A court of Shadows & Blood (An ACOTAR / Azriel fanfiction)

Chapter 13

I realised that nobody had had anything to eat and having the opportunity to finally cook, I silently slipped outside and made my way to the kitchen.

Everything was as I had left it, except the knife was not on the floor and someone had covered all the half made food from last night.

I threw everything away and left the dishes to be washed. I was looking around for oil when Azriel appeared, like always, from nowhere.

"Need my help?" He asked.

"Yes." I stepped back from a high shelf. "Can you bring that down?" I pointed to the oil.

He hummed a response before two strong arms wrapped around me and my feet were lifted off the floor. Not giving him the satisfaction of surprising me, I plucked down the bottle and he again bought me down.

" You put it up there, didn't you?" I narrowed my eyes at the shadowsinger who looked very pleased with himself.

"Do you have any proof?" He smiled crookedly.

I placed both my hands at his chest and pushed him away. "You insulted a witch. Now watch." I pointed at the food I was making.

"Believe me, I am watching." His eyes followed my every movement as I turned on the stove and continued on with my preparation of the lunch.

The sun was high in the sky by the time I was done with the food.

In the meantime, Cassian and Rhysand had won one rounds each, Morrigan had won two and Alcina had won six, to everyone's surprise.

Azriel would go to their room every once in a while and everytime he returned, he would tell me about another tantrum thrown by whoever lost.

One time he disappeared for a long time and was grinning like a mad man when he returned.

"Where were you?" I raised an eyebrow, still not used to him smiling so freely.

"Out." He said.

"For?" I pressed.

"It's......a surprise." He picked up a pastry and starting nibbling on it.

I smacked his shoulder to get him to get off the table and questioned. "Is it someone's birthday?"

"I don't know. Is it? When's your birthday?"

"It's during summer." I answered.

He simply finished his pastry and reached for another one before I caught his hand. "That was your third one. No more until everyone sits down to eat."

"I thought you loved me." He placed a hand on his heart.

I looked at his face for a moment before deciding I was not going to give in and mumbled under my breath. "I swear on the stars if he keeps looking at me like that, I will let him get away with murder."

I handed him a bowl and ordered, "Go and give this to Alcina."

He sighed but left with the soup. I quickly placed everything on the table and cleaned the counters.

I was almost done when Azriel came back. "How do you do that?" He asked, looking at the dishes washing themselves and the oven turning off as the fire behind it died down.

"Magic." I answered. "There is a lot more of it than you would think."

He dodged a large spoon as it flew past him. "If I had this sort of magic, I would be the laziest person ever."

"You think I'm not the laziest person ever?", I laughed and washed my hands.

The tap turned off when the last spoon was clean and the all the utensils returned to their respective places.

The last of the fire on the stove and in the oven was exhausted by my shadows and I announced that the food was ready.

Cassian was the first to appear. "I believe that if I was on my deathbed and you appeared with that soup." He jerked his chin towards the room where everyone was. "I would simply not die."

I smiled at his dramatic declaration. "I will make sure to make it for you when you decide to die."

It wasn't long until Rhysand joined us and I left them alone.

Morrigan was busy laughing about something while also feeding Alcina the soup. I gently knocked at the door and they both looked at me.

"You should go and have lunch, I'll make sure she eats everything. " I told Morrigan.
After Alcina nodded, she gave me the warm bowl and closed the door behind herself.

"I never knew you were so good at board games." I bought the spoon to Alcina's lips.

"It was just luck. I didn't even know how to play this game." She said. "Remember when we would have monthly midnight picnics with father?"

I smiled at the memory. "It used to drive mother mad. In her defense, she would have to clean everything in the morning because we all slept like the dead."

"And then, she would make father do all the gardening for a week. He would be covered in mud from head to toe." She laughed.

"Gardens were never his thing." I added. "He was much better with his animals."

"Especially the peacocks. He loved his white peacocks. " Alcina agreed.

" I think I saw one when I went back." I frowned at the vague memory.

After months of hiding from the memories and trying to forget them, they finally sprung to the surface of my mind and, instead of leaving me heartbroken, they left me with a warm sensation in the heart.

Talking about our parents felt like we were transported back to the house that no longer existed. I felt like I was sitting in our old armchair with my legs folded up and complaining about Alcina. Like my mother would just appear from around a corner and start chiding both me and my sister before rushing us out of the house to go and do something on the moor.

It most certainly didn't feel like I might be considering murdering the Spymaster of The Night Court.