A Court Of Flowers And Shadows {Azriel Shadowsinger}

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Dinner parties never really were Amara's thing. They always seemed far too formal for her liking and the glasses were always crystal which meant you could see the dark red wine inside of it. Thankfully for this one, Rhys had gone with the black wine glasses instead and had made sure that Feyre's glass would always be filled with white wine rather than red. Amara still got stuck with red wine though but Azriel noticed when he walked past the table. He quickly switched it out before she had the chance to see it and made his way to the front room where everyone else was.

Amara had a book in her lap but she wasn't really reading it, more looking out the window and watching the day turn to night. The light in the sky went down but the lights in the city started to glow almost instantly. Azriel noticed the small smile on Amara's face but the little light in her eyes didn't appear like it normally did. She was delicately thumbing a page in her book and he couldn't be sure whether she had actually read that far or just turned pages to make it look like she'd been reading it so people didn't ask her about her thoughts.

There was one thing that had always drawn Azriel to Amara and it wasn't the mating bond. He had gotten pretty good at ignoring the tug and ache that the mating bond provided. The one thing that had always drawn Azriel to Amara was the little light in her eyes that always seemed to be there no matter what. Obviously, that light had disappeared since everything had happened with Amarantha but he was determined to see that light in her eyes again one day. He didn't care if it would be the next day, next month or the next century. He would make sure that it appeared again.

She didn't look up from the view even as Rhys and Feyre arrived or even when Cassian started laughing. She did look up when Amren came over and handed her a glass of white wine with one of her rare smiles though, setting her book down and getting up as she took the glass. Amara was one of the few people who didn't have a fight or flight instinct when it came to Amren. The two had instantly bonded over books and jewellery and maps and Amara could actually quite often be found sat drinking with Amren in her small apartment.

"It suits you, Amren," Rhys commented about the brooch he'd bought her and given to her earlier that day.

"You say that like everything doesn't suit her," Amara pointed out as she sat down beside Cassian, sipping her wine.

Cassian wrapped an arm around Amara's shoulders and kissed her temple in a friendly manner, choosing to ignore the little piece of shadow that swirled through her hair. It actually looked like Amara had been using it to hold her hair up until the shadow moved away and swirled around her wrist instead. She raised an eyebrow at Azriel who avoided her gaze and turned her attention back to the conversation when Cassian spoke again. Any conversation with Amren and Cassian involved usually needed something to fix it.

"Please just get to the point, Amren. I'm hungry," Cassian complained.

Mor choked on her wine and Amara raised an eyebrow at the man with his arm around her. Amren turned her attention to Cassian and Azriel started to monitor both of them to make sure nothing too bad happened. "No one warming your bed right now, Cassian? It must be so hard to be an Illyrian and have no thoughts in your head save for those about your favourite part."

"You know I am always happy to tangle in the sheets with you Amren," Cassian said, completely and utterly unfazed by the malicious intent in Amren's silver eyes. "I know how much you enjoy Illyrian-"

"Miryam," Rhys said as Amren's smile grey more troublesome," and Drakon are doing well, as far as I've heard. And what, exactly, is interesting?"

Amren's head tilted a little as she started to study Feyre so Amara decided to step in. "Amren, dear, you're freaking the poor girl out. Maybe just say what you mean?" She suggested softly, noting how the shadow around her wrist tightened just a little.

"It's almost like you want to piss her off," Azriel commented down the bond, the shadow swirling around her wine glass now.

"Well, Amren never gets pissed at me so sometimes I like to see how far I can push her. She's less likely to kill me than she is Cass," Amara pointed out down the bond.

Azriel and Amren were sat between Amara and Rhys, almost as a sort of buffer. Cassian was on her other side and leaned over her to grab Amren's plate and pour half of it on to his own before handing it to Azriel afterwards. Azriel just sighed and took the plate, glancing at Amara who he couldn't really get a read on that night. He couldn't tell if she was genuinely doing okay tonight or if it was all an act. She was right, she was getting a lot better at pretending to be fine.

"You don't - eat?" Feyre asked, the first words that she had actually spoken since anyone she had sat down.

Amren sent her a grin, showing off her unnervingly white teeth. "Not this sort of food."

"Cauldron boil me," Mor said, gulping from her wine. "Can we not?"

"If we keep talking about this, I'm going to lose my appetite," Amara commented with a roll of her eyes, wiping a drop of wine off her nose that Cassian had put there when she had been talking. She scrunched her nose a bit and shot him a look which had Feyre raising an eyebrow at the two of them.

"Are you two... together?"

Amara choked on her wine and her eyes widened as she looked over at Feyre. "Oh Cauldron, no!"

"Way to sound offended!" Cassian said as he looked over at her. "I'm a catch."

"A catch for diseases," Amren countered, making Cassian send her a look.

Amara rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Feyre. "Me dating Cassian would be like if I was dating Lucien. We're close but he's basically my brother so it would be way too weird."

"I still think I'm a catch," Cassian said with a shrug of his shoulders as he continued eating.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"I bet I could help you sleep at night," Cassian commented with a smirk before Amara punched him in the shoulder.

Rhys chuckled from beside Feyre and shook his head lightly. "Remind me to have family dinners more often."