Azriel's Tale

Azriel's Tale - Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9:

Azriel was, yet again, looking over some books he has read countless times over. About training, flying, wars, armies, battles, etc. Anything an Illyrian shadowsinger might need to know, yet still, this mood just didn't want to leave him. He supposed the books may give him some answers, but after months of realising his bad mood, he had gotten better at hiding it from his family, but not from himself. It was as if every action and thought he took was affected by whatever it is that is bothering him.

"Still looking over the books, huh?" Mor asked as she seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Azriel's raised his eyes to look at her. Her blonde hair fell effortlessly over her shoulders, the perfect wave that only someone who had spent hours on her hair could give an unknowing eye the impression of a casual look. Azriel knew this. 

"Yes," he replied. "Just checking things."

"Again?" She asked, her voice rising. "I swear, you are always reading those."

"Not just these," He mumbled. "I've been looking at some newer material in the library. I keep trying to get Cassian to come look over some things with me, but we both know why he won't." He chuckled softly at his own joke, as did Mor. Azriel had bought up Cassian in the hopes of changing the subject, unfortunately, Mor knew what Azriel was trying to do. As she finished laughing, she quickly turned serious.

"Trying to change the subject doesn't work on me." She declared. Azriel rose his eyebrows in challenges.

"Okay," she relented. "It doesn't work on me that much anymore." Azriel smiled at her confession. 

"Yes, I have noticed," Azriel remarked.

"So," Mor tried to get back to the point. "What are you looking for?" He looked from the female, down to his books, then his eyes returned to Mor. 

"If I am being honest, I am not really sure." He confessed.

"What do you mean?"

"There isn't anything I am actively searching for, I am just refreshing my memory." Not a lie, but not exactly telling the truth either.

"Hmm..." Mor hummed. She wouldn't push him. Morrigan knew that she had a power to push Az to a point as she debated doing so now, but thought better of it as this seems to be a sensitive subject, and she didn't want to step too far into his personal space. 

Thankfully, Mor dropped the subject rather suddenly and the two were quickly back to talking about Cassian and Bryaxis. Then moving on to talking about how Drakon and Miriyam were doing. They were well, as far as Mor had heard. The two of them stopped talking when they heard voices from the other room, they decided to investigate.

As Mor and Azriel stepped into the living room, they saw and easily heard, a disgruntled Amren. Feyre and Rhysand were already in the room before Amren had arrived so they too were startled by her sudden appearance. 

"Ah," Rhysand called. "You're finally here." The dig directed towards Amren was acknowledged.

"If you really needed me, I would be here." She defended. "Are you still pissy about the meeting?" 

"Yes," Rhysand stated firmly, his Illyrian instincts telling him not to back down. "The Treaty was created to keep relationships in Prythian, and outside of it, as healthy and as open as they can be. How do you think it looks when a member of our Inner Circle," He gestured to Feyre. "can't be bothered to show up?" Amren barely confirmed she heard him and to which she replied with-

"I had other things to be doing." 

"Like what?" Feyre asked, in a gentler tone than Rhys's. In the hopes of trying to not to make Amren feel ganged up on or pressured.

"On things which are none of your damn concern." Amren retorted. "I came to see if you needed anything from me, and almost immediately you accusing me of what? Not wanting to be bothered with menial jobs." Her disgust and anger were rising with every word she spoke.

"We just need to show unity Amren, that was all they meant by it." Morrigan soothed. 

"I know." She snipped, then exhaled. "I can't deal with you self-obsessed idiots right now." And as quickly as she appeared, Amren vanished.  The four people left in the room looked at one another in shock. What just happened? Just a moment later, Cassian casually walked into the room with a bottle of beer and sat down, unaware of what had just occurred. He quickly gaged everybody's reactions and asked- 

"What? What did I miss?" The army commander asked.

It was almost comical. 

Please do let me know your thoughts! I'd love to keep going with this story as this series, and the characters within, mean the world to me and I want to do them justice. Please comment and give me feedback as I am not entirely sure where this story is headed. -Jessica.