"Azrel?"

Azrel stopped looking at his changed form and saw that he was alone again save for one dark-haired girl; she held her hand to him. He tried to remember if they had met before.

"I am a monster." He shied away from her but she stepped closer regardless.

"Azrel take my hand." She spoke with the voice of a thousand women before her. Being close to her made him feel more at ease. He felt human again.

"Please?" She spoke softly and he felt his heart buckle for her.

He reached for her hand feeling like he might crush her with his new claws. When they touched, he felt calm for the first time since he was a child.

***

Anaya and Azrel are hiding secrets. She is a spy for the rebels against her own will. He has a new power that changes him into a beastly creature. Posing as siblings, their love becomes another secret they bare. Together they must find a way to save the kingdom and each other. 

Spoils of War is created by Jo Thromby, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

Spoils of War

Azrel did not tell anyone but Kinth where he was going.


“Swear you won't tell anyone.” He muttered, climbing on his jet black horse. 


“I swear,” Kinth saluted with a frown. 


Azrel trotted his horse out of the stable in the middle of the night and took off down through the town and out into the countryside, not giving the captain of the guard a chance to protest. He left the troubled feeling behind him as he rode fast, trying hard not to think of the one person who he wanted to forget.


“Anaya.” His thoughts betrayed him as he pictured her eyes and the way she smiled when she was able to just be herself. 


“Should have never trusted her,” he chided himself. His dark horse huffed along as he urged him faster and further away. 


He had an idea in his head. He had to see the damage of what happened himself. 


“For clarity.” He convinced himself that he could solve the puzzle before him.


Chapter 39: The Runaway