The Torturer's Throne
Azriel wrestled with a beast of pure darkness- and it was winning.
He struggled for every breath of air as the creature's deafening roar filled his ears. It was crushing him beneath its weight and power. His every sense was invaded by that monster's foul presence.
Unfortunately, it only grew stronger.
The scents of blood and fear fueled it, though the carcass that summoned it was long since burned to ash. The bitter taste in Azriel's mouth was a weapon it used to throw him back whenever he managed to inhale. Every splash of red blood had it howling with hunger and righteous purpose. Screams still echoed in Azriel's ear, even as he tried desperately to replace them with something else- anything else.
No one could save him from the beast… because only Azriel could see it.
Only Azriel could fight it.
Their war was nothing new- they'd waged it for more than five hundred years in service to one High Lord or another. Rhys' father created the beast, and for Rhysand's sake Azriel would summon it again and again, until it finally devoured him.
He blocked out the wrath of the beast as he wiped up the blood. Azriel poured a few slops of cleaning solution onto the high-backed chair and scrubbed at the red stains.
It was his ritual- his sacred duty.
Every time Azriel cut into someone for information he turned into something dark and evil. That thing was capable of a thousand horrors, and it often demonstrated its abilities on those stupid enough to act against the High Lord, Lady, or their Court.
As the beast, Azriel had no limits.
But when the prisoner was spent- when they either died or he put them out of their misery- the beast wouldn't simply retreat to its cage in Azriel's mind. It wanted to play. It wanted freedom.
So Azriel cleaned his workroom alone. After Cerridwen or Nuala took the bodies away. He erased the sight and scent of violence that gave the beast so much power and lulled it back to sleep. By the time the cleaning was done, he was Azriel once more.
Usually.
But today's guest had been harder to break. Azriel had to let the monster stray further and further from its cage, and now he wasn't sure it was possible to pull it back. Not in the time it took to clean the tools, floor, walls, and chair.
No, he wouldn't be going home tonight.
He'd be prowling through the Court of Nightmares- the worst of the Hewn City's slums. He'd find people to unleash the monster at. Murderers and pimps to feed to the beast and let it glut itself on blood until Azriel could walk it to bed like an overfed dog.
Every sweep of the rag was deliberate. It had to be- Azriel was struggling enough to just keep the monster from walking him out of the room. He didn't just scrub away surface blood, he cleaned the space as thoroughly as possible. Until even a bloodhound could walk in and never scent the room's purpose.
All done so he would have a chance to put the beast to bed.
All done in vain, today at least.
The monster still had him by the throat as he finished and dropped the rag into dirty water. His banishing ritual was complete, and he hadn't managed to remove more than a claw.
Darkness whispered in their ear, nudging both male and creature turned to the cell door, now open.
' Don't hurt him ,' Azriel told the beast.
Cassian leaned against the entrance. He'd been smiling when he opened the door- come to gather his friend for some adventure or another. But one thing Azriel had always appreciated about the General was his perceptive nature. Half a glance and he already knew he was dealing with something not wholly his friend.
They stared one another down for a time before Cassian raised an eyebrow.
"What did this one do?" He stepped into the room and closed the door.
Bad idea. Now he was locked in a cell with the beast. The door was warded against anyone but Azriel opening it from within.
The beast considered his words. Weighed the truth. Decided against telling it. If the Inner Circle knew how many wanted them dead, they'd never sleep again. Even Azriel sometimes used the prisoner's cot in the corner. The beast's lair was the only place he felt safe.
"Absolutely nothing," the creature said with Azriel's voice.
Cassian took a step closer and it retreated an equal distance. Another step forward- another step backward. Eventually Azriel and his demon were left to prowl along the back wall of the cell, pacing like an animal in a cage.
His friend finally stopped at the edge of the chair, wings kept loosely to the sides. Not a stance for fighting. Cassian would regret that if the creature decided to take exception to his presence.
Azriel forced a hand through his hair, pushing it back. Tense as he was, the casual nature of the gesture should have tricked the beast into stepping back even for a second.
It tightened its grip.
"The 'nothings' are becoming more frequent," Cassian observed carefully. He was staring into Azriel's eyes, reading the fight happening within. "It's getting harder to come back, isn't it?"
"Yes, so get out," the creature growled.
