Before I start this chapter, I wanted to say some things, first being that the song above is my life and second, IMAGINE AZRIEL IN A TUX I CAN'T-
Azriel's POV
Azriel flew up to the House of the Wind, going to get ready, trying not to think about Gwyn. The mating ceremony was in a grand ballroom in the heart of Velaris and Rhys's promise to Nesta of it being the most magnificent ceremony ever was certainly fulfilled.
He had overseen the preparations and even he had been shocked at how much Rhys had spent. There had been expensive decorations everywhere. The hall was massive, with an aisle decorated with black rose petals in the middle, and about two hundred fancy chairs on each side. The stage where Cassian and Nesta would make their vows had been decorated with all sorts of flowers, from lilac tulips to white roses and even gold hyacinths. And the amount of food. He wasn't even going to think about that.
Azriel landed smoothly on the balcony of the House of the Wind. He crossed the living room and started to go down the hallway that would lead to his room before he realized what he was hearing.
Jogging backwards, he peeked in Cassian's room and saw him putting something on his hair and singing. Azriel tried to hold back his laughter at Cassian's delightful singing, but that just resulted in his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
"You know I can see you, you bastard." Cassian said, brushing his hair and looking at Azriel in the mirror. A loud snort slipped from him and Cassian burst out laughing.
Grinning, Azriel opened the door of Cassian's room completely, meaning to walk in, when the smell of sex hit him and made him stop in the doorway.
His face scrunched and he waved a hand in front of his nose disgustedly, "What the hell have you been doing in here?!"
Cassian threw the brush at his face which his hand snapped up to grab centimeters from his cheek. Throwing it on the bed, he walked in, nose wrinkled, and slapped his brother on the back.
"Congratulations." He said genuinely, still trying not to laugh, and Cassian threw him a grin, turning back to the mirror and starting on his hair again.
Then as Azriel started to walk out of the room, he met Cassian's eyes in the mirror again. "Thank you, Az." Cassian said to him, humming again, and Azriel sent one of his shadows to mess up Cassian's hair before he walked out of the door.
"Hey!" Cassian's shout echoed at him down the hallway and he quietly chuckled to himself. But his hushed laughter soon disappeared as the memory of Gwyn shivering against him suddenly rose up in his mind. He quickly walked into his room and shut the door, leaning against it and sighing.
He did not know why he had offered to close Gwyn's dress's zipper for her. He knew how uncomfortable she was around men and she had practically rejected him a few hours earlier.
Azriel locked the door to his room, pulling off his shirt and taking off his boots. He wanted nothing more than a warm bath right now. The silence hadn't made him feel at ease since quite a while now.
Azriel padded into the bathroom barefoot and turned on the faucet, standing in front of the mirror while he waited for the bath to fill up. He looked at the shadows beneath his puffy eyes, his rumpled hair which he hadn't bothered to brush in a while, and the tired look in his eyes.
The he slipped out of his jeans and slowly settled into the hot water, feeling his muscles relax. He stayed in there for a while, with nothing but his overbearing thoughts and shadows for company.
********
"Hurry up Az! I don't wanna be late to my own mating ceremony." Cassian barked outside his door, constantly turning and jiggling the door knob in attempts to get the door open.
"You go, I'll join you within a minute." Azriel told Cassian, pulling on a pair of black jeans hurriedly. He had spent way too much time just lying in the bath, and he had only realized that when the water had gone cold. Then he had quickly washed himself and as soon as he had walked out with nothing but a towel wrapped around him, Cassian's banging on his door had started.
Now he put on the white collared shirt, leaving it unbuttoned, and put on his black shoes.
"Azriel!" Cassian snapped, his rapping consistent. "At least open the damned door."
Azriel went to stand in front of the mirror and quickly finger combed his hair, trying to style them into spikes.
"I'm breaking down this door in three.. two.." Azriel groaned, and rushed to the door, wrenching it open.
As soon as it opened, Cassian grabbed Azriel's arm and pulled him out of his room.
"At least let me get my coat!" He said to Cassian irritatedly, and Cassian glared at him.
"I'll get it." He said, pointing towards the balcony. "You go."
Azriel rolled his eyes, quickly buttoning his shirt as he walked to the balcony. Cassian came running out of his room then, threw Azriel's tie over his head and and shot up into the air with the coat still in his hands.
Azriel groaned again, and leaped into the air behind him, putting on his tie and tucking in his shirt simultaneously. Then he raced to Cassian and snatched the coat out of his hands. Cassian grinned at him, stopping without warning and dropping downwards, whooping.
Azriel rolled his eyes, and not being able to help his small smile, sped after Cassian.
They both landed smoothly at the door of the marquee, and as soon as they did, a black carriage arrived behind them. Cassian looked towards it eagerly as Feyre got out, wearing a fancy crown and dark blue dress.
As Cassian started to walk towards the carriage excitedly, Feyre blocked his way. "Nuh uh. You don't get to see her until after the ceremony begins."
Cassian looked at her ridiculously, his eyes darting back and forth to the carriage's dark windows and back at Feyre's face. Rhys got out of the car then, Nyx in his arms, and shook his head wistfully when he saw Cassian giving him a pleading glance. "High Lady's orders." Rhys told him, and Feyre winked at Rhys, grinning.
Then she grabbed Cassian's arm with one hand, slipped the other through Azriel's, and holding them both, walked into the hall.
