A Court Of Cursed Power

Chapter 1

The fire. It had burned within him for hundreds of years. Like ice, it coursed through his veins. Unstoppable, immovable. Azriel drew himself from his thoughts, and looked forwards to the person he was talking to. Feyre's sister, Elain. He pitied her, for she had been thrust into horrors beyond her beliefs, from surviving the war to being forcefully made into High Fae. He wasn't sure what her power was, for she was unlike Nesta and Feyre, her sisters. Nesta, with the flames of the cauldron fueling her every step, and Feyre, made from every court, and belonging to Rhys only. He looked over at where Feyre was sitting with Rhys and Nyx, their son. The kid was jumping around, and trying to fly with his wings. Azriel knew it was only a matter of time before he was sent to the Illyrian camps, and became a fearsome warrior. Feyre had already done a scrying of sorts, and saw that Nyx's power was the same as her's, yet more powerful than she ever could have imagined. Azriel turned his attention to Elain, and saw her looking at him with a patient expression. Impossible. His gaze was almost impossible to detect, yet Elain had seen him looking away without surprise. He was slipping up.

"Your eyes wander like that a lot Azriel." She said, her voice like the spray of cherry blossoms through the spring, like the summer breeze that calmed you in the midst of a hot day. Azriel allowed himself to smile before looking Elain straight in the eye.

"How did you know?" He asked.

"Know what Azriel?" She asked with a shy smile.

"That I was looking away." He said. Elain down at herself before looking at him and saying:

"Well, I've never done it before with anyone else. I can just feel where you are looking. And how you are feeling. Drop the mask Azriel. We are all messes inside. It's just... Just.." She looked away again, and Azriel felt his stomach rise. Someone else who felt what he felt? Even Rhys, or Mor, had never seen this side of him, or ever commented on it. '

"Azriel, me and you are just the best at hiding it." Elain finished before looking away. Azriel looked at her in shock, utterly blown away. In his whole life, he had never met anyone who could tell what he was feeling as well as Elain had just then. Even Mor, in all her grace, had never. Azriel looked at Elain, and looked further than he ever had before. She had her head straight, her long brown hair falling in curls behind her back. Her green dress swept to the floor, and her earrings were beautiful small, blue birds. He felt something he had never felt before, not in his father's keep, where he was thrown into a dark dungeon, the shadows whispered to him, and he learnt the language of shadow and stone, of the dark inside us and the eternal night. That was the moment he became a shadowsinger, able to talk to shadows, and a very rare ability. He whispered to those shadows that were rubbing against his ankle, and they disappeared. He looked at Elain and realised something. He was toeing a dangerous line. She was Lucian's mate, and he doubted the male would be pleased to note his possible advancements, of sorts. She smiled, and said:

"Hey, why are you looking at me like that, Azriel?" She asked, and Azriel quickly jerked himself back to reality.

"Oh I'm sorry, I was thinking about something else. Also, you do not have to be so formal. Call me Az." He said, and stood with a smooth movement.

"Az, won't you stay with me for a bit?" Elain said coyly, and Azriel instinctively went to decline, but caught his tongue at the last moment as he saw the look on Elain's face. Alright, i will stay for a few minutes, but after, I must leave." In fact, Azriel had nothing to do, but just wanted to avoid this conversation, as feelings were something that were secondary to him. Yet when he was around Elain, he always felt a tug, a pull, something he had never felt before. He didn't know where that put him.

Knee-deep in shit seemed to be fitting.

Azriel was about to sit, when he heard the telltale sound of a pair of Illyrian wings. He looked to the door, and Cassian, with Nesta in his arms, flew in through the door. Cassian laid Nesta straight again, who simply brushed herself before coming to give Elain a hug. She shot Azriel a half-glare-half-nod and walked to Feyre and Rhys.

"Nesta, how are you?" Rhys asked.

"Fine, thanks Rhys, how's Nyx?" Nesta replied, as Cassian slid next to Azriel.

"Hey Az, how's it going with Elain?" Cassian asked, and Azriel whipped his shed at Cassian incredulously, before looking back at Nesta and Feyre talking.

"You tell me, you brute. Finally got someone who wouldn't mind you gazing at your own abs in the mirror for an hour before you go somewhere?" Azriel asked. Cassian guffawed, and clapped Azriel on his back.

"Unlucky that she's Lucien Vanserra's mate. She hates him anyways, him and Tamlin." Cassian said, and he too looked over to Nesta playing with young Nyx, his little black wings trailing behind him.

"Az, there's something I need you to check out. Bryaxis. We need to find her and put her back into the library. She is too dangerous by herself." Cassian said. Azriel started to think...

Byraxis, the monster in the pit of the priestesses library. It made a bargain with Feyre to fight in the war, and disappeared after. Where could it have gone? It mentioned that it had a sibling trapped in the Prison. That could be a start.

"Alright, Cas, tell Elain that I have to attend to something, and tell Rhys and Feyre that I'm going to try and follow some leads." Ariel said, before strapping on his siphons. Siphones were jewels used by Illyrians to control their wild, untamed power, and shape it into something usable on a battle field, like a sword or shield. Most Illyrians needed one, and that was sometimes too much, but however, for Cassian and himself, they needed 7. They had more power than the purebreds, and were bastard born.

"What leads do you have, Az?" Cassian asked, but Azriel shook his head and melted into the shadows.