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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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One Last Time [Chapter 11]

Summary - Elain and Azriel have known each other since they were 11 and had never been separated. But when their view for their future no longer matches, things break apart between them, causing a rift which had never been fixed. Elain goes on to become a neurosurgeon, while Azriel works for the deadlier part of the community. Ten years later, their lives get entangled as they cross paths, this time stakes much greater than just their hearts.

An: All characters belong to Sarah J. Maas

Warnings: Mature language, violence, alcohol consumption, smoking, drugs

Hope you all enjoy!

Masterlist

Songs:

There You Are - Zayn Malik Slow Down - Chase Atlantic Collide - Justine Skye, Tyga Gangsta - Kehlani Shameless - Camila Cabello

AN: Basically fluff and smut, a filler chapter. There’s also a time jump. The chapter starts around late November - early December. Then there’s a time skip, where I’ve added dates.

~~~~~

She didn’t remember the ride home. She didn’t even notice how it was almost midnight by the time they reached back home.

All Elain could think of was Azriel’s hands on her, the entire time. They both crashed through the front door, hands not leaving the other's body. Azriel looked around the foyer before he picked Elain up, wrapping her legs around his waist, and kissed her deeply.

Elain wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed back with fervor, grateful for the height advantage. He detached from her lips as he took them up the stairs and Elain took the opportunity to place small kisses on his neck, trailing to his jaw and his ear. “I want you to fuck me Azriel.” She whispered and giggled when he let out a groan, rushing them to his room.

He slammed the door close with his leg and dropped Elain on top of the bed, instantly kneeling in front of her. He grabbed her by the ankles and pulled her forward, Elain letting out a yelp.

“Gods help me Elain, you can’t say things like that.” his voice was hoarse as he spoke. He looked up at Elain from where he was kneeling, his eyes glinting with remorse and lust.

Elain smirked at him. “But I can. I want you to fuck away the past ten years from our lives.” When she saw him hesitating, she reached down and started removing her leggings, slowly, then her sweater, leaving her in a matching set of lace. “If you won’t then I’ll do it on my own.” She taunted, throwing the pieces of clothing at him.

He caught them with his hand before they hit him and she saw the exact moment he had made up his mind. He moved closer to her, encasing her calves with his hands. He pressed them softly before letting them go, leaving featherlike touches from his fingers as he moved them up towards her thighs.

Azriel dropped his hands and stood up, causing Elain to whine. “Shhh.” He whispered. “I need you to be quiet. Or do you want our son to hear you?” He asked, a deviant smile on his face. He crawled over her and grabbed both her hands with one of his, bringing it above her head. He reached over to the side table, where Elain heard a drawer opening, then the clink of metal.

Azriel brought a pair of handcuffs into her view and she instantly knew it was her own. She tilted her head to the side. “I was wondering where that had gone.”

Az raised a brow at her. “Tell me Elain, do you like to be tied up?” He leaned down his lips right beside her ear.

“Why don’t you figure it out?” She questioned slyly.

Azriel groaned and quickly took both her hands, cuffing them to his headboard. “Remove your shirt and pants while you’re at it,” Elain spoke out breathily.

Az chuckled and chucked off his pants and shirt, leaving him in only his boxers. Elain couldn’t help but stare at his chiseled chest. It was more defined than it had been during their highschool years, and he would play football then. Elain wondered what he did now.

He moved back and caught Elain staring at him. He smiled and leaned down once again, placing his lips on her collarbone. Then he opened his mouth, softly biting her. Elain arched her back, letting out a moan. “Please don’t don’t stop.”

He placed a hand against her pelvis, pushing her back into the bed. He continued biting, moving down to where her breasts were. He used one hand to reach behind her and unclasped her bra, throwing it away.

He enclosed his mouth around one of her nipples, licking it before sucking. Elain squirmed at the sensation and he now used his own body to limit her movement. She could feel his erection pushing into her thigh. “Oh, God.” Elain moaned and Azriel chuckled, releasing her nipple.

“No god here tonight sweetheart. It’s all me.” Azriel pinched the other nipple, and moved below, tugging off her panties with just his teeth. He glanced up at her and winked.

And Gods if Elain didn’t come at just the sight of him.

~~~~~

Azriel had died and gone to heaven. Surely that was it.

Because he refused to believe that Elain was actually lying in front of him, cuffed to his bed, completely naked, completely at his mercy.

He glanced down at Elain’s sex, dripping wet. He held back a groan.

He stood up and removed his boxers, freeing his erection. “I’ll play with you later, right now I need to be inside you.” He barely made out before he was placing his tip against her entrance. He was on top of Elain and glanced down at her, needing confirmation if she truly wanted this. She smiled back up at him.

“I forgive you.” She whispered. The words had just come out of her as he crashed his lips against her, thrusting inside her. She bit his lip and Azriel groaned at how she felt. He let go of her lips and rested his head against her forehead.

Elain nudged her hips upward and Azriel shut his eyes, knowing he couldn’t hold back. “El, sweetheart, I need you to stop that, because I won’t last long if you continue.”

Elain giggled. “I remember you having more stamina than that.”

“I’m trying to make this good for both of us.” He bit out.

“Then move,” Elain whispered and he opened his eyes, gazing into her trusting ones.

Azriel pulled out of her and thrust once again, the cuffs on Elain’s hands rattling against the headboard. Azriel brought one of his hands to Elain’s clit and started rubbing it.

“Keep doing that.” She breathed out. He loved how her eyes rolled back at the movement. Azriel continued moving in and out of her, finally coming as she orgasmed.

He stayed inside her for a moment, kissing her deeply. Then he rolled off her, laying on his back, both of their breathing labored. He sat up and took the keys of the handcuffs and opened them, releasing Elain’s arms. She sat up, rubbing her wrists which were now red.

Azriel frowned at the red markings. “Are you okay?”

Elain nodded. “Just not used to it.” When she saw the question in his eyes, Elain’s lips curved in a small smile. “It’s not mine. The handcuffs were a part of Daemon’s costume for Halloween.”

Azriel’s eyes widened in horror and Elain laughed. He hid his face in his hands. “I just used my son’s toy for sex. Oh, gods.”

