A Court of Dreams and Promise

Chapter Nine

 ✦ ───── ✧ Memories ✧ ───── ✦

Azriel

Azriel surveyed the training wing, watching as Cassian, Emerie, and Gwyn instructed the new Valkyrie recruits on fighting stances. Typically Nesta would have also been there if not for her dramatic game of truth or dare she had engaged in, where the loser had to attend a one-on-one painting class with Feyre.

Emerie cleared her throat. "Recruits and returning valkyries, listen up," she said in a commanding tone. She put her hands into the pockets of her fighting leathers, scarred wings relaxed. "We have a new Valkyrie coming in, but she isn't a Valkyrie you would know."

Azriel narrowed his eyes, readying himself as murmurs rippled across the group of young females.

"I am very pleased to introduce Velaria, the only remaining Valkyrie from the original legion," Emerie said, her eyes sparkling. She swept a hand out, and Velaria winnowed into the grounds of the training wing, her wings absent. "Despite being a powerful Valkyrie in her own right, she is also High Lord Rhysand's sister."

Whispers circulated, questioning how Velaria was still alive, if it was true that she had a High Lord as her mate. Azriel snarled at the last one, unable to suppress the instinct that surged through him.

Velaria was dressed in typical fighting leathers, although they weren't quite the ones that Azriel or Cassian wore into battle. No, these were brown, original Valkyrie fighting leathers that she had dug up from somewhere.

Azriel hadn't seen Velaria since she had left him and Elain standing outside of the manor, and Elain had given him the cold shoulder after that. Amren informed Azriel (after his shadows had) that Velaria had gone out drinking at Rita's and was staying with Amren at her apartment for the time being.

Elain was ignoring Azriel completely, refusing to talk to him no matter how hard he tried to get her attention. How exactly was he supposed to make this decision if neither of the females in question would even look at him?

"Recruits. Valkyries. My name is Velaria, as you know, and I assure you that I am much more than just High Lord Rhysand's sister," Velaria said. "I am a member of the original Valkyrie legion from centuries ago and one of the first and last ever users of the moonstone siphons." Some females gasped at that. "I know techniques lost to the wind, and I am here to teach you everything that I know. But, until we get to that, does anyone have any questions, any at all?"

A blonde recruit at the front, Merida, Azriel believed, spoke up. "Do you have powers?" she asked, her voice soft and sweet.

Velaria looked at the young recruit, smiling softly. "Yes, I do."

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" a redheaded recruit asked from the middle of the pack, her voice demanding. Azriel stopped forward slightly, ready to defend his mate need be.

Velaria inhaled so subtly that only Azriel noticed, a practice he had learned from the century he had of knowing her, and he could tell that she was thinking deeply about how to respond. "I am supposed to be dead, but I'm not," she said. "It's a long story." She forced a smile back onto her face and turned to the next female.

Azriel turned the rest of the lesson out, keeping his eyes on his mate. Her form, her precision, her technique, were all just as perfect as they were centuries ago. She was just as good as Cassian and him, and with her magic in play, she could very easily take them down. The real question was, how did she keep her form up to perfection while in Koschei's employment?