Summary: After 500 years spent searching for her, Azriel randomly stumbles upon his mate one day in the marketplace.
A/N: I finally got around to writing this ask by the lovely @ang-taylorsversion and I hope you like it! I really love how the beginning turned out, though I’m worried the ending might feel a bit rushed. I’ll proofread tomorrow… maybe…
Word count: 3851
Warnings: Smut is very briefly/vaguely touched upon
-
Azriel kept mostly to the shadows of an alley as his eyes tracked the bustling marketplace before him in search of a gift Mor wouldn’t return within the first week of the new year. Granted, there was still plenty of time to find something, what with Solstice being a little over three months away, but if the last 500 years had taught him anything at all, it was to start his search sooner rather than later to avoid desperate last-minute purchases that would only end up forgotten at the bottom of one of her drawers.
Every year he came here, and every year he saw himself faced with the fact that it got increasingly difficult to buy something for a person he’d already spent some 500 Solstices with. But he came here anyway, and when he did, he endured the crowds, and he kept to himself, because however much he loved this city—its people had never truly warmed to him.
Which was exactly the reason he failed to suppress a flinch when, out of nowhere, a voice tore him from his thoughts.
“Hello there!”
His head whipped around, and Azriel shot a bewildered glance at the faerie woman that had randomly appeared at his side, somehow utterly escaping his notice. He couldn’t recall the last time someone had willingly addressed him in public, let alone got close enough to even spot him. He was the Night Court’s spymaster. Technically… he’d been laying low just now.
He blinked, and she must’ve noticed the flash of surprise that had flitted across his features before he’d been able to school his face back into the carefully neutral expression he’d already perfected as a child.
She smiled, and Azriel’s eyes tracked the way her lips stretched as she did so. The skin by her eyes crinkled with amusement, and Azriel followed her hairline to spot the graceful tip of a pointed ear. She was… very beautiful.
He cleared his throat at the thought.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you—oh!” her words gave way to a delighted little laugh, and Azriel watched in horror as she lifted her hand to reveal his shadows winding their way around her wrist, threading through delicate fingers to curl up her arm.
He took a step back, calling his shadows with him as he went. “Forgive me,” he said, a little breathless with surprise. He couldn’t deny the heat that crawled up the back of his neck in embarrassment. “They don’t usually do that.”
“That’s okay.” She chuckled when a remaining, shadowy tendril brushed along her cheek as though in a gentle caress. Azriel flicked his wrist, and it disappeared. “They’re sweet.”
He blinked.
Sweet.
“They don’t usually are,” he said, doing his best at maintaining a neutral tone in the face of this faerie that hadn’t shied away at the touch of his shadows and somehow still looked at him like he was the sole centre of her attention.
She gave another beaming smile, and Azriel cleared his throat again.
“I’ll consider myself lucky then,” she said, and the way she kept her eyes on him—the curious gleam as they moved across his face as though to memorise every detail—it seemed almost… intimate.
Azriel’s eyes darted down at a stray shadow winding its way towards her foot, and he huffed as he took yet another step back. What was up with his shadows today?
“You’re Azriel, right?” she asked, and when he lifted his eyes back to the strange faerie, he had to force himself to keep his cool beneath her attentive gaze. “The spymaster?”
He tilted his head, and she elaborated. “I just—I don’t suppose there are that many shadow-wielding Illyrians walking around Velaris.”
At her words, a thought entered Azriel’s mind, and his eyes darted around the marketplace in search of anyone watching this encounter. Perhaps this was a trap of some sort. A distraction.
Perhaps she was to throw him off guard for unknown foes to attack.
“I’m Y/N,” she went on, seemingly accepting that she wouldn’t be getting an answer to her question any time soon. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just spotted you from that booth over there, and the bond snapped, and so I thought I’d come over and introduce myself before you vanished.”
Azriel noted a few people looking their way, though most were brief glances in passing and none of them really looked like they were planning to attack anytime soo—
His head whipped back around.
“What?”
Her eyes tracked his reaction, and for the first time since she showed up, her smile shrank the smallest fraction, and a barely-there hint of uncertainty sneaked its way onto her face.
“I… didn’t mean to offend—”
“No,” he interrupted, taking half a step forward to bridge some of the distance he’d created earlier. “No, I mean… what did you just say?”
“Oh, the bond?” Her face returned to the chipper expression she’d been carrying since she spoke her first word to him. “Yeah, I felt it snap when I saw you. Nearly knocked me off my feet.”
Azriel stared at her. He tracked her features, more thorough this time, and he recognised her attentiveness for what it was—curiosity. She’d wanted to memorise the face of her mate, find out who it was she’d just been bonded to.