Elain just laughed and got up from the bed. She moved towards the bathroom, feeling his gaze on her the entire time. She cleaned up and tugged on the shirt he had discarded. Elain laid down beside him and hugged him. Soon, he also grabbed onto her, and both of them fell asleep like that.

~~~~~

For the first time in years, Azriel woke up, looking forward to what the day would hold. He looked beside him to where Elain lay, her head turned towards him, her hair fanned over the pillow. Her hand was entwined with his and he smiled at the sight.

Maybe this was what bliss felt like. He got up to freshen up. He stared at his complexion in the mirror and smiled, not being able to control the giddy feeling. When he returned, he found Elain sitting up in bed.

“You’re up early.” He commented.

Elain raised her arms, opening them for him. “You left. And you took the warmth with you.”

Azriel settled in bed beside her with a chuckle. “Sure, let me change my occupation from COO to Elain Archeron’s personal heater.”

Elain scrunched her nose at him, leaning in. “That’s not all you are. You can also be my personal orgasm-giving machine.”

Azriel shook his head and turned towards her, letting her fall back on the bed. He then caged her with his arms. “Is that all?”

Elain nodded in affirmation but Azriel grabbed her chin. She raised a brow at him and he smiled. Then he leaned down and crushed his lips to hers, her responding in kind. “You are everything to me.” He whispered.

Elain smiled, a tear falling from her eye. “Even ten years of trying to hate you couldn’t erase you from me. You are my world.” She answered and he once again closed the distance between them.

He flicked his tongue against her and she lurched her hips up against his. Azriel grabbed hold of Elain’s waist and flipped her over so that she was on top of him. She looked down at him in confusion and he smirked at her. “You’re in control. Do your worst.”

He loved how her expression changed from confused to amused. She quickly leaned down, kissing and biting his collarbone. Azriel grabbed onto her hair, pulling it slightly, to which she let out a moan. “Just returning the favor.” She whispered.

She licked a path down his chest, to his abs, down to the v of his muscles. Azriel couldn’t help but groan as she grabbed the edge of his boxers with her teeth. She looked up at him and winked, repeating his actions from the previous night. “I need you to be quiet, wouldn’t want our son to hear what I plan to do to you.”

Azriel shook his head in amusement and Elain pulled his boxers off completely. She grabbed onto his length, pumping it twice before she got up and crawled back up to him. She took hold of his hand and brought it to her clit. Azriel instantly took the hint and started rubbing her, dipping two of his fingers inside her.

She once again grabbed ahold of his hands and removed them, shoving them in his mouth. “How do I taste?”

“Like fucking nectar.” He answered.

Elain smiled. “I want a taste too.” She then bent down and started kissing him. Then all of a sudden, she moved her hips up and sheathed him inside of her.

And after that, all Azriel could think of was how lucky he was to have Elain back in his life.

~~~~~

22nd December

“So, what are your plans for Christmas Eve?” Elain questioned both her sisters as she tried on her tenth outfit of the day. She opened the curtains and waited outside.

“Nothing much. I mean Rhys and I just exchange gifts. Small dinner. Nothing big, considering my birthday.” Feyre also came out of her dressing room and paused as she saw Elain. “Wow.”

Elain patted down the dress she was in. It was light pink, with a halter neck, ruffling from the waistline. “Really? It doesn’t look a bit young?”

Nesta scoffed from inside. “Young as opposed to what? You’re only 28.” She came out of her trial room and also stopped at the sight of Elain. “Okay, if you don’t get that, then I will hurt you.”

Elain rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She went inside to change out of her dress. “Nesta, what do you guys do on Christmas Eve?”

“We have dinner. Bake cookies with Tootsie. Force her to go to sleep and then go to sleep before placing her presents in front of the tree. Why?”

Elain changed out of the dress and finally got out of the room. “I just don’t know what to expect. Do I get Azriel a gift?”

“Obviously.” Both ladies said at the same time.

“What about my traditions with Daemon?” Elain enquired, taking the dress towards the counter.

“Well, you tell Azriel about them and then he can join in,” Feyre informed her, taking the clothing article away from her. “I’m buying you this, as a gift.”

Elain laughed. “It’s your birthday Feyre.”

“Yes, and the birthday girl wishes to buy her sister something that will get her laid. Repeatedly.”

Nesta smirked. “Have you seen the marks on the girl? She’s definitely getting laid.”

Elain blushed as both sisters laughed at her expense. “Well, if you’re done, I would like to go and get some Christmas shopping done.”

“Meet you at the restaurant.” Nesta waved at her as Elain left the shop, noticing her security detail following her. It had taken Elain a while to figure out what they looked like as they easily blended in with the crowd. She had been instructed not to interact with them unless it was an emergency, so as to not arouse suspicion.

She walked into a store and called Azriel. He picked up at one ring. “How’s lady’s-day-out going?”

Elain laughed at the term. “It’s fun. How’s the father-son day going?”

“It’s going.” Elain could hear Daemon shouting from behind asking Azriel to come back. “Ignore him. What’s up?”

Elain browsed through the store. “Was just wondering, if you prefer dark red or purple.”

“Depends on what it is.” She could feel his smirk through the phone.

“It’s a gift. For you.”

“Hmm. Do I get to unwrap it?”

Elain smiled as she eyed the negligee on display in front of her. “Maybe.” She sang out.

“Both.” He growled out. “Get both of them.”

Elain laughed. “As you wish master.”

Azriel groaned from the other end. “You can’t say that El. Now I have a raging hard on and I have to play basketball with my son.”

“Sucks to be you. See you later. Byee.” She quickly cut the call, but not before she heard Azriel mutter the word minx. Elain smiled at herself, not believing how great the past few weeks with Azriel had been.

They had gotten into a very domestic routine. While Daemon was still not allowed to attend school, Azriel managed to get private tutors for him. He would get up early and make breakfast for all of them and leave for work, but not before leaving Elain with a kiss. Elain would go to the hospital and work there, who had surprisingly not mentioned anything about her unannounced absence.

They would both return in the evening and spend time with Daemon and each other. They would have dinner together and after Daemon went to bed, they would enjoy each other’s presence, making up for the past ten years.

They talked about their lives in the time that had passed. How things changed. What hadn’t changed. And they would fuck. A lot.

But other than the physical intimacy, they both also had an emotional intimacy, which she had craved for. Elain knew she was once again falling for him. Or maybe she had never stopped loving him?

