A Court Of Moondust And Shadows (Azrielxoc)

The bargain

     'You are not putting me under again Rhysand!'

 The High Lord froze, Azriel had never called him by his full name. He knew how much he hated it and that it was reserved only for his enemies. It had been two weeks, two weeks of having to try keep the shadowsinger calm however he knew better which usually meant putting his mind to sleep. Azriel did fight it every time, but with the deep wound in his chest it was almost impossible. The High Lord thought his demands to go outside the court after such an injury were insane and would put him at great risk.

  'I am your High Lord and I demand you do your duties here, not go running around in your state! Behave!'

 Behave, his ass.

 Rhys usually didn't pull rank on him but his words had wounded him and the absence of his mate was also clouding his judgement. Azriel knew he looked like a mad man since he hadn't told anyone about Rayna being his mate, so the inner circle must have just assumed he was going crazy, asking to be let outside the Night Court over and over again.

  It didn't feel fair to him to tell his supposed family about the bond, not when his own mate didn't know. Rayna had the right to be the first person he would confess it to and together they would decide what to do. If he was honest, it was up to her to make up her mind on how she wanted their relationship to be like, he was willing to take whatever she gave him. If she were to even accept it...

  He looked up at his High Lord, Rhys wasn't going to let him go. If Azriel wanted to find his mate he needed to play it smart. Using all those years of trained self control, he pushed his instincts aside and dropped on the sofa with a dramatic sigh. He needed to play it smart, even if that meant tricking his inner circle.

   'I just don't want to feel useless, I-I...' He made his voice tremble a bit, knowing how it would affect Rhys, his rare little show of vulnerability. 'I don't have to do hard jobs, jut give me something that makes me feel like I'm doing more. I have been stuck here with only my nightmares, please, Rhys.'

  Rhys's eyes softened as he nodded. Damn, maybe Azriel really was a jerk.

 And yet it worked.

 °•▪︎♤▪︎•°

    'It's a little meeting with Eris, what could go wrong? Except one of us killing him by accident.' Cassian laughed at his own words while Azriel forced a smile from besides him.

  Maybe he would have normally chuckled or even responded but his whole focus had been on trying to act normal and not go crazy as he was trying to find his mate and failing at the same time. It had been two days since Rhys allowed him back to work outside Velaris. The High Lord failed to mention Cassian would accompany him all the time though. He had done everything he could, asked everywhere. As far as everybody knew there was no Rayna Castellan. All the Castellan families came from Dawn and none had girls with raven hair. He felt as if he was going insane.

  The only thing keeping him going was the faint heartbeat he could feel when he reached for the bond, it was calm and steady. She must have been alive and in no imminent danger, a small comfort.

  They were currently on their way to meet with Eris for some information exchange. The bastard didn't reply to their last two letters so Rhys sent some of his spies to track him down with Azriel's guidance since he still wasn't supposed to ''run around'' as Rhys had called it. They couldn't risk Eris changing his mind on which side he was on right now.

   'I didn't picture Eris as a cottage in the forest life lover.' Cassian commented as they moved through the woods.

  Azriel didn't either, why would someone who lived in a palace spent the last two weeks in a cottage in the woods. He didn't care though, not when wasting time on tracking Eris down was keeping him away from trying to find his mate.