A Court of Song And Shadow

Chapter Seven

(Just a quick chapter as a sorry and to let you know I have not forgotten I will have another chapter later this week. A longer one. Who is here for Evil Elain? )

Azriel

He needed to remember to stay calm. Gwyn was not hurt nor was she in pain, she was not embarrassed or ashamed, so Elain's little stunt hadn't worked.

Appearing in the garden where he knew she would be he looked around, his eyes scanning the hedgerows and flower beds until they settled on the small frame of the female in question. She was sitting on a garden chair and had a book in her lap.

Taking a deep breath and inwardly repeating a calming mantra he approached. She didn't hear him approach and only looked up when his frame cast a shadow over the book she held.

"Azriel! It is so good to see you." She moved to her feet. The book fell as she did, forgotten as she stepped over it and towards him.

He stepped back, a signal to her that she should not approach, and it worked. She took root just a few feet from him.

"Elain, we are friends, and as your friend, I am trying to keep respectful­─"

"I had hoped we were more than that Azriel." She took a step closer, reaching out to him, to touch his arm but he once more took a step back.

Her movement stalled.

"─I am trying to keep respectful of my ties to my family and to our friendship." He continued as if she had not interrupted at all. "What nearly happened on Solstice...it would have been a mistake. You are mated. And I..." He swallowed thickly, nearly having commented that he was too.

"Az, what's going on?"

He had felt they were being watched and hearing his brother's voice in his head confirmed it.

"I need to speak to you, but I need to do this first. You were right at Solstice, and I have given space to Elain since then. Avoided her. But I have been made aware that I need to tell her and explain that this was never going to work. Let me have a moment I will come see you?"

"I will be in the library, Feyre has commandeered the office for party planning so find me there instead. And Az, brother...be gentle."

He didn't need to reply, Rhys knew what was about to happen. There was very little he didn't know but Az suspected the twins had gone to the High Lord after leaving the townhouse.

Standing taller Az continued, "And I respect that bond. You are my friend Elain; I value your friendship above anything that ever would have happened, and I don't want that to be ruined."

Elain blinked. Her expression quickly flitted from pain to rage, "Friends? FRIENDS?"

"Please keep your voice down, your mate is in the house as are Rhys and Feyre."

"I will NOT keep my voice down! I don't care who hears me. Friends...Do friends share secret smiles, little hidden touches, or looks of longing? No! They do not!" She took a step closer; her face flushed, and she appeared to be fighting tears.

"I apologize for overstepping our friendship and I will bear the responsibility for that. But that night helped me realize just how reckless taking things further would have been. I do not feel anything other than friendship for you Elain. Nor should you for I."

"Really? So I imagined the smell of your arousal? I imagined all those times your body reacted when I was near, mirroring my own?" Her voice was a whisper as she spoke, a vocal caress.

"It was unforgivable, and I am ashamed of it. But it will not happen again. We are friends should you wish, but we will never be more."

"Because of her."

It was Azriel's turn to stumble, her words taking him by surprise in both tone and meaning. She knew. Of course she knew, she was a Seer.

"Do you think me stupid friend? Do you think I didn't notice your little shadows playing with her, or how you have been watching her? I don't need the gift of 'seeing' to know that she has taken you from me. Stolen the affection that was once mine."

"Elain, you are being ridiculous."

"Am I? You only came to see me because of those dresses. You have been avoiding me since that night and to get your attention I had to mess with the object of your affection. Tell me I am wrong."

He shook his head because he couldn't.

In the beginning it had been to put space between them, to allow himself time to distance his feelings and his desires. But as he spent time with his little warrior he had begun to see what he felt for Elain was purely physical.

No.

He had allowed his feelings of entitlement to morph into a physical need. He knew she was struggling with her bond. She disliked it and therefore disliked the person she was bonded to. But now, he could understand that those times he had despised her mate he had done so out of ignorance. His newfound bond with Gwyn had allowed him to see that Lucien was in no more control of it than he was.

He had never understood how the mating bond worked and that had made him ignorant. Azriel felt a new degree of respect for the Autumn born male. Lucien had allowed Elain space to grieve and as an ignorant male Az had exploited that.

"What you did regarding that was out of order Elain. I understand you are upset but nothing relating to our past, yours and mine, is connected to Gwyn. The target for your attack should have been me."

His words drew a wicked laugh from the female standing so close now, "Oh, but it was Azriel. Did she love the dresses you picked for her?"

Azriel recoiled. "Elain. This is over, not that it ever truly began. You need to stay away from Gwyn, she has done nothing to deserve your ire."

"She has you, that makes her deserving."

Azriel quickly closed the short distance between them, through gritted teeth he hissed a warning, "Stay away from her. It is not only me who saw the outfits you picked for her, Mor has seen them and knows it was you who chose them. Do not continue with this."

Turning on his heels, forcing himself to move away before saying something that he may regret Azriel got mere feet from her before calling over his shoulder, "Friendship is what I offer, you can take it or leave it, but that is all that it will ever be."

Without another thought, he winnowed from the garden to stand in the doorway of the library where his brother and friends stood waiting with an outstretched hand offering a glass of amber liquid.

"Shut the door behind you Az."