was saying. But he couldn't find it in himself to care.

He felt around her in a way he hadn't for anyone else; he felt a peace that came with her, a calmness that quietened the voices in his head, put to sleep the demons within him.

Azriel had just been outed as being Orphim, and yet there he was, thinking about the Seraphim princess.

"They know," he said, the second his family had entered the war room.

"Know what?" they asked.

"That I am Orphim. That I planned all of this." Their eyes widened, each making to speak, but he spoke before they could. "He is allowing me to stay on as the general, but he knows now. He was definitely planning to do something to me and it would have worked had I not escaped from there."

Had Seraphina not warned him about the gut feeling she had.

"Then you cannot go back there!" Morana exclaimed. "What if he does go through with it? Now that he knows, you no longer hold a card over him."

"I hold plenty of cards over him. Losing one does not change the game. Not if you know how to play properly." He still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve.

"How did he find out?" Kol asked, brows furrowing in confusion.

"He saw Malachai getting into the carriage."

"Me?" he asked. "But I... I checked. I made sure no-one saw me, and they didn't! There was no-one around but me," he said.

"Then it must have been your girl," he said. "A bright sapphire gown tends to catch people's eyes." Malachai frowned. "But it is not the end of the world just because he knows. It only means we no longer have an in into the palace, but we do not need that, anyway. I have enough insiders and intel."

"You... You are not angry with me?" he asked. "Or Kara?"

"I know when to be angry and this is nothing to be angry about. I am only irritated that this was not a secret for longer, but I have no care for if the king and queen and their stupid council knows. Kara, I do not care for either. She is no-one to me. A liability, even."

"I know. You cannot afford to like people and all of that bullshit of yours," he said, rolling his eyes. "But she is not a liability." Maybe not to him. "Not to be impatient, but is that all there is to this meeting?"

"No, actually," he said, straightening his collar. "I got a list off of the princess on nobles who are most likely to be behind the killings. I did not tell her, of course, before you start"—he looked at Morana—"but she still gave a list. I was going to use my position as General to find an excuse to go their homes, but the king must have spread word by now about what happened."

"We can go," Kol offered. "One of us to one family, some time apart so it does not create suspicion."

"No." Azriel shook his head. "I am going to send my shadows to do that. It is more practical and is less riskier. If you all go, that allows for risks and dangers and I cannot afford that. None of us can."