a court of shadows and darkness || azriel x rhysand!sister | azriel x oc

chapter two

"How much longer do we have to stay here?" The young Fae asked exasperatedly. By now they had both lost count of the days, impossible to keep track without the sun or a watch. 

Selaene was furious: not only had Vanessa driven her away from the place where she had fallen, causing her to miss the chance to find the rift between the two worlds from which she herself had passed, but she also continued to remain silent and explain nothing to her. 

She reminded her of her brother. The one who wanted to protect her by not telling her things. She used to get angry, but she understood him and the thing ended in a hug and an explanation. She wonders if Vanessa also keeps her mouth shut to protect her from whatever they are waiting for, or to protect her heart from vain hope.

"The necessary." The tiger answers annoyed, also exasperated by all the times she has been asked the same question and accusation by the Fae. Vanessa cannot see Selaene's eyes, but she is certain she is rolling them up to the sky at the moment. Or to the darkness. She wonders what color her eyes are. She shrugs her shoulders, as much as that form allows her to. She should just have faith, thinks the white-coated female, some trust, since they are both stuck in the same situation.

Vanessa had heard her that night. She had awakened with the sound in the inevitably younger Fae's stifled sobs, but had kept her breath controlled by giving her her space. She too had initially reacted that way, if not worse, and she understood Selaene's anger very well. And she thought she understood her as well, given the similarity of their fates, but instead she had created a wall around her and her thoughts and shut the tiger out. She does not know what is worse: to be alone with her own thoughts or to be in the company of a stranger who is so selfish. She wants to leave as much as the Fae does, so why so much distrust and meanness toward her?

Selaene on the other hand had no other choice: the wound left where the bond once was, the emptiness...the silence between the two mates and everything around them was too strong and was driving her crazy.

More days pass, by the Fae's reckoning.

Days in which the same conversation happened over and over again, in which the silence was ripping her ears and the darkness was tearing her eyes. If she wasn't staring above her, staring at nothingness, she was asleep. At first she was hopeful that sleep would help her, that it would help close the bleeding wound in her heart, but her sleep was as dark as where she was and offered her no comfort except freedom from her thoughts. Which was still better than having to hear them. Maybe, she thought, it was even better than dreaming about her family, her old life, so she wouldn't have to deal with reality once she woke up. 

But-sometimes it happened that she and her brothers, or she and her mate communicated through dreams. She does not tell the tiger, but nothing has appeared yet, and she doubts it will ever happen. She is more likely to be able to warn the three males with her mind than whatever the other female has in mind. Although she can sense it, from the tone and how stubborn Vanessa is remaining, how much the tiger cares. 

And that is why she will never do her such a tort: force her to leave with her to go back to where she came from. She will go alone instead. Seven days of walking and she will be back under the Illyrian Steppes. 

She knows Vanessa is sleeping, and it is just now that she gets up and with a sigh-the only sound she has allowed herself to let escape-she leaves.

"Selaene?" 

Doesn't she ever sleep?

Obviously, the Fae thinks bitterly, she can't have a second of peace; she can't even leave without the tiger getting in the way.

Selaene thinks of an answer so vulgar that it makes herself blush, the kind her brothers and her mate often exchanged, and she would have even said it except that lightning-no, not lightning, someone, rips through the sky of the UnderWorld. A light illuminates the void and the figure of a man appears for less than a second. 

Around her, however, there is nothing. 

Absolute emptiness.

Vanessa's laughter, which the Fae managed to see for that instant when that kind of lightning radiated the place, echoes joyously everywhere. It didn't last long, just long enough for that someone to step into the UnderWorld to get to his destination, but for Selaene everything changes. She too laughs with the tiger, a rich giggle that leaves her with a happy aftertaste.

"I told you so!" The tiger exclaims joyfully. Now, she can finally put a face to that voice.

"It's beautiful." Says the Fae still amazed. She will never admit it out loud, but Vanessa was right: a small spark ignites in her heart, and maybe, she allows herself to think just for a moment, maybe there is a way.

The tiger speaks again. 

They exchanged more words now than in all the time they had been there waiting. "While I was here, I thought that if we can grab someone, wherever they are going, they can get us back to the world above."

"And how long will that take?"

"It will take as long as it takes." 

In spite of the tiger's usual vague words, Selaene could not bring herself to get angry, not when such an opportunity was offered in front of her. She was right about one thing, however: Vanessa and Rhysand are more alike than expected. Her brother would have done the same, told her nothing so as not to create false hope and waited to show her the facts. To protect her, to protect her very delicate heart. 

Perhaps Mother took away a brother to give her a sister.

Now all they have to do is sit and wait for the moment when they and someone above are lined up so they can hold on and be taken out.