Angels Grave

~ Chapter 24 ~

The air stilled for a second – a split second before it erupted into chaos, Rhysand bounding from his seat and up the stairs, towards the room that housed the injured Azriel and Cassian. Mor was close behind, her blonde hair bouncing as she retreated.

Zhysa also hurried, stood up, her hands supporting the smaller body sleeping on her chest and walked up the stairs. That never-ending tightness that had developed in her chest, loosened slightly as if with Azriel's consciousness her uneasiness ended.

She pushed the slightly ajar chestnut door open only to see a relieved – but grinning – Rhys and a bleary-eyed faerie. Azriel's blood infused leather's had been stripped and Zhysa guessed that they had been thrown out. She assumed that even Nuala and Cerridwen couldn't fix those forsaken things.

Azriel blinked again and responded to Rhysand in a low-murmuring voice. Zhysa audibly breathed out, her worry completely dissipated. Mor glanced at her and then down at the sleeping youngling.

"Why do you have a child with you?" Mor's whispered. Her voice for once wasn't deprecating, simply curious. Zhysa glanced at her, uneasy. She had assumed that Mor would be more friendly since knowing they were blood-related but she wasn't certain. Honestly, Zhysa would have been disappointed if she lost her edge. Teasing Mor had become a favourite pastime.

"She lost her family. I'm all she has got left." Zhysa didn't want to talk anymore. Anything else – anything relating to her family or that attack on Velaris – and she swore she would break down in tears. She could already feel the pressure behind her eyes and tried to think of something unrelated.

Mor just frowned however she nodded, getting the message that Zhysa was all talked out for the day. She focused on the situation and tuned into what the two large males were discussing.

"What happened to Feyre?" If Zhysa thought back now, Azriel was unconscious when they had launched the half-arsed escape plan – there would be no way that he knew what was happening.

Azriel listened, quiet, the shadows around him slowly turned dark and wrapped around him, as if to hide him from this dimension and place him in the next. She couldn't feel what Azriel could but the suffocating feeling came on suddenly and Zhysa rushed over next to him to put a hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly, his shadows flicker and as if they were never there, they sank into the ground.

"It wasn't anyone's fault. Don't get angry over something no one could prevent." Zhysa couldn't understand the expression in his eyes as he turned to her, his gaze never flinching from hers until Mor interrupted.

"Az, you woke up earlier than expected but the healers told me that you should stay here for the next few days. I'm sure that Rhys or ... Zhysa will tell you whatever you ask." Zhysa tensed and stood up, removing her hand from Azriel.

"Great. While you do that, I'm going to put Arisu to bed. I'll come by later." Her answer was curt and she swiftly nodded and departed, leaving despondent faeries in her wake.

***

Zhysa had found that raising a child was a lot harder than rearing a teenager.

Not to mention the constant nightmares Arisu had but she also had developed a paranoia that if she left Zhysa for too long, Zhysa would disappear too. She felt for the girl but having a child attached to her for many hours a day was taking a toll.

Zhysa had left the house a few times – mostly just to claim Arisu parents and brother – and give them a funeral they deserved. She cremated the bodies and buried the ashes under a willow tree on the outskirts of Velaris. She also told Arisu about the spot she had buried them and Arisu had wanted to see them a few times.