A Court of Blood & Mercy || Elriel Dual POV

Chapter 34 - He Wanted Blood

"Why did you save me?"

Azriel blinked, looking at Elain's dark brown eyes crested in shy curiosity as she pursed her lips, waiting for his answer. Her cheeks were flushed, a rosy shade sweeping to her fair neck which reminded him of a dusky peach sunset.

He smiled despite himself.

They had been sitting on the window seat in the drawing room overlooking the road from the manor to the Big House, Elain worrying a thread and needle through an embroidery hoop on her lap as Azriel rested across from her, his eyes begging to close into a nap as his head tipped back against the wall between his wings. Their afternoons had been filled with companionable silence and steaming tea, watching the snow fall gently outside the foggy window as they folded into a restful type of bliss neither had known in recent years.

But their time together was waning: two days and one hour left, to be precise. Forty-nine days had sounded like an eternity, but now it was slipping away until all he was left with was forty-nine hours.

Forty-nine hours to hold her.

Forty-nine hours to claim her and kiss her.

Forty-nine hours to feel alive.

He wondered how much it would hurt to leave Autumn without her. How much would it sting and slice to know that Lucien was returning to the very home Azriel so desperately wanted to claim for himself? The person he wanted to claim for himself? How would he live his days without waking up beside her? How would he live or breathe or even survive after tasting the knowledge of what it was to love and be loved by Elain Archeron?

He didn't know.

But he would.

Soon.

In forty-nine hours to be exact.

There was a price coming for every bit of joy and bliss he had stolen from the Cauldron. There was a debt to be paid and a bond upon his head. He knew the Mother would come to collect, yet, somehow, he was not ready to face her yet. Like he was tempting her to curse him or running from an impossible hex, Azriel wanted to press his luck and push his goodwill until it was all but spent.

Because right now, he was still the only one in Elain's eyes. He could still wake with her in his arms and pretend she was his forever. Hells, he could pretend this house and life was his— as if Lucien and Autumn and every morsel of pain had never happened at all. All he had to do was smile and hold her hand, forgetting that they were to be ripped apart in a matter of hours.

He gazed at her face, seeing that her eyes were restless, her lashes fluttering and brows tugging together with a lace of anxiety as her question thundered through his chest. He sat up straighter on the window seat, pushing against the wall.

"What do you mean baby?" He reached forward, holding her ankle through her gown, hoping to reassure her against whatever worries were pluming within her brain.

Elain frowned toward him, her eyes cast down to his hand on her leg. "Why— why did you save me... all those years ago? Hybern... the camp... why? You— you hardly knew me." Her words were stuttering and small, like she was barely gathering the courage to utter her thoughts.

Azriel pulled back, his eyes capturing hers as his brows knit.

"I had to," he said resolutely.

"But why?" Elain's voice was gaining volume, her eyes fluttering as she shook her head, trying to put the pieces together. "Why was it you? Not Rhys or Cassian... did you really love me that early?"

Azriel considered her question. He wanted to just kiss away her worries and return her smile, but he somehow knew she needed more from him. So he leaned forward, focusing the entirety of his attention on her.