Azriel remained frozen where he stood, and as he lost his grip on his shadows, a few of them darted back to her skin; sliding against her neck, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She giggled, and suddenly her laugh shot right down Azriel’s spine.
Mate. He had a mate.
He’d waited 500 years. He’d loved, and he’d lost, and he could write the damn book on unrequited love, and through it all, he had spent hours and days and years wondering what his mate would be like. He’d had lovers, sure, though none of them had been the one, and as he’d gone through his centuries of life without a trace of the one whose soul was supposed to match his, he had begun to doubt he even had a mate.
He'd longed for this very moment countless of times, but as he frantically searched his brain for all the scenarios he’d dreamt up, and all the possible ways he’d pictured this moment to go, standing in front of her now, he found his tongue had been glued to the roof of his mouth.
She tilted her head as he stared at her, unblinking.
“Yeah, that was me about ten minutes ago.” The look in her eyes softened. “Would you like to go somewhere and talk?”
-
There was no person in the entirety of the Night Court that Cassian knew better than Azriel. They had known each other since they were kids, they’d grown up together, even fought together. He’d known him for some 500 years, which was time enough to notice when his brother behaved oddly.
Cassian watched closely as Azriel ate with his eyes trained on his plate. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about the Shadowsinger was… off. And it had been for a while now.
Only last week, Azriel had vanished right after sunrise when usually that was the time they began their first training of the day. He hadn’t returned until late afternoon and when he did, he’d seemed somehow… blurry. Like his mind was somewhere else, his head carried in the clouds.
As a matter of fact, he’d carried a similar expression as he did now.
“You’re being weird,” Cassian blurted through a mouthful of meat.
Azriel lifted his eyes without lifting his head, giving Cassian a look. When the latter just stared back without saying anything, Azriel raised a brow.
“Care to elaborate?”
“I don’t know.” Cassian shrugged. “You seem… different. And I can’t figure out what it is.”
Azriel hummed and returned to his food. “You’re imagining things.”
Cassian narrowed his eyes, never taking them from Azriel, even as he noted the way the shadowsinger’s shoulders stiffened beneath his stare.
Azriel cleared his throat and rose from where he’d sat facing Cassian, his meal not yet finished. “I have to go.”
“You’ve been gone a lot lately.” Cassian watched closely as Azriel made his way to the kitchen, unceremoniously dumping the remainder of his food in the trash and his dishes in the sink. “Where are you off to?”
A beat of silence passed before Azriel answered, and Cassian took it as a sign that his brother was calculating his answers more thorough than usual. “Town.”
“What are you doing in town?”
Azriel gave an exasperated sigh. “Aren’t I supposed to be the spymaster of this court?”
“I wouldn’t have to spy if you told me what was going on.” An unsettling thought entered Cassian’s mind as he stood to follow his brother to the door. “Are there problems in Velaris that I don’t know of?”
“No, brother,” Azriel slapped his hand on Cassian’s shoulder. “Everything’s perfect in Velaris. Do not worry.”
It was only when he turned to leave that something in the air shifted, and Cassian’s nostrils flared before his face fell and he locked a stare on his brother that had Azriel stop in his tracks.
“Cauldron boil me,” Cassian muttered, unblinking as he stared at Azriel with wide eyes. “How could you not tell me?”
All of a sudden, and while Azriel remained utterly silent, a third voice appeared behind Cassian.
“Not tell you what?” Rhysand asked as he strolled into the room, a curious note in his tone and hands buried in the pockets of his sweatpants.
The look in Azriel’s eyes sharpened ever so slightly, but Cassian uttered the words before the spymaster could do anything to stop him.
“Azriel has found his mate.”
-
Azriel had never been on an actual date before, which was… shocking, considering he’d been alive for five whole centuries.
Most of his past conquests had been in-the-moment flings; brief flames that burned out as quickly as they’d started. Some had sprung from loose friendships, most from strangers, and some had originated from just the usual proximity that had come with the war camp barracks.
He’d never actually… dated before.
The past weeks had gone by in a heartbeat. Days spent with this beautiful stranger who’d sought him out at the market, and hours passing as though the world lay in a blur and she was the sole point of his focus. He’d found out things about her—trivial things, one might say, though to him each little detail she laid bare felt like it contributed to the very air he breathed.
When she laughed, he felt his toes tingle, and whenever she touched him, however small the touch might have been, his heart picked up its pace.
He’d never been on a first date before, let alone a second, a third, a fourth. And he was glad he hadn’t, because all those past lovers, no matter how lovely, or kind, or beautiful they might have been, would ever have compared to the way he felt whenever she opened the door to meet him with bright eyes.
“Why, hello there, handsome stranger,” she grinned, tilting her head in the way she always did when she waited to see how he’d react to her words.
Azriel gave a smile and stepped into the apartment he’d gotten to know well in the course of the last few weeks.
