Part 15: The Shadows Sing
Part 14 The Shadows Comfort
As soon as Azriel landed in the training clearing not far from your cabin, he knew something was wrong.
The air felt tight and he started to feel drained, drained of his magic.
“Faebane,” he stated and Feyre nodded in agreement.
A loud shriek caught their attention and a raven flew through the sky.
“This is not good,” Azriel said, remembering what you had told him.
“Drop your weapons,” a voice said behind them.
Feyre and Azriel turned around to see a group of 15 illyrian warriors. Some of them carried siphons and others didn’t.
“Drop your weapons or I’ll have your dear son killed,” the same illyrian spoke.
Azriel and Feyre shared a nod before they let their weapons fall to the ground with a loud thud.
They stayed calm as their hands were bound on their back with faebane handcuffs.
Azriel knew they had to tread carefully. They had to cooperate so that Nyx wouldn’t get hurt, but they also had to make sure they could fight if needed.
Luckily, your shadows were there to help. They were jumping from tree to tree, shadow to shadow, so that they were hidden, but still could get every detail with them.
“Now, come with us,” the same illyrian said once more. He must be some kind of leader. The male had three siphons. “Or your son will pay the price.”
Azriel both heard and saw Feyre freeze beside him, before he noticed the fear turned into anger.
They started walking deeper into the forest. Towards the biggest clearing, Azriel realized. The one where you usually met with your group.
Azriel spent the walk trying to rememorize the way. But he soon only saw trees. They were walking in circles, to confuse them.
After a while, Azriel once more heard the shriek of The Raven. The Illyrians heard it too, and soon they were leaded in a different direction than before.
“Where are you taking us?” Feyre asked. Her voice was confident and Azriel was sure he was the only one that was the mountain as emotions she was carrying.
Fear, anger, disappointment and irritation was only a few of them.
They ignored her question, but they got their answer anyway.
Behind the enormous trees, they spotted illyrian wings, many illyrian wings. As they got closer, Azriel concluded that there probably were 100 of them plus your hunting group. It was a lot more than what they thought. They had concluded on 60 rogues.
They were leaded to the middle of the group of people and then thrown to the ground. Azriel’s knives were laid on a nearby table.
“Where’s my son?” Feyre asked with a poisonous hiss.
“He’s being taken care of.”
“What do you want from us?”
“We want justice!” A male hissed.
“Justice for all our lost soldiers!” Another one continued.
“Then I would recommend you talk to us instead of kidnapping our son,” Feyre answered calmly as death.
“Where’s the fun in that?” The leader of the Illyrians answered.
“Just give me my son back and then we can sit down together and find a solution to all these problems,” Feyre tried.
“No, that would be too easy. We would anyway like to speak with the High Lord, not his whore.”
“Careful,” Azriel hissed. Both to alarm the illyrian, but also because he in the corner of his eyes could see your shadows move closer.
The illyrian laughed at him.
“We lost many during the war,” he continued. “We helped you and we didn’t get anything back. We had to come to The Middle to find anyone that wanted to help us.”
Coming from the group of Illyrians came your leader and the rest of your hunting group. Azriel felt his blood boiling at the sight of them. He really wanted to hurt them, hurt them because they hurt you.
“We have someone that really wants to meet you,” your leader said.
He stepped to the side and one of the twins, Sole, threw you forward. You tried to step one food in front of the other, but you still hadn’t been able to fix your prosthetic. You fell to the ground and let out a small cry.
You had bruises all over your body and you had a black eye forming. Azriel could see your hands shaking, but he could see it wasn’t from fear. You were shaking from the pain.
“Get up, bastard,” the illyrian leader shouted at you.
Azriel had to hold back a snare, but his eyes never left you.
You slowly stood up, strongly leaning onto your prosthetic. You quickly let your eyes meet his before you looked away.
“I wanted you to meet the female that let us all down, not as bad as her mate of course, but she still betrayed us. The High Lady of the Night Court.”
You carefully put your gaze onto Feyre. Azriel saw that you didn’t act with fear, but with caution.
Slowly you lifted your prosthetic of the ground. You moved it a few centimeters behind you before you let it onto the ground once more. Then you leaned down into a curtsy, your head facing the ground.
Azriel has never smiled a more smug smile. He was so proud to know you.
“What the hell is she doing?” The illyrian leader asked Master Raven.
“I’m curtsying my High Lady, Adrian. She did after all save us all.” You spoke with total calmness and you straightened your back. “She never betrayed me, you did. Almost all of you.”
“Stand back, Y/N,” Master Raven spoke. Even Azriel felt the shivers that went down his spine.
“You don’t punish a child for something their parents did, especially if you haven’t even tried to explain your feelings to their parents.”
You slowly turned back to Feyre.
“They don’t have your son,” you said. “They did kidnap him, but they lost him earlier this day. I don’t know where he is, but they can’t hurt him.”
You sent a small look towards Azriel. You definitely knew where he was. The look told Azriel everything he needed to know. Nyx was safe, you protected him.
“Thank you,” Feyre told you with a small nod.
You once more gave a small curtsy.
