love isn't enough of a drug

Each second felt like minutes as he awaited the arrival of his servant, and by the time she did pass the threshold of the den Azure's fury was already erupting. He spun to face her as she entered, tracking her movements with a critical gaze as she bowed before him. "It took you long enough." He hissed, grasping desperately to the only readily apparent flaw that he could subjectively punish. Lyre was too good a servant, her experience left little to be desired and therefore left nothing for Azure to nitpick. He knew she had hurried at his call, but chose to ignore it for the ease it allowed him to lash out.

"My mate is home, she was kidnapped." The words were like poison on his tongue, an admittance Azure never thought he'd ever be forced to speak aloud. The very fact that someone had dared to strike out against him like this... he had not been firm enough with Sparrow, had not staked his claim well enough. "I need you to do something. It requires subtlety and discretion. No one can know I commanded it of you, not my father, not my mate, no one. It can not come back to me, and if you are discovered for it, you will swear under pain of death that it was your idea and your idea alone. Can you do that?" Eyeing his servant firmly, he waited for confirmation from her own maw. Relying on another individual was not something he was used to doing, but Lyre had thus far proven herself to be as trustworthy and obedient as one could expect in a slave.

"Speech"