A Court of Fate and Failure | Azriel

2: Know and Keep

Morrigan still didn't seem to like her much. 

When Naoise exited the office a step behind Rhysand, letting her gaze truly take in what looked to be their home and its worn-in couches, the blonde fae sent her a sharp look of reprimand before leaving the room. Naoise remained neutral, but could not hide a small, amused sniff. But most of all, her chest tightened and an ache spread through every muscle. 

Being near Rhysand only seemed to make the insistence of darkness more palpable. It was mounting to tear her apart, as it did much too often in recent years. But she did not want to pose herself as a threat, not so soon after barging in and miraculously gaining the hesitant trust of such a fae and such a court as this one. Shoving herself into a place within this world and these people hidden from the common eye for an image that had protected them for centuries.

Rhysand stopped at the edge of the room and turned to face her. "Do you have somewhere to stay?" he asked. When she hesitated too long and the leather wings upon her back shifted yet again, he tossed her an easy grin. "Then stay here, in Velaris."

Naoise glanced about at the homely state of the cushions on the couch and the scattered dishes in the kitchen, seeing truly for the first time what a home was meant to look like and that this was his, theirs, the inner circle of the Night Court's. Her hands tightened behind her back. "I have... never stayed in one place for long. Much less in anything like this," she admitted.

"Then let this be the first," he pushed. "You're not expected to stay put at all times, but I would just like to know that you have somewhere to return to. It is the least I can do for all you have offered."

Her lip twitched infinitesimally. "Bargained, actually."

"Bargained. Right." He grinned for a moment longer and she made a conscious effort not to show how she felt his emotion rise and fall like a rampant wave in an unpredictable ocean. Suspicion had yet to fade from the current of those waters.

"And where, do you propose, I would stay?"

He gestured with an arm as tanned as her own and swirling in similar dark markings to the space surrounding them. "Here, of course. In this townhouse with myself, and my inner circle."

"I know who they are; why would they let me stay? And why are you offering?"

"There are few I truly trust in this world, and you are offering to stand by my side in protecting not only them but the entirety of my Court. I have no reason to believe you will do anything beyond what you've promised, and so this is the very least I can do in return. Besides, this very well may be the most dangerous place for anyone to be, if they find themselves our enemy."

This time, despite the tightening in her heart and the darkness that once more found its way to blanketing his feet, Naoise truly did crack a smile. "I never believed otherwise. And thank you."

Some part of her hated it all, nonetheless.

Rhysand only waved her off and began the tour of their home of wood and warmth. The home she now apparently resided within. But it would never be what she deserved, and thus never as much as a home to her, the stranger, as it was to them, the family.

They stood on the rooftop with its small garden overlooking the street below and the glimmering light of Velaris in the night when it began. A tugging, deep within her chest, startling the unforgiving mass of darkness now shining ominously within its cage, and the siphon she needed above all the others. Naoise stumbled as a wave of pain and dizziness washed over her, pursing her lips against the strangled groan that sat in her throat. The barest whine escaped and when Rhysand paused, turning to look her way, her wings flared wide in the dark before she could so much as stop them. He eyed her for a few, long moments, seeing the cracks in her walls despite her every attempt to stand straighter and hide the way it now became laborious to breath, and even harder to force a cry of pain into silence.