“She’s lying,” the Illyrian, Adrian, continued to talk moving towards you. “I’m going to kill you, bastard. You’re going to get as deserved.”
He kept on coming with threats, but Azriel no longer spent attention to him. His gaze was only at your hand.
Your right hand was open, then you folded in your thumb, and then another finger, and then a third one.
You were counting down. Adrian was closer than ever.
“You’re destroying everything,” Adrian continued to speak.
You folded down your last finger and your hand was now a folded fist. Adrian lifted his arms.
You moved faster than Azriel had seen you before as you punched Adrian in the jaw and seconds later the entire forest was filled with darkness.
“Think you can do it?” You asked your shadows.
“Yes, mistress,” they replied quietly. They were quite far away.
“You spread around and I’ll count down. I can’t do it aloud, but I’ll use my fingers.”
“I’m going to kill you, bastard.”
“You’re going to get as deserved.”
“You’re destroying everything,” Adrian said as he stood before you.
You forcefully closed your hand into a fist.
Adrian lifted his own fist, but you were faster and you smashed your hand into his jaw.
Your surroundings were filled with darkness as you sprung into action.
You ran to your best ability towards the High Lady. With the help of the screw that was going to fix your prosthetic, you managed to open her handcuffs within seconds.
“We helped Master,” your shadows informed you.
“Disarm as many as you can, kill only if you have to,” you commanded them. “Listen to the High Lady, Azriel and I, but no one else.”
Most of your shadows left you to fight, but two stayed behind to help you.
One of them twisted themselves inside your prosthetic and you immediately felt your mobility get a little better. The other one helped stabilize you as you walked into battle.
“Take this,” Azriel’s smoothing voice told you and a knife was pushed into your hand. He was gone before you could answer.
Three illyrians. He was fighting three Illyrians at once. And he definitely had the upper hand.
Loud steps behind you drew your thoughts away from Azriel.
You turned around and faced an illyrian twice your size.
Your shadows were immediately at your side as you started to fight.
After you had disarmed six illyrians and killed two, you felt your injuries catching up to you.
The shaking in your hands made it hard for you to hold the knife properly. And your broken ribs made it painful to breathe.
You tried to look around, but caught no sign of Azriel. However, you did see the High Lady. She was fighting Adrian and he played dirty.
After Feyre got the upper hand, he backed away a little just to pull up the rest of their faebane powder and force it onto her.
Feyre fought good, but the faebane made it almost impossible to win.
“Move me directly behind him,” you told your shadows.
They did as you told them and that just in time.
As Adrian lifted his sword, you sent your shadows to hold it in place. Adrian stopped in confusion for just enough time for you to stab your knife into his back.
He fell to the ground with a grunt.
“Thank you, Azri-“ Feyre started, but her eyes turned wide as she saw you and not her friend.
You moved to fight the next illyrian.
The battle ended quickly. Most of the illyrians left as soon as the fighting began, others left after they got disarmed. About a quarter of all the illyrians laid dead on the forest floor.
“So you’ve hidden your magic this entire time?” Master Raven asked you.
“You’re talking to me about hiding things?” You asked him back. “How many of our debts have you lied about?”
The rest of your hunting group stood behind him. You looked at Hazel and Sherry as you spoke.
“He’s been lying to me. I finished paying back five years ago, but he told me I still had thousands left!”
You heard flapping wings and felt your chest humming with calmness as Azriel landed behind you.
“Why should we trust you? You hid your powers! You’ve probably cheated the entire time you’ve been hunting,” Sole alleged and pointed in your direction.
“Says the male that doesn’t even share his food with his twin sister,” you answered back. Sherry froze a little from your words, but quickly started to nod. She told the others you were telling the truth.
“You’re still a traitor,” Master Raven said.
Seconds later, The Raven flew forcefully towards you. You prepared your shadows to brace for impact. You had multiple times seen The Raven carve the eyes out of someone’s face.
You heard Azriel’s movements behind you, but you knew he would be too late.
The Raven got closer and closer, its claws were flexed towards you. You turned your head to the side, not daring to face the claws that would soon hit your head.
You slowly opened your eyes and turned your head towards the bird. It was flying in place a small meter away from you.
You looked directly at it and it started to fly upwards. It started to descend as it was directly above you.
With its claws tucked in, it carefully landed on top of your head.
It let out a loud shriek and took flight once more. It flew away and you didn’t see it again.
“You’re free of your debt,” Master Raven said.
“She paid it all back!” Hazel argued.
“She’s not free from it, she paid it!” Sherry continued.
“You’ve paid back your debt,” Master Raven said with a sigh. “Leave, I don’t want to see you here anymore.”
You gave Hazel and Sherry a small nod before you turned around to finally face Azriel and Feyre.
As Feyre opened her mouth to tell you something, both you and Azriel were covered in shadows.
“Shit!” You said and shadow walked away.
You arrived in front of your cabin, only to see it emerged in fire.
You didn’t hesitate as you ran inside to front door to get to Nyx.
Azriel and Feyre landed on the outside of your cabin just before you were entering it.
“Y/N, stop!” Azriel screamed, but you didn’t hear him. Or, you at least didn’t do as he said.
