burning shadows | Azriel (ACOTAR prequel)

SIXTEEN: Dawn

The first rays of light seemed to be mocking me, the early sunrise a reminder of my sleepless night. I knew I had to be up at dawn, I knew we had a serious mission ahead of us, but absolutely nothing could get my mind off Azriel, for the entire night. It was really pathetic, actually.

I tried not to shiver as I walked up to the Town House, the town around me slowly starting to wake up. I could tell the owner of the house was already gone, and I had to tell myself that Amarantha could have nothing against Rhys, Mor and Amren. On my walk here I went over our plan in my head, the plan I would have to execute with Az and Cass.

It was rather simple, all we had to do was go to the border of the Dawn Court, at the very end of it – the part that borders the Middle, and investigate while Amarantha visits the Hewn City. We wouldn't go anywhere near her actual place in the Middle, but according to Tamlin, there were some suspicious things happening at the border of the Dawn Court, which Azriel's shadows confirmed.

That part of the land was unpopulated, but the reason Tamlin suspected Amarantha were the trade ships she got all over Prythian years ago, as an offer from the Hybern, the island kingdom that nobody even cared about anymore. The mission wasn't even that exciting, and I would have rather ditched it and do other things with Azriel, but I probably shouldn't disobey my first order from Rhys as a High Lord.

Azriel and Cassian didn't seem to be bothered by how early it was, both of them already suited up and sharpening their knives. I almost rolled my eyes at how perfect both of them looked, and instead went straight to the table where I saw coffee waiting.

"How did you sleep?" Cassian asked, too loudly for my liking. I looked over to Azriel, his stare piercing through me like a stab.

I spent the night trying to calm myself from Azriel's touch, having to resolve to touching myself multiple times thinking about him, and taking multiple baths to remove that scent from myself.

"Very well, you?" I rose my brows at Azriel as I took a sip of my coffee, and he just shrugged, but that wicked smirk made its way to his face.

"Like a baby. Az is the one who spent the night spying and then Cauldron knows what in his room." Cassian answered and Az gave him a deadly look at that, which made Cass laugh as he placed his weapons on the straps across his torso, his red siphons gleaming as he moved.

Az moved himself to the window, looking at the cloudy sky. "A big storm is coming," he muttered quietly, almost to himself. Cassian shrugged, throwing himself at the couch next to me and almost making me spill my coffee.

"Luckily the Middle is always a sunny place," Cassian said sarcastically.

I snorted. "I was there once," The two males around me stilled, both their eyes on me. "You've been in the Middle?" The shock was evident in Azriel's voice.

"Alone?" Cassian added.

"It was a long time ago," I shrugged, placing my coffee cup back on the tale. "Beron thought I needed to learn my lesson." I said with a nonchalant smile, and it seemed like the two of them stopped breathing for a second, and I hated how I knew where their thoughts went, how they were remembering exactly what my father did to me.

"Here's a tip, stay away from the water." The scars I got on my face from those creatures took months to heal, even with the healers that Lucien sneaked to me without Beron knowing. It's been centuries, and I still saw them in my nightmares.

"Noted," Cass muttered, before he nudged me a little and then got up from the couch. "I'm gonna make sure everything is prepared for leaving. Asteria, you go change in the room above, Mor left you some Illyrian leathers."