A Court of Scars and Shadows

Sparring with Claws

GWYN'S POV

It was three days since the night in the training room with Azriel and Gwyn has not seen him since.

She spent her morning's training with Cassian, Nesta, and Emerie. After training with the three, Gwyn would stick around for an hour or two to help Nesta train the new priestesses who were almost closet to becoming Valkyries.

In the afternoons, she would help Merrill in the library and in her research on Valkyries and other stuff.

It was on the third night where she saw the Shadowsinger again. He didn't realize that she was there. He was training again, training shirtless. Gwyn would be lying if she said she wasn't staring at his chest. Drops of sweat were gleaming down his well-defined abdominal muscles which lead the sculpted V-shaped muscles that to a trail of hair that went into his black pants. Gwyn brought her eyes up to broad shoulders that had the swirls of his Illyrian tattoo. His large wings shadowing in the background. Gwyn brought her eyes up even further to his face. She was shocked to see his almond- shaped eyes looking back at her. His mouth held a smirk. Gwyn felt blood rushed to her cheeks.

"Like something you see," Azriel teased? His shadows reached her copper hair, twirling themselves in between the strands. Gwyn could make out a light blush spreading around Azriel's cheeks.

Impossibly red, Gwyn responds, "No, but your shadows do." Azriel's hazel eyes turned humorously wide and Gwyn just continued to stare back unbothered; Azriel's shadows seemed contempt to stay in their temporary home.

Azriel let out a nervous chuckle before saying, "Do you want to spar today?"

"I'm always up for a challenge," Gwyn answered almost immediately. Cassian, Nesta, and Emerie were becoming predictable opponents. Having Azriel to spar with will let her test out her skills even further. "Let me warm up first before I kick your ass."

"I'm afraid it won't be my ass that is going to be kicked," Azriel said lifting the right side of his mouth slightly.

"Is that a challenge, Shadowsinger?"

"Indeed it is," he responds.

After Gwyn finishes warming up and stretching, she meets Azriel in the training ring located at the center of the room. "Weapons or hands?"

"Hands. Let's see what Cassian has taught you," Azriel finishes as he gets into his set position.

"Let's," and the sparring began.

AZRIEL'S POV

When Azriel spotted Gwyn staring at his chest, he didn't know how to react. When he teased her about it and she gave teased back about his shadows, he was shocked. Gwyn surprised him every day. You could never tell how she would react when she was with a male. Anything could still trigger her memories of that night. So when Azriel suggested sparring, he would make sure not to get too carried away.

Gwyn moved with graced. Currently, Azriel and Gwyn were circling each other waiting for each other to make the first move. After circling each other for the fifth time, Gwyn made the first move. She moved  in to punch Azriel in the shoulder, but Azriel easily swerved out of the way. Azriel balanced his weight on his left foot and he threw his arm out to hit Gwyn in the stomach, but Gwyn saw the move coming and grabbed Azriel's arm before kicking him in the chest hard. Azriel stumbled backward, shock washed through him, at the strength Gwyn disabled.

"Don't you dare go easy on me, Shadowsinger," Gwyn smirked, "I can handle it."

"I'm sure you can." Azriel charged as he thrust his wings forward creating a rush of wind that left Gwyn unbalanced. Taking advantage of this situation, and reached out to trip her with this leg. The action worked leading Gwyn to fall onto the floor with a thump. Her turquoise eyes lighted with fury as she used her arms and back to kick Azriel's chest again as she rose from the floor. Gwyn charges at Azriel this time, but Azriel curls his hands into a fist and attempts another try to punch Gwyn, this time in the face. Gwyn catches Azriel's forearm and flips Azriel over her head with unbelievable strength. Azriel hits the floor with a crack and he groans. His wings squeezed between the floor and his back.

Gwyn straddles herself onto Azriel's chest, one leg on each side of his chest, caging him in. Her eyes lit with fires of fury. Azriel had the decency of looking scared.

"I told you not to go easy on me," Gwyn snarls. Azriel didn't know what to tell her. He hadn't been going easy on her, her strength doubled even his. She pulled back her hand to punch Azriel but stopped herself short when she noticed something.

Azriel, still caged under Gwyn's body, looked to where Gwyn kept her hand in the air. Long copper-brown claws were showing in between Gwyn's knuckles. The hand she had placed on Azriel's bare chest also had claws. That hand drew blood, but Azriel didn't care as he watched Gwyn's face to see her reaction.

Gwyn sat still above Azriel, still watching the hand in mid-air. She slowly turned her head around and looked to her other hand that had specks of blood on the claws. She finally raised her head to look at Azriel in the eyes. Her eyes held tears she had yet to shed.

She quickly got off of Azriel and Azriel rose from the ground. He felt pain run down his left wing, but he paid it no attention. He ignored the dent on the floor of where he just was, but Gwyn didn't. She stared at the dent and the claws that had yet to retract. Tears were gliding down her pale skin. Azriel felt the need to comfort her.

"Gwyn—," Azriel started, but she cut him off.

"I—I'm so-sorry."

Azriel took a careful step forward, "It's ok. I'm fine." He raised a scarred hand to his chest to show that he already healed. But that seemed to bring no comfort to Gwyn. Gwyn didn't seem to care that he already been healed because she froze again, looking over Azriel's left shoulder. A sob left her as Azriel followed her gaze. He grimaced at what he saw: his left wing bent at an awkward angle. He could care less about his wings at the moment. He needed to calm Gwyn down.

Her chest rose up and down in uneven beats, tears kept rolling harder down her face. She was shaking uncontrollably. Azriel was breaking seeing her like this. His shadows felt the same way as they sought out to comfort her. The dark wisps curled themselves around her arms.

Help her, calm her, his shadows told him. Azriel inwardly rolled his eyes as if he didn't want to help her already.

Gwyn tried shaking off the shadows which shot a pant of hurt through Azriel. Gwyn always looked at his shadows as something she awed, but now she was afraid. The shadows wouldn't move and she met his eyes again.

"Get them away. I don't want to hurt them," Her voice wavered. Azriel tried to bring his shadows back in, but they seemed to be ignoring their master. Gwyn kept getting worse as she took steps backward to the staircase that led to the sanctuary downstairs. Azriel took two steps forward before Gwyn reached her hands out. "Don't come any closer. I don't want to hurt you either."

"Gwyn, it's ok. What you are feeling is normal. You just need to calm down. I can help you." She shook her head.

"You don't understand. I made you bleed. I took an oath as a Priestess and Valkyrie not to bring harm to my friends."

"It was an accident."

"No, it wasn't, Azriel. I enjoyed hurting you." And with that Gwyn ran down the stairs.

" GWYN," but it was too late. Azriel's shout echoed down the stairwell.

GWYN'S POV

Gwyn kept running. She ran past the entrance to the library and headed towards the exit of the House of Wind. She ran and ran down the ten thousand stairs until she reached the City of Starlight. She took in her surroundings—too high on adrenaline to realize that she finally made it out of the library— and took off once more. She ran until she passed the borders of Velairs, she ran until she reached a river. She jumped and swam. Swam until she was too tired to keep going and when she stepped out of the water, she is met with the smell of flowers and trees. She had the strange sense that she was home.

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