One thing Elain was sure of was that they both were very different from who they were when they were 18, but just like then, they were meant for each other.

~~~~~

25 December

Azriel had never before been so excited for Christmas. He had spent the previous day in pajamas and watching horror movies with Elain. It was the tradition she shared with Daemon.

Azriel had initially questioned why horror movies when Elain smirked at him stating that the reason was that it was different. Azriel had accepted and spent the entire day with his family.

He looked at the tree set up in his living room, filled with gifts. He had another pile of gifts in his closet, but that was for three days later when Daemon would finally turn 10.

“When you said you bought a few gifts for Daemon, I didn’t think you meant a whole toy store,” Elain commented from behind him. He turned around and saw her standing with a cup of coffee in her hand, still in her reindeer pajamas. “It’s not that much is it?”

Elain hesitated slightly before answering. “You can keep a few here and give the rest to him on his birthday. It’s on the 28th.”

Azriel brought his hand up to the back of his neck, smiling apologetically. “I already bought gifts for his birthday. Elain narrowed her eyes at him.

“It better not be as many as this.” When he didn’t answer she stomped her leg. “Azriel Knight, you cannot give our child so many gifts in the span of a week. You’ll spoil him.”

“But I have ten years to make up for.” He whispered softly and Elain shook her head at him.

“No. Nuh-uh. You cannot use the sympathy card for this.”

Azriel was about to answer in rebuttal when an excited squeal came from the bottom of the staircase. “Ohmygosh Santa came!”

Elain rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. “Yes, it’s not like he doesn’t come every year.” Azriel frowned at her mockingly.

“Dad look! There’s so many of them!” Azriel smiled at the sight of an overactive Daemon rushing from one side of the pile to the other, momentarily stopping to shake a few gifts.

Elain sighed from behind him. “It’s like arguing with a brick wall. Enjoy, he’ll be expecting the same every year.”

Azriel just continued smiling, knowing that he would do the same every single year, even when Daemon gets old enough to know there’s no such thing as Santa.

“He’ll become like Dudley from Harry Potter,” Elain muttered and Azriel finally looked at her. She was frowning slightly at Daemon.

“Are you okay?” He questioned as he saw tears form in her eyes. Elain nodded once before rushing into the kitchen. Azriel instantly followed behind her. He saw her hunched over the kitchen island. “What’s wrong El?”

Elain just shook her head. “I don’t know. I just feel so happy.”

Azriel rubbed her back softly. “But why are you crying?”

She snapped her head towards him and growled at him. “Because I want to.”

Azriel reared back and raised his hands in surrender while Elain let out a deep sigh. “I’m sorry, I’m just not feeling very well. I love the gesture truly.”

He moved towards her, palming her cheeks with his hands. “You’re allowed to be moody Elain. It doesn’t make me love you any less.”

Elain stiffened at his words and he realized what he had just said.

“You love me?” She questioned so softly, her eyes so vulnerable.

Azriel nodded. “I have never stopped loving you.” More tears started to form in her eyes and before he could say anything she pushed up on her toes and kissed him.

“I love you too.” She said with a smile and Azriel pulled her in for a hug. They stayed there, embracing each other until Daemon’s voice called out for them.

~~~~~

28 December

Elain was exhausted.

She was panting, her hair matted with sweat and her entire body was aching. When Azriel had told her what he wanted as a birthday present, she hadn’t expected it to be so tiring.

Azriel took advantage of her absentmindedness and swiped her legs from underneath her, leaving her flat on her back.

She lay on the mat, her body refusing to get up.

“Come on, it was just a light spar.” Azriel chimed from above her.

Elain groaned in annoyance. “And the one-hour workout before that?”

“You need to learn how to fight. You asked me what I wanted for my birthday and this is it.” Azriel held out a hand for her. “Get up, we have to get ready for Daemon’s party.” She groaned once again before taking his hand and standing up. “Since we’re in a hurry, we could shower together?” Azriel suggested as he handed her a bottle of water.

“I don’t think we’ll take less time in a shower together.” She smirked up at him.

Azriel scowled and lifted Elain up, lurching her over his shoulder. He smacked her ass and started walking. “I wasn’t giving you a choice, woman.”

Elain giggled all the way to their shower.

Soon, they were all ready and Daemon’s birthday party was in full swing. They had invited Elain’s sisters, as well as Lucien.

While everyone was busy putting candles on Daemon’s cake, Elain brought out another cake for Azriel, which she had baked herself.

The entire evening felt like a dream.

She had started picking up plates, all the guests sitting in the living room when Daemon came towards her. “Mom, come out to the backyard, I want to show you something.”

Elain left the plates and let Daemon drag her out, where she saw the entire backyard decked with candles along with light decorations. She saw the entire snow-filled area covered with rose petals. “Dae, who did this?”

Daemon smiled at something behind her. Elain turned around and gasped at what she saw.

Azriel, kneeling in front of her, a ring in hand.

~~~~~

AN: I'm sorry for the delay!

I am still facing quite a few health issues, so I can't promise when I'll be able to upload the next chapter. Thank you for sticking along with me this long though!

#elriel #elriel fic #one last time #elain archeron #azriel #elain x azriel #azriel x elain #gangster au #acotar au #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #feyre archeron #rhysand #nesta archeron #cassian

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

Text

One Last Time [Chapter 10]

An: All characters belong to Sarah J. Maas

Warnings: Mature language, violence, alcohol consumption, smoking, drugs

Hope you all enjoy!

Masterlist

Songs:

Back to December - Taylor Swift

I Wanna Be Yours - Arctic Monkeys

Young God - Halsey

Elain and Lucien were back on the road just before sunset.

She had to explain everything to Lucien regarding who Aelin and Rowan were and how Elain knew them and everything else that usually followed. By the end of the story, Lucien understood why she needed them to help and helped them by pitching in with ideas.

“They’re good people,” Lucien commented while driving them back. “I liked them, especially Aelin.”

Elain smiled fondly. “They’re amazing. Both of them. And the others are as amazing as them.” She smirked at Lucien. “Maybe you could have tried to be with Aelin if Rowan wasn’t there in the picture. Both of you have fire in your veins.” Lucien scoffed at that. “Seriously! You guys would probably make it.” Elain sat back and thought before correcting. “Actually I don’t think so. You both might just burn the building down in one go.”

Lucien shook his head as he chuckled. “Thank you for having so much faith in me. And I really don’t think there’s a chance for Rowan to not be in the picture.”

Elain nodded solemnly. “I have a feeling he’ll resurrect like the Undertaker.” Lucien gave her a questioning look and then she amended, “Nope, that’s definitely Aelin.”

“I meant that they both seem like they are soulmates.”

Elain nodded once again. “They are. I don’t think it’s possible for Aelin to be with anyone else. Same for Rowan. And they’ve both gone through some serious shit. They deserve to be happy.”

Lucien looked at her with sad eyes. “You’ve gone through some shit too. You also deserve to be happy, Elain.” She turned her head and looked out of the window, the trees running past them. “I know.” She smiled at her own reflection. “I might try to snatch all the happiness I can get. Who knows how long it’ll last.”

Lucien sighed. “Elain, he won’t let anything happen to you. You know he loves you.”

“Loved.” She corrected him.

“You are both extremely blind and I can’t wait to say ‘told you so’ when you can’t keep your hands off each other just like when we were kids.”

Elain was thankful for the lack of light which hid her blush as the events from the previous night played back in her mind. When she didn’t respond, Lucien looked towards her and gave her an incredulous look. “Seriously Ellie? Already? Please tell me that it wasn’t with me and Daemon sleeping in the rooms beside you.”

She just blinked and then flashed him a smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know Lulu?”

He shuddered in response and didn’t bring it back up the entire journey.

~~~~~

Azriel heard her car roll in before he actually saw it. Lucien had gotten out and spotted him instantly, nodded at him, and quickly helped Elain out of the car. Azriel frowned when he noticed her limping slightly. She waved Lucien off and nudged him back to his car. He shook his head at her before hugging her and getting back inside the car.

“Mommy!” Daemon shouted from beside Az. “Look at me swimming!”

Elain glanced towards them and gave a slight smile, before walking towards them. Azriel noticed, however, that she was trying to disguise her limp.

