A Court of Golden Shadows

Chapter 4

Two chairs, two options, two different ways this night could end. He stood there frozen longer than he realized, until Nesta called on him.

"Az, are you going to sit down?" She was seated on Gwyn's other side, and pointed at the chair next to Gwyn. In that moment, Azriel reacted and sat down next to Gwyn. Her movement was small, but Azriel saw a twink of disappointment in Elain's eyes.

Everyone started talking and eating their meals, Elain ate her meal quietly and only talked when they asked her something. Gwyn, surprisingly, had adapted very well to their dynamic. She had a nice conversation with Nesta, and Cassian and Rhys joined their conversation a bit afterwards. Azriel thought that it might be better to just eat his meal in silence, but as soon as the idea came to his mind, Nesta got him into their conversation.

"Az, can you pass the sauce please?" Azriel passed her the sauce, but she didn't leave it there.

"So how has been the training with the other priestesses?" Nesta asked him and they all turned to look at him.

"It has been going well, they are all very motivated to learn and practice"

"Well I'm sure it's because they have an excellent teacher"

"Excuse me. Do I need to remind you that Az is not the only one training them?" Cassian said, faking offense at Nesta's statement.

"I know that you also train them, but I was not talking to you."

"Hey I'm as good as Az, because of all of us present, I'm the only one that can beat him."

"You are the only one?" Nesta asked raising one eyebrow and looking discreetly at Rhys who was talking with Feyre and Mor.

Cassian sighed. "Fine. Rhysie and I are the only ones in this room that can beat Az in a fight and may I add that we have done it tons of times."

"Snowball fights don't count and if I recall correctly, I beat you the last time we fought"

Gwyn nearly choked with her drink and Nesta started laughing quietly.

Cassian crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Pick a date. And I'll beat you in that one"

Azriel crossed his arms and fixed his glare on Cassian. Nesta and Gwyn both turned to Azriel and followed the conversation with their eyes.

"Friday at dusk. Pick a place"

"The House of Wind"

"Fine. It's settled."

"Friday at dusk at the House of Wind. The ladies here will be the judges" Cassian said, pointing at Gwyn and Nesta.

"Good, I always wanted to be the judge of a bull fight." Nesta muttered under her breath and he could hear Gwyn's small giggle.

After dinner they all went to the living room to drink more wine and chat a little bit more. Nyx had been taking a nap and when he woke up, Feyre brought him down to be with his family.

Nesta was the first one to reach for him and he extended his little arms at her. Then Gwyn came next to Nesta and started playing with Nyx, he giggled and played with Gwyn's hand. Nyx then reached for Gwyn and Nesta passed him to Gwyn's arms and came to stand next to Azriel.

"It's kind of weird to see you smile like that." That caught Azriel off guard, he hadn't realized he had been smiling, and not a small smile, but a large smile that reached his eyes. He cleared his throat and looked at her.

"I don't do it often but I do smile from time to time"

"I know. I'm just not used to it"

They stood silent for a while and then suddenly Nesta spoke.

"It's also good to see her smile like that" she said pointing with her chin at Gwyn, who was still playing with Nyx.

"Yeah it is"

"It's okay you know"

"What's okay?" He asked her, and she just smiled and pointed her chin first at Azriel and then at Gwyn.

"You and her"

She left Azriel with a confused face. What did she mean when she said that Gwyn and he was okay? Why was everyone making assumptions about them? Azriel had lots of questions with what was happening right now. He was a spy master, a shadowsinger, usually he was the one with secrets, the one that could see things when others couldn't. What was it that everyone else saw except him?

He tried hard to find the answer to that, and then, when he lifted his head and saw Gwyn. Her teal eyes shining and full of happiness, a big smile on her beautiful, freckled face as she, Feyre and Nesta played with Nyx. And in that moment Azriel felt an incredibly strong urge to protect her, to tear anyone limb by limb who dared erase that smile and happiness from her face.

Suddenly, he was no longer in control of his body as he started walking towards her, when Nyx saw him, he extended his arms at him and Azriel took him in his arms with great softness and care. Even in his arms, Nyx reached for Gwyn's copper hair to play with it.

"What is it that he finds your hair so interesting?" Nesta asked as she tried to untangle Nyx's fingers from Gwyn's hair.

"Trust me, me more than anyone would like to know the answer" said Gwyn as she tried to help Nesta with her hair.

"Perhaps he likes the feeling of your hair" Feyre suggested.

"No, I don't think so, my hair has the same feeling and he never reaches for it"

"But you never let it down, so maybe it's harder for him to reach for it"

Nesta cocked her head, considering Gwyn's suggestion. And suddenly it came to Azriel's mind.

"Maybe is your hair colour. Maybe he feels attracted by the red colour of your hair." For a moment they were all quiet and then Feyre spoke.

"I think you are right. Of all the toys that he has, his favourite one is a red ball. He likes the red colour"

"That would also explain why he always tries to reach for Cassian's siphons"

"His favourite colour is red" Gwyn said in a soft voice.

Azriel turned his head at her and suddenly found himself unable to take his eyes off her. When had this happened? When had Gwyn become so special to him?

He was so focused on Gwyn that he forgot about another fae with golden-brown hair and rich brown eyes that had been sitting across the room watching him, and was now crying in the garden outside the house.