Restrained- A Stolen Moments One-Shot
Stolen Moments is a series of one-shots of ideas that *didn't* quite make it into The Cacophony- for whatever reason. Restrained- the first story- is also part of @ailesswhumptober. Hope you enjoy! (Well- as much as you can enjoy whump).
Cassian watched Azriel as he trained at the House of Wind, his friend pushing himself past the point of exhaustion, as he did so often these days. Elain had been with Lord Nolan for years, their mate bond being accepted last year and everything grated on Azriel. He regularly lost control, his face was lined with pain most days, and on more than one occasion he had heard Azriel’s screams for his mate. Those nights were the worst. The nights when Azriel desperately wanted to go to her, but the bargain forbade it.
“What is it today?”
“I’ve been sloppy with my hand to hand combat lately. I’m going through the basics again.”
Cassian placed pads over his hands and held them up as potential targets. If Azriel was sloppy with his hand to hand combat, then he was a newly minted Lieutenant in the Night Court. No, Azriel didn’t want to discuss why he was really training at nearly midnight. The sharp blows forced him back into this moment- Azriel was strong enough that he had to concentrate on holding the targets in place.
He had sought Azriel out to discuss the rumblings he had heard from Mor about problems within the Hewn City. There were always issues in the Court of Nightmares, but Mor was unnerved and she had claimed that Azriel was not performing his duties there anymore. That he no longer roamed the streets, threatening torture at every turn. It was one of the things that held the Hewn City in check and if Azriel was no longer willing or able to do those duties- it had to be addressed.
“Mor mentioned you are avoiding your duties.”
“I have no desire to torture to control those that were unfortunate enough to be born into the Hewn City instead of some other part of Prythian. Not after what I can feel from Lainey. It’s Mor’s job to keep them in check, she’s leaned on me for too many centuries to be the enforcer.”
“We all have, Azriel. It’s your job.”
Azriel froze and Cassian thought, for a moment, that it was due to him deciding if he was going to add him to his list of those in the Inner Circle that he would maim at a moment’s notice. Then his knees buckled and Azriel’s nails scraped against the hard stone of the training ring. His shadows were dragging him towards the door, inside and he watched as Azriel fought them to take flight.
“Az. Az- what is it?”
“It’s Elain, Cassian. They’re hurting her and he wants to go to her, to protect her.” Nuala appeared next to him and Cassian jerked to see Cerridwen materialize beside her a moment later. Each of the twins took an arm and began forcing Azriel towards the door as well. He stared for a moment before his hands landed on Azriel’s shoulders and he joined them in their efforts. The efficiency of the twins' movements let him know they had done this dozens, if not hundreds, of times. He caught the wild panic in Azriel’s eyes as he let out a heart wrenching scream.
“Can you still feel the bond?” Nuala whispered as Cassian’s hands slipped and Azriel surged forward. He found himself throwing his arms around Azriel’s trunk, his extra mass being just enough to combat the surge in adrenaline that must be running through Azriel’s veins. He felt Azriel nod his head yes and he let out a sigh of relief, but only for a moment as another scream came out of his friend’s body.
“Soothe her, Azriel. You know what to do. We won’t let you leave. We’ll keep you here so that it can’t get worse for her,” Cerridwen calmed as they tumbled through the door, the shadows swiftly locking and closing it behind them. He was not sure where they were headed, but Nuala and Cerridwen were calm- even though he could tell they were equally heart broken.
“Where are we taking him?”
“The first room with silk curtains and a door. And then…then we pin him down and restrain him until this passes.”
“You’ve done this…on your own?”
“We’ll talk once he’s safe. Safe from breaking the bargain.”
It took the better part of an hour to wrangle Azriel into a room that had the necessary items and as he found himself pinning his best friend to the ground as the twins restrained him, he saw the gratefulness pass over Azriel’s gaze. He hated that this was necessary. He could not understand why Azriel did not just break the bargain- he had always believed that rules were more of a suggestion. Of course, that was when they applied to him and the repercussions were only for him to withstand. Cassian had the distinct feeling that his worry about how a breach of the bargain would hurt Elain was what stayed his hand.
