A Song of Faithless Shadows

54. Shameless

Gwyneth

A knock at my door wakes me gently mid-morning. I smile into my pillow, calling for him to come in.

"Disappointed?" Nesta crosses her arms when my face drops.

"Of course not," I sit up. "I was just expecting-"

"I'm messing with you," she grins, plopping beside me in bed, giving Briar a scratch on his chin. "Rhys gave everyone the day off, kidnapped Cassian and Azriel into going river-rafting with him."

I scrunch my nose. "Who would want to go river-rafting on their day off?"

"My thoughts exactly," Nesta says. "I already wrote Emerie, and she is working today, getting ready for the reopening, and Feyre and Mor are shopping while Elain watches Nyx."

"And what are we doing?" I ask her. "I assume you have a plan?"

"I do," she tucks her legs under my covers, cozying in as a stack of books appears between us, two mugs of tea and some biscuits sitting on a tray. One mug black tea (mine), one mug earl grey (hers).

"Readathon?" My brows lift.

"Readathon."

...

Cassian and Azriel arrive some time around dinner, the sounds of them clattering around the kitchen heard through my open door. "Give me a second to put some dry clothes on, Cass," Azriel calls to his brother who is already complaining about him walking away. Loudly.

I share a look with Nesta, a suppressed grin on her lips. He walks past our door, though double-taking. "I didn't even realize you guys were here," he says, dripping all over the floor. Gods, he looked good like this, skin glistening, hair soaking wet. "Sorry about the yelling. I think we both have acute hearing loss from the rapids."

"You're getting the floor wet, Shadowsinger," Nesta says irritably.

"Yeah, well your mate has already drenched the kitchen-"

"Are you talking about me?" Cassian calls from the kitchen. Nesta shuts her eyes, taking a cleansing breath, likely reminding herself that she loves that deaf moron as he pops up in the doorway with a big grin. "Oh, hey, Nes. I didn't realize you were home."

Azriel and I share a look, him smiling at his shoes as Nesta tells Cassian that even dogs have the good sense to shake dry before coming inside.

"So are you kicking us out?" Cassian pouts.

"I'm telling you two to get dry and clean my kitchen," Nesta snaps irritably. "And stop yelling while you're at it."

Azriel and Cassian exchange a look I absolutely do not like before sprinting into my room. Nesta and I spring from the bed, running from them as they chase us respectively. It's downright feral, Nesta damn holding out Briar at one point to keep Cassian away.

The shadowsinger's eyes lock on me as I jump onto the bed, him at the foot of it, hedging each way, watching for my reaction. It's a stare down, him waiting for me to lunge one direction. So I do, only faking at the last second to go the other way.

He knows me too well because he goes in the precise opposite direction from the one I fake, easily capturing me in his arms. I whine as I feel my gown soak, him shaking his wet hair against my throat like a damn mop as I fight my laughter.

My attention is only taken when I see Nesta start to kiss Cassian, then grab his hand and drag him out of the room. I've never seen a man go so willingly. Azriel has stilled too, watching them go with raised brows. It's moments later that a shared laugh rips from us, me tipping my head against his shoulder until my belly hurts. "I should've known that was gonna happen," he says.