in our youth

Two: Azriel

"Which one," I snarled, "of you nasty bastards used my fucking towel?"

Cassian guffawed from where he sat at the table, giving himself away. I chucked it at his head as hard as I could, which only made him laugh harder. He pulled it off of where it wrapped around his head and sat it in his lap. I was going to fucking kill them.

"So you can share a girl, but not a towel?" Cassian snorted and I heard Rhysand snicker from where he stood by the sink, drinking a glass of water. He was shirtless, with plaid pajama pants hanging low on his hips and mussed hair letting me know he hadn't been awake long.

"I don't particularly want to dry off my face with the same towel you used to dry your balls, you prick," I yell at him, exasperated.

"My apologies, princess," Cassian chuckled.

"Do it again and I'll hang you by your entrails on the tree outside," I growl, sitting in the wooden chair next to the one Cass sat in. "Fucking gross."

"It's okay Azzy, he used your toothbrush too," Rhysand laughed as he tipped his glass up and drained the last of the water from his cup before sitting it in the sink. Rhysand burped, walking to sit at the table with us.

I whacked Cassian on the back of the head and he groaned.

"Did you fucking use my toothbrush?" I couldn't believe this shit.

"Are you going to hit me again if I tell you?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head. I reared back, smacking him again, which made Rhysand cackle, leaning back lazily in his chair.

"Fucking abusive," Cassian grumbled.

"Then don't be gross," I sighed. "Do you not have somewhere to be, Your Highness?" I asked Rhysand, raising a brow at him. It was noon and he'd just now climbed out of bed. He'd smoked his lung capacity in mirthroot after whatever the hell happened in our living room. We still probably needed to talk about it, but I sure as hell didn't want to be the one to broach the subject.

Rhysand grinned at me.

"Perks of being a High Lord is getting to decide no meetings happen until the afternoon," he said, toying with the strings on his pajama pants as he looked up at me from under his lashes. Okay, so maybe we really needed to talk last night.

"What about you, Rapunzel?" I glowered at Cassian. He shoveled another bite of cereal into his mouth, milk dribbling down his chin as he chewed. "No training today?"

He finished chewing and swallowed, holding up his pointer finger.

"First of all, fuck you," he began. "Second of all, I'm deathly ill and unable to report today." Rhysand glared at Cassian across the table as if he hadn't been playing hooky just as much as his long-haired counterpart.

"Helloooooo," rang a familiar voice from the foyer. Cassian looked over to me, waggling his eyebrows. I quickly smacked him again to which he cried out in verbal protest, taking his bowl of cereal to stand by the sink.

"Hey, Mor," I said with a toothless smile. Rhysand snorted, looking at Cassian who looked coy.

"Hey, Mor," Cassian mimicked as the tall blonde, Rhysand's cousin, walked into the kitchen. Morrigan, feigning obliviousness, smiled at us all. She was so warm and magnetic. So comfortable to be around. She had a way about her that seemed to put everyone else at ease in her presence.

"It smells like mirthroot," she gagged, scrunching her nose.

"Ugh, fabulous idea, sweet cousin," Rhysand said, walking to the coffee table to grab his stash. He listened to the conversation as he rolled the mirthroot into a smokable format. Most days it was ridiculous to believe we were the ones in charge of an entire Court.

Rhys, despite loving to party, was a cauldron-blessed leader in comparison to his father. He also had Morrigan and I to keep him in line when Cassian was too much of a bad influence. We were actually a pretty balanced group and all seemed to take our roles seriously.

"What's up, Mor?" I asked, assuming there must have been a reason behind her sudden visit. She smiled at me and I hated the way it made my stomach flip.

"Just coming to visit my favorite delinquents," she laughed.

"Where's Amren?" Cass asked, washing his bowl in the sink before sitting it on the rack to dry. He wiped the water from his hands with a towel, tossing it over one shoulder and placing his hands on his hips.

"Scaring the shit out of the civilians, I'm sure," Mor joked. "What did you boys get into last night?"

We all avoided making eye contact with her and no one spoke up to answer, so she lifted her brows, looking at Cassian in a demand. He shrugged, turning to try and busy himself with something.

"Smoked some mirthroot," Rhys grinned, mirthroot joint between his teeth as he took a puff and leaned back, propping one arm on the back of the couch. "What did you do?"

"Um, no," Mor scolded him. "What did you do?"

I looked down at a small nick on the wooden table, begging for her to drop the conversation. We'd all reacted too suspiciously for her to buy our bullshit now. I was sure she could smell the sex lingering in here, too.

"Az?" She asked. I reluctantly looked up at her and she crossed her arms, waiting for me to speak.

"Lots of mirthroot, Morrigan," I nodded.

Cassian snickered. Rhys' lazy grin did nothing to ease Morrigan's tenseness. I hated how in tune I constantly was with her, or how easy it was for Rhys and Cass to notice. They gave me shit about it daily.

"Azriel, you're better than them," Mor rolled her eyes, grabbing an apple from Rhysand's stash and biting into it with a crunch. "Don't let these two corrupt you." She pointed at Cassian and Rhys in a warning.

"Yeah, better not let us corrupt you," Rhysand cooed, standing behind me suddenly and using his hands to massage my shoulders. I hadn't even noticed how tense I was until he'd touched me.

"Wouldn't want to stain your purity," Cassian nodded solemnly.

Rhys smacked him playfully, then returned his hands to my shoulders. His hands were separated from my skin by the thin material of my shirt, but I could still feel the heat of them radiating into me.

Rhys sucked once more on the joint, reaching down to place it between my teeth. Rolling my eyes, I inhaled the smoke and sighed at the relaxing effects that immediately settled over me. I took a few more drags, lifting it over my head to Rhysand. Keeping his hands on my shoulders, he wrapped his lips around the joint, just barely grazing my fingers as he took it from me.

He rubbed my shoulders for a few more seconds, giving me an affectionate pat on my chest as he plopped into the seat next to Morrigan. He held the joint out to her and she curled her lip at him.

"Delinquents," she groaned, scooting her chair away from Rhys. "Now I'm going to smell like you heathens." She bit into the apple again, the juice dripping down her chin as she giggled and wiped it away, briefly flicking her gaze to mine before quickly looking away. "I'm leaving before you give me a second-hand high."

She stomped to the door, twisting the knob.

"Bye, Mor," I shouted after her and immediately felt Cassian and Rhysand's hands playfully smacking me as the door shut behind her.

"Bye, Mor," Rhysand mocked, eyes sparkling with his amusement.

"Bye, Mor," Cassian mimicked, giving me fake puppy dog eyes.

"You guys are fucking assholes," I growled, standing. I looked pointedly at Cassian. "Do not use my shit." Rhys blew out a breath mockingly.

I glowered at him.

"You let him do it again and I'm going to use your toothbrush to clean the bathroom and I won't tell you." I ignored their protests as I stormed to the bathroom, locking the door behind me and closing my eyes to get myself together.