To the Shadowsinger | Azriel

Chapter 5: This feeling

"I should have let the amphisbaena eat her," Azriel was pissed, a sight Mor wasn't used to. "The damned thing almost got me too. You know Illyrians don't go near those things. Idiot."

Mor hid her smile as she blotted sweat from the fae Azriel had shown up with in his arms. He had looked like a wreck, but the female fae looked even worse. A wound on her arm oozed blood and puss while her face had paled and tiny black veins made their way up her neck.

Luckily for the fae, it would just be a horrible recovery. She'd live thanks to the healer they called who quickly gave her the antidote and worked on healing the skin that was dying on her arm. She's going to have a nasty scar, the healer said before she left.

Rai was still violently ill from fighting the venom, even with the antidote. She was burning with a fever, delirious, and vomiting. Azriel paced as Mor helped Rai vomit into a bucket and hold a cool cloth to her forehead.

Azriel had told Mor everything but she didn't seem to worry. "We'll deal with it once she's better."

He couldn't help but feel guilty though as he watched Rai toss and turn in pain. Maybe if he didn't drop her, she would be locked up where she would be safe. On the brightside, she wasn't running away from him.

"Can I do anything to help?" Nyxous asked from the doorway. Both Azriel and Mor turned to look at him.

Mor gave him a warm smile, "Could you get me another bowl of cold water, please?"

Nyxous was eager to help, he didn't like standing back with all the panic going on.

Azriel patted the boy's head when he came running back into the room with a bowl, half the water had already sloshed out.

"Get some rest, kid."

When Nyxous was gone, Azriel sat at the edge of the bed and looked at Rai as he asked Mor, "Does she look familiar?"

Mor studied her face but ended up shaking her head with a frown. "You don't think she's from Prythian?"

"No."

Mor redunked the cloth in the freshwater before continuing to gently wipe Rai's forehead. Luckily, Rai had passed out in a magical sleep. It wasn't a peaceful sleep though.

"What do you think she came here for?" Mor asked.

He hated saying it, but he didn't have a clue. It could be anything, the Book of Breathings, which they didn't have, the Cauldron, which they also didn't have, the list went on. Mor and Azriel had known each other long enough for him to not have to speak the words for her to understand.

"If I had to take a guess," Mor sighed. "I'd say she's a spy from Hybern, though it's hard to say. Her scent is unfamiliar but she's been here long enough that the musk from the Illyrian Steppes has stuck. Her clothes are also too plain to identify where they are from."

Azriel had considered the same. He had even gone back to check her campsite but nothing remained. It was as if someone knew she had been captured. He hoped she didn't have an accomplice but he had gotten an uneasy feeling near the cave she had been sleeping by. Even his own shadows had been too afraid to enter the cave.

He would go back later, once Rai wasn't looking half dead.

"No!" Rai cried out in her sleep and pushed away an invisible force. "No!" Her cries grew louder

Azriel's fist tightened but he didn't move to comfort her. Mor was already there, whispering that everything was alright as she stroked her forehead with the wet cloth. Mor let a gentle power sweep over the ill fae until the cries died down and Rai returned to a silent slumber.

"You should get some rest," Azriel told Mor. It was late and he knew Mor was traveling to the Court of Nightmares in the morning for a check in. He could see the anxiety building between her brows and the tension in her shoulders. He would take her worries away if he could. Make her happy, like she deserved.

He faced the fact a long time ago, he would never make Mor happy the way he wanted to. Deep down, he knew why Mor didn't share his affections but a shallow part of him couldn't help but admire her. He would always admire and care for her, that would never change.

"Alright," Mor's smile reflected how tired she really was as she stood and handed him the rag. "I'll be back in a few days. Let me know if you need anything."

He gave her a nod of thanks.

Once they were all alone, Azriel finally let himself study Rai. He took the chair Mor had been seated in and continued wiping the sweat from Rai's face. She's beautiful, he couldn't help but admit. Even in this state, with her dark hair stuck to her forehead, her face was flushed with fever, and dark veins could be seen like spiderwebs all over her skin.

He rubbed his temple, feeling annoyed with himself. Thinking an enemy spy was attractive was foolish, he was a better spymaster than that. Plus, he was ancient. He had seen centuries worth of pretty faces, one more shouldn't make him feel so... what is this feeling?

He suppressed it like he had earlier. Something about her was causing him not to think straight. He couldn't focus as he followed her through the tunnels of the Court of Nightmares, had even slipped up and got himself caught. Tracking her down a third time didn't prove difficult at least. Every part of him screamed to find her.

And thanks to him losing his calm, she got hurt. If only he didn't hit her with a blast of his magic and handled it more level headed, she wouldn't have been injured enough to hide. All he had thought about was the adrenaline as he spotted her and the thought of her slipping away again. He couldn't let her get away a second time.

Looking at her now though, he realized he got what he wanted. She wasn't trying to slip through his fingers. But in no way was he satisfied.

It wasn't long until his eyelids grew heavy, until he rested his head on the crook of his elbow and drifted to sleep.