A Court Of Flowers And Shadows {Azriel Shadowsinger}

Chapter Fifty-One

For once, Amara actually woke up before Azriel which was something that she had never thought would ever happen. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled as she thought about the cruellest way that she could wake him up. Those thoughts drifted though when she noticed the dark circles under his eyes so instead of waking him up, Amara carefully slid out of his arms and headed downstairs to go and scrounge up some breakfast. 

Cassian's bed had already been empty and the door to Rhys and Feyre's room left open so she hadn't been that surprised to see Cassian already annoying Nesta in the front room. There were two options here for Amara: get involved and try to get Cassian to stop, or sit down with Elain and drink her hot chocolate. Honestly, neither of those options came across as appealing but sitting down wit Elain seemed safer than intervening so she pinched Cassian's drink and went to sit down on the other side of the couch to the middle Archeron sister. 

"So what is your story?" Elain asked her softly. It didn't seem to be coming across as malicious but the smile on Elain's face told Amara that she already knew most of it. 

Amara sipped her drink and crossed her ankles, looking over at her. "What has Feyre already told you about my story?" 

Elaine hesitated before she sighed. "She said that you are Tamlin's sister and that things are very complicated. She didn't really elaborate more than that. She said that it was your story to tell."

The conversation was happily derailed with the smash of a glass from Nesta and Cassian's deep chuckle. Amara rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her long blonde hair, choosing to ignore the situation that was clearly happening in the other room. The two of them were both stubborn and she didn't want to get involved. She was sick of getting involved in drama started by Cassian. She turned her attention back to Elain. 

"I understand why you're curious but I don't really know how to muddle through the story enough to tell you. And I can't be sure that it has a happy ending," Amara told her softly, looking up at the doorway when she heard footsteps. She smiled softly when she saw Azriel. "Hey, you okay?" 

He nodded lightly and kissed the top of her head before he took a sip of her coffee. "I'm okay. How'd you sleep?" He asked her softly, hardly registering Elain excusing herself from the room. 

"I slept okay. Not for very long though."

"Something on your mind?" 

She sighed and looked over at him, handing her coffee to him so he could drink it instead. She didn't really want it anyway, she was just using it to warm up her hands. "I just.. I don't know. I feel like maybe I should head back to Spring for a bit," she admitted as she looked over at him. 

Az raised an eyebrow at her and seemed just about to continue the conversation with her when the look in his eyes went a little dark. "I've got to go. Stay here," he said softly and kissed her temple before he left. 

Amara sighed and ran a hand through her hair, pulling a letter out of her pocket that she had received just before they'd left. It was a letter from Lucien, updating her on everything that had happened around the Spring Court since she had left. She knew that it wasn't malicious intent, asking her to come back, but that didn't change the fact that it was drawing her back to the place she'd grown up. It wasn't as if there were a lot of great memories there but her family was there... Lucien was there. 

She looked up as Cassian came in and let her know that they were leaving and that Feyre was pretty pissed off with Rhys. Instead of having Cass drop her in the House of Wind, Amara made her way into town and stopped by Dolores' bakery. She sat down opposite her and sighed softly, running a hand through her hair. 

"You okay, hun?" Dolores asked softly as she sat down opposite her, pushing over a warm cup of tea and a chocolate eclair. 

"Yeah... yeah, I'm okay. Just got some decisions I need to make and not sure if I'm ready to make them," Amara admitted softly, wrapping her hands around the warm cup of tea. She chewed on the inside of her cheek and looked over at her friend. "I might need to head back to the Spring Court. Apparently Tamlin has closed the borders and Lucien is struggling to get him to see sense and everything. Might need to go back to help fix it." 

Dolores nodded lightly and sighed a little. "Well, if that's what you need then I think you can do it. You're probably one of the best people to help with politics right now and if you think he needs you then that's what you'll have to do."

"Would you come with me? You could probably set up another bakery there. I know you've been wanting to expand the business more." 

"You'd help me do that? Seriously?" 

"Yeah, of course. Brigette can stay here and look after the place while you're here, you've basically been prepping her to take over anyway," Amara pointed out. "Come on, this'll be great. And if you hate it then you can come back, no big deal." 

"You sound like you've already made your mind up," Dolores commented. 

Amara rolled her eyes lightly. "No, I just don't think that I'm very far from making the choice."

Going home and finding out about the letter that Feyre sent only pushed her into making the decision. By morning, Amara and Dolores had already left.