A Court of Lightning and Shadows

Twenty-one

He entered the kitchen.

"Hello." Feyre said, giving him a kind smile. Azriel gave her a small smile back as he sat down.

"Where did you leave Briar?" Mor asked.

"She's sleeping." he answered while grabbing some food from the table.

"She needs it. The poor girl looked like she had just died yesterday." Feyre said. She indeed had looked very bad. Rhys had told them it was because of her powers, they took away her energy.

"So... since Briar didn't answer my question, what is going on between you two." Azriel almost choked on his eggs.

He looked at Feyre. He expected her to know about the bond, but it looked like Rhys had kept his mouth shut.

It looked like she could read his mind, maybe she had. "Rhys didn't tell me about anything that happened between the two of you, but I suspect it."

Mor looked between the two of them, not aware of what they were talking about.

"Am I getting my answer?" she asked. Nyx still sat on her lap, refusing to open his mouth.

"She's my mate." he said. Azriel knew they would both find out eventually. Briar would probably accidentally tell them. Not that he cared about them knowing, it only made things easier for them.

Mor's mouth fell open while Feyre smiled brightly, "I'm happy for you, Az. And for Briar." Feyre said, Mor still searching for the right words.

"That is amazing." Mor said, "Does that mean Briar is part of the family?" she asked.

"I mean, she technically already was..." Feyre mumbled, earning a glare from Mor, "We aren't sure." she said.

"I think she would like to be part of a family." Azriel said. Briar's past had been painful, especially her past with her family.

"Did she accept the bond?" Feyre asked.

Azriel shook his head.

"Who knows about it?" Mor asked, a grin on her face.

"Rhys, Cass and you two." he said, "I suppose Nesta knows, since Cassian can't keep his mouth shut."

They both laughed at that.

Mor went back to trying to feed Nyx. Feyre had apparently tried to feed him for thirty minutes, until she gave up.

"This isn't working." Mor held up Nyx, walking over to Azriel and placed the small boy on his lap, "You try it." he heard Feyre snort next to him.

His shadows started becoming curious and curled gently around Nyx's body. Nyx started trying to catch them, his hands in the air. He even started giggling after he had been grumpy all morning.

"Told you it would work." Mor said proudly.

Azriel grabbed Nyx's plate and tried putting the food in his mouth. Luckily, he opened it as he continued to play with the shadows.

——
Briar POV

Briar woke up to an empty room. She looked around it, a bit lost. Her eyes fell on the small clock above the door.

Briar's eyes widened, it was already around lunch time.

She threw the sheets off the bed and ran out of the room, opening the door opposite of the one she came out of.

She had slept half the day away. And now she would be late for her training with Rhys.

Briar quickly pulled open her closet. She found a new piece of clothing in it; leather training pants.

She changed and walked down the stairs. When she rounded the corner, she walked into Mor.

"Sorry." she quickly said.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Mor asked, a grin on her face.

"I slept for way too long, and I have training with Rhys." she walked past Mor.

"Rhys will be gone for two more hours, take your time."

Briar sighed, "Where's Feyre?"

"Out, with Nyx. She said she was visiting Nesta."

Briar nodded as she turned to walk to the kitchen.

"Azriel is in Rhys's study, he's doing some paperwork." she said, "If you were wondering."

Mor disappeared before she could give her a glare.

Now that she stood in the kitchen, she wasn't hungry anymore. She was still full from her dinner from the night before, and felt like she would throw up anything she would eat.

Briar placed her hands on the kitchen counter and sighed.

She enjoyed training yesterday, but it had made her feel incredibly tired. She had never felt so drained in her life.

She just hoped she wouldn't fall apart after a few weeks of training.

"You're finally awake." she turned around and found Azriel leaning against the door, a soft smile on his face.

"Why didn't you just wake me?"

"Because you needed it. I'm surprised by how deep you sleep."

Never in her life had she slept so deep. Back at her old home, she never slept deep, or she wouldn't sleep at all.

Her own movements would wake her. She would always be awake before her father and brother, trying to avoid them. Sleeping deep was uncommon for her.

"I normally am a very light sleeper." she said, "I guess I felt safe."

Azriel's smile turned brighter.

"What kind of paperwork do you do for Rhys?" Briar asked, pushing herself away from the kitchen counter.

"Everything he doesn't want to do." Briar snorted, "It is actually really boring."

"I could help you?" Briar asked.

"I don't think you want to fall asleep again from being bored." he said.

She crossed her arms, "I need to wait until Rhys gets back. It's not like I have anything better to do."

"Okay. But not until you've eaten something." Azriel pointed a finger at her. Briar rolled her eyes.

"You're going to pass out while training if you don't eat." he said.

"I'm not hungry."

"I don't care." Azriel stared at her. She stared back.

Briar sighed as she looked away, muttering a small okay.

"I will be waiting for you." he said as he walked away.

So, she started making herself breakfast. Or lunch.

——

Briar found Azriel sitting behind Rhys's desk, a pen in his hand. His eyes were focusing on one of the papers.

He didn't notice Briar entering.

She had never seen Azriel look so focused, it actually looked a bit weird.

Briar sat down on the chair opposite of Azriel's and grabbed the paper he was reading.

His head shot up, "I was reading."

Briar looked at the paper. She didn't understand a single word.

"These words are... very hard to read." she said, knitting her brows together.

Azriel snatched the paper back, "And very boring."

Briar let out a silent laugh.

"Here," he shoved a few papers to her, "These just need to be signed at the bottom."

"Shouldn't I first know why to sign them? What if I sign something I'm not supposed to sign." she said.

"I already read them, they only need to be signed."

They both started working in silence.