Shadows Whisper | | Azriel

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Azriel couldn't think. He couldn't think or breathe.

She's safe now, the shadows whispered in relief, she's with Cassian. She's safe, still scared but safe.

It didn't ease his nerves. He wouldn't relax until he saw her. He went tense all over again went the shadows perked up.

She went away. She left. Only for a few moments but we couldn't see her when she left. She disappeared. She's with Cassian again now.

"Are they talking to you about her?" Rhys spoke up, finally ending the tense silence between them from the worry they both felt.

"They said she disappeared. She came right back but they couldn't see where she went," Azriel informed him quietly.

Rhys was drained from winnowing earlier, so they couldn't winnow home. They had to fly, and it was taking too much time for either of their liking.

She's crying, the shadows hissed suddenly, she's crying. Fly faster.

Azriel was already going as fast as he could, but he strained to go faster. Rhys matched his speed.

They didn't stop a single time as they flew to Velaris. The shadows stopped giving Azriel any updates, left him without answers. The quiet from them left Azriel with unending dread.

They reached Velaris and were dropped from the sky the moment they went through the wards. They hit the ground hard, and they could feel the air and ground both shaking. Worse, even, they could feel what was causing it. The scent of Astryn's power hung through the entire city.

"Gods," Rhys muttered, his eyes wide as he watched his city shake. "We have to get to her. Now."

Azriel was already getting up, already stumbling trying to fly or run through the shaking. He could hardly stay upright, and Rhys knew they wouldn't get there on foot or through the air. He mustered up any lingering power and manages to winnow himself and Azriel to the townhouse.

The windows were shattered, the front door was blown right off, nothing was where it belonged.

And they could hear Astryn's sobbing, muttering the same thing over and over. Stumbling their way to the source of the sound, they stopped dead when they saw Cassian out cold, his head cradled carefully in her lap as she hunched over slightly to shield him from being hit again by any of the pieces of the roof that were caving in on them.

Azriel was the one to shake off the stupor first. A large chunk of roof and ceiling was falling—it would crush them. He launched himself forward, pushing both Astryn and Cassian out of the way. That left him in their place, but no impact came. Astryn screamed at the sight of her mate about to be buried beneath rubble of her own making, and the rubble turned to dust.

Azriel scrambled to get to Astryn, held her hands in her own and pleaded with her to stop. But she couldn't. She didn't know how to stop, she didn't even know how she was doing what she was doing. Her mind was clouded with pain and memories of chains and blurred figures and reality felt so distant. There was only survival in her mind, and that seemed impossible.

Rhys hates himself for doing it, but he knew there was no way around it. He forced his way into his sister's mind, and he made her sleep. She slumped over against Azriel and the shaking finally stopped, the air went unnaturally still now as even it needed a moment to recover from what Astryn had done.

Azriel wasn't normally one to cry in front of anyone, but he cradled his mate in his arms and cried over her limp form. Her breathing was steady now and her pulse was at a more normal rate, but he knew whatever had sparked this was still eating at her unconscious mind.

Rhys hurried to Cassian's side and found the what had rendered him unconscious. Blood soaked the back of his head, and Rhys knew some falling bit of roof or ceiling had struck him. It was already beginning to heal, thankfully. It was still painful to know how it happened.

That thought process was cut short by Mor and Amren rushing in, Mor's eyes wide and Amren appearing genuinely unsettled.

"What happened?" Amren demanded, going right passed Azriel and Astryn to Rhys and Cassian. "What did she do?"

"It's not her fault," Azriel growled, wings glaring out briefly before he forced himself to tuck them back in.

"Az..." Mor trailed off before shaking her head and looking to her cousin instead. "Rhys, I know you want to be patient with her but she needs to train. I don't know what set her off but she could have reduced this city and everyone in it to rubble."

"Was anything other than this house damaged?" Rhys asked, sounding terribly exhausted. "How extensive is the damage."

"There was none," Amren answered for Mor, "this time. Everything shook and no one could stand or fly but no one was actually hurt and nothing was damaged. Here for the worst of it. The rest was just fear. She still needs to train and learn to prevent this but I don't think she has the capacity to actually hurt anyone."

"She hurt Cassian," Mor snapped, "she's family and I want her to be happy and comfortable but this is not okay. She could have killed him and because of what? What happened today to spark this?"

"Someone approached her," Rhys answered with a deep sigh. "The shadows didn't tell Azriel who it was but whoever it was scared her and them."

"Someone in Velaris?" Amren asked, silver eyes shining with readiness for a hunt.

"He's mine," Azriel spoke lowly, "you don't touch him. He's mine."

Cassian's quiet groan cut through the conversation, and the group fell silent as they waited for him to wake. His eyes fluttered open before he squeezed them shut again. Then he woke, shooting up in alarm.

"Is she—" he started, cutting himself off at the sight of her unconscious in Azriel's lap.

"She's not hurt," Rhys assured him, "I just made her sleep. Do you know who it was that caused her to panic?"

"Vyn," Cassian answered, hate shining in his eyes, "she tried walking away from him and he grabbed her."

"Who is that?" Azriel asked, eyes fixed on Cassian and Rhys. The pair exchanged looks briefly before Rhys decided to be the one to respond.

"Her uncle," he informed him, "on her mother's side."

"Why is he in our city?" Azriel questioned, eerie calmness radiating from him.

"I invited him here," Rhys confessed, and he had his back pinned to the wall within a split second. Azriel's wings were flared out and he bared his teeth at his brother, his High Lord. Rhys didn't flinch. "He said he had nothing to do with what was done to her. I believe him."

"I don't care what you believe," Azriel said as someone—he didn't care to notice who—tried and failed to wrench him away from Rhys. "You should have warned her. And me. Did you even stop to think about what someone with her mother's scent might to do her? It doesn't matter if he was involved or not. You know what her mother did to her. Why would you welcome him into this city without warning her knowing that? You had to know the familiarity of it would do something to her. Did you just not care?"

"Don't you dare," Rhys growled right back at Azriel, "she's my sister. You know I care."

"Apparently not enough."