A Court of Dreams and Promise

Chapter Thirty-One

Azriel

Kallias pursed his lips, closing his eyes in thought. "What is our course of action here, Feyre?" he asked. "Do we bring troops to your meeting spot and march on Tamlin when everyone is there?"

Instead of Feyre answering, Azriel shook his head and replied, "Troops marching North to the Night Court will only alert Tamlin of our plans. I would suggest only bringing your family and a few trusted guards. No more than four. And find a way to keep yourselves disguised."

"So we get to the meeting spot...then what?" Viviane asked Azriel, her eyes monitoring Feyre, who was rocking Kori in her arms.

Azriel glanced at his High Lady. She had a peaceful expression for the first time in weeks as she watched the baby and cooed at him. As he saw in the slight pain in her eyes, Azriel knew she was missing Nyx.

He cleared his throat. "Then we meet with the allies that Velaria hopefully gathered...and formulate a plan to stop Tamlin from there."

"What of Velaria's betrothal?" Viviane turned to Azriel. "She made a bargain, correct? How do we escape that?"

Azriel swallowed. "We don't know. We can't exactly kill Tamlin because that doesn't free her from the bargain," he said, every word difficult to get out. "And doing so would harm her in the process."

Kallias frowned. "These bargains you all make...you speak as though you have no idea what happens if one is broken."

Azriel glanced at Feyre once more to see if it was okay to discuss Velaria's previous bargain, but she didn't look up once. "I only know of one bargain being broken, ever."

Viviane tilted her head, icy blue eyes focused on the shadowsinger. "What happened then?"

"Before the end of the first war, Velaria, I, and the rest of our group made a bargain to always find our way back to each other." Azriel took a long, deep breath. "The band of ink around our wrists from that bargain broke when Velaria chose to flee instead of facing her death. It was a complicated situation. The severity of bargains is determined by the situation in which the bargain is made. The more severe, the greater the punishment." Azriel shook his head. "That's all I know, from what I learned growing up."

"You mentioned a bit on the circumstances in which Velaria's bargain was made...do you feel comfortable elaborating?" Viviane asked gently.

Azriel nodded. "Tamlin cast an illusion of himself cutting off my wings and showed it to Velaria. He then threatened to kill me if she did not agree to marry him. So she agreed, and he revealed it was all an illusion. A cruel trick."

"So dire circumstances to the mind, the bargain, even if the circumstances were false." Kallias pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. "Tamlin's a fucking bastard."

"You truly don't know the consequences of breaking a bargain?" Viviane asked again.

"I don't know," Azriel admitted. "But I can't help but assume the worst for my mate." A pang of hurt stabbed his heart as he tried not to imagine what lay ahead.

Kallias coughed, interrupting the tension that was settling in the air. "Viviane and I will follow you to the meeting spot whenever you are ready to leave," he said. "However, I need at least three hours to find someone to be in charge in the meantime."

"I could stay, Kal," Vivane piped up.

Kallias shook his head curtly. "I'm not leaving you again," he said. Then he turned to Feyre and Azriel. "Three hours?"

Azriel nodded. "Three hours." Azriel bowed his head before exiting the room quickly, Kallias exiting through a different door. He was about to head to take a walk around the grounds when Viviane's concerned voice floated through the slightly open door.