Beautiful Fury by Marc Secchia

Author:Marc Secchia [Secchia, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-28T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20: Chaos and Starlight

Had he imagined the truest face of horror, Ardan knew he would evermore picture Azhukazi’s expression as he took his pleasure in ruining a young woman’s life – and that of the man she had called father. He blenched at the devious, abhorrent manner in which the Necromancer delivered his revelations. He knew why Aranya blurted out the word, ‘mercy,’ for no other descriptor sufficed as response to the leisurely manner in which Azhukazi sniffed Iridiana’s body, the better to relish the scent of her fear-terror.

He had a captive audience. He had them all ensnared by his bone-paralysing power, and all a Dragon could hope was that the Star Dragoness, who had yet to reveal her paw in this matter, might yet hold some power over this beast.

Flicking spittle off his lips with the force of his vehemence, Azhukazi the Iolite Blue hissed, “The Chameleon and I had a little agreement. We exchanged oaths. I wanted an heir to receive my power; he wanted the throne. But he would not give Talrishana up. We quarrelled. So I took my chance. I was a younger Shapeshifter then, and I knew much less of the lore, but I knew no mere Human was a match for my mental powers. In my Human form I availed myself of Talrishana’s person and in due course, she became pregnant with my longed-for child. But the Chameleon was cunning! He was as shifty and shady as all of his kind! He discovered her pregnancy early on, but he also possessed the power to detect the gender of the child – and so, he conceived a vile plan to murder you, Iridiana. He would have succeeded, but for my intervention.”

“Having saved your life in the womb, I watched over you all the years of your growing up. I watched, and I waited.” His right fore-talon slipped forth from its sheath to touch her throat with delicate, perverse care. “You see, if the iridium compound did not slay you, there was a good chance the poison had not reached the foetus at all. Shan-Jarad was a good father, however, and he worked very hard to ensure that his precious family, none of whom are his own children, would be safeguarded well beyond the reach of any potential enemies, including Iolite Blue Dragons. When my presence was discovered, he forbade me from ever entering the borders of Yazê-a-Kûz again. Imagine my shock and my distress, when I discovered my progeny had become a Shapeshifter exactly as I predicted – but not in the form of a Dragon!”

Azhukazi paced away, almost out of Ardan’s sight as he fought to master his rampaging emotions. The Shadow wanted to shudder, but was incapable. That necromantic power paralysed him from within his bones. Almost he spoke to Aranya, before remembering the power of this Dragon’s mind. He had defied the Thoralians. Tricked them. Could his extraordinary perception discern the fact that the Shadow might even be thinking of speaking

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