Season of Sacrifice (Blood of Azure Book 1) Jonathan Michael (red novels .txt) 📖

suspending the tissue around the bite? It will help, right? I’m going to try.”

Without hesitation, she preps Jaymes’s cheek. Astor rips a piece of cloth from her tattered cloak and dabs around the wound. A weak cleansing without properly sterilized water. It does nothing. Astor’s wrists remain bound together, but she manages to work through it and palms Jaymes’s cheek with a gentle squeeze. She leans in as if she’s going to take a bite, but stops short. Her eyes are closed as she focuses.

Jaymes comes to life with a burst of energy and rolls onto her side. Expletives spill from her mouth. And with the sudden jerk, Astor falls forward, catching herself before smashing her face into the ground. “Whore! I’m not interested. You need to gain control of yourself. And you!” She scowls at me. “You sit back and watch? What’s happening? Why are my pants down? Again!”

I can’t withhold a large grin from spanning ear to ear. The look on Astor’s face is priceless. She lets out a gentle squeal of delight, but her face is beet red. Astor creates distance from Jaymes as more curses spill from her youthful mouth.

I gather my composure so I can get both these girls and the situation under control. We’re losing good daylight and have a great distance to travel yet.

“Quiet, Jaymes! Stop acting like a child and pull your trousers back up. Your lady parts are only going to entice her more.” I can’t resist taking a jab at Astor when the opportunity presents itself.

“What? Entice? I… I… I’m not… I swear… I would never force myself on… A bad coincidence. I was only trying to help. I swear it.” Astor’s face brightens even more as her eyes dart between Jaymes and I.

Somebody should tell her gay doesn’t mean the world is ending. If she prefers to fondle a breast over a set of balls, so be it. A breast is more pleasant in the palm anyhow. I should take a detour to the Carnal Islands and sell her to the Amorous Artillery. That would open her mind a bit. After a week or two fulfilling the unimaginable fantasies of the scum of Vedora, she’d be begging to pleasure a woman. Or perhaps a house of women.

I force the two of them to their feet. “Let’s get moving. We’re not going to make it to the Crimson Capital until autumn at the rate you two travel. It’s time to pick up the pace.”

“But what about her bite? Shouldn’t we do something more for her?”

“It was a mere sol spider. It’s harmless.”

“But the infected flesh on her rear?” Astor’s voice remains delicate even though her words speak urgency.

“It’ll recede. Get over it. I’ve never heard of anyone dying from anything native to this wood. The sol spider can leave a nasty scar and cause some pain, but it’s not the culprit of her collapse. Likely exhaustion. We’ll take care of that soon enough. We have another hour of daylight and then we’ll rest.”

Astor grimaces and folds her arms tight, standing tall with her chin up. A protestor’s stance. “She needs help now. The poison, it’s spreading.”

Her meager attempt to control every situation drives me mad. Patience. We’ll be rid of her soon enough.

“A cat bite could do worse. You should see what it looks like when a death adder gets yah.” I whip out my kukri and swiftly strike her arm. Astor shrieks and nearly falls to the ground. Mother of Susy, if I do that again, I better commit and go for the throat, or her tongue at least.

Astor stares at me as though she’s imagining what it feels like to stab me in the heart. No. No, that’s not it. It’s motherly. Disappointment maybe. Nothing I’m familiar with.

“Jaymes!” I stroke Persia’s soft fur and pat her back, gesturing for Jaymes to climb up. “You need the rest.”

Jaymes, suspicious of my generosity, hesitates as she moves closer to the cat. Once she’s within arms distance, I attempt to assist her, and she recoils. I acknowledge her fear with a thin smile and insist. She consents, and I help her climb aboard.

Once again, we trek on with Astor in tow several paces behind.

“You know, Jaymes, you and I are nothing alike.”

“I’m aware of that,” Jaymes replies flatly.

“Of course. You’re an adolescent who is ready to take on the world. What I mean is…you have potential. We come from two different worlds, but you can follow in my footsteps and possibly farther. You can rule this land as the Taoiseach’s Shadow. But you must learn to control it. All of it.”

“I don’t want to follow in your footsteps. Roaming the lands, looking for innocents to murder.”

“You want to dethrone the Taoiseach.”

“There is no throne. Harris is an elected official.”

“Believe what you want. The darkness is where he prefers his subjects, but ultimately that’s not a terrible thing. The goal is to follow the darkness until you find its source.”

“What do you mean? You want me to follow you to the Taoiseach and kill him?”

“Kill him? I didn’t say anything about killing him. Maybe you are like me. You would fail miserably if you tried. He is far too powerful and intelligent to let a stupid girl get the best of him. Plus, he’s not an awful man as most have painted him. It would be a shame to off a mind so great.”

Groups congregate. Believers of the nameless man, which has been deemed the Hybreed. But they are not true believers. It is more of a perversion. They seek facts about this man. They demand something tangible. They need truth. There is still work to be done.

16 Elder

Seven seasons earlier…

“S

tone, stop! You’re going to kill it.” I call out and nudge him. But not