i n t h e s h a d o w s - a z r i e l (slow updates)

Chapter 2

When she finished her bath she did as Feyre asked. She joined her in the living room where everyone was except for Cassian and Azriel. When she entered the room, everyone turned around. Mor smiled at her but Rhysand didn't. He seemed confused. She looked at him for a moment and felt weird then turned to look at Feyre but she didn't seem to notice.

"Are you hungry?" Mor asked but Eileánóir shook her head. She couldn't eat something without throwing it up minutes after.

Everybody turned at the front door when it opened to reveal the two Illyrians. Her eyes immediately locked with Azriel's. She felt something weird like a piece of her which was missing suddenly appeared in her. She looked away as Mor was looking between Eileánóir and Azriel. Something was up with these two, she didn't know what, but there was obviously something. Perhaps something that happened at the Autumn Court, she didn't know but she'll ask Feyre.

Azriel was still looking at Eileánóir even if she had looked away. He imagined his fingers running in her long and curly red hair, caressing her lips with his, drowning in the sea of green that was her eyes. He couldn't get her eyes off her. He hadn't told Cassian why he'd reacted like that when he had looked at Eileánóir in the eyes. Cass' just think he must feel bad because of what happened to the girl. Trapped in darkness, he knows what that feels like.

He finally looked away when Rhysand told everyone that tomorrow, they'll be visiting the Day Court to talk about the war to Helion, the High Lord of the Day Court. He winced at the idea, he wouldn't want to hear about a foursome with him, Cass', Mor and Helion when there was Eileánóir in the same room. Or maybe Helion would want to replace Cass' and Mor with Eileánóir... That could be interesting... He blinked to wash off the images that he had in the head and looked at his High Lord. "What time do we leave?" Rhys looked at him then at Eileánóir then back at the spymaster. He had understood. He must have looked in Eileánóir's mind or his.

"We leave at eight, be ready," he said then left with Cassian to fly a bit outside.

Feyre and Mor immediately went to Eileánóir. The woman that he thought he had loved for a long, long time looked at him. "We're going to show Velaris to Eileánóir, wanna come ?" He looked at the red-headed girl for a moment then looked back at Mor.

"Sure," was all he said before heading to the front door. He couldn't stay away from her but he couldn't make it obvious. He wouldn't want Mor, Feyre or Cassian to know about them. Even in his thoughts, he couldn't say the word, scared of the consequences. She doesn't have to accept it so he didn't want to believe anything, he didn't want his heart to be more broken that it's already.

As they all walked to the Rainbow, he allowed himself to observe Eileánóir. He saw her eyes when she looked at the artists and the paintings in the streets. She loves to paint like Feyre. He smiled at the thought. A flash came into his head, Eileánóir covered in paint in front of a canvas, smiling. He couldn't see what she was painting but he could swear on his life that it was beautiful. He kept that image in a corner of his head and followed the girls to an artist's workshop which is open to visitors. The paintings were beautiful but the only thing he could stare at was the human girl. So fragile and yet... He sensed that she had a hidden power. An inner power. She looked at all the paintings then talked to the artist. She was all smiles and happiness even with what happened to her. How could she do that? Perhaps that was what paint does to her. He approached to hear the conversation. They were talking about colors he didn't know. Complex color names that he surely couldn't recognize if she'd showed them to him. He wondered if it was her only passion.

He was lost in his thoughts when Eileánóir picked a brush and looked at a blank canvas. She brushed her fingers on the canvas savoring the texture under her fingertips. It's been so long she had almost forgot what that felt like. The brush in her hand, looking at the canvas and imagine what will be on it. It had always been difficult to have the image of what she wanted to paint in her head. She had the technique but not the talent to recreate the images she had in the mind. The world around her didn't inspire her but now that she was in Pythian... She wanted to paint so bad but with everyone around her, she couldn't. Even if the artist had told her to use this canvas to show her how she painted, she couldn't do it. She was so scared she had lost everything in that cell. She didn't realize she was doing an anxiety attack until Feyre took her in her arms to try to calm her. It had always been her who calmed her when she was doing an attack but after what she's been through the past month, it was not enough. She used all her energy to get out of the workshop to get some air but that wasn't enough either. She was getting worse until she felt arms lift her.

Azriel didn't give her the time to react and lift them high in the sky. He knew she needed air. A long time ago, he'd had these attacks, being in the sky helped him. He felt her tense in his arms so he looked down at her. "Hey, look at me," he said. "Do the same as me." He began to slowly take deep breaths to show her how to do it. She copied him and finally she began to breathe normally. He looked around him to see where they were and spot the place he always went when he wants to be alone so he took her there. It was behind a mountain. Nobody goes there because they think there's nothing on the lands but they're wrong. The first time he came there it was because Cass' had pushed too hard on him. He had wanted to know what had happened to his friend so bad that he hadn't seen that Az' didn't want to tell him. So he had flown for hours until he went behind that mountain. There, he had found an uninhabited cottage surrounded by fields of sunflowers. He had found that so special he instantly fell in love. He hadn't talked about this place to anyone but he felt like he had to bring her here and when he looked down at her he was glad he did it.

Her eyes were full of amazement. She had never seen something that beautiful. These sunflowers were even more beautiful at night. She kept that image in mind to paint it someday and she turned to the cottage. It was like she was in a fairy tale. Well maybe she was in one as she was with Fae but this cottage was exactly what she had imagined to be when she'd read about faeries. It was not big but not too small either. Perfect for a couple, she thought. It had what looked like a straw roof, a lot of windows, brick walls, and a little chimney. She finally turned to Azriel. "Where are we?" He seemed uncomfortable as he turned to look at her.

"It's a place I go when I want to stay alone. Nobody knows about this place, nobody comes," he said, looking at her. He realized now that it was a dumb idea. What are they going to do now? They were alone and they knew nothing of each other.

"Well maybe we can try to," she said. "Know each other, I mean." He blinked. She had heard his thoughts and she didn't seem to feel weird about it. Perhaps she thought he'd said that out loud, or maybe he did say that out loud, he didn't know, he didn't care. She looked at the cottage then at him, "is it yours?" A flash came to his mind. Both of them were in the cottage, they seemed to live in it. He was sitting on the sofa and Eileánóir was laying on it, her legs on his laps. He was stroking her legs, lost in his thoughts while looking at her and the young woman was reading a book, her hair was up in a messy bun but locks of hair were getting down. He realized he was still lost in this flash when she said his name. It was such a wonderful sound in her mouth, he didn't want anybody to call him by his name anymore but her. "Azriel?" He finally blinked and looked at the cottage not to think about the girl next to him.

"Nobody lives here and I found it so yeah, I guess it's mine."

He turned to face her and offered a hand to come with him. She smiled and took it then followed him inside with the prospect of getting to know each other better.

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I'll end the chapter here so I can keep their conversation for the next chapter :)

What do you think of this one?

The picture is the cottage. I literally typed "fairytale cottage" on google and... wow I want these cottages... This one was what I think most match the description so I picked it :)

If you want to know what I listen to while I'm writing this story, I listen to every song of Victoria Carbol, go see her Youtube channel, her voice is just amazing!