“You’re back,” Azriel stated flatly.

“You’re not supposed to be swimming. And neither is Daemon.” Elain claimed with both her hands on her hip. “It’s in the middle of December. It was snowing literally half an hour ago.”

Azriel turned towards her and went to the side of the pool, jumping onto the concrete, and stood up straight in front of her. He didn’t miss how her eyes instantly snapped to his bare chest before slowly coming back to his face.

“How was your little trip to the mountains, huh?” He asked coolly, snapping her out of her daze.

“What?” She blinked up at him. “How do you know I went up to the mountains?” He shrugged nonchalantly and walked past her, hitting her shoulder with his. “Were you following us?” Elain asked him incredulously.

“No, I didn’t leave the house.” He answered and she let out a sigh of relief, causing Azriel to scoff. “There’s a tracker injected in your neck. Did it the first night you were here.”

She instantly raised her hand up to her neck touching it everywhere to search for the place where a tracker could be. “What the fuck Azriel?! How could you do that? That is a complete violation of privacy!”

Azriel whipped around and in two long strides, he was right in front of Elain, seething. “Privacy?” He bit out. “What privacy? In case you forgot, I kidnapped you and brought you here against your will.” He looked at her neck with a predatory grin.

“Did a pretty satisfactory job, didn't I?” He brought his hand up to her neck and brushed his thumb against it, her hand dropping on its own accord. He got a dark look in his eyes as he noticed Elain’s breathing getting shallow.

Azriel lowered his head, bringing his mouth near Elain’s ear. “Don’t worry, the pool is heated.” He whispered, his lips touching the shell of her ear.

Without sparing Elain another glance, Azriel stalked back into his house, directly moving to his office.

~~~~~

Elain waited until Daemon had been properly heated and well-fed before she went in search of Azriel.

Fortunately for her, he came in search of her instead. He handed her the first aid kit and removed his shirt silently, sitting in a chair in front of her.

Elain also remained quiet, removing the old bandage on his back and cleaning the wound, which she was happy to see was healing. She again wrapped a new bandage on top, but her hands lingered on his bare back. She traced her hands up to his shoulders and she could feel him tensing beneath her.

“You have every right to be angry at me.” She whispered softly. “But I didn’t go there for what you think I did.”

Az shook his head and made to get up before Elain pushed him down. She took out the pen drive from her pocket and held it in front of him. “This has something that might help you out.”

Azriel grabbed it and turned his head to look at her. “Why don’t you tell me why you went there.”

Elain inhaled deeply. “I had a hunch. And I needed proof before I could present it to you.”

Azriel nodded and got up, grabbing her hand in his, before leading her to his office. She looked around in awe as he turned the lights on. She was impressed by the whole setup, which gave absolute hacker vibes. When she had thought of what would be inside his office, she had imagined a wooden desk, a lot of bookshelves lining the walls, and a simple setup.

She hadn’t expected two desktop screens connected to a laptop, a glass desk. The walls were covered with soft boards and whiteboards, all of which were filled.

“Cassian was right, you are batman.” She breathed out and Az just smirked at her. He connected the pen drive and sat down on his chair, Elain waiting with bated breath.

~~~~~

Azriel was hurt. But he knew he couldn’t stay angry at her. He loved her too much. He would accept it if she demanded to be with Graysen even after everything. He didn’t want to know why she had gone to his cabin, but he would at least hear her out.

Azriel found a folder labeled ‘Finance Records’, which did indeed consist of financial records. Of Graysen’s company.

“Yesterday, meeting Vassa was a coincidence. But when she took me out to smoke, she started talking about her work. When I realized who she was working for, I just coerced her to give me more.” Elain spoke up. “Graysen’s company has hired a lawyer to help him with any possible drug accusations. It’s not him or any of his company members doing the dealings. I didn’t get the whole thing out of Vassa, but she did tell me that someone else is operating under his name.” Elain informed him as he was busy scrolling through the files she had managed to get. Azriel had to admit, she had done a pretty good job.

Azriel glanced at each of them, only to realize there was nothing irregular with them. “This could just be a front for the tax department.” He stated.

Elain groaned. “No. All his dirty work is kept in that cabin. There are invoices of money extortion and everything, but nothing related to either buying or selling drugs.”

Azriel continued persuing through the documents when he found one statement that made him pause. “This one shows our company giving him 150 k, in three installments.”

Azriel knew there had been no such dealing between his company and Graysen’s which confused him further. He mailed the documents to Rhysand.

“Another thing!” Elain exclaimed from behind him. She was leaning against him, the smell of her shampoo hitting him directly in the face. “Rhysand’s father was there.”

Azriel whipped his head quickly, not noticing how close her face was to his. “What do you mean he was there?”

“Lucien and I saw his car rolling up to the cabin.”

Azriel got up from his chair and grabbed Elain tightly. “Did he see you? Are you okay?”

Elain shook her head. “We ran away before he could. And I’m fine, I just twisted my ankle.”

Azriel groaned and before he realized it, Elain had risen on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. Azriel wrapped his hand around her hair, tugging on it to tilt her head upwards. He pushed through her lips, his free hand crushing her towards him.

She ran her hand around his shoulders, before tightly grasping his t-shirt. He pushed her behind, and the chair he had been sitting on pushed away. Elain bit his lip, which caused him to move back, his hand coming up to his lip. He saw there was slight blood and he glanced at Elain in question who was smiling at him before she started laughing. Azriel felt perplexed and frowned at her.

“I’m sorry, it’s just.” She let out another laugh. “I feel like we’re back in high school, making out in the computer lab during lunch.”

Azriel couldn’t help the laugh of his own that came out. They both laughed, until they heard Daemon outside, calling for them.

~~~~~

“You look like a man on a mission.”

Azriel scoffed at Rhysand who had barged into his office. Elain had finally given him the green light to go to the office building for his work, while bargaining that he allows Elain to go to the hospital.

Azriel agreed but insisted on her having a security detail to which she claimed she had a solution.

She had suggested the Terrasen Security company. How Elain had heard of them, Azriel did not want to know as the stories of the infamous Cadre were known throughout the mafia world.

“Rowan Whitehorn. Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.” Rhys whistled as he made his way toward Azriel and saw his research.

“Do you not understand the concept of privacy?” Azriel sneered at Rhys who just smirked.

“Not at all. What do you need from Rowan?”

Azriel shook his head. “Elain wants to go back to work. And I told her she could go if she was protected and she said, and I quote, ‘I know people”

Rhys gave Azriel an amused look. “First of all, I’m surprised you caved. What happened to the ‘In case you forgot, you’ve been kidnapped’? And second, how the hell does Elain know Rowan?”

Azriel ignored the first part of his question because he himself was contemplating temporary insanity. “Do you think they met through Graysen?”

Rhys scoffed. “Please, Graysen has too much pride to hire someone like Rowan. And Rowan has enough sense to not work for someone like Graysen.” Rhys paused before placing a hand on his shoulder. “Have you ever stopped to consider that even though you got rid of Elain to protect her from our world, maybe she wasn’t that protected?”

Azriel shook his head in denial. “No. Because then everything I’ve sacrificed and everything we went through would’ve been for nothing.”

Rhys held his hands up in surrender. “If you want, I can use my contacts to get you a meeting with Rowan.”

“No need. Elain handled it. Was just doing recon for tonight when they come over.”

Azriel glanced at Rhys’s flabbergasted expression and couldn’t help but smirk smugly. “It seems perhaps you’re not the only well-connected one.”

