burning shadows | Azriel (ACOTAR prequel)

ONE: Asteria

/əˈstɪəriə/; Ancient Greek: Ἀστερία, lit. 'of the stars, starry one'

I often wonder in how many stories am I the villain - it doesn't matter most of the time. But what to do when you're the villain of your own story?

Heavy rain washed the streets behind me as I ran through the town, covering myself with my cloak as well as I could with the wind threatening to blow it away and uncover the face that I'd been hiding for so long. Not well enough, apparently, considering the two spies that now lay unconscious in a town before this one, utterly confused thanks to me removing their memory of ever seeing me.

They were lucky I didn't kill them.

I finally approached the Inn, now completely soaked, and immediately moved toward the Innkeeper, not even stopping to take in the warmth after long hours in the rain. This was a good look, I thought, because at least no one would think about robbing me when I looked no better than the beggars outside. Not that they could ever succeed, but it tends to be annoying.

As the Innkeeper checked me out and suspiciously, very slowly, prepared to find me a room, I looked around the bar for any distrustful faces, but saw nothing unusual. Seeing nobody in the room even cared enough to harm me, I removed the hood of my cloak slowly, revealing my copper red hair, still dripping with rain droplets.

For five months now, if I counted correctly, I've been living as a traveler, a stranger in every Court I cross. The Winter Court was the first one, being the closest to my Court, and I'll never forget the day I first stepped into it, my first day as a free woman.

Although, that is the only good memory I have of that Court. I spent weeks freezing, not trusting myself to use my fire; too many people were hurt the last time I used it. So I was starving, trying to avoid people as much as possible. I got lost more times than I can admit, had near death experiences almost every day, but there was always something dragging me further, dragging me north. I didn't think I could make it out alive, but after weeks of travelling on foot, I was in the Dawn Court. I had no idea where I was going, but I needed to get as far away from Autumn Court as I could.

The few months I spent in the Dawn Court were so blurred to me, as if during that period I wasn't even living, just simply going through every single day. I spent all my money and the little food I had in the Winter Court, so now I had to stay in Dawn and earn my money, so I could keep going. Finding a job at one of the taverns was easier than I expected, considering my lack of experience with actual work, but after a few weeks I could clearly see why no one else fought me for that spot.

The Dawn Court was one of the most beautiful courts, but as a runaway, one tends to keep to the more... lower parts of society. Meaning I experienced the worst of the wonderful Court.

But all the gross customers at the tavern, unnecessary fights and unfair payments I've received were just means to an end, ones I could handle for a while, just so I could get out and be free again. Be safe. One thing I didn't expect yesterday morning was to see two of my father's spies right outside the little tavern. I'd smelled them immediately, the scent of Autumn, of home, too strong for me to ignore.

Maybe I was lucky that they were so bad at their job, or they were lucky that I wasn't feeling very murderous; plus it was too bright outside to hide two bodies. So I did what I do best - I tricked them, making them believe they were the ones that caught me, only to completely catch them off guard and torture the information out of them slowly, only to interfere with their minds and make them forget they ever saw me.

Getting rid of them was easy, but that didn't stop the fear from constantly following me, the knowledge that I could so easily be caught and brought back to Beron.