Cassian considered it for a long time. One hand rested on the chair, and he dared to look away from his friend to study it. Azriel knew the look well. Eyes unfocused, staring through the core of the world and the fabric of reality. He was playing through every scenario, looking for a way to help.
He blinked slowly, and when his eyes opened again, they were on Azriel.
Decision made.
"I'm not leaving."
"That would be very stupid," Azriel said. "You don't know-"
"I do know, remember?" Cassian tipped his head to the side as the beast stopped prowling a moment.
Azriel- and his darkness- did indeed remember. Long ago- after the death of Rhysand's mother, sister, and father- Azriel unleashed himself upon the land. He brought the lesser Lords of Nightmares to heel and consolidated Rhys' power, all without appearing to lift a finger.
In those bloody days, Cassian alone could see the toll it took on Azriel. Rhys' father made him unleash the demon, but to protect Rhysand, Azriel kept it fed and far too often handed over the reins.
Cassian found a way through the blood-fog to Azriel. It was something every soldier indulged in, if they admitted it or not. They would go mad otherwise. They faced their demons together. Vanquished them together. The trick Azriel and Cassian found as teenagers in their camps was almost a training for their beasts. Play the right tune, and even the most dangerous of monsters could be lulled to sleep.
"Come on," Cassian held out a hand.
' Don't hurt him. '
He couldn't speak. The demon had its hackles up. It sensed another male trying to exert his will in its domain and the territorial beast seized control.
Cassian lowered the hand and Azriel breathed a sigh of relief-
-until the hand went not to his side, but to the back of his siphons.
In a flash of red Cassian's scaled armor rolled away, replaced with his usual casual attire- worn leather trousers and a gray linen shirt.
Azriel growled low in warning as Cassian removed the shirt.
Taut skin stretched over sculpted muscles. Inviting the beast to come closer and touch.
Azriel didn't allow it.
A hint of mirth lit Cassian's eye as he saw Azriel control the beast just a little.
He slid into the chair. The wide back rippled around his wings, parting to reveal channels that his wings fit through and then hardening around them. Trapping him as effectively as any restraint ever could. There wasn't much of a seat beneath him, just a curved end to cup his rear. Stirrups provided leg support, and let Azriel move his prisoners however he required. A black cloth hung from a hook beside Cassian's head- a blindfold.
"Well?"
"What do you want?"
Cassian shrugged as best he could, "Fun."
The teasing glint in his eye was more telling than his words. Cassian didn't 'want' anything, he needed something. Azriel stepped closer to him and read his face, assessing. There was weariness there beneath the mirth, and a profound exhaustion that went beyond anything physical.
Weary, broken, and throwing himself at an old lover in spite of the danger.
' What did Nesta do to you this time? '
He didn't say the words aloud. Azriel knew how that would play out already- Cassian would become defensive, withdrawn, and then he would make Azriel let him free from both chair and room.
As certain as it was that Azriel would spend his night alone slaughtering criminals until his soul was numb and the monster inside grew quiet, Cassian would spend his in solitude until he'd drunk his pain into oblivion.
Or he could comfort a friend, and siphon off the darkness another way.
Azriel took a step towards Cassian.
Then another.
He inched towards the male, the howling in his blood growing louder with every step. Azriel's wings were angled for a fight as he stepped between the stirrups of the chair. Designed to take even the smallest of movements from his victims, the chair was a gift from Rhysand back in the first weeks of his rule.
Cassian was trapped already by his wings. Unable to reach out or sit up, he lifted his legs as Azriel approached and hooked them around his friend. The beast let Cassian draw him closer and closer, until the growing bulge in Azriel's pants was firmly pressed against Cassian's own.
Azriel wasn't some feral animal. He could easily wrest control back from the monster for Cassian's sake. Speaking would be risky- his temper was frayed and it was hard for him to remember the niceties of civilized society- but he didn't have to indulge the torturer's appetite.
"I was with Rhys when he bought this," Cassian snarled. He knew the code to make the chair release him. A way to escape if anything became too rough.
Cassian didn't want the gentle Azriel who he'd been making love to for centuries. He wanted the darkness. Every last wisp of shadow that clung to Azriel's skin. Every ounce of pitiless hatred and rage the monster possessed.
Azriel needed to let the darkness play, and Cassian needed to forget whatever fresh wound the she-devil inflicted on him this time.
He surrendered the reigns once again and told his darkness to indulge itself.