Azriel’s chest heaved against his own, his breathing labored as he struggled against the binds. He risked a look up at his friend and saw the tears streaming down his cheeks. For Azriel to feel this much of Elain’s pain, he could only imagine what might be happening to her on the other side of the bond. For not the first time, he wished he had realized that Rhys had frozen Azriel that day so that he could have interjected on his behalf. This bargain was not supposed to be deadly, but judging by the way that Nuala and Cerridwen settled in on Azriel’s arms- this was the norm.
“You said you’d explain.”
“He doesn’t tell us much. The first few times it happened- we drugged him to keep him here. Then he told us that he can’t help filter her pain or soothe her when we do that. So we restrain him, pin him to the ground, and pray that the bond stays intact, even if it is weak. Elain sent us a letter, thanking us for helping him. He made us swear we wouldn’t tell any of you, but it’s been getting worse. So much worse.”
“It’s why he can’t go into the Hewn City and enforce-”
“Partly. He’s hated that duty for decades, Cassian, but he’s done it because he deemed it necessary. After everything that has happened to Elain, I don’t think he’ll ever see that as necessary in a free society ever again. Maybe for the safety of all of Prythian, but never to keep the Hewn City in control.”
“He told you that?”
“He didn’t have to. Keep your grip solid- we may be here for hours.”
*************
Nuala sat in her private chambers, a letter from Elain in one hand - a satchel of herbs for a relaxation tea in the other. Azriel had fought, screamed for hours- whatever Lord Nolan had done to Elain this time had flayed the shadowsinger wide open. She was glad Cassian had seen it, glad there was someone else to help them when he was here. She did not want to think about the risks that Azriel endured when he was on missions alone. The risks that Rhysand insisted he still take- even with the strain that he knew Azriel was under.
She shifted through the House of Wind, travelling between the light and dark, skirting through reality. At one point in her life, she had lived more of her days in the in between than in the actual world. Until the shadowsinger had found her and her sister, rescuing them from their father’s house. Her loyalty to him was cemented the moment he explained that they did not have to work for him, but they had unique abilities that could not be ignored. At the very least- they must learn to protect themselves. She had chosen to go into training immediately, Cerridwen had followed a few weeks later. They had done all kinds of missions together, but he had held to his word- she even knew that Cassian and Mor had had to stop him from coming to release them from under the mountain. Something that Rhysand was still unaware of to this day.
She pulled down a kettle and began methodically preparing the tea, Cerridwen joining her only a few moments later. She passed her sister Elain’s newest letter- one that was obviously written before whatever had happened today. They both were aware that the letters had started between Elain and Azriel long before their bond had solidified, although they never pried into what she wrote him. The half translated cyphers gave enough away that they knew she was not pretending about the conditions with Azriel.
“For you or for him?”
“For all of us. Elain somehow convinced the shadows to bring this sachet along- the tea recipe is at the bottom of the letter. She saw that we would all need extra peaceful rest soon.”
“Does she still not know how much he feels?”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t said. I’d be more worried that she would try to protect him, not knowing how much he is pulling out through the bond, how much he is taking in her stead.”
Silence settled between them. There was no good part to this, only the gratefulness that Azriel could still feel Elain on the other end of the bond and the solemnity that they had spent another night knowing their friend was being tortured and doing nothing about it. When they had first learned of the bargain and the terms, they had volunteered to go- to help her, but Rhysand had judged it too risky. Azriel didn’t even know they had asked. If he had- it would be one more thing for him to hold against the High Lord and that list did not need to get any longer.
The sound of glass shattering pulled Nuala back to reality, the pain that crossed Cerridwen’s face letting her know that Azriel was not being allowed to rest. How did Rhysand expect him to function with a strained mate bond and zero rest? Her anger for her friend boiled, but Cerridwen grabbed her arm and shook her head. This was Azriel’s fight.
“Don’t pretend to understand, Rhys. The most chaffed your mate bond has ever been was when Feyre was systematically dismantling the Spring Court- Elain was tortured last night and I felt it all. All I could do was pull as much of that pain into my body and caress the bond, let her know I was there with her as much as I could be- because of the fucking bargain that you let happen. So no, you do not understand and stop pretending that you do.”