A Court of Golden Shadows

Chapter 3

What made Gwyn so special? It was a question that Azriel had been asking himself for a while now, twice he had felt a spark within his chest that he had never felt with anyone. What was it that made Gwyn the only fae able to ignite that spark?

Since that night at the library, he had not crossed paths with her again, but still everyday he made an excuse to visit the library and see her at least from afar.

That night, Rhys and Feyre were organizing a family dinner at their new house, family dinners became something ordinary since Nyx was born and anyone that was considered family was invited.

Azriel usually tried to avoid them because Elain was always there and even though it was almost forbidden for them to be together, Elain always looked for chances to be close to him or at least be able to send some glances in his direction. Despite that he enjoyed spending time with Nyx, so he tried to balance his attendances and absences.

 Tonight, there was a family dinner and he had missed the last dinner, so he was supposed to attend to this one. He decided to go to the house garden before going to Rhys' house, to clear his mind. At first, he thought it might be better to take it out with punches, but then he realized that if he did that, he would arrive all sweaty to the dinner. So, he had no choice but to do something that wouldn't get him sweaty or dirty and at the same time relaxed him.

When he arrived to the garden he sat on the grass and stared at the sky that got darker each second, thinking about different ways the dinner could go wrong, or the ways he could excuse himself early. He only had a minute to be like that before he saw that his shadows had started dancing around him, and in that moment, he knew that he was not alone in the garden, and he knew exactly who was there.

He stood up and walked in the direction his shadows pointed him. And that's when he saw her seated on a rock, in the priestess' robes she always wore, her long hair falling on one side, and a book in her hands.

He recognized the book as one that Nesta had been reading recently and for the way she bit her lip and the colour that started appearing in her cheeks, he knew that it was no innocent book at all.

He was getting closer, and Gwyn didn't seem to notice him, so he stepped on a branch on purpose just to get her attention. As soon as the crack sounded, she lifted her head and pressed the book to her chest, hiding its content.

"Oh, Azriel, you startled me" she said with a small smile.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your reading"

"Oh, don't worry I was not that concentrated in the book"

He knew that she was lying and decided to tease her just a little.

"What are you reading?" He asked advancing towards her. Her cheeks started getting even more coloured.

"Eh... it's just a book Nesta lent me, I just started reading it so I still don't know what it will be about" she answered clinging even more to the book. Again, another lie, but Azriel just chuckled and smiled at her.

"What are you doing here anyways? I thought that tonight was supposed to be the family dinner"

Clever evasion, Azriel thought, but still he gave her an answer.

"Yes, it is, but I just came here to have some fresh air before leaving"

"Oh okay"

"What are you doing here alone?"

"Oh well I have a free night, but Emerie had to go back to her store and, well Nesta is at the family dinner" she said with a shrug. She hid it very well, but Azriel could see that deep down she had wanted to go with Nesta.

"Why don't you come with me to the dinner?" Azriel blurted, surprising Gwyn and himself. She looked at him with bright and big teal eyes.

"Really? But isn't it supposed to be family only?"

"When we say family, we mean anyone we consider dear" he answered extending his hand at her. Her eyes lit up and a big genuine smile appeared on her face as she took his hand, and there was that spark on his chest again.

He carried her and they flew together to Rhys' house, he was happy with her in his arms, watching how her face scanned her surrounding with eyes full of curiosity and astonishment.

When we say family, we mean anyone that we consider dear, he still couldn't believe that those words had left his mouth, but as he gave them more thought he realized that it was true. If family was only family by blood, then that meant that his family was his mother and his abusive father and brothers.

Rhys and Feyre were mates, Mor was Rhys's cousin, Nesta and Elain were Feyre's sisters and Cassian was mated to Nesta, so that linked him to their family. He and Amren were the only ones that had no mate or blood bond to the family. Azriel knew that he shouldn't think that, and that if Rhys knew that he had thought even just for a second that he wasn't part of the family he would tell him over and over again that it didn't matter that they didn't share the same blood, they were still brothers and would always be.

When he saw that he was close to the house he decided to send the thought away and concentrate on the dinner and on the fact that he was part of the family, and nothing could change that.

He put Gwyn down and before he even had the chance to knock, Cassian opened the door and greeted them.

"Finally! We have been waiting for you" he said as he ushered them both inside.

"Waiting for us? Since when you wait for us?"

"Since Feyre said that we wouldn't have dinner until all of us were here" answered Mor as she got closer to them, along with Feyre and Nesta.

"Welcome to our house Gwyn, please make yourself comfortable" said Feyre with a big smile in her face.

"Thank you, I'm so sorry for arriving just like this without previous warning"

"Oh, don't worry we have enough room in the house"

While Gwyn and Feyre were chatting, Mor went with Amren and Nesta stood there, her narrowed eyes moving between Gwyn and Azriel. Cassian later returned with a big bottle of wine in one hand and put his other arm around Azriel's shoulders.

"So, brother, what have you been up to?"

"Me? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you and Gwyn" he said pointing at Gwyn who was across the room talking with Nesta.

"Nothing, I found her alone in the house because Emerie had to go and Nesta was here, so I decided to invite her over. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, is just that you had never brought someone"

That left Azriel thinking for a while, it was true, he had never brought someone. Why had he thought about bringing Gwyn here? He had seen her a lot of times alone before, but why was this time different? He was so immerse in his thoughts that it took him 5 seconds to realize that they were calling him.

"Az, dinner is ready" said Feyre as she started getting closer to him.

"Right" he said and started going to the dining room.

"Is everything okay?" There was some kind of worry on Feyre's face, ever since she gave birth to Nyx and became a mother, she has been more perceptive of other people's emotions and she's always able to notice easily when something is troubling them.

"Yeah, everything is fine, how's Nyx?" Her face said clearly that she hadn't bought his answer, but she let it go and answered him.

"Nyx is going good, he crawls even more now and he's fast, it will be a disaster when he starts walking"

"Wait until he flies, then it will be a true disaster"

"I guess you are right"

They both arrived to the dining room and in that moment he froze. He had totally forgotten about Elain, she was seated in a chair and to her left was Feyre and the seat to her right was empty. That's when he realized that there were only two empty chairs, one next to Elain and the other happened to be next to Gwyn. Everyone was looking at him waiting for him to pick a seat and that's when he realized that this was going to be a more complicated night than he expected.