Later that night, despite all of Elka’s efforts to avoid both princes, she still found herself standing alone in the Hall of Kings and somehow, he found her there. She hadn’t even heard him approach, and a part of her wondered if he had purposefully snuck up on her so she wouldn’t be able to evade him. It would be rude to simply walk out now, it would be abundantly clear that she was leaving because of him. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Is something on your mind? I have never seen you wander the palace so late at night." Azul halted right behind her. "Earlier, you left so quickly that I didn’t get the chance to apologize for the things my brother said."

Elka didn’t turn to look at him, her gaze pinned straight ahead. Stretched along the wall were portraits of every king who had ruled Lamora, their painted eyes seeming to follow anyone who dared pass beneath them. The portraits spanned the entire wall. The lit sconces cast shadows across their stern faces.

"I’m sorry for walking away so abruptly earlier. I didn’t mean to cause any offense," she said calmly. "But I must say... you don’t strike me as the type to apologize for the behavior of others." She mused, still refusing to look at him.

"I’m not," he replied simply.

Her gaze drifted to a particular portrait, one belonging to King Zeriel’s predecessor, a man with a cold, commanding stare that seemed to pierce straight through her. "Then why are you doing so now?"

"Because you don’t deserve the way he treats you and the harsh things he said." Azul’s voice softened, and for a fleeting moment, he sounded almost sincere.

But sincerity was difficult to accept from a man like him. She had seen him slit another man’s throat in a display so chilling and cruel it had left her shaken long after the blood had been wiped away.

He killed so easily as though the act of snuffing out a life meant very little to him. And then there were the times she had caught him watching her, that strange, unreadable look in his eyes that unsettled her more than outright hostility ever could.

She had decided then that it was best to keep her distance. Men like Azul were meant to be avoided. Otherwise, one day, she might find herself at the wrong end of his blade.

Yet the world seemed to have a cruel sense of humor, for it had placed him in her path three times in a single day, the very man she had been trying so hard to avoid.

Azul continued before she could respond.

"Hairan’s disdain has nothing to do with who you are as a person. I hope you know that." He paused briefly, as though choosing his words with care. "He wasn’t able to stop the wedding, so he sees you as a convenient target for his frustrations."

Elka said nothing and he took that as permission to continue.

"He is a weak man," Azul went on, his voice hardening slightly. "The kind who puts others down just to feel better about himself. He left the throne room furious today, so he chose to take it out on you. People like him crave superiority. They only feel powerful when they’re using that power against someone else."

"There was an incident years ago. Our oldest brother once found a small hound abandoned by the roadside. It was barely old enough to have been weaned. It was the middle of winter, and he knew it wouldn’t survive on its own, so he brought it back with him. He was never fond of animals, at least, not those that weren’t horses. And he was only weeks away from joining the army, so he gave the dog to us. I loved that dog and so did Jayran. But Hairan... he always looked at it with contempt. Perhaps because it had come from Ragnar." He said, recalling memories that were still so vivid even after so many years. "Months later, mother held a feast in Hairan’s honor for his thirteenth nameday. Every important aristocrat was in attendance, all but one. My father was nowhere to be found. Likely buried between the thighs of one of his mistresses."

Elka’s fingers tightened subtly at her sides, but she remained silent.

"His absence crushed Hairan. And as always, his anger had to find somewhere to go." Azul’s gaze darkened. "He stormed out of the banquet hall, and I followed him quietly, so he wouldn’t notice. I thought he might do something reckless and I was right. He went straight to where the dog slept. I watched him stab it. Over and over again with the knife he brought with him. He didn’t stop until it was dead. I was eight years old, and I remember every single detail of that night. I remember the pained sound my dog made. I remember the way it looked at him, so confused, like it didn’t understand why Hairan was hurting it. And I remember doing nothing to stop it from happening"

"Jayran never forgave him when he found out," Azul added. "Their relationship has never been the same since."

A deep ache settled in Elka’s chest, sharp and unexpected. She felt it not just for the dog, but for the two boys who had loved it and for the child who had been forced to stand there and watch.

Slowly, she turned to face him for the first time since the conversation began. She was startled to find him standing much closer than she remembered. At some point, while she had been lost in his story, he had closed the distance between them without her knowing. Pushing past her surprise, she swallowed against the tightness in her throat before asking quietly, "What about you?"

Azul arched a brow, though there was something guarded in his expression now.

"What about me?"

"You were so young, it must have been so hard for you to watch it happen," she said slowly. Even though she knew that Azul had most likely grown into a man just as cruel as his brother, in that moment she could not stop the flicker of sympathy that rose within her.

"It was," he admitted.