A Court of Golden Shadows

Chapter 7

The attack must have a purpose behind it, it was certainly not meant to be destructive, of that, he was sure. But he knew that he needed to find out what was the purpose of the attack and make sure that Beron was actually the one who caused it.

He could still remember Elain's face when she walked into the room. She had been surprised and her swollen eyes showed clearly that she had been crying. Then, she went to her room and didn't come down during the rest of the meeting, he knew that she didn't want Lucien as a mate and even though he understood her and supported her decision, he couldn't help but to feel a small bit of pity for the male. He had no mate, but he knew that when a male was rejected by their mate, it was a pain and sorrow that even drove some of them mad.

He shoved away every thought about Elain and decided to focus on the attack that had happened. There was nothing he could do right now to help, Lucien was the only one with the task to go to the autumn court and spy on his father. Eris had also been informed and even though he was not on the best terms with Lucien, he agreed to help him infiltrate the court.

Azriel decided to go to the House of Wind to let out all of his frustration on the rink. Even before he arrived, he knew who else was training for the way his shadows started dancing. As he got closer, he saw a shiny wave of copper red hair and then he was able to see her practicing punches and kicks. She was wearing Illyrian leathers instead of her usual priestess' robes and by the way she threw her punches and kicks, Azriel thought that perhaps he was not the only who liked to take out his frustration on the rink.

He got closer and even though he was not trying to be careful, Gwyn was so concentrated on her training that she didn't see him until he got on the rink.

"Oh, hi Azriel" she said softly, obviously trying to calm down before speaking.

"Hello, Gwyn" Azriel answered with a small nod.

She opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it just as soon as she had opened it. They stood in silence for a while before she finally said something.

"Do you want to spar?"

Azriel considered it for a while before accepting, he wanted to get his frustration out and Gwyn was able to change his mood in just a few minutes. Her technique had also improved a lot since the last time they had trained together. He didn't answer her, he just took out his sword and got in position. Gwyn was also fast to grab her sword and in less than a minute they were already sparring.

Gwyn was strong and when she channeled her frustration into her sword, it made her powerful. But also reckless, and Azriel used those moments to throw out his frustration in his strikes.

This wasn't like the first time they had sparred. That first time seemed more like a kid's game compared to the way they were sparring now. Azriel was done being too careful and Gwyn was done being soft. They both matched each other's strikes like if they wanted to beat the hell out of each other and it wasn't until both of their swords flew out of the rink that they stopped.

They were both sweaty and panting and just as Gwyn was about to grab her sword, Azriel spoke.

"Hey, are you okay?" She stood quiet for a while and then answered back.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are we going to continue?"

She grabbed her sword and got back to the rink. Azriel just sighed and also went to grab his sword. He knew that something was wrong with Gwyn, her usual light and spirit were off. But he also knew that if she wanted to talk, she would, so he decided to stop with the questions and continue to spar.

They continued to spar, but Gwyn's mind was obviously somewhere else. Azriel started to slow down when Gwyn's movements started to become clumsy and when he noticed a small tear falling out of one of Gwyn's teal eyes, he knew that something was really wrong.

He used his strength and experience to get Gwyn's sword to fly out of her hand and pinned her against the nearest wall. She started struggling and tried to free herself, but Azriel was stronger and he kept her there until she gave up and stopped struggling.

"Gwyn, look at me." His voice was rough and commanding and anyone else would have been scared and immediately looked at him, but not Gwyn. She twisted her head a little but refused to look at his face.

"Gwyn?" he asked with a softer voice and moved his hand to grab her chin and lift her face so that their eyes met.

"What is going on?" he asked with a smooth dangerous voice. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out, until she managed a word that came out like a whisper.

"Nothing"

"No. I know you. You are not okay"

Tears started rolling down Gwyn's flushed cheeks and when Azriel moved his hand to brush her tears away, she collapsed and started sobbing. Azriel caught her in his arms and she leaned on him. He could feel as his heart started to race with the feeling of Gwyn's face pressed against his chest. Gwyn still hadn't told him what was wrong and he was getting desperate with not knowing who or what had happened to her.

But he could feel Gwyn's heart against his chest and he knew that right now, she needed to let it all out. So, he just held her against his chest and started stroking her hair as she wept in his arms.