~~~~~

Elain was waiting anxiously. The sun had set and she had prepared the house well. Azriel had also returned early from work just to meet her friends.

Azriel was seated patiently on the sofa, his ankle placed over his leg. He glanced towards his watch. “It seems your friends don’t know what punctuality means.”

Elain shot him a glare and sneaked a glance toward the clock. It was 8:30, they were supposed to be there at 8. Finally, the front bell rang and Elain jumped towards the door, putting the code in. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Elain swung it open, hugging Aelin and then moving toward Rowan. She could feel Azriel standing behind her so she moved back and gestured toward Az.

“Guys, this is Az.” She looked towards Azriel then. “This is Aelin and Rowan.”

Az held his hand out for both of them. “It’s nice to meet friends of Elain.” He said diplomatically, which caused Elain to wince. She already saw Az discreetly glance around as if expecting an ambush.

“Do you know your house is unplottable?” Aelin questioned and Rowan gave her a warning glance.

“I intended it to be that way,” Az replied with a smile.

“Why don’t you all come inside?” Elain questioned, clearing the path for them. “It’s freezing out here.”

Both of them followed and Elain took their coats. They ended up sitting in the living room, where Daemon was already seated.

“Hey Daemon!” Aelin exclaimed, rushing towards Daemon with her hands stretched out. Daemon instantly stood up from his seat and hugged Aelin. Daemon then let go of her and moved towards Rowan, who picked him up and swung him around, Daemon’s laughter echoing off the walls.

Elain smiled and glanced towards Azriel who was frowning and his jaw was tight. She slowly moved to him, placing a hand on his clenching fist. “Rowan was around a lot during his initial years. Almost like his father figure. But Daemon knows you’re his real father.”

Azriel looked towards Elain and unclenched his jaw, nodding at Elain.

Rowan turned towards the two and let Daemon go. “Why don’t you go up to your room, huh? I’ll come and check up on you in while.” Elain said. Daemon nodded and bid them goodnight, while the four sat in the living area.

“Rhysand called me in the afternoon.” Rowan started.

“How do you know Rhysand?” Elain questioned.

“Met at a convention.”

Elain frowned. “I’m guessing it wasn’t a normal type of convention?”

Azriel smirked at Elain. “Nothing is normal here Elain. You should get used to it.”

“We got information on what you asked for.” Aelin opened her handbag and brought out a small folder. “And we have also prepared to have our best be there for you when you’re in the hospital.”

“But they wouldn’t be allowed inside,” Azriel argued.

Aelin shook her head. “Don’t underestimate our guys. Trust me, they’ll have eyes everywhere.”

Azriel leaned forwards, placing his elbows on his knees. “Anyone from the Cadre would catch too much attention.”

“The Cadre won’t be involved. There are other, equally talented people for the job.” Rowan added. “We also have an idea of how to figure out if Rhysand’s father is involved with Graysen or not,”

“We appreciate the help, but I don’t think we need it. It’s a personal matter.” Azriel stated harshly.

Elain placed her hand on his forearm. “I asked them to do this for me Azriel. Please.”

“How do you know each other?” He asked, glancing toward the other two seated in front of him.

“Elain and I were roommates in college. At least, for the first semester.” Aelin answered. “We remained close after that.”

“That must’ve been nice,” Azriel said, mildly subdued.

Aelin smirked deviously. “I have tons of stories if you want to hear.”

Elain groaned, knowing exactly what stories Aelin would share, and Azriel perked up, smiling tentatively. “I would love that.”

~~~~~

Azriel decided the next day was the best opportunity to plant the bugs in Sir’s study. The entire Knight family that resided in the manor was supposed to be outside, Rhysand at the office, Feyre at her art studio, and Sir had a doctor’s appointment. Azriel guessed even ruthless people like him could fall prey to illnesses.

“Wow, this place hasn’t changed one bit.” Elain’s voice came from beside him. He didn’t know how to shut her down and especially after she was the one who figured this out, she deserved to be included.

“We will directly go to Sir’s office and then out of there as fast as possible, okay?”

Elain raised her hands in surrender. She had opted to were an all-black attire. ‘Perfect for stealth’ she had said. “I promise not to fuck this up. And no reminiscing. I get it.”

Azriel groaned and moved on toward the house, not glancing back to check if she was following or not.

~~~~~

The room seemed ancient. Elain imagined it could resemble the study rooms she had seen in castles and palaces. There was a massive desk in the middle, with bookshelves all around, a liquor cabinet as well as a vintage globe, which Elain assumed was for decoration purposes.

Azriel moved inside and shut the door, switching on one of the lamps on the desk. “Look for anything that could be useful, but don’t mess things up. I’ll implant the bugs.”

Elain nodded and started looking everywhere. She searched in the bookshelf first, taking the books out and flipping through them. She then moved onto a side desk and tried opening the top drawer. However, she felt some resistance and the drawer wouldn’t completely budge. She bent down, touching around the bottom to see what was disturbing the movement when an envelope fell into her hand.

“Az…” He looked at her and she showed him the envelope. “It’s addressed to you.”

He took the envelope from her and inspected it carefully. “It’s from Adriata University.” He flipped it over. “Dated 2012?”

“Why does Rhys’ dad have it?” Elain asked.

He looked at her for a moment then tore open the envelope. He took the letter out and started reading, “Dear Azriel Knight, we are pleased to let you know that you have been… accepted?” His voice trailed off as he read the entire letter. Twice. He clutched the letter tightly in his hand. “I was accepted.” He breathed out.

Elain put her hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him but he instantly jerked it off. She frowned at him. “Azriel, it’s okay. There has to be some sort of explanation behind this.” He looked up at her, his eyes filled with unshed tears.

“It’s not okay El. I was accepted. I could’ve gone with you. I could’ve saved us.” His voice broke and she couldn’t stop the tears that flowed from her eyes. She rubbed his back reassuringly but he abruptly straightened.

“We should leave.”

“Az, look at me.”

“Someone could come and we’d get caught.”

“Az! Look at me!” She held his chin and turned his face towards her. He looked at her with sadness filling his face and she felt a sudden urge to destroy anything or anyone that hurt him. That hurt her Az.

“Baby, it’s okay. I don’t blame you. I don’t hate you.” He shook his head and she cupped his face with both her hands. “I could never hate you.” She whispered.

