Wind Wielder

Chapter 33 - Starfall pt. 2

*** Content warning: mature themes ***

Azriel had been avoiding Zara Aphelion. All day, all night. Ever since he had watched her slip out of his arms in Day, and had come to the conclusion that it was all his fault. He was wrong.

The whole trip, the entire time she had been in Night, the entire time Azriel had known her.

Azriel was wrong.

So, so fucking wrong.

Azriel had treated Zara with distaste from the moment he had seen her real face, and realized who she was to him. The moment he had locked eyes on her and realized not only was Zara beautiful, she was otherworldly and vaguely threatening. And that she made Azriel feel things he had not felt in centuries. Things he had no interest in feeling, and things she had no right making him feel.

But watching her dance away in the arms of a High Lord two nights ago, Azriel had been hit with brutal, striking clarity.

He wasn't better than her. He wasn't smarter or stronger or more cunning. He was threatened by her, and had been lashing out at Zara from the day they met face to face in her office in Dawn. 

One look. It had taken one look at Zara, that day in her rose colored dress and fluffy rainbow socks, and Azriel had known.

Zara was the storm he would not survive.

And now, Azriel knew she had already ruined him completely.

Zara had a hand raised to the star filled sky, her dress billowing around her and her circlet marking her Queen of the heavens. Queen of the skies. And as her dress swirled, as the heavens cried out with ancient song unlike anything anyone had ever heard... It was beautiful, it was euphoric, it was as if the Mother herself had paused time for this very moment, this chorus and song.

Zara played the winds like a triumphant roar, a battle cry and a victory and a full fledged orchestra unravelling a symphony of Zara's will.

And for Azriel, it was exactly what crippled him as he fell to his knees. If the winds were loud enough for any normal person to hear, then for Azriel, they were ten times fold.

And he understood. In his soul Azriel understood every single arpeggio and crescendo and note and word. And it was absolutely heartbreaking. It was life giving. It was the best thing he had ever heard. And it was so alike his shadows, but so different, so full of light and life and love pouring right into that part of his soul only his shadows and she had access too that it was entirely overwhelming.

It was a quick collapse, and Azriels knees hadn't even hit the ground to alert his family of his ailment before Azriel was slipping into the shadow, crumpling out onto the highest abandoned balcony. Far away enough his family couldn't see the expression of reverence and agony on his face, but close enough he could still listen. Could still feel.

Azriel could still see Zara. Arms outstretched to the clear northern sky above, head tilted back in elation as her curly hair swirled wildly with the winds above her, which clung to her the way gravity clung to the earth.

Unworthy. Gods above, Azriel was so, fucking unworthy of her.

She was his damnation. His salvation. The most beautiful, strong, perfect creature he had ever laid eyes on.

She was Zara Aphelion. Wind wielder, lightning wielder, Stormbringer.

She was the female he was utterly, irrevocably, and undeniably in love with.

This music.... It spoke to him in his soul. And Azriel just knew that if he were to open his mouth. If he were to sing aloud, it would complement each other perfectly. He just knew that if she were to open her mouth and sing along too, it would blend perfectly. It would match.