Let You Down |Azriel|

.06.

The pants I wore cuffed at my ankle and were flowing freely otherwise. The sheer black went well with the jade green long sleeve that came to just below my bra line. Jade, laced flats adorned my feet and made the walking a bit easier as my feet had still been covered in bruises from walking barefoot Under the Mountain. It had been a while since real food had graced my tongue. Mor had joined us for breakfast that morning. I tried to be graceful as I practically drooled over the fruit on my plate. Restraint was hard to maintain, but I had to keep reminding myself that if I had ate too much too quickly, I would throw up all over the place. Especially considering I hadn't eaten more that some bread a day for the past 60 years.

"Alright, Lia," Rhys started, I glanced at him, cocking my head to the side. "There's the matter of you working, as you'd brought up before."

I nodded and finished chewing my orange slice before allowing words to come out of my mouth. "I can go back to serving, it's probably the only thing I'll ever be good at."

He shook his head nearly violently, "Gods no. With the skills you possess? I mean, if you want to work as wait staff, by all means. But you have so much more that you're capable of. You've shown me you're trustworthy, you're smart, skilled."

I choked on my juice, "Your opinion of me is awfully high, Rhys. Amarantha kept me as a server likely because that's all I could do."

He placed his glass on the table and smirked at me, "Amarantha," he almost spat as he said her name, "chained you up and kept you a server because she knew what you were capable of and she was afraid to let you loose."

"You really think so?"

"I know so," he tapped his temple as a reminder that he could read minds.

"Well," I looked down at my hands, "what do you think I'm capable of?"

"I think you could be one hell of an asset on the battlefield. With your ability to fly, shape shift, conjure fire, and heal, you would be nearly unstoppable."

I curled into myself ever so slightly. "I don't know how to fight."

"We can teach you. If you would be interested, I could use you in my inner circle. You would be an extremely valuable team member. My general could teach you how to fight," my eyes widened, that seemed intense. "He'll go easy on you," he chuckled, "Mor can attest to that."

She nodded, "it's true. He may act all big and bad but he's an amazing teacher."

I tossed the idea in my head for a moment and messed with my fingers. I wanted to be important, wanted to amount to something- anything. More importantly, I felt at home with Mor and Rhys. This could very well be my family. What was better than that?

I nodded. "I think that sounds great. I'm certainly willing to try my best."

"That's all we ask," he smiled and raised his glass.

Three champagne glasses were on the table just then. Mor and I grabbed ours, all three met in the middle with a satisfying clink.

"There is one more thing," he started. "If you do work with us, the place we go to cannot be spoken about. You can never tell anyone what you've seen. If you work with us, you can never talk about it outside of our circle."

I shrugged, "that seems extremely reasonable. But also, who would I tell? I don't have anybody besides you, Rhys. I'm sure no one missed me when I was snatched. I don't have any real family."

He nodded in understanding, " Let's go, then."

The food and drinks disappeared from the table and we all stood. Mor hooked her arm around mine and we were consumed by darkness for several moments. It was almost as if the night sky had swirled around us as we had winnowed out of the house and into the new environment. When we touched ground, I took in my new surroundings. We stood in the foyer of a townhouse. It felt warm and cozy. Voices were booming from the room to the left. Rhys led the way and stopped just before the couches.

"Azriel, Cassian, this is Cecelia. Cecelia, Azriel and Cassian," Rhys gestured to both of them respectively.

They were both very tall and built men with large wings- Illyrian wings, tucked behind their backs. One of them had a wide smile as if he were in the middle of telling a joke. The other had shadows that seemed to curl around his extremities, his hazel eyes were absolutely stunning. He seemed to have a similar manner to Rhys in terms of facial expressions. Though Rhys had allowed his emotions to be viewed on his face once we left Under the Mountain, Azriel had the same nearly unreadable face. The only feature holding any tell being his eyes.

I didn't want to move from my spot, to move my gaze. I felt overwhelmed looking at him. As if I could feel the comforting warmth radiating from him from several feet away. His short black hair was messy as if he'd just run his hand through it. My eyes weren't able to break free from his. My heart began to hammer away in my chest, it felt as if it was working on an escape. Cassian said something but I didn't hear it the first time.

I shook my head very slightly and closed my eyes for a moment before looking at him, "I'm sorry, what?"

"How did Rhys sucker you into coming this way?" He cracked a smile.

"Oh. We bet on the same thing and instead of splitting the profits, I asked him if I could live in his court once Amarantha was killed."

"I heard you lit her ass on fire," Cassian was a smiling ball of energy.

I nodded slowly, "she was already dead by the time I conjured my heat. I couldn't risk the idea of her being alive just running around in my head. I had to see her disintegrate before I could let it go."

"He makes you sound like a badass, do you live up to that?"

My lips turned into a smirk, "He seems to think so, but I've been chained for 60 years. I'm weaker than weak. I might have magic, but that's not strong, either. I guess my confidence needs a good boosting."

"Well we can work on that," Cassian smiled, "that's easy."