Shadows Whisper | | Azriel

79

Astryn felt a devastatingly painful crash as her soul tore back into her body, life breathing back into her.

She could feel hands on her, could feel tears falling against her skin. She could feel her wound stitching itself shut and could hear confused but awed sobbing.

The sobbing was coming from Azriel and Rhys, she realized. The hands on her were Azriel's. She knew the feeling of his hands too well to mistake them for anyone else's. Faintly, she could still feel Death's lips against her cheek.

She blinked slowly, the light making her head pound.

"Hurts," she mumbled, "hurts."

"I know," Azriel spoke shakily, "I know, darling. It'll be okay. It'll stop hurting. You're okay."

She closed her eyes again, and drifted from consciousness and all she could really sense was that vague sensation of Death's kiss to her cheek.

"Somehow," Death's words echoed in her head, "I always want you."

But he had let her go, let her live. He had said he wanted her, but he saw her sadness and her desperation for life, and he let her go.

"Somehow I always want you."

She didn't let herself think about what that might mean. She fell down the hole into nothingness and rested.

•••

"I don't understand," Azriel breathed out the words as he stared wide eyed at Astryn. They were at the House of Wind now. He had cleaned the blood off of her and put her in fresh clothes, though he hadn't thought to do the same for himself. "She was dead. She...she died."

"We'll get answers when she wakes," Rhys muttered, still covered in her blood as Azriel was. "Let's just be grateful."

Azriel nodded stiffly, turning his attention inward. The bond had returned at full strength. The faebane in her system was gone, and there was something new lingering in the mix of her power that Azriel wasn't ready to face.

She had died. She died in his arms. But she was back now, and he didn't know what it meant. No one could escape death.

Eventually, Mor forced Rhys and Azriel to leave Astryn's bedside and go bathe. Cassian swore on his life to stay by her side while they were away.

It took a full week for Astryn to wake, but her violet eyes were bright with new energy when she did. Azriel stirred at her side, awaked by the shadows gleefully announcing to him that she was no longer sleeping.

"You came back to me," he muttered in awe, "you came back."

"I told him I didn't want to be dead," she informed him, and his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"Told who?" he questioned, trying to figure out some explanation a little more plausible than the obvious.

"Death," she gave the answer he thought was obvious but impossible, "I told him I didn't want to be dead so he let me go. He said he wanted to win my heart after I had a long, happy life with you. And then he let me come back."

Azriel gaped at her, and then he laughed in utter disbelief.

"Did you give him that look? You know the one you pretend you don't notice?" he asked, trying not to think too deeply into the fact that Death himself wanted to win Astryn's heart. Azriel would find a way to kill Death if he had to, because he planned to be with Astryn even in the afterlife.

"I don't know what look you're talking about," she muttered, that very look making an appearance. It was endearing only because she truly didn't realize she was doing it.

Azriel kissed her, soft and gentle like he was afraid she might disappear. She kissed back, leaning into him slightly. When she pulled back, her eyes finally went to where Rhys was asleep on a chair on the other side of the bed.

There were dark circles under her brother's eyes and she knew this was probably the first time he had slept in days.

"He hasn't slept since that day," Azriel muttered, not voicing the fact that he hadn't either. Today was the first day either of them had slept.

"Is he...okay?" she asked, and Azriel wanted to lie and say yes because he knew the real answer would hurt her. He wouldn't let himself do that though. Especially everything that had happened, she deserved honesty from him.

"No," he said, "he hasn't been."

"And you?" she questioned softly, and Azriel has to resist the urge to cry again at just the memory of what it was like to feel the bond fade away.

"You died in my arms," he mumbled, "I felt you die."

"He said we'd have a long, happy life," she muttered, "Death told me that. He said he wanted us to have that before..."

"Before you die for real," Azriel filled in, anger in his eyes. "Death should know that, in the afterlife too, he will have me to answer to. I'm not going to stop loving you even when we're both dead and gone."

"I don't know how kindly he would respond to that," Astryn pointed out, "and that is his domain. I don't think it would end well for you if you fought him."

"I hope you know reason won't sway me," he remarked, a small smile tugging up at the corner of his lips, "I would go to battle with Death for you on any day."

"He said he wanted to earn it. Maybe he would let me stay with you if I told him that's what I wanted even in the afterlife," she mused thoughtfully, "he seemed...kind. He was kind to me."

"You gave him that look," Azriel murmured before kissing her again without giving her the chance to question what look he was talking about.

This time when they pulled apart, Rhys was awake. He stared at his sister with wide eyes, like he didn't believe until now that she was truly back from the dead.

"Hi," she muttered, shifting nervously.

Rhys let out a laugh of disbelief and stood and went right to her. He hugged her, and was relieved that she returned the gesture.

"Don't ever do that again," he muttered, "that's not allowed. Dying is not allowed."