A Court of Fire and Shadows -ON BREAK!!!-

Azriel

During the High Lords meeting I was very distracted. Not like me at all, and I knew the others noticed, Rhys and Cass (whose wings were now healed) kept sneaking me concerned glances, but at the moment, I couldn't care less. I just couldn't wrap my head around what had happened since we got Feyre back.

I remember them moving into the town house. Elain and I had started talking for hours everyday. About everything and about nothing at all. I could tell she was hiding something but I didn't push. She would tell me when she wished.

I arrived at the townhouse first, the shadows had sensed that they were not needed, and had left. I was wearing my Illyrian armor and hair golden hair was snagging in some of the black scales across my chest and shoulders. I had selfishly carried her a few more feet than necessary, and set her down on the foyer carpet. 

Elain peered up at me and I smiled faintly, "Would you like me to show you the garden?"

She did not balk from me, did not shy away as she nodded, just once. I offered her my arm, and I couldn't ell if she was looking and my mangled, scarred hand or the blue siphon adorning it when she breathed, "Beautiful." Color bloomed high on my cheeks and I inclined my head in thanks, then led her to the back doors and into the garden.

We sat in silence for a while, my shadows reporting on what was going on inside of the house. 

Nesta my shadows said,  is now throwing up in the powder room.

I scrunched my brows up in confusion. She claimed that Rhysand was deliberately flying slow, so he went fast.

I had let out a small huff of laughter and I could see a small, but genuine smile gracing Elain's face. I couldn't figure out why until I saw the shadow curled around her ear. My jaw dropped.

"You can hear them?" I asked her, now much more confident in talking with her.

"Yes." She said simply she looked behind us inside the house and I could tell tell that she didn't want them to overhear. 

The Fox is upset with you. He thinks that you are trying to.. seduce Elain I had to suppress a growl at that. He was in my city, my home, and he has the audacity of accuse me of that. 

Elain was throwing curious looks at me, so I shook my head. And she got the message. We would talk about this later. For now, I pushed that to the back of my mind and focused on sunning my wings. My shadows brought me my reports and I started to go through them while Feyre was watching Elain and I. 

I opened up my mental shields, 'Rhys, don't tell her I said this but our High Lady is quite possibly the worst spy that I have ever seen.'

I heard him laugh as he turned to Feyre and told her that I knew she was watching. 

I kept reading my reports and prepared to go to Hewn City.

I remember that day. Elain had started leaving her room more and more often, and she was waking up early to garden, at least that's what we thought. 

But one day, I felt a sharp stinging pain in my left arm. I though I was just imagining it, but it happened again the next week. I knew that it was the pain of another. The pain of my mate. 

When she came down the stairs hours later there was no sign that anything had happened, she was still the same as always. 

Again, curious.

A week later when I couldn't sleep I decided to go train early. That's when I saw her.

She was amazing, like nothing I had ever seen before. A whirlwind of steel (Illyrian steel that should take years to master) and limbs. It was a beautiful dance of death and I was entranced. I let you a small noise when I saw her hold a knife to its neck, a cruel smile on her face. She snapped her head up and threw a dagger at me, faster than I could see. It seems that she was getting used to this new body.