A Court of Golden Shadow || Elain x Azriel

Chapter 41 - Firedrake

"A priestess's intuition that the Cauldron can be summoned does not make it a guarantee." He replied sharply, his stress and agony beginning to swell in his throat. "It's not an item of the trove or a Made object."

"You're right... the Cauldron..." She shook her head, her eyes clouding over. "it's not a trove... it's as if the universe is contained within it— everything good, everything evil, and terrible and catastrophic, the time before and the time beyond—all the written days... all of it is in the Cauldron. It is petulant and ancient. I don't know why it would answer to me." Elain mused as Azriel nodded, feeling relieved that she was beginning to see sense before she flashed her eyes toward him, her mouth setting into a hard line. "But nevertheless, I want to try."

"And risk Prythian's safety in exchange for a human woman?" Azriel scoffed, his voice hysterical. "Ridiculous."

"But all we need to do is go. We've been to the lake before for mother's sake!" Elain said, coming close with the teas and placing them on the coffee table.

"I won't risk it. I won't risk you." Rising up from his elbows, Azriel crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, his wings draped over the back rim, brushing the carpeted floor. "Not for a thousand human women. Not for all of Prythian."

"Well.. THAT'S ridiculous." Elain scoffed, shaking her head and running her fingers through her curls, dropping into the matching chair next to Azriel. "He needs us."

"It's a trap. To get to you." Azriel argued back, his face beginning to become as white as the exhausted lordling across the room. "Remember the river? Your vision? Koschei, looking you directly in the eye, calling to you— 'the most beautiful female I've laid eyes on in my twenty thousand years'" he mock-quoted the words, his emotions spilling from him, unabated and fierce.

"Well, we already knew he was aware of me." Elain shook her head, reaching for the teacup as her eyes turned to Azriel's, dark and pleading. "I need to do this. I need to help him."

"No."

"I know you fear something happening to me. But we can do this: together. The earliest sign of danger... you can winnow me out. If it seems hopeless... we will leave. All I need to do is summon the Cauldron. The proximity could give you a chance to destroy Koschei."

"A Death God? You think I can kill a death God? Elain..." Azriel shook his head, his tone sorrowful.

"Didn't the King of Hybern kill the Weaver? Did he not behead her? Are you not more powerful than him?" She crossed her arms, the challenge crackling across the room in tandem with the sparkling fire.

Jutting out his jaw, Azriel just shook his head, unwilling to answer.

Frustrated, Elain shook her head. "I need to help him!" Her hand paused before the teacup, rising instead from her seat, she threw her hands out, exasperation clouding her sweet face.

He felt a burn of anger searing through his body. It was as if his happiness had arrived, steady and homey, his entire future laid out before him here in Velaris until that godsdamned knock at the front door. Lucien. Always interfering—always making his life difficult.

"You need to help him? Or do you just feel guilty that he saved my life?" The angry words spat out of Azriel involuntarily, the desperation to keep her close and safe—swallowing him whole, pushing out any sense of logic.

Elain paused, clearly stung by his words, but she merely quieted her voice, clasping her hands in front of her skirts. "Well, no. But even if we didn't owe him, it's the right thing to do." She leaned down then, resting her hand on his chin, holding his gaze to hers as she whispered her words. "And I think you know that. You're a good male Azriel. You're not a villain. I know you know what is right."