In The Mist of Shadows

Chpt. 6

Azriel and Cassian winnowed to the border of Velaris before flying the rest of the way. Azriel sent Rhysand a message through their bond- and his daemati powers that Adela seems to also have- to meet them at the House of the Wind.

When they landed Azriel instructed Cassian to take her to the library and ask for her to be locked in a room, reminding him to reassure Clotho she was no threat with the cuffs and a locked door. At least he was hoping. He then stalked to the office where he knew Rhysand was before even opening the door. But to his surprise Feyre was also there, looking just as nervous.

"Azriel." Rhysand spoke. He hadn't slept at all since Lucian told him about this female. He saw her face, and she did look like Rhysand.... Like his mother.

"She's in the library." Rhysand walked towards the door but Azriel stopped him. "Wait. I'm asking you to give her until tomorrow."

"What did you do?"

"Well put her to sleep-" Rhysand's anger grew. "With pressing on a pressure point. But she-" He didn't know how to explain that him and Cassian made a female cry when they were only supposed to be asking her questions, so he shifted the subject. "She knew what we were. She knew about Illyrians and Illyria and the Blood Rite and she knew about us."

"Us?" Fear mixed in with Rhysand's anger.

"You, Cassian and me. She knew about how we were separated and found our way to each other and how we finished the Blood Rite together."

"How does she know this?" Cassian walked in, looking like he was going to throw up again. One glance at his face and he knew. "Who was her mother?" Rhysand's lip began to quiver, tears threatening to fall again.

"You should sit down."

"Who was her mother?!" Rhysand's voice echoed in the house.

Feyre stepped between them. "Rhys. Maybe we should sit down." Listening to Feyre he sat in a loveseat across from the chair Azriel sat down in. Cassian couldn't move from the doorway. Feyre held Rhysand's hand lovingly and stroked his arm to try and settle him. "Answer the question Azriel." She spoke.

"You already know who." Rhysand broke into sobs before Azriel finished, as did Cassian. Azriel forced himself to swallow his own but a few stray tears ran down his face.

Rhysand held onto the smallest bit of hope when he asked, "she's- She's alive?" Azriel's nostrils flared as another surge of sobs threatened to hit him. Rhysand's sobs were louder, Feyre tried to sooth him but, how can you sooth someone who just found out his mother was alive and he didn't even know? That it's too late to try and find her now?

Because he didn't want to relive this conversation later Azriel forced himself to speak. "She was alive until the girl was five. She spoke our stories, kept us alive through her. Six guards came in one night, she killed three but two held her down and snapped her wings." Tears now were flowing streams upon Azirel's face. "The girl took a dagger and killed one, then another. But the last one got her first, stabbing her in the heart. The girl took a fire poker and smashed his skull in one blow. Her last words to the girl was to find you."

Rhysand clenched his hands together, as if to pray. He could hardly breathe. Guilt smashed through him. How could he not have known? "How-"

"She comes from another realm, her father must have had her come in through a rip." Azriel looked at Rhysand. He looked like he could have died with grief and guilt. Not just for his mother, but for his sister as well. He knew Rhysand felt guilty for not saving her. "There was nothing you could have done."

"Wh-what's her name?"

"Adela. Adela Faeland"

The name rang through him, longing for him to go to her in the library. "She-She doesn't have w-wings." Rhysand remembered when Feyre showed her the female.