Shadows Whisper | | Azriel

10

It has been quite some time since Rhys allowed himself to cry over the loss of his sister and his mother. But he found himself hiding away in his room crying now. Astryn's laugh was far too much like his other sister's laugh.

He felt foolish crying. It was like twenty years of trying to heal went right down the drain just from a laugh. He was glad that Astryn was laughing, that she even could still laugh after years locked away in a cave. But it hurt to hear. It killed him to hear that sound that reminded him so much of someone he would never have in his life again.

Worse, even, it killed him to know that Astryn would never know the sister whose laugh was an echo of her own. She'd never get to meet her, to know her and love her. Rhys could tell her all about their sister, and he planned to if she ever let him, but that wouldn't ever compare to really knowing her.

Astryn would never get to see their sister smile, would never get to hear that lovely laugh that was a twin to her own, would never get to hear her sweet voice, would never see the joy that radiated from her. She would never meet their sister and know exactly why it was that Rhys would be grieving the loss for the rest of his life.

Every part of him ached knowing his sisters would never know each other. He even wished his mother could have known Astryn. His mother was so loving, she would have taken in the child that her mate had with someone else. She would have loved Astryn like her own if she had been around to meet her. His mother would have known how to help him cope with the detached politeness Astryn gave him in comparison to the way she laughed and smiled with Azriel. His mother would have found a way to make sense of it, of why she was tense around him but at ease with Azriel.

There were obvious answers that Rhys wouldn't consider. He didn't want to consider the idea that his sister who had only just escaped years of captivity was the mate of one of his best friends. If the circumstances were different, he would be happy for both of them. But this felt wrong. She knew nothing of the world besides the cave she had been locked in and this house. Shouldn't she get some freedom before she ends up with a mate? He knew Azriel would never pressure her to accept the bond if they truly were mates, but he knew what a formal rejection would do to his friend. Males usually go mad at a rejected bond. They lose their minds, lose themselves. But Astryn deserved freedom and experience before she was magically tethered to anyone, even someone as good as he knew Azriel was. Shouldn't she get to have a life before she had a mate? Azriel already had over a hundred years of life to look back on. Astryn had only twenty and most of those years were spent locked in a cave. She should know the world before she had to decide whether or not she wanted to accept Azriel as her mate.

Those were all things that Rhys didn't have in himself to consider, so he didn't let himself think about the possibility of his sister and his friend being mates. Instead, he considered that maybe they were drawn to each other because of the shadows. The shadows clung to Astryn so similarly to how they clung to Azriel. It could be that bringing them together. It made sense. Azriel had never met anyone else who could communicate with the shadows, it only made sense that he would be drawn to someone else who could. And Astryn had only the shadows as companions for years, it made just as much sense that she'd be drawn to someone who they clung to.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a knock on his bedroom door.

"I'm busy," he called through the door, cursing himself for not picking up on Mor's scent before she was close enough to knock. It wasn't often that he was taken by surprise.

"Rhys," Mor said, and something about her tone made him tense, "your sister agreed to do the spell to locate her mother. She wants to do it now. With or without you there."

Rhys cursed under his breath and pulled himself together. Mor looked suspicious but didn't ask him any questions as she led him down the hall to the room they had settled in. Astryn hardly even spared him a glance when he came in. Her eyes weren't on Amren either as the female got the spell together. Her eyes weren't on Cassian or Mor of the objects that would be used for the spell. No, her stare was fixed on Azriel. And the shadowsinger stared right back at her, eyes full of pride.

Azriel was proud of Astryn. It was in his eyes and all over his face, his usual unreadable expression replaced with that proud look. Rhys felt a little sick at the sight. He didn't like this. He didn't like Azriel looking at his little sister like that. She was hardly anything more than a child as far as Rhys was concerned. She was young and new to the world and Azriel looking at her that way drove Rhys insane.

Azriel wasn't someone Rhys would ever have to protect Astryn from, he knew that logically, but everything in him urged him to tell the shadowsinger to keep away from her. He wanted to tell Azriel to find someone else, anyone else. Anyone but Astryn. Rhys wouldn't stand in his way with any other person in the world, but he had to with Astryn. Azriel couldn't look at her that way.

Azriel felt Rhys's eyes on him and he looked embarrassed, as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't. Rhys knew somewhere in the back of his mind that he was crossing a line and this wasn't his place, but he spoke into Azriel's mind.

Whatever you think is going to happen with my sister, it's not. Stop looking at her like that, Rhys ordered, feeling a rush of guilt at the look that crossed Azriel's face before he put back on his usual unreadable expression.

I don't have any expectations about anything with Astryn. I don't know what look you're talking about, Azriel denied easily, passive and unconcerned.

Lie to me again, Azriel. See what it gets you, Rhys dared, malice clear even in the voice in his mind. Don't even think about her.

Azriel's jaw clenched and he locked eyes with Rhys for a moment before he turned his stare to the wall.

I have no intention of pursuing anything with Astryn. But be careful with the orders you're giving, Rhysand. It's not just me you're controlling when you give an order like that. Don't become another male controlling her life. She deserves better.

With those parting words, Azriel shoved Rhys out of his mind.