A Court of Three Stars

16: Grenade

House of Song, Velaris, Prythian

Azriel

I would give anything to never leave this bed again.

Too far. My shadows whispered in my ears, a lazy melody desperate for our mate.

I obeyed their order, shifting closer to where Leur was asleep next to me, the sound of her soft snores muffled as I tucked her into my chest. I was existing in some state half between sleep and wake, the kind of half-consciousness where you're aware that you're most likely oversleeping but you're too out of it to care.

I just dug my face into her hair, inhaling the fragrant scent of lavender still lingering from when she had washed it last night. Bath oil had made her skin somehow impossibly softer, perfection itself curled into my chest.

My sleeping sun, my reason for everything.

The mother of my children.

Right, children. Our child.

Ruhn was probably looking for us, or at minimum wondering where we were.

Did I have the heart to wake her up?

Everything was muddled and drowsy, the multicolored sunlight streaming in the window swirling across her skin, combining with her tattoos to create something new. Something beautiful. Peace stretched open in front of me, if I only closed my heavy eyes and took it.

But then interrupted by a melodic voice, adorably groggy from sleep, "I don't want to get up."

Her wings rustled, stretching a bit behind her, an unconscious habit of hers and how I always knew she was awake. I answered through my own haze, "Me either."

Her voice turned into a slight whine as she burrowed impossibly closer to my chest, "We have things to do."

"We have a kid to check on." I reminded her.

"Fuck." She yawned, "Who knows what manner of hell Rhys has gotten him into."

I stretched out my senses, an almost lazy sweep of the house around us. Nesta was in the archives with Amren and Bryce, Baxian and Hunt were in the kitchen, Bryaxis was sleeping in his dungeon, Feyre and Nyx were in their room, and Rhys was walking down the stairs.

And farther away, down in the training center, Cassian was with Ruhn.

When I reiterated that to my mate, she just groaned into my chest, "Even worse. Those two will tear down the house."

"We can afford a new one." I mused, my hand rubbing slow circles over her back, "Let's go back to sleep."

"Good idea." She answered, a lazy kiss pressed against my collarbone. I let my eyes slip closed and reveled in the rare moment of peace, the scent of her, the feel of her skin on mine, the warmth of her curled into me. That irreplaceable peace that came from her being in the hollow of my arms, safe from anything and everything.

We had no sooner settled back down into light, dreamless sleep when a distant shudder shook the entire house.

Her eyes popped open at the same moment that mine did, completely and utterly wide awake.

"We have to get up." I said, not a whine or a groan but a fact.

"Yeah, we do."

-

"Why am I actually scared to know what's going on in there?" Leur asked, weary violet eyes trained on the massive arched door to the training center.

I was inclined to agree. I had been ignoring every answer from my shadows as we got dressed and came down here, purposefully avoiding whatever shitshow was happening behind that door as long as possible.