A Court of Shadows and Pain

Fourteen

There was someone like him. Someone with his powers. Someone who could understand him. He didn't know why he felt such a strong pull towards Valery. But it was there.

The conversation they had two days ago had felt really nice. Even though they had shared bits of their traumatic pasts.

Azriel knew he could trust her. She had worked for Rhys for years. And if Rhys could trust her, he could too.

Azriel had kept himself busy with his spy duties today. He couldn't help and stop his mind from wandering to Valery. There was no way in denying that she was absolutely beautiful. Her beautiful brown hair always looking perfect, making her grey eyes even more beautiful.

Rhys would beat the shit out of him if he heard his thoughts right now.

His attention was snapped back to reality as he thought back to the new information he had learned today. There had been some sightings of unfamiliar males in Velaris. They had been questioning some of the citizens of Velaris.

Azriel had reported it to Rhys, claiming he would be investigating it further. It wasn't unusual for new people to show up in Velaris. So maybe it wasn't that big of a deal.

His life had been very quiet lately. He didn't have anything to worry about. There were some spies stationed at Hewn City and the Autumn Court, since those were the places that had the most fuss going on. And even over there it was quieter than usual.

It was just him and his family. And now Valery too. He didn't know if she was going to stay with them forever. Rhys had told them that she would be staying at the House of Wind for the time being, but that she was free to come to the Town House of River house.

She had been here for a few days now, but she hadn't asked to go down to Velaris a single time. Azriel had seen her sitting in the smaller library of the House a couple of times. She seemed to like reading.

He had caught her training yesterday night. Azriel had been hiding in the shadows for some time, watching her. She was really good. It had impressed him from the moment she stepped into that ring with Cassian.

He didn't want to feel like a stalking creep, so he quietly left after a few minutes, hoping her shadows hadn't picked up on him. That would've been embarrassing.

He walked into the kitchen, going to grab something to eat before continuing with some paperwork. As he passed through the dining hall, he found Valery sitting at the large table, her feet propped on the table.

He looked again and noticed that she was sharpening her daggers. At the dining table.

She must've noticed his stare, cause she put the dagger down. "Sorry I didn't know that anyone was home." she said. He could see that she lied. "If I had known I wouldn't have sharpened them here."

Azriel looked at her for a moment before she spoke again. "Actually I still would've done it."

Azriel couldn't hide the smile that formed on his lips. She pointed at him, a small smile on her own face. "Not so big and scary as I thought you would be."

"Then you haven't known me long enough." he tried defending himself.

"I don't need to know people for long periods of time to see that." she claimed.

"A real spy I see." he said.

She narrowed her eyes. "I haven't spied in a long time."

Azriel pulled out a chair from the dining table, sitting down. Valery removed her feet from the table.

"So how did you get into the whole spying thing?" Azriel asked with curiosity.

"Rhys hasn't told you the whole dramatic ass story about it?" she said with a slight hint of humor.

Azriel chuckled. "He told me some things, but not that."

He normally wasn't the type of person to start this sort of chit chat, but it felt natural with her. He was truly interested in her. And since he would probably be seeing her around a lot, it was nice to get to know her.

"It all started because of you." she said with a pointed look.

Azriel cocked his head. "And why's that."

"Because of the shadows. You did it first." she said. "And to be honest, it sounded kind of fun when Rhys offered me the job."

"Fun?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was bored out of my mind. I was working a job at a bookstore, I didn't have any friends or whatever. So I spent most of my time alone." she said. "Rhys told me he would pay me well and train me."

"So you instead chose to spy even though you were living a comfortable and normal life?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah, why not? I got to see the world after all." she said, lounging back in her chair.

"And yet you ignored Rhys's offers to join the Inner Circle?" he asked.

Her face shifted, her eyes focusing on her hands. He noticed that her shadows started to come back. They had apparently been gone since he entered the room. A sign of comfort. Like his would do. Or maybe she had ordered them away.

"Yes." she answered quietly. "But I'm here now, am I not?" she asked him with a hard tone.

He had noticed how easy it was to piss her off. If he would say one wrong sentence, she would probably kill him with her bare hands.

"Yeah." he answered while he stood from his chair. He couldn't handle the tension between them any longer. "Well, thanks for the talk." he said while walking out of the room.

He didn't look back at her. Her silence told him enough.