A Court Of Flowers And Shadows {Azriel Shadowsinger}

Chapter Thirty-Five

A knock on the door. A growl and footsteps approaching. A frown on a usually passive face.

It was a rare sight to see Azriel at Amren's doorstep and if she hadn't seen the anger in his eyes then she would have questioned him. Instead she nodded and let him carry her in a flight up to the Townhouse where Rhys and Feyre were returning from a failed visit to the prison. Rhys had sent a message ahead of time to both Cassian and Azriel that he and Feyre were returning a lot sooner than expected and Azriel had immediately made his way to Amren's apartment. He needed someone there to act as some sort of mediator or he couldn't fully say that he wouldn't kill Rhys himself.

He set Amren down before they made their way in to the home from the balcony, Rhys sighing as he watched Feyre go back to her room. The sorrow in his eyes... the agony from seeing his mate in pain and being unable to do anything. Azriel knew that look all too well, he'd seen it looking back at him in the mirror, but right now, his was laced with anger as well.

That was why he couldn't stop himself from holding TruthTeller to Rhys' throat. Cassian, who had been walking through, held his own sword up at Az while Rhys just raised an eyebrow and held a hand up for Cassian to stop.

"I'm assuming she told you. I didn't know you two were even speaking," Rhys said calmly.

"Who told him what?" Cassian asked, his frown growing as he looked between his two brothers and then over at Amren who just shrugged.

"The scars on Amara. Rhys did them," Azriel growled, not taking his eyes off of his High Lord.

"You what?!" Cassian snapped, almost as protective of Amara as Azriel was. He hadn't offered to be her fake fiancé for nothing after all.

"It was Under the Mountain. I didn't have a choice," Rhys argued, causing Azriel's dagger to press against his throat more.

"You didn't have to dig the splinters in as deep as you did."

"If I didn't they would have healed too easily. Amarantha would have known something was wrong and Amara would have been harmed far worse."

"And you would have as well," Amara said quietly from the doorway.

The four Night Court members in the room looked over at her. None of them had heard her come in. They'd all assumed that she'd been in the House of Wind or in Velaris with Mor. That was the only reason Azriel had decided to do this today. He'd needed to pick a time where she wasn't around or she would stop him. He needed to do this though. He was doing it for her and it was so important to him that she understood that.

Amara was in a dark green dress that hugged her figure perfectly so Azriel couldn't help his gaze travelling up her body before settling on her eyes. Her dress had a slit up one leg that stopped rather abruptly mid-thigh. It wasn't too much that it revealed every single cut on her legs but it was enough that you could make out a few every now and again depending on how her leg caught the light.

"Knives down, boys. It's rather dramatic, don't you think?" Amara commented softly and Cassian lowered his, sheathing it again, but Azriel's dagger didn't move from Rhys' throat. Amara just sighed and a vine started to grow around Azriel's wrist, cutting off his circulation until he dropped the dagger on the floor. Then the vines disappeared and Azriel had the common sense to put TruthTeller back in it's usual spot on his body.

Amara took slow and tentative steps towards them all, Amren tilting her head slightly as she took in how erringly calm Amara seemed.

"I didn't even tell you the best part," Amara said, looking over at Azriel. "I had a choice. Either I take a life from a Spring Court member or somebody who had annoyed Amarantha in some way, or I earn a new scar. He'd cut me first of course, let that heal and show me the pain I would be in if the blade made contact with my skin again. Then the fae would be brought in and I would be made to choose."

Rhys's gaze shifted away from his brother and over to Amara. There wasn't a hint of guilt in his gaze. No remorse for what it was that Rhys had subjected Amara to. He'd done it as survival and that was what he had been telling himself ever since he had left the Mountain and the tortures that occurred beneath it. He had done every single thing to keep himself and his people safe. Amara had just always thought she would be included in those people but apparently not.

"I didn't have a choice," Rhys told her quietly as a stillness seemed to settle in the House of Wind.

"See, that's what I keep telling myself so that I don't hate you. But she just told you to give me a choice. She didn't tell you to add the splinters or to cut me before anything even happened. She sent Thesan in purely for the reason that she wanted me to heal so I could go through it over and over again," Amara told him, looking up at Rhys and making eye contact with him for the first time since she'd left the Mountain. "And then, you forced Nualla and Cerridwen to dress me up in front of mirrors in lace and silk and sit me at a piano... and you'd make me play the songs that you had Feyre dance to. You paraded me around to show off the torture you subjected me to every single day. And then you'd sit there and you'd laugh about it and you'd drug Feyre so she never remembered but you never did that to me. You wanted me to remember. Why?"

Rhys looked at her and sighed. He couldn't run from this anymore. "Some part of me will always hold resentment towards your family. You and Tamlin are the only ones that remain. Using you and Feyre was the only way that I could get Amarantha to continue to trust me but also torture you both."

"I was barely a teenager when everything happened between our families," Amara snarled.

"That doesn't change the fact that you are your father's daughter."

That was when Azriel and Cassian noticed it. The glint of metal on Amara's thigh.

Then that glint of metal shone from Rhys' stomach as Amara shoved a dagger in to it.

"See, I missed the vital organs like you always did. You kind of taught me the best ways for someone to be hurt and still live. Unfortunately, the only ashwood that I have is still in my body and I'm currently unable to get any so I can't leave any splinters in your wound so that it doesn't heal," Amara said with fake sympathy dripping off her tongue as Rhys leaned in to her a bit. "I hope this makes us even," she whispered in to his ear before she pulled the dagger out and walked away.

Azriel had to admit, he had never loved this woman more than in that moment.

~~~~~

Fun Fact: Amara was originally going to be at the party and have a mask decorated with flowers to highlight her powers rather than Tamlin's.