Azriel looked at Elain, tears forming in his eyes. “There wasn’t a single day in my life where I never loved you. Before all of this, I had never thought there was a way to love you more, but I was proven wrong. Every day when I see you, I love you more than before. And it’s driving me crazy.” She rest her forehead on his, him barely breathing. “But I would gladly lose my mind than lose you again.”

He didn’t say anything, just kissed her. Fiercely, desperately, holding on to her as if she was the one thing preventing him from falling away to nothing.

~~~~~

AN: I do these open endings a bit too often, don't I?

Next Chapter: 5th May

I'll be taking another break for my health. Fortunately, if things look better, I might update early.

#elriel #elriel fic #one last time #elain archeron #azriel #elain x azriel #azriel x elain #gangster au #acotar au #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #feyre archeron #rhysand #nesta archeron #cassian

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

Text

One Last Time [Chapter 9]

An: All characters belong to Sarah J. Maas

Warnings: Mature language, violence, alcohol consumption, smoking, drugs

Hope you all enjoy!

Masterlist

Songs:

Middle of the Night - Elley Duhe Sober - Charlie Puth Fast Times - Sabrina Carpenter

“Fuck it.” He muttered as he leaned towards her, crashing his lips to hers. She instantly replied, moving with him and gripped onto his shoulders tightly.

He pushed her back against the wall and her legs wrapped around his waist. She bit his lip and he released a groan, causing her to remove her lips from his. He trailed his lips down to her collarbone, kissing the expanse of her neck. She closed her eyes in pleasure.

Their hearts beat thunderously against each other’s chests and he was suddenly 17 again when he didn’t have anything to worry about, their lives in a perfect fantasy world. No drama, no fiances, nothing stopping them from taking whatever they wanted. Everything they wanted.

“Az, we shouldn’t.” She whispered and he knew, he knew they shouldn’t, but fuck he couldn’t stop. He slid his hands down to her thighs and gripped them tightly, pushing her skirt up, trailing a path to her center.

Elain whimpered, letting her head fall on his shoulder. Azriel’s hands were too close but too far from where he wanted them to be. He brushed a knuckle against her and he felt Elain bite his shoulder.

Azriel chuckled and pulled away from her, still holding her up. “We’re not doing it against the wall after being away for ten years. He walked towards his bed and dropped her on the edge of it. He instantly knelt down, widening her legs and sitting between them.

There was only one piece of cloth keeping him from what he wanted. Slowly, he slid off her underwear, taking his time, while Elain fell back onto the bed, squirming in frustration.

“What do you want Elain?” He asked softly, his face near her center, her legs closing on their own. She grabbed onto his head and pushed him towards her but Az shook his head. “I need you to stay it.”

“You.” She breathed out. “I need you.”

“Where?” He asked, moving his hand over her bare stomach.

“Everywhere.”

Then, without warning, Az moved into her his tongue working meticulously on her. She fisted his hair tighter in her grip, but Az ignored the pain, sliding one finger into her wet core. Finding no resistance, he added another, all while licking her clit.

Elain’s knees were folding in, his head trapped between her thighs and he knew that it was the closest to heaven he would ever get. He continued until he felt Elain tense and then shake slightly.

He looked up from his position and saw Elain breathing deeply. When he moved up towards her, he saw that she had passed out.

Azriel shook his head in astonishment, moving towards his bathroom to take care of himself.

~~~~~

Elain lay on the foreign bed, breathing quietly. She felt Azriel’s body beside her, him maintaining a distance as if he were worried that spooning would cross a line.

She didn’t realize when she had passed out. It must’ve been right after the mind-blowing orgasm Azriel had given her. It had been years since someone had eaten her out, and she had forgotten how it felt.

She turned around slowly and glanced at Azriel who seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Even when they were young, the only time Elain saw Azriel relaxed was when he was sleeping. He used to say it was because he would always dream of her.

A selfish part of her wished that the content look on his face was because he was actually dreaming of her.

The night before had led to several revelations and Elain knew she couldn’t deny what had been in front of her the entire time. She needed Azriel in her life, just like he needed her. Not only her though, Daemon needed Azriel too. And it would be cruel to take away his father from him.

Elain knew what she had to do.

~~~~~

Azriel stayed in bed a while longer, stealing glances at the woman sleeping beside him. She was lying on her stomach, facing him. Her chestnut hair was splayed across the pillows, one hand tucked under a pillow, the other stretched out and interlaced with his. She might’ve reached out in the middle of the night.

He prayed to the gods above that she wouldn’t wake up and regret the whole thing. Prayed that hopefully, the only way from here on was up.

He stayed with her until he heard movement, indicating Daemon was up. He got out of bed, not before leaving a kiss on Elain’s forehead. He opened the door to find Graysen standing in front of him with his fist raised and eyes wide.

Azriel instantly closed the door behind him, knowing Elain wasn’t wearing anything, while he was grateful that he hadn’t forgone his clothes.

“Good morning!” Daemon exclaimed with a warm smile. “I was looking for you, but you weren’t anywhere, so I thought I could see where mom was.” He then looked at him with uncertainty. “But, what are you doing here?” Azriel rubbed the back of his neck, wondering what to say.

“I was checking on your mom, she wasn’t feeling well last night.” Daemon narrowed his eyes. “Did you need anything?” Az asked hurriedly.

He started shaking his head but then nodded. “I’m hungry.”

Az blinked at him before answering. “Um, sure, I’ll just take a quick shower and come down in ten minutes, kay?”

He moved towards the staircase when he turned and frowned at him. “And it’s okay if you sleep with mom. I’m nine, not stupid.”

Azriel’s eyes widened as Daemon left, groaning and hitting his head against the door.

The mother-son duo was going to be the death of him.

~~~~~

“I need to go somewhere,” Elain stated as she finished up her breakfast. Azriel was reading emails on his phone. He paused and gave her a small smile.

“Sure, wherever you want to go.”

Elain pushed her leftover beans around the plate before clearing her throat. “Actually, I’d prefer if Lucien comes with me.”

She shyly glanced up at Azriel who had a thoughtful look on his face. After a while, when Elain thought he was going to say no, she was pleasantly surprised when he nodded in acceptance. “Just be back before sunset. There’s going to be a storm.”

Elain walked up to him and placed her hand on his forehead. He gave her a look with an eyebrow raised. “Just checking if you’re feeling well. Are you seriously not even gonna ask me where I’m going?”

Azriel shrugged. “I trust you. And I’m pretty sure you have enough incentive to come back.” Elain blushed and Azriel chuckled. “I meant Daemon.”

“Of course you did.” She narrowed her eyes at him and then moved towards Daemon, giving him a loud kiss on his cheek which he rubbed irritatedly.

“Love you!” She told him and he grumbled it back. Then she looked up at Azriel who turned his cheek expectantly.

Elain slowly made her way to him and grabbed his face between her hands, leaving a simple kiss on his lips and then moving away. She didn’t make it that far as Azriel grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her back, kissing her deeply, plunging his tongue into her.

