Shadows Whisper | | Azriel

6

Madja helped the girl with a bath after she had treated her wounds as well as she could.

The girl was quiet throughout it, staring at the bath water as if it was something wondrous. Madja didn't let herself wonder when the last time the girl got to bathe was. She washed the girl's hair and brushed out as many of the tangles as she could, but it was a nearly impossible task.

"We'll have to give your hair a bit of a trim," Madja told the girl apologetically, though the girl very clearly didn't care. "Your brother will have some food waiting for you when we're done here."

The girl tensed at that word—brother. It was a little difficult to believe that was what the male was to her. Her brother? How could he be her brother?

Staying quiet, the girl just sat still while Madja continued trying to brush through whatever she could of her hair. She gave up on that task after a while—not even magic could detangle it. But she washed it well and made sure the girl got herself clean otherwise before helping her out and giving her clothes. She cut the girl's dark hair once she was dressed. She managed to salvage enough to leave her hair just below her shoulders.

"Would you like to see it?" Madja offered, and the frail girl seemed surprised. She couldn't even remember the last time she had seen herself.

She shook her head to dismiss the offer. Something about the idea of looking in a mirror made her nauseous.

"Let's go see what your brother has gotten for you to eat then," Madja said with a forced, tense smile. Everything about this girl screamed misery, and it broke the healer's heart.

"Stop calling him that please," the girl spoke for the first time since her brief conversation with Azriel and Rhys earlier, her voice scratchy and rough.

Madja frowned, but she nodded and agreed to the request. She led the girl to the dining room where Rhys was anxiously waiting.

Rhys sucked in a sharp breath when he saw his sister. She was so much cleaner now, but that made it easier to see the cuts and bruises that remained and to really see the way her bones stuck out.

"I got—I had some tea and food prepared for you," Rhys said, his voice a little shaky, "but if you'd prefer something else, nothing is too much. You can have whatever you'd like."

She only stared at him, not moving any further into the dining room than where Madja had left her in the entryway. Silence hung over them for a few moments and Rhys shifted awkwardly before he cleared his throat.

"My name is Rhysand," he blurted out, the silence getting to him, "you can call me Rhys. I don't think I had the chance to introduce myself before."

She still just stared at him. She knew he had saved her life, so maybe it was a little ridiculous to be so intimidated by him, but he was massive. His lean build was all muscle and she knew he could snap her in half with one hand. He was easily twice her size. He could kill her without breaking a sweat.

"Are you...are you not hungry?" he asked, quickly losing whatever confidence he had managed to work up while he was waiting for her.

The girl opened her mouth and then closed it again before she could speak. She took a few hesitant steps forward and settled in a chair at the table. Food and a cup of tea were on the table in front of her.

"My mother used to make that tea for me when I was young," he informed her, slowing sitting across from her. "After hard days of training, especially."

The girl looked at him with caution. He wasn't eating, or having tea. There could be more faebane in it. This could be a trap. Maybe he didn't even really rescue her—this whole thing could be some trick.

"I'm not hungry," she said quietly, "I'm—I don't want any of this."

He looked crushed, but he quickly hid it.

"Do you want something else? Maybe just some water, at least?" he suggested as the food and tea vanished from the table as if they'd never been there at all. "Or a small snack instead of a whole meal?"

She shook her head as her eyes darted around in search of any sign that this wasn't what it seemed. Something had to be off about all of this. How could it be real? Some strange male came bursting into her cell and took her away claiming to be her brother. It seemed like it couldn't be real.

"Can you tell me your name?" Rhys once again broke the silence, a hint of desperation in his tone. This girl was his sister and he didn't even know her name. Or her birthday or her favorite color or anything other than the fact that she had been held prisoner for years. He knew nothing about his own sister. As if he needed the reminder, his thoughts drifted back to how he had gone into that cave intending to kill her. He wondered if she could somehow sense that—if she had some way of knowing that, up until the moment he saw her, he planned to kill her. Maybe that's why she so clearly didn't trust him.

"Where is the shadowsinger?" the girl asked instead of telling her brother her name.

"He's resting," Rhys told her, "these last few days have been...difficult for him."

"I didn't mean to cause that," she muttered, guilt lacing her voice. "The shadows...they were trapped in there with me. He was the only other one they could go to. When I panicked, so did they."

"It's not your fault," Rhys assured her, far too aware of how quickly his opinion on that had shifted. He was going to kill her for what happened to Azriel before he realized who she was and what had been done. "Can I ask...if you were in there all that time, what caused you to panic so badly that they went to him after you'd been locked up for years already?"

The girl went completely tense, eyes glazed over with dread.

"They were going to force me into a marriage," she mumbled after a few seconds of silence, staring down at the table, "they had talked about it before but...they had decided it was finally time. They were going to make me marry someone and have children."

Rhys's jaw twitched, his face hardened with anger before he forced it down as much as possible.

"Do you know who?" he asked, keeping his voice as calm as he could. He wanted to kill everyone involved. He would burn down the entire Hewn City if that's what it took to get answers.

"They never revealed themselves to me," she muttered, flinching at his anger. He didn't hide it well enough—the murderous fury burned in his violet eyes.

"Do you know anything about them? Anyone involved?" he pressed, though he took care to hide his anger a little better since it was clear she had picked up on it.

"The one they were going to make me marry was from another court. I don't know which one, but they were going to send me to live there with him after we had married. They said he was a High Lord's son."

"Autumn Court," Rhys practically growled, eyes narrowing. He forced himself to try to calm down again, taking a deep breath before he explained. "The High Lord of the Autumn Court is the only High Lord with any sons. And this wouldn't be the first time he tried to secure an alliance with the Court Of Nightmares by trying to buy a wife for one of his sons. He tried to force our cousin to marry one of his sons as well."

The girl stayed quiet, a frown on her face.

"Can you tell me your name?" Rhys brought up again, his desperation for an answer more clear this time. "Please?"

She hesitated, opening her mouth and then closing it again. Rhys waited, tense and nervous.

"Astryn," she answered quietly, though there was a quiet resentment in her voice. He wondered if that's why she didn't want to say it, because there was something about it she so clearly hated. She cleared her throat awkwardly, shifting in her seat. "Are you...you're the High Lord, aren't you?"

"I am," he confirmed with a nod, trying to figure out what was hiding in her expression.

"They wanted to use me to kill you," she spoke quietly, "they thought I could kill you, or that...that my future child could."