He’d barely turned around when she closed the door and looped her arms around his neck, standing on the very tips of her toes. Azriel loved this part.
He bent down to catch her lips with his and gave a sigh as though stepping into the warm water of a bath. He could feel her smile into the kiss, and it was one of his many favourite things about her. Each one of their kisses so far had been laced with a smile, and he never seemed to get enough of it.
When she pulled back, Azriel felt his own smile grow.
“You’re late,” she hummed, running her fingers through the hair on the back of his head while her eyes flitted across his face only to rest on his lips for a few seconds longer.
Azriel tightened the arms he kept slung around her waist, pulling her close enough for her breath to hitch.
He felt the incredible urge to close his eyes when her nails began to gently scratch his scalp, and a part of him never wanted to leave here again. She was everything he’d dreamt of for all those years, everything and so much more.
“Cassian has been getting on my nerves again,” he mumbled, turning his head to the side to breath a kiss to the soft skin of her arm.
Ever since the mating bond had snapped for Azriel too, and his brother had found out about it only days later, Cassian had come to adopt all the features of a textbook pain in the ass.
She chuckled. “He really is nosy. I can’t wait to meet him.”
Now Azriel was the one to tilt his head. “You want to meet them?”
“Well, of course,” she seemed amused by his surprise. “They’re your family. Were you not going to introduce me sooner or later?”
“I’d… love to,” Azriel said, and meant it.
“But?”
He hesitated, gently lowering her arms from his shoulders to wrap his fingers around her wrists and hold her hands to his chest. There once again lay that spark of curiosity in her eyes—open, and kind, and interested in every word he’d say.
“Well,” he started. “I’d want you to be… sure first.” She blinked, waiting for him to continue, and Azriel exhaled through his nose. “Of this… of us.”
She stared at him for a while, and Azriel half expected her to laugh, but the smile she finally gave was soft.
“You think I’m not certain yet?”
Azriel held her gaze. “It’s a big commitment, and I’m—”
“You’re my mate,” she said, her tone final. “And even if you weren’t my mate, I’d be sure of it. I’d be so sure of it, Azriel, because I love you.”
Azriel felt each of his muscles freeze, his lungs coming to a sudden stop as he stared at her—at this woman, this faerie that had entered his life like a summer storm.
“You—”
“I love you,” she said, her eyes alight with amusement. “Honestly, I thought it was obvious by now. You’re very easy to love, Azriel.”
Never in his 500 years had anyone ever said something like that to him.
He still hadn’t moved when she cleared her throat and gently took her hands from where he held them against his chest. Instead, she took his arm and signalled him with a nudge to turn around.
“I planned this much smoother,” she chuckled as he lay eyes on her tiny kitchen table. “But be that as it may. I made it for you.”
Azriel’s eyes fixed on the plate loaded with food, and his mind emptied.
“I planned to bake those tarts you liked when I dragged you to my friend’s bakery, but as it turns out, I suck at baking.”
Azriel swallowed thickly, not taking his eyes of the set table. A single candle burned in its centre.
When he spoke, his voice was low. “You’re aware of—”
“Aware of the fact that this will mean I’m accepting the bond?” She lifted her hand to his cheek to gently turn his head to the side so that she could look at him. The pad of her thumb ran a soft line along his cheekbone. “Very much so.”
Azriel didn’t know what to say. He was so overcome with emotion that all he could do was stare at the woman he’d come to love within the few short weeks he’d known her.
She studied his expression when he remained silent. “I want you to know that it’s okay if you’re not ready yet. We can postpone, maybe slow do—”
“I love you.” Azriel rasped, fingers once again wrapping around the wrist of the hand she held against his cheek. “I don’t ever want to be parted from you. You, accepting me as your mate… it is the biggest honour of my life.”
The smile took over her face now, and the kiss they shared felt like the start of a life even better than the one Azriel had dared to hope for.
When he sat to eat, she kept her eyes on him, and when he was finished, he felt the glow in her chest mirror his own.
All of a sudden, heat began to surge through his veins, and he gripped the edge of the table to steady himself as he stood.
So, this was what it felt like. Being overcome with desire for the one his soul called out to, the one he was now bonded to for the rest of his existence. Every inch of his skin longed to touch her even more than it had earlier. What had been a mere wish before now was a need—one he saw reflected in her eyes as she rounded the table to meet him in a kiss that set fire to every fibre of his being.
His hands rose to hold her head as she began to tear at his leathers, and Azriel felt that he was sinking deeper into this love he’d harboured for weeks now. He kissed her harder and walked her backwards until her back hit the wall. His hands slipped to mimic hers and tear at the fabric of her clothes.
