A court of water and worlds

chapter #62

hi loves! sorry it took me so long to post. I made this one extra long for you. also I'm like half asleep right now so if there are some errors.... sorry. anyway thanks so much for reading. you guys make me very happy! love you, biiiiiii
Also I fixed the low bar part btw.
trigger warning!: mentions of sexual assault.
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Azriel had been glaring at an unconscious Gwyn for three hours now.

He still couldn't believe she pulled an arrow out of her shoulder. Of course it wouldn't heal quickly. Pulling an arrow out would just be opening up the wound. She should have applied pressure—

He stopped lecturing her in his head and decided to save it for when she woke up.

He had brought her back to Tamlin. Azriel knew he would be able to heal Gwyn more quickly with his high lord magic. It was so fucking hard though, to let his injured mate be handled by another male. Even though Tamlin was Gwyn's father, it didn't make Azriel want to rip out his throat any less.

He heard footsteps in the hall then the door opened and there he was. The high Lord of spring.

He set down a clear-greenish drink, "for when she wakes," he explained, "to get the last of the poison out of her system."

Right. The arrow she pulled out of her arm was laced with poison: fae bane.

Azriel wanted to crumble up and die. He should have helped Gwyn first. He should have healed her or winnowed her away but the... the mating instinct forced him to eliminate the threat. It was like he couldn't see or feel anything but rage the moment he saw the males were a threat to his mate.

And kissing her... Gods, he really needed to get a grip.

He should have never succumbed to that, but he could see her struggling with her power and helping her learn her body was something he would gladly do. Cauldron, he had been dying to touch her like that for a while.

When he offered, he regretted it immediately, and had expected her to cringe at the question. After what occurred... what form of trauma she had been dealt, he hadn't predicted her to be ready to take on any of what he suggested. Gwyn, it seemed, never ceased to surprise him.

He wouldn't tell her about the mating. He wouldn't do that to her... but if she wanted to use him, he would let her.

And that kiss. He didn't know how he expected kissing his mate to feel, but it was definitely way more earth-shattering than he had ever imagined.

her lips were so soft and she tasted like oranges and sunshine—

He was mad at her, he reminded himself.

And her father was less than five feet away from him. That thought alone was like a bucket of ice cold water washing over him.

"The male is still restrained in the dungeons," Tamlin didn't take his eyes off of Gwyn, "I would do it myself but, I hear you are more adept in torture."

Azriel said nothing. He knew the male was in the dungeons. He had been there ever since Azriel had brought him back. But right now Azriel was in no mood to leach out information from a male who harmed his mate. He wanted to watch over Gwyn now. To protect her.

But the torture... that would surely come later.

He turned to Tamlin, his lips were pressed in a thin worried line.

They didn't speak for a few minutes, and Azriel wondered what was going through the high lord's mind.

Tamlin tore his eyes away from Gwyn and turned to leave, but before he could, "why don't you care? Surely speaking to her outside of training wouldn't be a difficult task."