A Realm of Grief and Sorrow (Aggonid's Realm Book 3) by Kathy Haan

Author:Kathy Haan [Haan, Kathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thousand Lives Press, LLC
Published: 2024-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

AZAZEL

The cave floor meets my knees, the shock radiating up my bones, but it’s nothing compared to the hollowness tearing through me. My father’s words still echo, each syllable a blade slicing me open: She wanted this. Her choice. Her decision.

I stare at Morte, at her hand slipping into his like it belongs there, her eyes not even sparing me a glance. She looks right through me, as though I’m nothing but empty air. My heart squeezes until I swear it might implode.

She wanted this.

This is what I did to her—betrayed her, as though she meant nothing. The irony slams into me with cruel precision. I put her through this. I made her question her worth. And now, I’m the one left behind, staring at the hollow echo of what we were.

Her indifference scalds my insides.

The thought screams through me, clawing at the edges of my sanity before something inside me roars back in defiance. No. This isn’t her. It can’t be.

The Firefly I know would’ve burned this place to the ground before letting herself be led like some kind of sacrificial lamb. She’d never be so cruel for power, so fu⁠—

—And that’s when it clicks. The realization hits me like an anvil to the chest. I should’ve known, should’ve suspected something when just mere hours ago we were in bed together, worshipping each other.

I know her. I know every sharp edge and every quiet, vulnerable crack. The woman standing before me, slipping her hand into his, isn’t the same woman who fought beside me, who burned with a fire no one could extinguish. My father’s words were meant to poison me, to make me doubt her, but they fall flat, because the truth is clear in the way her shoulders barely shift, the way her chin tilts just a fraction higher than it needs to be.

She’s playing a part, and gods, she’s doing it well. Too well. For the ease with which she leans into him, the way her hand rests in his without hesitation. But the slight twitch in her jaw, the rigid set of her spine—it’s all there, a map of her resistance if you know where to look.

I force myself to breathe through the crushing weight of rage and fear, the need to act. She’s surrounded by monsters, but she’s doing this to protect us. To protect me. And knowing that rips me apart.

But then her eyes flit my way, the briefest of glances, and I swear I see it—the fire she’s hiding, the plan she hasn’t yet revealed.

The words spiral, taunting, turning everything I thought I knew into ashes. I watch her lay back on the bed with him, King Ollin Valtorious, my father, the monster. She’s beside him. She’s smiling, soft, a mask that fits too perfectly, her eyes still void of any emotion when they should be blazing. They should be filled with the fire that has always been her, the passion, the rage, the love.

The love that has always been for me until I ripped it all away from her.

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