He ran after you, but your shadows held him back.
“Let me get her!” He screamed.
He turned to Feyre and saw her in a similar situation.
“Let me go, Azriel!” she yelled looking at him with fire in her eyes. She was just as desperate getting to her son as he was getting to you.
Feyre understood what he meant.
Time stood still as they were forced to wait for you to come back.
Azriel watched as more and more of your cabin fell apart.
Feyre let out a scream as the entire roof collapsed.
Azriel didn’t really believe in any gods, but right now he couldn’t care less.
“Please, please let her be okay.” He whispered.
Both Azriel and Feyre turned around in the speed of light as the young boy screamed from behind them.
Feyre immediately ran and picked up her son, but Azriel could only watch you.
You looked awful, covered in cuts and bruises, but Azriel had never before been as attracted to you.
It only took two steps for him to finally have you in his arms again. His left arm was around your waist and the other one held the back of your head.
“I’m sorry,” you whispered into his chest.
He didn’t bother holding his feelings away from the bond between you.
“I’ve saved us all, lovely. You have nothing to apologize for,” he told you. But he knew it would take some time before you believed him.
“Azriel, we should go home,” Feyre told him. Nyx was safely held in her arms.
“You go first,” Azriel told her, his eyes not leaving you. “I’ll come soon.”
Feyre hesitated, but did as he told her.
Azriel loosened his hold of you and pulled away a little. Only for him to see your face properly.
“Did you say no to come to Velaris because you didn’t want to? Or because you couldn’t leave?” Azriel carefully asked you.
Azriel expected you to spend some time thinking, like you always did when he asked you questions.
“I couldn’t leave before I paid back my debt,” you answered him immediately.
“Do you want to come with me?”
For the first time, both of you opened the sides of your mating bond.
Relief was flowing from both sides.
Azriel’s shadows covered you both and soon you stood on the balcony of the River House.
Azriel turned to you. Your eyes were wide as you looked at the city.
“Welcome home,” Azriel quietly whispered back.
He spent some time just observing you, before he could force himself to go inside.
“Do you want to stay here or come with me inside?”
“Stay,” you answered, your eyes still not moving from the view.
Azriel walked inside to face his family.
You had sat down on a nearby bench when you heard steps behind you.
The view in front of you was too mesmerizing for you to turn around and face Azriel.
“It’s beautiful,” you spoke.
“It truly is,” a voice answered, but it wasn’t Azriel.
You quickly stood up only to face the High Lord of the Night Court.
You immediately started to move to a curtsy.
“Stand up, no need for that,” he said.
You hesitated as you did what he told you to do.
“Azriel told me a lot about you. That you steered the naga saving many lives on the battlefield, that you saved him when he got poisoned and most recently how you saved my son and mate’s lives.”
He took a break as he moved towards you.
“Ever since Azriel mentioned your hunting group, I realized how I let you down.”
You started to protest, but he lifted one finger to silence you.
“I knew about your struggles Under The Mountain. I knew you fought daily to survive, but I still didn’t help you when I should have. And you anyway helped me, saved the most important people in my life. I owe you everything.”
“I’ll let you to discuss things alone,” The High Lord said as he walked away from the balcony and Azriel showed himself.
He quietly walked towards you and slowly grabbed your hand.
“Let’s just enjoy the view a little longer,” he said and followed you to the bench.
As you both sat down, your shadows arrived carrying cups of hot chocolate.
Azriel’s shadows gave you a cup and your shadows gave one to Azriel.
Before they ran off into the shadows.
“I’m not sure if they leave to give us privacy or to be alone themselves,” Azriel commented.
“Definitely to be alone themselves,” you answered. “My shadows at least are too curious to leave me alone without a reason.”
Azriel turned his head towards you. His hazel eyes glowed as they met yours.
“They remind me of myself.”
“You’re sure you want to do this?” Azriel asked you.
“No,” you answered truthfully. “Not at all.”
You had soon spent a year in Velaris, a year of happiness, relaxation and safety. It was time to go out of your comfort zone.
You had gone out to eat, explored some book shops with Nesta and even gone flying around with Azriel.
But now it was time for you to do something for yourself and yourself only. The most important lesson, according to multiple people in the Inner Circle.
Azriel moved towards you. He laid a hand on your hip and used the other one to gently lift your chin. He slowly lowered his head and his lips met yours.
“Now?” He asked jokingly.
The kissing thing was new. Only a week ago did you share your first kiss, but it soon became your new favorite thing.
“You can do it, lovely,” Azriel encouraged you. “And if you want to stop, you can go home whenever!”
You gave him a small glare.
“If I go home before they’re finished, I’ll look horrible!”
“You can just call for me and I’ll fly you home, no problem. And there’s no way you’ll look worse than you did when your shadows did it.”
Your shadows immediately started to pull on Azriel’s hair.
He only laughed them off.
“Good luck, lovely. I’ll be in the area.”
He lifted his arms and squeezed your shoulders as he turned you towards the door. With the help of an enthusiastic push, you walked inside the door to get your first ever professionally done haircut.
Finally, life was something you lived and thrived with, not just something you survived.
Thank you so much for reading!
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