Azriel leaned against Cassian, pressing himself harder into his friend. Cassian's breath quickened as the spymaster reached out. He waited for Az to stroke his cheek, but his hand went further up, to the slip of black fabric draped beside his head. A hook was fixed to either side of the fabric, with the center of it sculpted into a narrow mask-like shape.
His hips gently shifted as Azriel leaned over further to latch the strip of fabric into one side of the chair backing. He placed the mask area over Cassian's eyes and tightened it with the second clasp.
Cassian was completely blind. The dark fabric covered just his eyes and part of his nose, but the sculpted area removed even the smallest speck of light. Azriel's prisoners were trapped in that darkness more often than not.
Truth-Teller made no sound as Azriel slid it from its sheath. He touched the tip of the dagger to Cassian's neck. When he felt the blade, red siphons flashed in alarm. Cassian held his breath and went utterly still.
It took a unique skill with a blade to slice through linen without cutting the flesh of the man beneath. Balance had to be exactly right, and an intimate knowledge of the blade's abilities was a must. Azriel dragged the dagger down Cassian's chest, slicing through it with precision. His skin wasn't so much as scratched.
The sensation set Cassian's heart racing, but he didn't dare breathe until he felt the hard pressure of the blade leave him. Breathing risked upsetting Azriel's balance and could end with that blade in the Commander's stomach.
Mercifully, even the darkness in Azriel knew better than to attempt the same trick with the shirt's sleeves. Cassian was one of the most ticklish Illyrians in existence. He wouldn't be able to control himself long enough for the cut to work. Instead, Azriel simply grabbed one side of the shirt and pulled, ripping the fabric from Cassian's arms.
The darkness inside of Azriel loved the feel of the blade in his hand, but it knew better than to unleash pain and misery upon Cassian. It sheathed the dagger and set it on a small side table. He grabbed Cassian's wrist and twisted his arm until it was pressed against one of the chair's twin protrusions. The second flesh touched metal Cassian's arm snapped into place. The ties were wholly invisible (in case Azriel needed to burn or carve at his flesh), but also inescapable without the release word.
Azriel yanked off Cassian's shoes and threw them aside to clear the way for his worn leather trousers, which were also unceremoniously ripped away. Just as it was with the armrests, Azriel's chair was equipped with invisible leg restraints, enabling him to fillet the skin from many shins over the years. Cassian blindly helped Azriel move his legs into place against the hinged metal.
Once they were immobilized, Azriel touched the underlying metal to gently lift Cassian's legs and push them apart. The position forced the blind male wide open, and raising the legs exposed him completely.
Cassian's cock rested against his iron stomach, still hardening to its full length. He'd shaved at the base-as usual- and Azriel ran a nail along the puckered ridge between his testacles. Azriel grinned as the blind man took a shuddering breath and tried to tip his pelvis down, to force more contact than the beast would give him just yet.
Beneath his cock was a slightly-gaping rosebud, slick with moisture. Azriel and his darkness raised their eyebrow as they slid their finger down to circle his asshole. Well lubricated.
"What can I say?" Cassian's breathy laugh couldn't hide the hunger, "I was hopeful."
Azriel might have teased him a bit, but if Cassian wanted that then he wouldn't have willingly stepped into the chair. If he ever wanted Azriel to stop he would, but until he said that word he danced with a very different devil.
With one hand, Azriel undid the front of his pants and pushed them down just far enough to free his length. He stroked it as he shifted forward once more. With Cassian exposed, ready, and blind, it didn't take long before Azriel was hard enough. He pressed the head of his cock against Cassian's ass. The Illyrian jumped a bit, then tried to roll his hips down onto Azriel. He was panting harder now and biting his lip as he imagined the feeling of his best friend inside him.
Azriel growled low as he pressed forward. Cassian's hole resisted for a moment before the head of his cock slipped past the hard ridge of skin. Cassian froze and loosed a high, whimpering moan as Azriel moved again, sliding in further.
He had no lubrication oils in his torture room, but precum was dripping from the head of Cassian's cock. It wasn't much, but there was enough already inside his asshole from where Cassian massaged his own entrance open. Azriel wiped the beading cum away and spread it along his shaft, then pushed in again.
