Azriel's Tale

Azriel's Tale - Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18:

Azriel pushed the bar door open and his eyes quickly scanned the deserted room. It was evident that the bar was not yet open to visitors; bar stools were up on the bar itself, chairs on tables, cleaning equipment was out and he heard people, presumably employees, talking to one another about how to approach the day, and yet Cassian sat in the corner with a bottle of Whiskey in front of him and short glass. Cassian was facing the door so Azriel knew that his brother knew he was approaching. The Illyrian sat a booth so the Shadowsinger took his place across from him. 

"How long have you been here?" Azriel asked. 

"I haven't actually been to sleep yet," He confessed, his voice rough with alcohol. "I came here last night and I just haven't been home yet." Azriel nodded. At least Cassian hadn't demanded them to open the bar early for him, he had done this a few times in the past. Azriel turned to the bar to see Warren, the owner of the establishment, polishing glasses and cleaning up slightly. The shadowsinger smiled at him in an apology for his brother's overstay but Warren just smiled back in acceptance. 

"What about you?" Cassian asked. Azriel turned his head.

"I went to Aideen's camp this morning and trained with Alva for a few hours," he explained. 

"I haven't seen Alva in a good while, she is well?" Azriel nodded. The two Illyrian warriors drifted into silence for a time until Cassian blurted out,

"I'm sorry for what I said, about you I mean." 

"It's okay Cas, I shouldn't have pushed. Of all of us, you're the best at defending yourself, I shouldn't have tried to intervene so much." 

Cassian grinned at him, perhaps too eagerly. It was clear that Cassian was still slightly drunk, he needed to get him home. Azriel used his scarred hands to pick up the glass and bottle, despite Cassian's grunts of displeasure, and returned them to the bar where Warren was. Azriel tried to pay his tab but he replied.

"The High Lord had already taken care of the bill." He simply responded. Azriel's brows rose and Warren chuckled to himself. "You're not the only one to know where Cassian would be." 

"Of course," Azriel replied. He thanked him for letting Cassian stay so long and journeyed back to his friend. "Let's get you bathed and in bed. You need to sleep this off." Cassian stood and staggered in his steps, immediately the shadowsinger was by his side helping him to vacate the building so that Azriel could fly the both of them home. Cassian said he was perfectly able to fly himself but after the 3rd time, he nearly fell over and Azriel firmly disagreed. 

After Azriel had put Cassian to bed, he came downstairs to see Morrigan cooking breakfast. Her normally long golden hair was placed in a ponytail for a change, Azriel rarely saw this. Whilst Mor was at the cooker, without turning she said.

"I heard the two of you come in, I thought you might want a late breakfast." 

"I didn't have a chance to have any earlier, so thanks. Do you want me to help?" Azriel asked, eager to lend a hand in whichever way he could. 

"I'm alright, I'll call you in if I need help. Amren and Rhysand are in the other room." Azriel nodded towards his friend and headed into the other room. 

As he entered he saw Amren sat on the floor leaning against an ottoman looking over several pieces of paper and books with Rhys sat on the sofa across from her writing down something on a piece of paper. Rhys looked away from his writing and towards his brother as he entered. 

"Everything okay?" He asked as Azriel sat next to him. The shadowsinger heard the hidden and unspoken words underneath what he said. 'Is everything okay with Cassian?' 

"Yes, we spoke. I put him to sleep. Thanks for picking up the tab for him." Azriel responded. Rhysand didn't respond, he only smiled slightly in acknowledgement. Amren, clearly unbothered by the drama, did not say anything about the previous events. 

"Are you well Amren?" He asked, for the sake of at least trying to have a conversation.

"Yes," she answered quickly. She then gestured to the stacks of paper, "busy." And that seemingly was the end of the answers he was going to get from Amren, so Azriel took a different angle and asked his High Lord.

"What is all of this anyway? What are the two of you doing?" 

"We were going to wait until breakfast and when Cassian is sober enough to understand the complexity of the situation, but there was an attack in the capital of Vallahan last night. Over 100 Fae have been killed and much more injured, but no one knows who has done this." 

Vallahan was on a different continent, thank the Cauldron, but they were only across the ocean from the Night Court so this attack was concerning. This was the first attack in this part of the world on this scale since the War had ended. Vallahan never did assist Hybern in the War, so far all intents and purposes, they were allies, not enemies. They needed to know had attacked and why they had attacked. 

As Rhysand finished his sentence his cousin breezed in with a tray full of steaming hot food and announcing that breakfast was now served. Rhys just gave Azriel a look as to say that they would speak of this more once they had eaten. Did Mor know? Presumably not. As they headed to the dining room Azriel had to stay behind to drag Amren with them.

"You need to eat, Amren," He commented. "You can continue researching later." He added, in the hopes of easing her worry. 

"Fine." He helped her from the floor and the two of them walked in to find breakfast and their family waiting for them.

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After Cassian had awoken they were all once again in the living room and Rhysand had just informed Mor and Cassian of the current situation. 

"What?!" Cassian shrieked. He honestly shrieked. "Why was I not informed?!" 

"You were hungover Cas," Mor drawled to him. He mockingly smiled at her, clearly annoyed at Morrigan. "Does Feyre know?" 

"Yes," Rhysand answered. "She has travelled to the Day and Dawn courts to inform them of what has happened as the solar courts are the closest to Vallahan and therefore more likely to be attacked then the seasonal courts. If it progresses further, we'll inform them." They nodded. 

As tragic as this situation was, a part of Azriel was pleased to a certain extent. Ever since the War, every other member of the Inner Circle had some use, some other purpose, but lately, nobody needed to be spied on so that left Azriel with little to do. He was a Spymaster after all. Immediately Azriel was thinking of ways to get information from Vallahan, he did have spies there but since the War had shattered allegiances between continents he wasn't sure if they would be entirely reliable anymore. 

"And Elain and Nesta? They are well?" Cassian asked.

"They are fine, Feyre wanted to tell them of the attack when she returns from her duties." It was hard to ignore the glint in Cassian's eyes when he spoke of Nesta. 

Cassian had spoken to Azriel after the War to inform him of what had happened between Nesta and himself when he thought he was going to die. So unsurprisingly Cassian became a little obsessed with her safety since that time, she had now agreed to some training, but not enough as far as the Army Commander was concerned.

Another update! Please do let me know what you all think. I'm struggling a little to see where this story is heading so some inspiration would be very appreciated. Thank you! -Jessica