They hadn’t yet lain with each other, and suddenly Azriel wondered how he hadn’t yet lost his mind with want. He was cautious of every emotion flickering across the bond, attentive when he knelt before her, gentle when he lifted her thighs to his hips, and rough when she needed him to be.
She took over his senses when she dug her nails into his shoulders, when her breath came in choked pants, when he buried himself inside of her over and over again, delighting in the intensity that came with a bond set aflame.
He’d never get enough of her; he was sure of it. And when his name passed her lips in a gasp against the wall, and on the table, and on the couch; and when he loved her with everything that he had all the way to the first sunbeams of the day, he felt her light at the other end of that bond, assuring him that she wouldn’t either.
-
Cassian hadn’t seen Azriel in weeks, and even though Rhys kept assuring him that their brother checked in with him on a regular basis, Cass began to worry. Perhaps he’d badgered Az too much about that mysterious mate of his.
“Cassian,” Rhys sighed from the other end of the breakfast table. “Stop brooding. I assure you, he’s fine.” He exchanged a look with Feyre, who sat next to him, cutting an omelette. She smirked.
Rhys cleared his throat, but it was Feyre who answered. “Let’s just say that Azriel has probably never been better.”
Cassian huffed at their shared amusement.
It was then that heavy steps rang through the townhouse and Azriel himself appeared in the kitchen door, his shadows nowhere to be seen.
Cassian turned in his chair to face his brother fully. “Where the hell have you—”
“Hello everyone,” an unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke, and a pretty fae woman squeezed past Azriel to stumble into the kitchen, beaming at them all. “It’s so nice to finally meet you. Azriel has told me so much about you!”
She seemed like a chipper little thing, and Cassian’s mouth snapped shut as he noticed the shadows twirling around her arms. So that’s where they’d gone.
Azriel cleared his throat and stepped forward. “Cassian,” he said. “Rhys, Feyre. This is Y/N.” He turned to look at the woman standing beside him, and his gaze softened the way Cassian had never seen before. “My mate.”
Silence fell over the kitchen as the word passed his lips, though Feyre was the first to snap out of it, rising from her seat to bridge the distance and throw her arms around the newest addition to their little circle.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” she said. “Azriel has told us absolutely nothing about you!”
Y/N laughed as she returned the High Lady’s hug, and Cassian watched her throw Azriel a wink over her shoulder.
“Well as pretty as he is, I’ve found that he’s not much of a talker.”
Cassian couldn’t believe his eyes when Azriel—his shadow-wielding, spymaster, has-fought-in-multiple-wars brother—blushed. He could hear Rhys snicker, and a shit-eating grin split Cassian’s face in two.
Rhys rose from his seat now, too, and when he came to face his brother’s mate, she lay her head back to look up at him. He bowed his head. “A pleasure meeting you, Y/N. We’re overjoyed to welcome you into our family.”
“The pleasure’s all mine,” she grinned. “My, my, Azriel, you have such well-mannered friends.”
The spymaster grumbled deep in his chest. “Give them a minute.”
She chuckled and turned to face the third one.
“You must be Cassian, then.” She tilted her head, a mischievous spark in her eyes. “I heard you’re quite the gossip.”
Cassian’s mouth flew open in outrage. “Am not!”
“Oh please,” Feyre laughed. “You’re the worst gossip I know.”
He huffed when his friends shared amused looks and rose from his seat to inspect this strange faerie with narrowed eyes.
“So,” he started, crossing his arms over his chest. “You live in Velaris, then?”
She gave a single, enthusiastic nod and crossed her arms behind her back as she straightened her shoulders and bounced on the balls of her feet. “Born and raised.”
“Got any dark secrets we should know about?”
“Well… I once stole a banana from my best friend’s lunchbox.”
Feyre snorted.
“Any bloodthirsty exes?”
“All ranging from harmless to mildly annoying.”
“Still hung up on one of them?”
“Nope.”
“How’d you and Az meet?”
“At the market.”
“Accepted the bond yet?”
“Are you kidding?” she all but gasped and inclined her head towards where Azriel stood with his back as straight as a pole. “Have you seen this tall drink of water? How could I not?”
Rhys snorted, Feyre giggled, and when Cassian looked at Azriel with a shit-eating grin edged into his features, he delighted in the look on the spymaster’s face.
Azriel blinked, speechless. There was once again a distinct tinge of red crawling up from beneath the collar of his leathers, and Cassian might have squealed with excitement.
When he turned back to this woman that had apparently cracked the solid exterior of his shadow-wielding brother, he failed to wipe the grin off his face.
When you get this ask, list 5 things that make you happy and then send this ask to the last 10 people that reblogged from you (but don't feel obliged to if you don't want to)!
1. My cats 2. My dogs3. My Family4. My Boyfriend 5. Reading
pixelskylines
stormborns
