Battle Scars

Solstice

Az made his way to the townhouse where everyone had gathered. After finishing his report about the Illyrian camps he had done little except wonder about the evening's festivities. He entered to Cass and Feyre laughing who had already opened the wine cabinet' contents. He sighed- the room was decorated remorsefully by (he guessed) Cassian and Feyre and he felt obliged to right it. He shook his head at the room- they hadn't even tried to make it look good.

"Az, relax for a minute," Cassian drawled, waving a hand. "Have some wine. Cookies." "Take off your coat," Feyre added. He looked at them, "It's almost like you two tried to make it as ugly as possible." Cassian clutched at his heart. "We take offense to that." Azriel sighed at the ceiling- what was he going to do with these two. "Poor Az," Feyre said, pouring another glass. "Wine will make you feel better." He couldn't help but glare at the two at that, nevertheless after a second of contemplating, he took the bottle from Feyre' hand and chugged it entirely. He would need it for the upcoming dinner.

It was at that exact moment when Rhysand decided to enter the room, drawling, "Well, at least now I know who's drinking all my good wine. Want another one, Az?" Az choked on the wine and turned to face his High Lord, "I would like to explain-" But his explanation was cut off with Rhys' laugh. "Five centuries, and you think I don't know that if my wine's gone, Cassian's usually behind it?" Cassian raised his glass in a salute. Rhys surveyed the room and chuckled. "I can tell exactly which ones you two did, and which ones Azriel tried to fix before I got here." Azriel was now rubbing his temple. Rhys lifted a brow at his mate, "I expected better from an artist."

Suddenly, their scent of arousal filled the room as Feyre stuck her tongue out at Rhys. "It's cold as hell!" Mor called from the front hall. "And who the hell let Cassian and Feyre decorate?" Az snorted at that, his shadows lightening a bit when he saw his friend. She, however, scowled. "You two couldn't wait until I got here to break into the good wine?" Cassian said, "We were just getting started on Rhys's collection."

Rhys scratched his head. "It is there for anyone to drink, you know. Help yourself to whatever you want."

"Dangerous words, Rhysand," Amren warned, strutting through the door, nearly swallowed up by the enormous white fur coat she wore. Az kept his building laugh inside as Cassian said, "You look like an angry snowball,"

"Careful, boy. Wouldn't want to start a war you can't win." She unbuttoned the collar so we all heard her clearly as she purred, "Especially with Nesta Archeron coming for Solstice in two days." Az felt the pure temper that rumbled from Cassian, all half-drunk merriness suddenly gone. He said in a low voice, "Shut it, Amren." Amren merely grinned, those red lips spreading wide enough to show most of her white teeth as she stalked toward the front hall closet and said over a shoulder, "I'm going to enjoy seeing her shred into you. That's if she shows up sober." And that was enough for the High Lady to speak up, "Leave Nesta out of it, Amren."

She then turned towards him and asked, her head tilting, "Is she coming?" There was no need to specify who was the 'she' being referred to. Azriel nodded at the same time Rhys said, "she promised me she would come when I visited her some time back." Cassian who had a stone-faced look on his face blinked, "she said she would come as an apology to me today." There was a moment of silence before Azriel gave one of his rare smiles while Feyre chuckled, "two birds with one stone." Amren too gave a ghost of smile but merely said, "Good. Varian's coming too, so deal with it."

*******

Eve did not go on Solstice Eve, deciding to visit one of the bars instead. Why? For she needed to mentally prepare herself to meet and socialize with all of them- all of them who knew parts of her story, had seen it first-hand and were parts of it. Some days, she could not look them in the eye for the fear that they might figure out just what had happened in the Cauldron. That she had almost chosen New York over Prythian. Trustworthy and reliable indeed.