“You guys are gross.” Daemon’s voice came from behind Elain, who instantly pushed Azriel away from her and ran. She could hear Azriel’s laughter.

For your family, for your family, for your family.

Elain continuously chanted in her mind as she walked away from Daemon and Azriel towards the front door. She had awakened Lucien as soon as she made arrangements and he had agreed to chaperone her. Then she got Azriel’s acceptance as well.

She was outfitted in complete black, something she had heard Nesta say was good for stealth. And all the spies she saw in movies wore black as well.

Lucien was already waiting for her, leaving the driver’s seat empty. As soon as she sat in, she saw Lucien look back towards the house and give her a questioning look. Elain ignored him and connected her phone to Bluetooth. She gave him a wry smile as ‘Prisoner’ by Miley Cyrus started playing and she took off towards their unknown destination.

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew she had to clear up everything that happened in the past years when Azriel and she were separated, to be together again. And god help her, she really wanted to be with him. There was no way to resist it anymore. But first, she needed a little blackmail material.

~~~~~

Azriel waited ten minutes after Elain left before he stormed into his office.

He set up his desktop to answer work-related emails, while the other laptop he kept open was tracking Elain’s location. He knew it was wrong of him to inject her with a tracker but it was a necessity.

He wouldn’t let his emotions cloud his judgment.

He didn’t pay much attention to the tracker, spending about an hour working. He left to check on Daemon and found him to be lounging in the living area reading a book.

When Azriel returned, he heard beeping from his laptop indicating Elain had left the city limits. When he saw the direction she was heading towards, he felt a pit in his stomach, knowing exactly where she was going.

He should’ve known. What did he think? That one night of them having oral sex and sleeping together would change everything?

He shouldn’t have been surprised she would return to Graysen.

~~~~~

Elain stopped the car during the red light, listening to the song playing when Lucien groaned.

“Elain, where the hell are you taking me?” Lucien asked for the millionth time. “Are you kidnapping me? Is this some sort of revenge thing? I helped Rhys take you, now you take me?”

Elain pinned him with a serious look. “I am going to kill Graysen before he gets the chance to hurt my family. You in?” He hesitated before answering so she added, “If you don’t want to help, I’ll turn the car and let you go this instant.”

He looked at Elain as if she had grown three heads, but when he saw how serious she was, he sighed, closing his eyes. “I knew you’d be trouble Archeron.” Then he opened his eyes and looked at her blankly. “Lucky for you, I know the perfect place to hide a body.”

Elain looked ahead and started moving as the signal turned green. “You know you love me Lu-lu.” She sang out.

He balked at her. “Lu-lu? That’s it, I’m not going to help you. In fact, I’ll be the one telling the police.” Elain just scoffed and then Lucien added as an afterthought. “After giving you at least a year to run and hide away.”

Elain smiled widely and turned towards him once again. “I love you too, you know.” He just grunted in agreement and slid down in his seat. Elain shook her head. “I’m serious. I’m so grateful to you for being there with me when I had no one. I - I will never forget it, okay? And-,” She inhaled deeply before continuing, “And if anything happens to me, promise that you’ll be there for Daemon. And Azriel too.”

Lucien sat up straight and looked at her, his heterochromatic eyes wide and perplexed. “What do you mean ‘if anything happens to you’?” Elain ignored him and looked ahead at the empty road. “Elain, what is that supposed to mean?” He asked firmly. “Elain!”

“I don’t know, okay! I just had this, some kind of, I don’t know, weird sort of feeling that something wrong is going to happen. I need to ensure that there will be someone for Daemon after I’m gone. I need to know he’ll have someone. So please, just promise me, that you’ll be there for him. For both of them.”

“Elain nothing is going to happen-”

“Just promise!” She shouted with panting breaths. He closed his eyes and nodded.

“Of course. Of course, I will. You know that.”

She nodded gratefully, trying to control her tears. “Thank you, Lucien. Thank you so much for everything.”

Lucien remained silent for a few minutes before he spoke up again. “You know Az won’t let anything happen to you, right? And neither would I for that matter. And nor your sisters, nor Cassian and Rhys. I mean, Nesta would literally cause an avalanche than let anything hurt you.” He looked outside and muttered, “Speaking of avalanches, why are we up in the mountains?”

Elain rolled down her window, inhaling the fresh smell of snow and pine. She didn’t reply to Lucien. Instead, she just smirked.

He widened his eyes in horror. “Oh, fuck, Ellie, what are you going to do?”

~~~~~

Half an hour later, Elain finally stopped the jeep off the road. She jumped out and told Lucien to follow her, tracking through the woods with no specific trail to follow. Soon, they came up in front of a large log house. Elain remembered a time she would love going there to relax, but now it all seemed tainted. As if all the moments she spent in that house meant nothing.

She reached up the porch and pressed the code to open the door but it didn’t budge.

“You still haven’t told me where we are or what we’re doing.” Lucien voiced from behind her. “And whose house is this? Please tell me we aren’t breaking and entering.”

Elain ignored him and tried another combination that worked. She stood back as the door finally opened. She walked in, Lucien trailing behind her, with a groan. She dramatically bowed down, raising her hand, “Welcome to Graysen’s private quarters, i.e. where he hides all of his information.”

Lucien’s brows shot up and he looks positively terrified of her. “Why are we here Ellie? And why have you brought me?”

“Because I need someone who won’t ask many questions and let me do whatever I need to.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Apparently, I was wrong with one of those things. But, I need you to stay here and look out for anyone who might seem suspicious. Graysen doesn’t ever come here during the weekends, so he won’t show up, but I don’t know about others.” She left him before he could say anything else, rushing towards the room where he kept his computer and files.

For some reason, she didn’t believe what Azriel and Rhysand had told her about Graysen dealing drugs and yesterday she found out that she was indeed correct. When you’re in a room full of drunk and high people, it doesn’t take much acting to make them believe you are just the same. She was shocked that Vassa had been there and had apparently been hired by Graysen’s company. She wasn’t completely out of it, but a few more drinks and she would’ve passed out, which allowed her to give Elain the best piece of information she could’ve ever slipped.

She logged onto Graysen’s computer using the same password she knew he used for everything and searched for his financial records, which, he had saved as ‘Finance Records’. She scoffed, it was as if he wanted someone to steal them. Going through his finance records proved that she was right and Graysen wasn’t supplying or buying drugs. She took out the pen drive she nicked from Az’s room and transferred the files onto it. She rushed out of the house where Lucien was waiting anxiously while sitting on the front steps, a gun in his hand.

“You have a gun?” She questioned.

Lucien got startled by her sudden appearance and pointed the gun at her reflexively. “Rhys gave it to me when I started working with him. Can’t ever trust when danger might find you.”

Elain smiled and shouted, “Don’t worry Lulu, you’re not gonna die today, that’s saved for -” She paused when she heard another car coming towards them. Both of them looked at each other and started running toward their car as quickly as they could. Her leg got caught in a root of a tree and she slightly twisted her ankle. However, she ignored the pain and moved towards the car, starting it and escaping from there.

“Did you see his face?! That was-”

“Rhysand’s father.” She turned to look at him, her breathing labored. “Why was Rhysand’s father here? I haven’t told anyone about Graysen’s log house. And I don’t think anyone else knows about the information being kept there.”

Lucien furrowed his eyebrows and said in a small voice, “You don’t think he’s working with Graysen, is he?”

As soon as the fact registered in her brain she took a sharp u-turn, causing Lucien to scream, “Fucking hell Elain, you’re going to kill me!” and set off on towards a different destination, altogether.

