A Court of Flame and Shadow (Azriel x eris)

Chapter 17: Azriel

"Oh, he's waking up." A lilting voice drifted over to Azriel, who was waking with a pounding headache.

"It's about time." A sharper voice joined the other one, cutting through the room like glass. 

"Eris?" Azriel grumbled hopefully.

"Ew, no." He peeled his eyes open to see Elain leaning over him holding a glass of water, and Nesta flopped on the armchair at the end of his bed.

"What are you doing here?" He grumbled, pulling himself up to sit. 

"We've been watching you in rotations. You are a pig when you drink."

"Nesta!" Elain exclaimed. The two of them broke into a fight, but all Azriel could think was; how the hell did I end up here? A moment of looking around confirmed that he was in fact in his room, and very, very, hungover. 

"Scuse' me!" He cleared his throat, voice gravelly. The two females turned back to him. "How did I get here?"

"Cass carried you." Nesta turned back to her sister, ready to launch back into their argument, but Azriel cut her off. "Why?"

"Well, you weren't exactly in fit shape to carry yourself!" She laughed, leaning back  in her chair. Elain gave her a look. 

"You drank a lot during dinner. By the time Amren and Varian arrived with news of their mating, you were totally hammered, and you fell of your chair." She smiled at him. Azriel just groaned and flopped to his side. Another couple mated, and still, he couldn't even see his own. 

"Yes, just like that!" Elain giggled. 

~

Azriel had managed to make his way down the stairs after an hour of listening so shallow bickering and drinking water, by leaning heavily on the bannister. The only person left eating was Mor, who looked simply terrible.

"Hey." He said quietly, falling into the seat opposite her.

"You look as awful as me!" She chuckled weakly, shoving the bowl of porridge the House had left for him towards him. 

"I feel worse than I look. I never drink that much."

"I know, that's why I figured something was really wrong." He gave her a puzzled look.

"Well, the only times I can remember you drinking that much was... the night you found me in the forest, the night after you first went into battle, and the night after you attacked Eris because he insulted me." She listed of her fingers.

She was right. About drinking, not about why he had attacked Eris. The only reason he had jumped on him was so that he could touch him in some way, any way. They had laughed about it after. 

"So what's wrong. Do you want to talk about it?" She gave him a gentle smile.

"I really don't think I should talk about anything serious while I am this hungover." He sighed. Mor just shrugged, reaching for another glass of milk. 

~

"And this is a legitimate method?" Azriel asked, craning his head to look up at a smirking Cassian, who nodded. "Mor uses it all the time, I swear."

Az looked to Nesta, who stood grinning slightly on the other side of the table. "Is your husband," He scowled. "Lying?" She shook her head. "He doesn't lie anymore. He's trying to quit." She gave him a hard, and not overall joking look. The façade quickly tumbled, and her face broke into a grin. "Just do it." Nesta gestured to the bowl of water on the table in front of him. Ice swum in it like tiny, clear fish. 

Cassian placed a broad hand on the back of Azriels head. 

"Ready?" He asked, a laugh behind his voice.

"Ready." Azriel took a deep breath as shut his eyes tightly. Cassian shoved his head forward, holding is under the ice.

Pain spiked through his brain and body, like he had been impaled on a scepter of ice, directly through his heart.

More muffled voices joined Cassian and Nesta's, and finally his head was pulled back above the surface.

"Did I hurt you?" He shouted at Cassian, whose smirk had not wavered one bit. 

"Yes, actually, when I was oh so kindly carrying you to bed last night, you kneed me in the balls and told me that I have a small brain and an even smaller dick, but this is a genuine method, like I said!" He stated overdramatically.

With a roll of his eyes, he turned to Rhysand and Feyre, who had joined them while his head was underwater. Feyre extended a towel, demure grin on her face. Rhysand expression was much less mindful.

"You okay?" Feyre asked quietly as he dried her hair. Azriel knew what she meant. "I'm getting there." He said, exasperated look on his face. 

"I'd like to talk to you later. Would you like to go for coffee?" She asked.

"Sure." Azriel stood and walked out briskly.