Cassian screamed as Azriel forced himself in further and further, beyond what he had prepared for. It was a scream of equal parts pain and pleasure. A willing, hungry sound that made the monster smile in satisfaction. Azriel didn't stop when his pelvis pressed against Cassian's. He shoved harder against him, reaching as deeply as he could. While his cock hardened to its final length he rotated his hips, grinding against every edge of Cassian's entrance.
Curses streamed from Cassian's mouth as he thrashed and tried to both pull away and push down harder on his friend. His hands grasped at nothing and his legs shook with the force of the sensations coursing through his body, but he did nothing to stop Azriel or free himself from the chair.
Blind and in lust- the Illyrian commander was turning into a similar creature as Azriel.
After only a moment's hesitation, Azriel pulled half way from Cassian's ass. He ground his teeth against the incredible pressure around his cock. Cassian endured a slow, measured thrust as Azriel gauged how well lubricated he was. A bit more precum, a dash of spit, and soon enough he could slide in and out of Cassian with ease.
Then cool-minded Azriel handed the reins fully to the creature.
Instead of sliding back in with care, Azriel abruptly grabbed Cassian's hips and slammed into him. Cassian shouted in surprise, then kept shouting as his friend set a vicious pace. He could hardly take a breath before Azriel was pounding back into him and sending electric jolts of pleasure through his body.
Cassian fought against the chair, trying to grab Azriel with his hands or wrap his legs around his friend. He couldn't see the primal lust in Azriel's eyes, but he could hear it in the grunts and moans Azriel made as that gloriously thick cock pounded and stretched his asshole.
Azriel reached out and grabbed one of Cassian's pectorals. He pinched a nipple between two scarred fingers and tightened his fist, nearly crushing it.
" Fuck! Yes- " Cassian gasped and arched his back. Even his wings felt like they were burning with a delicious fire, though they went untouched. Cassian wanted nothing more than to grab Azriel's hand and hold it in place to encourage the agonizing pleasure.
The darkness smiled and began to shift into something made more of satin and desire than death and destruction. Azriel let Cassian get used to his thrusts before abruptly shifting the leg restraints up- angling the hole slightly higher.
He felt it when his cockhead struck and slipped by a knot deep inside Cassian.
There were no words in Cassian's scream as he tried to arch his back. Over and over again Azriel slammed home deep in his bowels and scraped across that explosive source of pleasure.
Azriel was grinning as his friend's cockhead turned near-purple with the force of his pleasure. Precum pooled on his stomach and every jolt from the knot made it twitch. Cassian's length was ever so slightly curved- at the apex of its form. He was ready to cum.
That softer darkness in Azriel laughed at the edge of desperation in Cassian's screams- the commander couldn't climax without someone stroking his cock. Azriel could fuck him all night long- keep him pinned past the point of exhaustion and on the edge of heaven. He'd done it before. No matter how perfect his thrusts or how tightly he squeezed Cassian's nipples, if his cock went untouched then there was nothing Cassian could do to relieve his suffering.
Azriel grabbed the sides of the chair backing and threw his strength into his arms to help pull him forward into Cassian. Sweat dripped down his neck and within minutes Azriel withdrew from Cassian entirely. His friend whimpered as he ripped his own shirt and pants off, then cried out as Azriel pounded back into him a moment later.
It felt so good to have Cassian's hot skin burning against his own. When Azriel was seated once more he didn't touch Cassian's shaft, but rested a hand against his balls, stroking them as he resumed thrusting.
Cassian's hips were rolling in time with his attentions, and his hole clenched tighter and tighter around Azriel's shaft. He couldn't last much longer.
Azriel leaned over and grabbed Cassian's chin. He opened his friend's mouth and sealed it once more with his own lips. Cassian moaned into Azriel's mouth as their tongues met and fire danced along Azriel's arms. The darkness began to ebb as he and Cassian kissed.
Without breaking their connection, Azriel reached between them with his free hand and wrapped long fingers around Cassian's throbbing cock. Cassian tried to turn his head away and cry out, but Azriel didn't let him. He was breathing frantically through his nose and his tongue went limp as Azriel continued to thrust and stroke in equal measure.
Cassian loved being choked by hand or with a cock down his throat. Azriel seizing his mouth allowed him some air, but not nearly enough. His heart raced faster, his body strained against the sensations from his ass and cock. He whimpered into Azriel's mouth with every thrust, and Azriel threw every last scrap of the beast into that shared kiss, trapping Cassian between three different sources of pleasure.
