A Court of Serpents and Saints

Chapter 3: Azriel

Azriel could see, as if through a dirty window.

By way of their mental connection Azriel could see through Rhysand's eyes. The vision was far from perfect. But as the High Lord of the Night Court strode across the wide expanse of lawn, the shadowsinger could still note the external beauty of the Spring Court. No amount of obscurity could ever hide the lush, bright colors of this land. The lawn outside the Manor was full of flowering plants and vegitation, varying shades of green reflecting the brightness of the sun.

The small party: Rhysand, Mor, Miryam, Drakon, and Lucien had arrived not at the front door of the manor, but at the back. Azriel rationalized that they had done this as not to alert the minimal sentries who remained standing guard. He knew where each guard was posted and he expected that Lucien had known the same.

Though the weather was bright and lovely the interior of the Manor was dark and desolate. There was nothing one could see through the windows. It was as if in the center of the court there was a blackened, infected heart... where Tamlin lived.

From that darkness Azriel heard a low growl emerge from behind the tall glass doors and windows. All of sudden, an enormous figure, a large, four legged beast, burst through the window to the Manor, shattering the glass, charging towards them, snarling like a wild animal.

"What a warm welcome," Drakon laughed under his breath. Rhysand did not turn, so Azriel did not get to see the prince's expression, but the shadowsinger could imagine the male's smirking face.

"What the hell is this," Tamlin growled and Azriel cringed at the raw gravelly cadence of Tamlin's unused voice, a tone that rivaled his own. The male was total transformed, fully in his bestial form. There was a wildness to his eyes that made it appear as if the human part of him had been submerged for a long, long time.

Utter silence fell upon the group, as if no one knew quite how to respond to Tamlin's question. After a long moment it was Lucien who spoke first. "Firstly, hello Tamlin. Secondly, a great wrong has been committed against the High Lord's family. We are not here for retiribution. But You know what you have done and we need you to set it right. We are simply here to collect Rhysand's-"

"It's funny," Tamlin scoffed, and as he continued a bit more of the male began to appear through the face of the beast, "When the princess' soul appeared to me after I killed Amarantha I couldn't even begin to understand why. I had no idea why Amarantha would have wanted to capture her. Jurian... I understood why she wanted his soul. I did not understand the Princess."

"Tamlin-" Rhysand began to speak, but when the High Lord of the Spring Court raised a single clawed finger, he instantly fell silent. Within his mind Azriel could feel as guilt and shame began to coil through Rhys. Azriel did not understand why.

"But then I remembered that right after I had ascended to be High Lord, Amarantha came here. She seemed to think that I had begged her to save the princess' soul. I turned her away and commanded her to never visit me again," Tamlin spat out Amarantha's name every time he said it. His face had returned to that bestial, fanged monstrosity, " I didn't think anything of that visit until the princesses soul appeared for me after Amarantha's death. That conversation came back to me and I was so confused. Why would I want Amarantha to preserve her soul? Why had I felt so compelled to save her wings all these years? Your sister was so young. I hardly spoke to her."

Even Azriel knew that wasn't true. He wasn't impartial to the entire history between Asryana and Tamlin, but he had known that they had some type of deeply rooted, at times romantic, connection.

The devastation and regret churned through Rhys' mind and Azriel felt all of it keenly. He instantly began to form the connection. Something had happened the night Tamlin had ascended to High Lord... something Rhys had not admitted to.