The King of the Vile Read Online Free Page B

said.
    “My precious Vel, when have I ever lost my concentration?”
    She rolled her eyes but said nothing. Deathmask grinned, using his apparent carelessness to hide how much the spell had taken out of him. It would have been wiser to use something else, but his mood was foul, and he’d wanted the angel to suffer. Once his breath returned, Deathmask headed for the basement’s exit.
    “We’ll need to move again,” he said.
    “There’s nowhere left.”
    “There’s always somewhere. We just have to find it. Besides, it’s not like we can stay here.”
    Veliana seemed in no hurry. She stood over the angel, staring down at his delicate features and grimacing.
    “Why does the Council want you dead so badly?” she asked.
    “Perhaps they don’t like how well I’ve done without them,” Deathmask said, stepping over corpses. “Maybe they’re tired of me acting outside their jurisdiction. For Karak’s sake, maybe they’re just bored. It doesn’t matter.”
    “So what does matter? Proving our innocence?”
    Deathmask reached the door and glanced up the stairs to make sure no soldiers waited at the top. He laughed as he did.
    “Innocent?” he said. “We’ll never prove ourselves innocent. The frame is too beautiful. The very witnesses to our supposed crime are angels, and the assassins that tried for King Gregory’s life looked all too similar to myself. No, innocence is not what we’re after, Vel. What we’re after is vengeance for the ones responsible.”
    “Assuming we live that long.”
    Deathmask turned toward her and offered his hand.
    “Is that not always the case with us?” he asked.
    She took it, and he pulled her toward him.
    “I let the Council meddle,” he said, holding her close. “And this is the price we pay for my foolishness. Whatever game they’re playing here, I don’t want to play it any longer. Avlimar is in ruins, and amid its carcass rises the earthbound city. If there’s to be any stopping it, we need to win some allies in high places, and fast.”
    “I thought there’d be no proving our innocence?” Veliana asked, roughly pushing him away.
    “There won’t,” he said. “Not in any court that matters. But we can convince Harruq, or at least his wife. That’s a start.”
    “How?”
    “When a man is murdered, and you don’t know how, what do you do?”
    “You check the body.”
    “Exactly.”
    Deathmask winked at her, then dashed up the stairs. They exited out into the quiet streets of Mordeina, and from there they ran to the nearest alleyway, heading for the hidden places, the crowded mazes and underground veins beneath the city. The whole nation might believe he was the destroyer of Avlimar, but such a feat was beyond even him. But the Council? No, that was an enemy to fear, an enemy clever enough, and ruthless enough, to do whatever necessary to get what it wanted. Deathmask had no doubt they were the ones responsible for the eternal city’s fall. However, knowing it and proving it were two very different things, and right now he hadn’t the slightest shred of evidence.
    Come nightfall, though, he’d find it. He banished the ash from his face, pulled aside his mask, and hurried faster along the narrowing streets. Come nightfall, he’d take his first step toward vengeance against the organization that had banished him and stripped him of everything, even his name. Just as amusing to him, he’d do it while hiding in the one place the angels would never think to look.
    High above the angels flew, and as they ran, Deathmask kept one eye on the sky at all times. In that way, he doubted he was any different from the rest of the city’s inhabitants.

    Harruq Tun stared upon the ruins of Avlimar from a high castle balcony, the people searching through the remains tiny specks at such a distance.
    “We’ve had to increase our patrols, and even they are not enough,” Azariah said, standing beside him and sharing the view. The angel’s soft hands, smooth and