A Court of Souls and Shadows

18. Raven

Cassian and I were in the middle of one of our regular morning training sessions, when Azriel appeared in the doorway of the rooftop stairwell. Cassian and I both halted our sparring to stare at him. Cassian's face split into a huge grin as he rushed over to his friend and embraced him in his version of a "gentle" hug. I stood awkwardly in the centre of the ring while they embraced. I didn't know how to act around Azriel anymore. Everything had changed, and I was the only one that knew.

Azriel and Cassian started walking towards me, and I took a deep breath and pasted a smile on my face. "Hey Shadow Singer, feeling better?" I said, my voice sounding weird, even to me. Azriel smiled and nodded. "Thanks to you, I hear," he said, directing a pointed look at Cassian.

"It's nothing," I shrugged, furious Cassian had told him. I was going to give him a piece of my mind later when we were alone.

"Az can take over your training again," Cassian said, clapping him on the back. My smile dropped into a frown.

"I thought you were over that, Cass. You can train me just fine. We have been for the last few weeks while Azriel has been healing."

Azriel's gaze locked with mine, his brows drawing together in a frown. "You don't want me to train you?"

"Don't be stupid," I spat back. "It's not that." It totally was though.

"I'm not here for training anyway," Azriel announced, holding my gaze. "There's news from Hybern."

My heart stuttered in my chest, and the feeling of dread overcame me. We hadn't heard anything in the weeks since the Velaris attack, and everyone was on edge, waiting for the next move.

"What news?" I asked eagerly. I just wanted the war to be over already. Now that I'd been in my first battle, I was ready for more. I'd never felt such bloodlust before. But seeing those Hybern soldiers ripping innocent people from their homes on the streets of Velaris had changed things. I still didn't like my powers, but I acknowledged them for what they were, and I would happily use them to take down every single one of the Hybern scum.

"My spies have reported back from Hybern's camps," Azriel continued, his tone grim. "He plans to use the Cauldron to take down the wall."

I withheld my gasp as I stared at the shadow singer. If Hybern dismantled the wall surrounding Prythian, the humans would be slaughtered. I'd never cared for the humans, but I could not just stand by and watch as innocents were slaughtered, completely defenceless.

"We can't let that happen," I said, my frown deepening.

"Not planning on it," Azriel said. "Elain and Nesta have some sort of link to the Cauldron, because of what happened to them. We think they may be able to close the holes in the wall, and strengthen it, to stop Hybern from taking it down."

I felt my stomach clench at the sound of Elain's name on Azriel's lips. It hurt. It hurt so much. And there was nothing I could do. I pushed my feelings down and nodded tightly.

"Let's get it done, then," I said, my voice taking on a gruff tone I didn't like. I needed to get better at hiding my feelings.

"That's where you come in," Azriel said, the ghost of a smile on his lips.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I'm not the one linked to the Cauldron."

"Amren has been trying to work with Nesta on her magic, but they aren't getting anywhere. We were hoping you could work with her. And Elain. Your magic is closer to Nesta's than Amren's is."

I sucked in a deep breath. He wanted me to work with Nesta. And Elain. Elain. I didn't know if I could stomach it, but I also knew that I had no choice. This wasn't about me. And Elain hadn't done anything wrong.