On Thin Ice: Azriel x OC

Chapter 22

Nova planned on meeting Cassian at the House of Wind for a morning training session, as it was early enough for him to not yet have left for the day. She walked through town, to the bottom of the mountain the House of Wind was built into, before winnowing up to the training ring at the top, looking around to find it completely empty.

She debated her options for a few moments, either explore from there or winnow down to the top of the almost endless stairs. Other than for training, she'd only been inside the House a handful of times, all those times being led by a winged warrior.

When she has been alone, she only ever winnowed to the training ring, she had no purpose to be further inside the House, anything she could possibly need has been at the townhouse.

Nova figured she would easily remember the directions they went, rooms they passed and ones she's been into.

So, she ended up deciding to winnow to the top of the stairs, likely having a higher chance of finding Cassian quicker, and said a small prayer to help her not get lost during her journey.

She looked behind her, to the closed door that leads to the insanity of stairs. They reminded her of the hundreds of flights in the Winter Court palace.

As kids in Winter Court, the normal high fae training started with cardio, pretty much just running up as many flights of stairs as they physically could, building strength and endurance. The guards stationed around the palace would add a challenge, sending sheets of ice along random stairs, so thin that there was no way to tell the icy stairs from the regular ones.

The trainees would then have to complete their training sessions, having to attempt to avoid the patches of ice that would send them sliding back down the entire flight. Nova could've sworn the guards took bets of which trainee would make it the farthest.

It was amusing as she moved up in the ranks, no longer completing that portion of training herself, she always watched the following trainees complete that feat. Occasionally she would add some ice herself, carefully chosen to the spots she knew would be the hardest to guess it was there.

Right outside the door at the top of the stairs, she looked into the first of many large sitting areas in the House. Nova realized that even though she had successfully made it there, she didn't know what she would do if she didn't find Cassian on her initial walk-through.

There were too many rooms, she wouldn't go around knocking on each door just to find him, but she reminded herself that it was a hypothetical situation, worst case he wouldn't be there and she could just winnow down to take a walk through town or something.

She started her search, walking through that first room to a hallway, two doors on each side of her, three of them closed. The only open one led into a study, with a desk area underneath the window, bookshelves lining the entire far wall, a couch and two cushioned chairs arranged in the center of the room.

She continued, surprised to find the House completely silent, the only noises were her footsteps reverberating against the walls.

That hallway led into a large sitting room, this one was where they hosted the Dawn Court spies a few weeks ago.

She halted, remembering that night, the way Dion looked at her. His eyes conveyed that he would've been more amused at her death. As if her life continues to be just another obstacle in his.

Her life, thinking about her surviving the last six years, led to the harsh realization that people kept going, without her. To her knowledge, no one was heartbroken or distraught at her disappearance.

Not even a definite death, she reminded herself, people had to have known that she was still alive, or her body would've been buried and she hoped people would have the decency to designate her a grave.