Femme Fatale (Azriel x OC)

3. Azriel

Esme disappeared into one of the guest rooms within seconds of arriving at the townhouse, leaving only the faint scent of jasmine in her place. It took every ounce of my will power to stay standing at the foot of the stairs instead of chasing after. I had questions that only she could answer and while patience was one of my specialties, I didn't want to wait, not for this.

She hadn't been surprised in the slightest by the mating bond, and that could only mean that she knew about it beforehand. But she'd scarcely been more than a child before being dragged Under the Mountain by Amarantha. She'd only been sixteen for a few weeks at that point.

But that... that was old enough. She'd already had her first cycle by that point. Was that when it happened? In the months that followed, she had fled from me at every opportunity and when that wasn't an option, she pretty much stared at me like she was half afraid I'd slit her throat. I'd always assumed she'd simply put two and two together about what I really did for this court, but now...

I shook my head. If I kept thinking about it, I'd end up seeking her out for answers. And it just wasn't the time. She'd gone through nearly fifty years of hell, enduring things that we couldn't even begin to imagine. If I approached her now, she'd only lash out.

But conversation didn't flow between us as it once had. Fifty years without Rhysand and now he was back... things wouldn't simply return to normal just because things hadn't changed for us. Everything had changed for Rhys.

I could see it in his eyes, the way he carried himself, even the way he talked. It was the way he'd always behaved during our visits to Hewn City, albeit this version was a far more toned down variation of it. But this was how he'd had to act for decades to keep Amarantha from looking too closely at the Night Court, and it didn't go away just because she was dead. He'd had to be this version of himself for half a century.

Rhysand retired to his room not too long after the sun set, uncharacteristically solemn. And Morrigan, who had been struggling to keep her tears at bay all night, made her way to one of the other guest rooms shortly after. Amren disappeared without so much as a word, eyes sharp and thoughtful as she slipped out the front door.

It left me with Cassian.

"He's changed," Cassian stated as we made our way out to the gardens. "They both have."

I merely nodded my head. Rhysand wasn't permanent. He'd revert back to the male he'd been before Amarantha once he adjusted back to life here - once he understood deep down that the facade was no longer necessary.

But Esmeray... She'd spent the majority of her life there. She hadn't been given the opportunity to fully grow into herself before she'd been locked away. There was no telling how much of her current persona was truly the person she was and how much of it was a mask she'd been forced to don in order to protect herself.

"I would have thought you'd be meeting with all your informants by now," Cassian went on, sending me a careful look. "It's the only way we'll know the full extent of what happened there. I don't think either of them are all that willing to discuss it with us."

My shadows stretched out, searching the gardens for anything out of place. Something that had been so ingrained within me during my initial years of training that it was done without so much as a thought.