Cassian's cry grew stronger, his whole body tensed, and something hot splashed against Azriel's chest. WIth every thrust of Azriel's cock in his ass a rope of cum shot out. Cassian's breathing was tense and hard, and after a few more thrusts Azriel released his mouth. He gasped and let out a strangled shout as his cock twitched and more of his release splashed across his own chest.
Azriel didn't stop pounding his ass, even after it went loose and Cassian sagged in the chair. He thrust harder, punishing Cassian's sensitive core while his own insides tightened in anticipation of release.
"Where?" Azriel ground out.
Cassian was panting and limp, he wasn't sure he'd get an answer. But after a moment a soft voice murmured, "I-inside. I want to feel you cum inside me."
It was hardly an unusual request. Cassian loved the feeling of a hot load filling his insides. He would smile as he walked through Velaris and tried to keep it all inside.
During the War to liberate humans, his unit had been trapped by a blizzard for days. Unable to fly and with nowhere to go, the males- then barely thirty years old- had resorted to… other pastimes. Azriel was a pet of Rhysand's father during that time, but Cassian had told him that he'd spent one night on his hands and knees, taking load after load from his brothers, the so-called 'bitch' for the night.
Cassian loved every second of it, especially when the males made a game of trying to either fuck or eat their predecessor's release from his hole. Cassian was in heaven during that blizzard, and Azriel was positive he'd secretly taken Helion up on his offer of a threesome- just not with Azriel or Mor in attendance.
"I'd watch a whole army fill that pretty little ass," Azriel whispered in Cassian's ear.
He slammed forward once more and cried out as a spasm wracked his body and his cock began to empty itself inside Cassian. Azriel didn't move as he came, but as he felt the end nearing he stepped forward and once again dug his cock as deep into Cassian as possible, pushing the cum deeper.
Cassian tightened his ass around Azriel as the male slid free. A drop of creamy white dripped onto Azriel's floor, but most of his release was secure. Cassian murmured a word of command and the arm and leg holders sagged. When he sat up, shaking, his wings slipped through the chair backing with ease.
"Feel better?" Cassian panted. He could see more of Azriel in those dark eyes than when he walked in.
Azriel nodded as he staggered to lean against the wall, "You?"
"Absolutely."
Azriel glanced over to his friend and laughed at his semi-hard cock, "Give me a few minutes and I'll top you off again."
Cassian moaned in approval. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the chair. His wings hung limp, exhausted.
"Hey Cass?"
"Mmm?"
"Thank you," Azriel felt more himself than he had in hours. The beast had retreated back into its cage, satiated by sex rather than blood. Cassian saved at least a few lives.
"I know what this does to you," Cassian said with a sigh. "And you know what she's doing to me. Seemed like a win-win."
Azriel chuckled, "Understatement."
Cassian opened an eye and looked over at Azriel, "Helion wrote again... If you still need to vent some darkness."
He knew what his friend was asking. Up to that point Azriel always turned Helion down. But now that the darkness was sleeping, he considered how nice it might feel. Other than the occasional quickie with Cassian, it had been decades since he had a proper night with another male- or males. Azriel preferred female company more often, but he had an itch that could use a scratch.
"I get to be in the middle," Azriel enjoyed being fucked almost as much as Cassian did, and as long as the darkness slept he was in the mood for a nice hard cock.
It was ages since he felt a High Lord moving inside him. Unfortunately he no longer had access to his previous favorite. That cock now warmed itself in someone else.
"Whatever you say," Cassian's face lit up and he scooted off the end of the chair. "I'll go make the arrangements, tomorrow alright?"
Azriel nodded, "When you're done go to my chambers. We'll see how much we can stretch that hole before dawn. I want to see if you can take Helion and I together."
"Oh, I absolutely can." Cassian winked as he picked up his pants and quickly pulled them on. He left the front un-done, revealing just a sliver of his shaft. Cassian didn't bother collecting his shirt. He waited for Azriel to open the door to the cell before grinning and walking out into the Hewn Palace.
Azriel collected their discarded clothing and dressed himself, but he didn't bother wiping away the scent of their passion from the room as he had evidence of the fae he'd tortured.
'Let it linger, ' Azriel thought with a smile before winnowing back to Velaris to prepare for Cassian's next visit.
The next of many, he hoped.