The Last Queen (An ACOTAR / Azriel fanfiction)

The Maps

When Daggerheart found herself alone in a large hall with only the spymaster, her first thought was, "I guess I am the sharpest tool in this shed."

Her second thought was, " That won't do. I need to see the other sharp tools. Maybe, that man by the High Lady's side will do."

Of course, she knew that was the High Lord. She had knows it long before she had stepped into the throne room that day. One didn't grow to be six-hundred-three years old and not know who ruled where. She had been alive for over six decades when Rhysand became the High Lord. Of course, she knew who he was.

She swept a glance around the room. There were four chairs in the room all set around a large table which had a map of both Prythian and the mortal realm spread out. The map was held in place with various objects like a gilded dagger and a strange rock.

She had made her spies retreat after their last meeting. Daggerheart was a lot of things, but not a hypocrite. She had no news of anything that had happened in the Hewn City after she left.

She listened closely to the set of footsteps approaching the door. Two people. Not the High Lord or the High Lady. No, they would not come. They were obviously somewhere else taking care of-

"Our High Lady and High Lord could not make it here, unfortunately. They had matters to attend to." Azriel said as the door was pushed open and in stepped the third-in-command to the High Lord and the Commander of his armies.

A very clever choice. Daggerheart thought. Courtiers, spies and people well versed in war tactics.

But she had been a courtier to the Queens, she had been a spy for most of her life and she had been in wars.

The Third-in-command smiled brightly at her. The Morrigan. The High Lord's sister. She was followed by the General - Cassian. He had been in both wars, the one that just ended and the one that happened five hundred years ago. They all had been and that was reason she had reached out.

So Daggerheart returned the smile and she shook their extended hands as they gathered around the table. As it turned out, none of them wanted to sit on the chairs and so they were pushed out of the way and into a corner.

She briefly did a once-over of both the spymaster and the general and directed her attention towards the only other female in the room.

She began, "Lady-"

She was soon cut off, " Just Morrigan. That will do." She nodded at her words and bit her lower lip before continuing.

"I see you have being preparing. " She jerked her chin towards the map. There were lines drawn all over it and several pens were scattered about.

Morrigan nodded, "Yes. We wanted this settled as soon as possible. We have other-" her eyes flickered towards the spymaster, "- matters that require immediate attention." Then, she clasped her hands together. "And I'm sure you would want to be among your people too. It doesn't seem ideal that you winnow here with Azriel every other day."

So he hasn't mentioned my wings. Interesting. Daggerheart inhaled a deep breath. "Yes, of course."

Morrigan leaned forward and traced a line with one slender fingers, "We have already created a layout for the routes inside Prythian that will be the most convenient. Of course, a bit of alteration can happen if they are not convenient to enter into the mortal realm." Daggerheart, of course, heard very little of that. She just took deep breaths and tried not to stare at the way Morrigan's mouth moved.

"Yes. Of course. That would be necessary. " She pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Shall we first discuss which areas of the human realm are the most volatile?" The general said.

"You mean the most vulnerable?" Daggerheart raised an eyebrow.

"Even if they react out of fear, it would hurt us all." Cassian shrugged.

Daggerheart picked up a pen, "The only important words in that sentence were - out of fear." She dismissed his statement.

Cassian inhaled deeply and exchanged a look with Azriel.

Azriel rolled his eyes and turned to his position of silently glaring at daggerheart.

They had barely been working for an hour when Cassian was explaining where were the places that he needed information from and hence, it was necessary that they kept a flow of spies from there. Daggerheart had hesitated at first but then only given them enough information to satisfy them and hadn't said a word more.

There was a knock on the door and then, without permission, it was thrown open. They all turned to look at whoever had interrupted them with various degrees of annoyance on their faces.

Daggerheart noticed an immediately shift in the environment when the man stepped in. Morrigan's shoulders tensed, Cassian curled his hands into fists and Azriel clenched his jaw.

The man at the door waltzed in like he owned the damn place. His face twisted into the cruelest smile Daggerheart had ever seen and she immediately decided she detested him.

"What a shame-" she dropped her pen on the paper. "- that a man the age of my father must not be mannered enough to wait for permission before entering?" She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

His smiled wavered for a moment but then he set his cold eyes on Morrigan. "I see you're making friends with more of your kind, aren't you Mor?"

Cassian growled, "Kier, this is-"

"You mean the mannered kind?" Daggerheart shot back. "Or perhaps, the useful kind?"

The man - Kier - pressed his lips in a thin line. Daggerheart did not turn around to look at Morrigan. She knew he meant something to her which was the reason he had decided to go out of his way to talk down to her.

Before he could respond, she continued, "You must be a courtier, I'm sure. Since you live in the court. A tragedy, you're not here working on important matters. Some people are better off indulging in daydreams I assume. " She sighed."If you wouldn't mind, I would like continued working with these very capable people. Why don't you go about kicking down doors and smiling at people who don't want you there?"

She ignored that choking sound he made and turned around. Very carefully, she sneaked a look at Morrigan. She cleared her throat at the sight of the faint smile at her face and went back to talking about the map.