The rest of the group pads behind quietly, Dinah the loudest with her human feet.
At one point, I hear her stifle a gasp as Fin swings her up into his arms to keep her feet from pounding so loudly against the marble floor.
The poor girl practically stops breathing.
I really am going to have to have a sit-down with him later.
It’s slower progress than I’m eager for, but we reach what Dinah reports to be Az’s quarters without a hitch.
The guards stationed outside his quarters would normally have been difficult to sneak up on, but it’s already dark in the hallway, and Blaise’s paldihv wedding dress cloaks her well enough.
We watch from the shadows as she sneaks up on the guards, grabs both of their wrists, and bites into them simultaneously before the guards even scream.
Nox is by her side in an instant, helping to lower the bodies to the ground without a sound.
The vampires motion for us to emerge, and we do.
Blaise and Nox part the way, and I step over the limp bodies of the guards before resting my hand on the doorknob.
I have to retract my hand, realizing it’s shaking and liable to cause the metal doorknob to rattle. There’s part of me that wants nothing more than to blow the door to smithereens, but now that there’s only a door between me and Azrael’s quarters, I’m paralyzed with dread at what I might find on the other side.
Does he take her to bed with him?
Will I open the door and find not just Azrael asleep, but my wife in his arms?
The thought itself blurs my vision, shooting pain through my temples.
It’s then I feel a soft touch against my hand. I look down to find Blaise squeezing my hand, removing it from the doorknob, her stare communicating what is too dangerous to speak out loud.
Let me do this, she seems to tell me, and I find there’s a gratefulness swelling in my heart.
Blaise rears back to kick down the door, but Lydia catches her by the shoulders, shaking her head then moving toward the doorknob, which she wraps her fingers around and melts off its handle.
Using two fingers, Lydia pushes the door open and beckons us into a room cloaked in shadows.
We’re only in the room for a moment before Nox grabs me by the shoulder, quietly but firmly.
Panic floods through my chest as I realize why—his eyesight has adjusted faster than mine. I have to know what he sees, and also can’t bear to know.
A moment later, my vision follows.
Focusing on a couple tangled underneath the sheets.
Nox’s hand falters on my shoulder, and though at first I think he’s letting me at Az, I’m mistaken.
A moment later, Blaise and Nox both have their grips on me. Nox from behind, Blaise from the front, holding me back.
Blaise shakes her head frantically but silently, her brown eyes wide with warning.
How dare she get between me and my wife?
I allow a bout of confusion to seep from my wrist where she clutches me. It’s enough to break free of her grip, and also Nox’s, who goes to catch her as she stumbles to the side.
The steps I take are a blur, and then I’m at the bed, ripping the sheets from the man, terrified of what I might find underneath.
Two naked bodies lie tangled in bed.
My hand finds Az’s throat, speckles of white peppering my vision.
He fights against my touch, but I don’t care as I envelop him in fear, every bit of anguish I held back from Blaise bursting into the man who touched…who touched…
“Kiran, stop.”
I barely register Fin’s voice, his hand on my shoulder as my sense returns to me.
“It’s not them. Kiran, it’s not them.”
I blink, and the faces of the two people in the bed come into focus.
The man writhing in my grasp. Not Az, but a male of similar build. Unfamiliar.
The woman beside him jolts upward, pulling the blanket to cover her chest.
She looks at me.
And before I can stop her.
She screams.
