A Court of Shadows and Chaos (Azriel fanfic)

Chapter 14

Azriel's pov

Morana Alarie was my mate, and she was dead. I had only silence in my head. Only silence since those words had become my harsh reality. Until a few moments ago there was a void in my chest, my soul at the absence of that bond, that life. I hadn't felt at ease or safe in a long time. All I felt was grief, pain and anger. Anger towards the world, towards her. I was mad at her for leaving, for dying. I didn't even know her...yet it felt like I had died every day without her.

I thought I might be breaking, thought my chest might be cleaved in two if this was some cruel joke spun by fate. But then I felt it. The faint and soft unbreakable string, like an undimmable ray of light that lay between us. A saga of light and shadow, our bond. She stood there with her long, black hair, each strand an obsidian ribbon that captured the essence of the cosmos, cascading like a waterfall of midnight. Her eyes, like precious gemstones plucked from the heart of a hidden forest, held a depth that echoed the ancient wisdom of emerald realms. Numerous earrings rested on each ear, as though someone had plucked the stars and turned them into jewels. In a world adorned with myriad shades, she stood as the embodiment of timeless allure, a living masterpiece painted with the brushstrokes of celestial artistry. My mate, my beautiful mate. She was there, breathing and alive.

She regarded all of them with a predatory stillness I had seen Amren do numerous times. Then she removed her cloak, revealing the scars that adorned her wrists and throat. The sight made my throat tighten even as rage infused my veins. As the fabric cascaded to the ground, I couldn't tear my eyes away. Her wrists lay with still-healing wounds where shackles had unmistakably been. A ring of scars around her neck courtesy of god knows what. Red exploded in my vision, and I couldn't breathe fast enough, couldn't think above the roar in my head. They would burn. All of them. All of those miserable lowlifes for touching her. I would kill them all, completely destroy them for laying a hand on her.

"Oh gods," Feyre breathed.

Lanthys's skin drained of colour. "It is not possible." He looked at Morana, at the scars covering the expanse of her porcelain skin, and his eyes widened again. "I heard about you down there. The girl who got a taste for blood while licking her own wounds." He shuddered. "Morana Alarie."

Morana tilted her head, "I see my reputation precedes me."

Lanthys laughed, "Oh you have no idea. Now, where has a pretty thing like you been to obtain such ugly scars?"

"Making cupcakes in unicorn land." Morana's lip pulled back from her teeth. "Where do you think?"

He grinned, showing teeth slightly too long. "I think my sons had a little too much fun with their new toy."

Primal anger sharpened in my gut, brimming with a territorial, possessive need. Lanthys was going to die. Along with his fucking sons. I didn't fucking care if I did not have a Made weapon I was going tear his tongue out and rip open his chest. My shadows urged me to get up, tugging at my ankles and wrists. Urged me to get her away from here, from them.

Suddenly, Morana ran like hell and the Valg princes followed, their darkness lashing out. Yet Morana deflected each attempt with lethal grace. She rounded off for something that lay there in the dirt. She dodged a blow that would have hit her square in the jaw and grabbed something from the dirt.

She hadn't just ran to save herself. She'd gone after Truth-Teller. Good girl. The obsidian-hilted hunting knife glinted in her arms as she twirled the blade. Something primal flared in my chest to see Truth-Teller in her hand. I hadn't liked anyone touching it, but in her hands...it looked right. It looked like mine.

And then they attacked. All three of those monsters. Towards her. Yet she didn't balk, did not waver. Morana only smirked at them and the blood bath began.