A court of Shadows & Blood (An ACOTAR / Azriel fanfiction)

Chapter 21

Blood splattered across Azriel's cheek and the sound of the blade falling rang inside the cave. His world narrowed down to the small clink of metal and the heavy thump of a body falling.

One body. And then the second one.

Their bodies fell in sync and he had barely reached out a hand before her body rolled down the altar.

Somewhere far off he could hear Lucifer roaring his name before vanishing and every sound seemed distant.

His vision was floating and tinted red. It was the blood maybe, he couldn't be bothered by that.

Cassian moved first, The Ideosy scrambling out to save themselves.
A shadow witch had died on that altar and Lucifer was gone. They had nothing to do anymore.

He would asked himself, later on, why didn't he move first? Why didn't he try to touch her face and see if she was breathing?

"You were scared she wouldn't be." A tiny voice in his head would answer. "What would you have done then? If you had reached out your hand and touched her body?" It would ask.

"I don't know." He would sigh.

"You always tell me the same thing." It would whine. "Tell me something new."

He would think for a moment, " I truly don't know. Nothing made sense before she was here, and nothing would make sense after she was gone."

He wouldn't hear the voice for a long time after that.

In the moment, however, he saw Cassian throw his sword to a side and kneel beside Lillith's body. He touched her cheeks with blood stained hands. Alcina and Mor were there too. They were both crying and Alcina was holding Lillith's hand.

Morrigan looked at him first, he didn't look at her. He wasn't looking at anything. She called his name then and he noticed with a start that he was sitting in blood.

Whose blood was it? He didn't know.

Then he looked to a little left, "oh" the tiny voice said, "She killed him."

"She did." He nodded slowly.

"Azriel!" Alcina's voice pierced through his soul. He blinked slowly and pushed himself up.

It felt like he was walking underwater. His limbs turned to lead at the sight of Lillith's pale face. The veins in her neck were a stark black and blood gushed out of the side of her leg.

Cassian moved back and he slowly knelt beside her body.

"He's dead." He whispered. "You did it."

Lillith's head rolled to a side and Morrigan choked back a sob. Alcina pressed her face against her chest as her body trembled.

"Lily?" Azriel touched her cheek. "Wake up." Her skin was cold against his blood coated fingers.

Cassian turned around and tried to blink back his tears but it didn't work. He furiously wiped them away.

Azriel gently held her in his lap and brushed away the hair that were sticking to her face. He cradled her in his arms, "Wake up. Please, wake up. I know you're here."

He kissed her forehead and pressed his face against her hair. "Come back." He whispered, his lips trembling. "Come back."

Morrigan held Alcina tightly while she sobbed into her chest as hot tears tumbled down her own face. She rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head but it was of no use.

It started as slow dragging movements, and they all noticed it when Cassian said: "She's breathing. "

Azriel whipped his head up and noticed, the slow, rhythmic movement of her chest.

Not enough.

Alcina grabbed one of her hands. "The baby is a-alive." Her eyes were bloodshot and her hands were frantically moving. "I'm not sure. I can't really tell."

"That's not important. "Azriel said, and placed both of his hands on Lillith's chest.

A faint heartbeat. Very, very faint.

Not enough.

"Grab her leg. Too much blood is already lost." Cassian said in his best commander voice.

Alcina kept searching for her pulse. Anything she could latch on to and let her power flow.

Morrigan held her thigh, now soaked with blood , and peeled back the fabric. The wound was not large, but it was deep.

"We can't fix this here. We need to take her to Velaris." She told Cassian.

Neither Azriel nor Alcina were in a state to listen to anything.

"Az, I need you to winnow us to Velaris." Cassian placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

In a sudden jolt of realization, Azriel looked up. He nodded, slowly, and then frantically. "Yes. Yes. She needs someone who can treat this wound."

He gathered up her limp body in his arms and stood up. Leaving behind an array of bodies, they all winnowed out. The Ideosy and Lucifer forgotten and hopefully never to be remembered again.

Four hours. Lillith had been in a room with Alcina and the medic for four hours. Four long, long hours of pacing, silent tears and soothing whispers. Alcina had come out once and avoided all questions before disappearing inside the room again.

She will be fine. She had survived the massacre of her kind, had survived the Ideosy for five hundred years, had survived being trapped in hell at the age of twelve; surely, she was not going to give up now. She could not give up now - Cassian and Feyre reassured Azriel. Rhysand and Amren talked in hushed whispers in a corner but would often look at him with concerned eyes.

Morrigan would not stop pacing outside the room. She would sit for a few minutes and then start pacing again. Everyone was growing more and more agitated as the seconds ticked by.

Finally, when the door opened, they all crowded around it. Alcina, however, held up her hand. The medic appeared from behind her and shuffled out before any of them could open their mouth.

Rhysand started, "We need-".

"No." Alcina cut him off. "We don't need a medic anymore."

"Is she - she is -" Feyre didn't finish her question.

"She is... alive." Alcina said, carefully. She sneaked a look at Azriel who let go of a breath that he wasn't aware he was holding.

"But?" Cassian pressed.

"Her condition is very delicate. The injury on her leg and her stomach caused a lot of blood loss. However -" She again looked at Azriel who didn't need to ask the question. "- the child is alive. At a large risk of dying.." She trailed but when she met his eyes again, they were full of hope. "- but alive. Both of them."

They were all silent for a long moment before Morrigan threw herself in Alcina's arms and Cassian swore under his breath before pulling Azriel in an embrace.

"What did I say?" He pulled back. "She's a tough one. You should've seen her piling bodies upon bodies in the cave."

Azriel nodded absently, his mind still stuck on the fact that Lillith was alive and so was their child. He blinked back the tears that were forming in his eyes and smiled. "She is. I hate that I missed the show."

Then to Alcina, "Can I see her?"

She nodded with a tear stained smile, "Yes. She's sleeping but you can stay with her till she wakes up. But before that, -" her gaze cut through all of them. "- her pregnancy is at a very high risk. If she so much as frowned because of anyone, I will make sure they don't see the next morning. "

Cassian crossed bis arms over his chest, "Like anyone is even going to think about harming either of them without having half of our army at their doorstep. "

Morrigan snorted at that and slipped inside to see Lillith, followed by both Alcina and Feyre. Rhysand and Cassian, however, couldn't help but grin and Amren rolled her eyes with a smile at the mischievously glint in their eyes.

Azriel groaned inwardly as soon as one of them opened their mouth to speak.