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

Mor

I walked into a room that I found to be the kitchen. I  couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when I saw that it was empty. More importantly, when I saw that Bella wasn't in it.

Last night after we got drunk of our asses, Bella and I went back to her room for some fun of our own, if you know what I mean.

It was the greatest sex I had ever had in my -very long- life.

However after waking up, I completely freaked out. I assumed that Bella would consider last night to be a huge mistake, so I left her room like a thief in the night.

Now I was trying to avoid any interactions with her to the best of my abilities. As of right now, it was going pretty well. 

I stifled a yawn. 

It wasn't even dawn yet but I couldn't sleep. So, I had crawled out of bed with a massive headache and dragged myself down here.

After looking around the kitchen for a bit, I managed to find a box of something labeled 'Hangover Cure Tea'.

It sounded like exactly what I needed so I brewed myself some and sat down by the kitchen window. I looked out and saw a garden below, a large, beautiful, thriving garden.

It seems that liking to garden was one of the few things that Elain did not lie about.

I couldn't blame her for not telling us -a group of strangers to her- about her being an assassin. From what I've seem, assassins are trained to have trust issues and she didn't know us. Besides, I couldn't really get upset with her for not telling us, I still haven't told my family my secrets.

I heard some footsteps from down the hall and a slightly muffled female voice.

"Come on, you need to eat something after you drank that much last night." Elain seemed to be trying to convince someone to do something.

She walked into the kitchen pulling Az -who looked exhausted and extremely hungover- behind her. Neither of them seemed to notice me, then again I was sitting by the window in the corner of the room, half covered by a curtain.

Az was wearing his usual Illyrian leathers, but Elain was not. 

She had her hair tied up into a messy bun. She was wearing no shoes; a pair of tight, black leggings; a loose, icy blue crop top; that large, jagged scar on the side of her face, along with the other scars peppering every inch of her skin.

Was this her normal look?

Az rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, El. Besides, we need to figure out what to de with the key-" 

El? When did that start.

"Azriel, this is not up for debate. You are going to eat something or so help me I will shove it down your throat." 

The way that she said it sounded extremely threatening but also sweet. It seemed like she was looking out for him.

Interesting.

Az raised his hands placatingly. "Alright, fine."

Elain gave a self-satisfied smile. 

"Just know that I hate you, El."

Elain gasped dramatically. "Now you're hurting my feelings."

"Good." Az said dryly.

 Elain playfully elbowed him in the stomach. "I'll get the food, you grab a few books and we'll meet in my room." I almost missed how she squeezed his hand before he left the room.

Elain hummed as she rummaged through the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen, pulling out various foods. She froze when she saw the kettle of tea on the stove, but then she shrugged it off.

"Bella or Nix must have made it." She murmured under her breath.

She grabbed everything she wanted and walked out of the room, and only then did I let out the breath that I didn't realise I had been holding.

Wow.

Elain and Az were apparently much closer than I had thought.

In the war camp I figured out that they were friends, close friends, and I knew that Az liked Elain, but this is way closer than I thought they were.

I shook my head. I needed to get out of here.

I walked downstairs and opened up the door that led into a huge garden.

I took my time strolling through it while sipping my tea and gazing at the sunrise.

It wasn't as incredible as the sunrises in Velaris but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun around, tea flying out of my cup, only to see Feyre standing behind me.

"Hey Mor," Feyre said hesitantly, "I- I need someone to talk to right now."

I nodded and gestured for us to continue walking as we spoke.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

She blew out a short breath, "What isn't wrong. You saw what happened with Elain last night, I shouldn't have said what I did, but..."  She trailed off.

"But?" I prompted.

"But I meant it. I can't help but be angry at her-"

"You meant what you said about her being a whore?" My voice was barely more than a whisper. That word struck a cord within all of us, knowing that was what they called Rhys when he was just trying to protect us...

Feyre shook her head emphatically. "I regret that, I do. But Elain does kill people and for money no less."

"I'm sure she has her reasons, I mean, can you really blame her for not telling you?"

Feyre narrowed her eyes at me. "Of course, Mor. She's my sister, how could she hide something like this from me?"

"Maybe she hid it because you're her sister. She didn't want to scare you or make you see her differently." I reasoned. "You should just go talk to her."

"Talk to who?" Asked a sharp voice from behind us. Phoenix.

We spun around to see Phoenix glaring at Feyre.

"Elain." Feyre said curtly.

"Ah, she's up in her room. Second floor, take the hallway furthest right, her room is the last door on the left." Phoenix took a step towards us and jabbed a finger at Feyre. "And don't you dare talk to her like how you did last night. If you do, I don't care if you're the High Lady, I don't care who's sister or mate you are, I will fucking kill you."

Feyre lifted her chin slightly -though I could see her holding back a shudder- and stiffly walked back towards the house. The second the door closed Phoenix let out a breath.

She glanced at me, "By the way, Bella's been looking for you, she said something about screwing up last night. Anyway, she's up on the roof right now with Abraxos. I'll take you there."

Before I could protest -before I could so much as blink- Phoenix and I were standing on the roof.

She smiled slyly and gave me a too-innocent wave before disappearing.

"Mor." I heard Bella's voice from behind me.

I spun around. "Bella."

I will continue.