Shadows Whisper | | Azriel

73

Cassian didn't know what he was really expecting from Azriel's secret home, but it wasn't this. The place was downright cozy. Rhys's homes were all comfortable, but not cozy. Cassian found that he actually adored this place.

"You have a vegetable garden," he muttered, eyes twinkling with amusement, "the infamous torture master has a vegetable garden."

"Everyone needs a hobby," Azriel replied as he carried Astryn to the main bedroom.

"I thought your hobby was murder," Cassian joked...half-joked.

"I can have two hobbies," Azriel shot back, a smile tugging up at one corner of his lips while he settled Astryn into bed, gently pulling the blanket over her.

Something in Cassian warmed at the way Azriel was here in his own space. He smiled more easily here than anywhere else, his movements weren't quite as calculated, his usual unreadable expression was replaced with something slightly more open. His eyes weren't guarded. The shadows even eased away from both him and Astryn and occupied themselves off in corners of rooms, swirling around with each other as if playing a game.

"There's no magic," Azriel mentioned to Cassian, as if he couldn't feel the absence of it, "I hope you know how to cook."

"Rhys spoiled us," Cassian muttered with a laugh, "cooking is a forgotten art."

"I taught Astryn some things," Azriel told him, "but we didn't have time for much cooking with the frenzy going on. I'll teach you both some things while we're here if we end up staying a while."

"I have the basic skills," Cassian replied with a shrug, "but I'm sure you're a skilled enough chef to cook for all three of us."

"I'll cook for myself and my mate," Azriel responded dryly, though there was a faint hint of amusement in his eyes, "you can figure your own meals out. Try not to burn my house down. I do quite like it."

"Your faith in me is astounding," he drawled sarcastically, a lazy grin on his face.

Azriel let out a breath of laughter before his eyes drifted to Astryn. His stare was full of nothing but love as he looked at her. He looked back to Cassian then, eyes still shining as he snuck one more glance at her.

"I'll show you the extra room," he said, waving for Cassian to follow him. He led him down the hall to the room. "It has a bathroom attached, extra towels and blankets and such in the cabinets."

"What's that door?" Cassian asked curiously, nodding towards the door at the end of the hall.

"It leads to the basement," Azriel answered, a glimmer of something in his eyes that led Cassian to asking one more question.

"What's in the basement?" he inquired, eyes going from the door to Azriel.

"Not a vegetable garden," Azriel replied simply, and Cassian let out a laugh of disbelief.

"If not for the fact that we'd smell the decay, I would think you had bodies hidden down there," he teased, earning a grin from Azriel.

"It's more fun than that," Azriel responded with a shrug, his eyes still alight.

"Has Astryn been down there?" Cassian didn't even mean to let the question slip out.

"Once," Azriel hummed fondly, "shortly before we returned to the House of Wind."

"Will I ever be invited?" Cassian once again did not mean to actually let that slip out.

Azriel's answering grin was nothing short of feral.

"Careful," he warned, that grin not faltering, "you may never want to leave."

"You're wicked," Cassian remarked with a laugh.

"Through and through," Azriel spoke proudly before sauntering off back to his room.

Cassian let out a huff of laughter as he watched him go.

"We should all have pancakes in the basement sometime soon, Az," Cassian called out after him, voice light with amusement.

"If she wants it, it will happen," Azriel told him, and the smile evident in his voice made Cassian wonder if Astryn and Azriel had already discussed the idea.

Cassian went into the room that would be his for however long they stayed. Much to his surprise, two shadows lingering in one of the corners. He tilted his head slightly, and he swore they nodded at him.

Not quite unsettled by them but entirely uncertain of how to react to their presence, Cassian decided to just dismiss it. There were probably shadows in most corners of this house, watching over it and it's occupants.

It was still early, but there was a slight ache in his head still and a nap seemed like the best solution, so he slept. He slept for hours until he woke to the sound of quiet humming and the smell of food.

He trudged out of his room and found Azriel in the kitchen cooking.

"Cauldron, you really can cook," Cassian muttered, thoroughly impressed just by the smell. "It smells just like what Rhys's mother used to make."

Azriel nodded towards a book tucked safely away in a corner against a wall on the countertop. Cassian carefully took the book and opened it. Even after all these years, it still somehow faintly smelled of Rhys's mother. The recipes were in her handwriting, with little notes in Azriel's handwriting that were answered with notes in her writing.

"She gave that to me," Azriel informed him, a sad smile on his face, "Rhys and his sister both had little interest in cooking and the only reason you were ever in the kitchen was to try to sneak off with the expensive wine. So she gave it to me after having taught me everything anyway."

"The notes?" Cassian asked, his voice so soft.

"You know how I used to get when I was young," he mumbled, "how I just couldn't speak sometimes. This was her solution."

"She was lovely, wasn't she?" Cassian murmured, lightly brushing his fingertips over the ridges and bumps left in the pages from her writing.

"She was," Azriel agreed, "I wish Astryn could have met her."