Intangible - An ACOTAR story

Fifteen: With Great Care

Azriel sprinted to grab his shirt, sliding it over his head before picking up Ellius's and launching into the sky. The brutal gusts of air around the house of wind tossed him this way and that until he finally broke free from their radias.

Where are you Smoky?

Something had gone very wrong in the training ring. Azriel had seen the moment it happened. Pure panic had crossed Ellius's face, the male's eyes going wide in warning, just as that Illyrian blade swung for Azriel's head. He knew Ellius hadn't been trying to hurt him... but something had. Something had decided to slit his throat, and Ellius had stopped it. But what? What the hell isn't he telling us?

Azriel hovered in place, Ellius's shirt in his fist, furiously scanning the landscape. The trees and foothills to his right, the red-stone mountains behind him, the city below. A flicker of movement caught his eye and Az noticed a small flurry of birds shoot up from the trees on the side of a small mountain in the distance. Ellius must have winnowed, he realised. Flapping his wings furiously, Az speared through the air toward that spot, wanting to catch the other Shadowsinger before he did something stupid. The horror and self-loathing on Ellius's face as he'd thrown that sword across the ring... something was seriously wrong, and he intended to get some answers.

Azriel glided down toward a small clearing half-way up the side of the mountain. Ancient evergreens speared toward the sky, and he wove between them, searching the ground for any sign of Ellius. Azriel's throat tightened when he saw him. The male was huddled against a fallen tree at the edge of the clearing, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees and his head bent to his chest. Cold wind bit at Azriel's face, despite the time of year, and he realised that Ellius must be freezing. Illyria was always cold. He landed softly in the clearing, his feet making almost no sound on the bed of pine needles. He scuffed his bare foot on the ground, just as he'd done on the balcony, and Ellius shot to his feet, a small knife he'd obviously been concealing angled to throw. Azriel raised his hands, the other male's shirt flapping in the breeze, and Ellius's eyes shuddered. He slowly sheathed the knife at his thigh and lowered himself onto the splintered log.

"Y-you shouldn't h-have come after m-me. I'm c-clearly a danger t-to y-you." Azriel strode forward at the quaver in Ellius's voice, realising that the male's lean form was shaking violently. He silently offered the shirt, and Ellius took it, his hand brushing through Az's fingers. He joined him on the log, noting the absence of the other's wings and stretching his own out to block the wind. Now fully clothed, minus some shoes, Ellius finally looked at him with hollow eyes. The expression was like a punch to the gut. Complete and utter hopelessness. He had to do something to get that expression off the male's face.

"So, how does that work?" Az asked, gesturing toward the shirt the male had just slid on. "Because I could touch it before, but as soon as you put it on..." Ellius blinked. He'd likely expected Azriel to interrogate him about what had just happened.

"Well, I'm not really s-sure. I still d-don't entirely understand this." He gestured at the shadows twisting around him. "I think it's just logic. I still need to be able to pick up objects like food and clothes to survive, so the shadows let me. But I guess they make the shirt intangible once I put it on because if they didn't, then people would be able to touch it, and I'd be able to feel that, which... can't..."

"Can't happen," Az finished, earning a small nod. He was relieved to see that Ellius's body had stopped shaking so much.

"Listen, I... I'm so sorry, Az. I... the training ring... I don't know how to explain it. I can't explain it."

"You don't have to apologise! You-"

"But I do!" Ellius cried. "I almost chopped your damn head off and I..." Ellius's breath hitched and Azriel had to strain to hear his next words before the wind snatched them away, "something happened when I smelled your blood. It was like I could see everything clearly and I was just so... angry. I realised... no, never mind, it's stupid."