There were about fifty people in the banqueting hall already, and Azriel's eyes scanned the whole place searching for anything amiss. His shadows assured him everything was in place and ready to go.
Before the guests noticed their arrival, Feyre turned left and walked into the men's room. There was no one else there thankfully, and as soon as the door closed behind them she looked towards Cassian and blurt out, "What the actual hell did you do with your hair."
She walked up to him and took his hair out of his bun as Cassian tried to jump out of her reach. Shaking his head with a bare smile on his face, Azriel walked out of the room to escort the ladies in.
It was time to face Gwyn again.
*******
Azriel stood on the stage beside Cassian, hands behind his back. The guests were all seated and about six Priestesses had decided to join them. Rhys had brought them all to the ceremony, though a few had cancelled when they had realized Rhys would have to fly them before they could be winnowed. But Azriel admired those who had actually left the library and decided to attend the ceremony.
The music began playing then, and Cassian stood up, his hands clenched together. Azriel's lips tilted upwards slightly when he saw Cassian fidgeting nervously.
Just then the lights dimmed and Rhys and Feyre appeared in the doorway, Nyx dressed in a tiny tux and in Feyre's arm. Her other arm was hooked through Rhys's, and as the spotlight shone on them, the crowd stood as one to pay their respects to their High Lord and High Lady.
They walked down the aisle first, and when they were almost to the stage, Mor and Elain appeared with bouquets in their hands. Azriel's heart beat painfully against his chest when he saw Elain's eyes look towards him as soon as he came into her view.
He, however, made his eyes cold and met hers. Her hopeful eyes cast downwards when she saw his unwelcome face, hurt, and Azriel felt as if his heart was cracking inside his chest. He took a deep breath to steady himself, and as they reached the end of the aisle, Elain turned to the right with Mor instead of coming to stand by Azriel at the left, as was planned.
He swallowed, trying to keep his shadows from swirling around him angrily, when Gwyn and Emerie appeared in the door of the hallway. Even though he had already seen Gwyn in her dress at the house earlier, the breath was still knocked from him as he saw her styled red hair contrast with her black gown and her colored lips stretching up into a hesitant smile.
She and Emerie walked down the aisle, Azriel's eyes trained on her, when Gwyn's smile faltered slightly.
He looked around and noticed the many males looking at her from the standing crowd, and his eyes darted towards her anxiously to find her already looking at him. He dipped his chin slightly in encouragement and she smiled, her cheeks reddening. She looked down, breaking eye contact, and Azriel's shadows started swirling around him again, this time in excitement.
Ignoring them, he straightened his tie as Emerie turned to the right and went to stand by Mor and Elain and Gwyn turned left, coming to stand next to him. She walked, bouquet of roses still in her hands, and exhaled a relieved breath when she reached him.
He pretended not to notice the necklace she was wearing.
"How did I do?" She whisper-asked him as Nesta appeared in the doorway.
"You did fantastic." He murmured back as the crowd turned as one to look at Nesta shining in her bright silver dress. He pretended not to notice the slight change in his heart at the beam that lit Gwyn's face.
He heard Cassian's heart start racing as he saw Nesta standing there in her regal gown, a secret smile on her face. She started walking forward slowly, white flowers in her hands, veil stretching out behind her.
But her pace quickened when she saw Cassian standing there, and as she reached the end of the aisle, Cassian reached out his hand.
Nesta stretched out her arm, and as their fingers touched, Nesta let out a laugh, tears rolling down her cheeks. The crowd started cheering, and as the music loudened, flowers were thrown into the air.
Gwyn clapped beside Azriel, a happy laugh escaping her lips, and Mor and Feyre whooped from the opposite side. Even Azriel couldn't help his smile when Cassian kissed Nesta's hand and pulled her onto the stage so that they stood face to face.
As their vows began, Gwyn's fingers brushed his arm. He looked towards her questioningly and she quietly asked him, murmuring under her breath. "Is that fog also an effect?" She pointed towards the entrance and Azriel frowned. He didn't know about any additional effects.
His shadow darted out to check it out and his frown deepened when it did not come back after a few seconds. This had never happened before. His shadows always reported to him.
He touched Gwyn's arm as if to say Stay here and got off the stage from the side, trying not to disrupt the ceremony.
Cassian and Nesta were too absorbed to notice him but Rhys raised an eyebrow in question as he saw Azriel walking towards the entrance. Azriel raised his hand in signal to wait and went to check out the dark mist that was now seeping in from all directions.
As the fog flowed around his feet, he felt such a dizzying sensation that he stumbled back, crashing against an empty chair.
His wide, alarmed eyes met Rhys's across the hall and he opened his mouth to warn him.
But then he heard the screams.
Word Count: 2242
I've wanted to post this song ever since I started my story and I planned to later on, Azriel singing this to Gwyn, but like, I have no patience and even though it doesn't really match the chapter, THE DEEP, ROUGH VOICE of the singer its AZRIEL DEF AZRIEL and you cannot tell me otherwise :)
Anyways I'm sorry for the late update. I've been so busy with school work and I was too busy watching the new TV show, Shadow and Bone lmao. I loved it so much like Kanej was-
Thank you guys so much for all the support you have been giving me! I have hit 8K views, a feat which had always seemed impossible to me. But you guys have made it true. The story's coming along! And I promise not to talk so much in the next chapter lol.
Thank you guys for reading! Don't forget to vote and comment!
-BookAddict79