~~~~

After 15 agonizing minutes, during which Lucien continuously ranted about how Elain would one day cause his death, they finally reached a medium-sized cozy-looking cabin well hidden amongst the trees.

A large man with silver hair was leaning against a tree as if waiting for them to arrive. He remained where he was as Elain stopped the car and got out, walking towards him. Only when she reached near him did he push off from the tree and open his arms wide, with a small smile twinkling in his pine green eyes. Elain smiled widely as I rushed into his arms, enveloped by the pine and snow smell.

“God I missed you. So much.” His voice after so many months felt so calming, Elain instantly teared up.

“I missed you too. Both of you. I’m glad that her number is the only one I can remember by heart.” She smiled at him.

“She went psychotic, you know?” He said softly, removing his gloves to wipe away her tears. “You know how she is on a normal basis, but after hearing not from you for so long and then finding out what happened, she went completely psycho.” He leaned down and gave her a conspiratorial wink. “And we both know how terrifying that is.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. She gave him a tighter hug when she heard a door opening, followed by a loud squeal. “Lainie!!!” Suddenly, she was engulfed by another pair of hands and her vision was clouded by golden hair. Elain couldn’t stop the tears from falling from her eyes.

There were many things Elain wished she could change in her life from the past 11 years, however, she could never regret the moment she met the two people who were standing there and hugging her. The two people who took her into their small, weird, beautiful family. Those who considered her as their own.

From behind her, someone cleared their throat and Elain turned to find Lucien looking at her and my companions in shock.

“Oh, Lucien, I forgot to introduce you.” She released herself from their hold and stepped towards Lucien. “Meet Aelin Galathynius and Rowan Whitehorn.”

~~~~

AN: Hope you enjoyed!

Next Chapter: 24 March

#elriel #elriel fic #one last time #elain archeron #azriel #elain x azriel #azriel x elain #gangster au #acotar au #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #feyre archeron #rhysand #nesta archeron #cassian

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

Text

I’m so sick of the same dumb arguments all over (primarily) tik tok.

- G*yn having pliant bones does not solve the problem of her pelvis not being the right shape & if it was simply a case of making someone’s bones more flexible, why in gods name would the cauldron/Nesta not just change their bones to make them more flexible, rather than overhauling their entire anatomy to that of an Illyrian female? On this same train of thought as well, do you guys remember how neither Feyre or Nesta started out with said anatomy, yet still got to be mates with Rhys & Cassian? Remember how Nesta now knows how to change someone’s anatomy? This whole argument is disgusting.

- G*yn & Azriel never had a ‘private dagger lesson’. As Azriel dropped Cassian & Nesta off in the human lands, Nesta says that G*yn had asked Azriel to go over somethings with the dagger ‘apparently’. Let’s assume that this lesson took place. It would have been in the usual training ring because as we know, G*yn is very nervous to go anywhere else, and Clotho didn’t appreciate it when Nesta trained in the library. There is also no mention of it being private, any of the other priestesses could have been there. This also takes place prior to solstice. You know, where he still doesn’t view her as a friend and their initial interaction is quite awkward?

- Say it with me kids: authors don’t start/end ships in bonus chapters.

- Then there’s the whole Azriel wouldn’t pursue Elain because Rhys told him not to. Erm, hello? That’s forbidden romance 101. You think mr Tiemetoatreerhysillflywithitonmydamnedback is just gonna go, oh ok, sure no problem? Especially when we have Elain, who’s just as interested in Azriel as he is in her? Please.

It’s just all so very, very dumb.

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

Text

One Last Time [Chapter 8]

An: All characters belong to Sarah J. Maas

Warnings: Mature language, violence, alcohol consumption, smoking, drugs

Hope you all enjoy!

Masterlist

Songs:

Lie To Me - 5 Seconds of Summer Disturbia - Rhianna One Last Time - Ariana Grande

Something was wrong.

Azriel had begun suspecting it ever since they had picked up Elain and Daemon and had not heard a single word from Graysen since then. And then the day he had gotten shot, he knew there had been someone else after both of them.

Azriel had also not gotten to figure out what Graysen had meant when he said that Rhysand was on a ‘deadline’. Along with that, there had been multiple attacks on Graysen’s companies, but somehow, they never affected his dirty business and he always came out as the victim, throwing their name in the dirt.

Three attacks and not a single one were orchestrated by them.

And Azriel knew that Graysen was aware of that, but still, he seemed to love blaming them for it. As if they were the only ones handling illegal businesses.

He was glad that Elain and Daemon were with him. Both adults had managed to remain civil with each other. Kind of like friends. Yes, it was awkward at times, but it was nice. Azriel thought he once again had something to look up for.

However, being confined to his house with only his office as a reprieve, there was not much Azriel could do. He had spent his entire ‘vacation’ spending time with Daemon, mostly playing video games.

Az’s competitive side jumped out when he first started playing JustDance with Daemon. He thought normal ten-year-old boys wouldn’t be good at dancing.

He was terribly wrong.

Daemon was apparently a pro at dancing and had, metaphorically, wiped the floor with Azriel. The worst part was the bragging and nagging that came after, even though Az tried to reason that he could only use one hand.

But honestly, even with one hand, he was fucking killing it. Never in his life had he thought that he would dance to Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ but, well, his life had been taking really sharp turns lately.

He turned around to complete the song with a final step of his own, only to find Elain standing at the threshold with a bottle of water in her hand, her eyes wide in horror. Beside her was Lucien, who was clutching his stomach tightly as he laughed.

Az instantly stiffened, ignoring the artificial applause coming from the speakers.

“Daddy! That's not fair! I lost!” Daemon exclaimed with a pout.

Lucien started shaking with laughter. “Az, I had no idea you were hiding a Shakira within you.”

Az growled at him. “Tell this to anyone and no one will be able to find you.”

“Too late,” Elain spoke up from beside him, her initial shock gone and now a wide grin threatening to break out. “I already took a video and sent it to Cassian.” She gave him a sheepish look.

Azriel groaned. Now, Cassian would probably have enough ammunition to last him a millennium.

“Dad, I want a redo,” Daemon said stubbornly.

Oh god, kid, please stop talking.

“Yeah Az, we need a redo,” Lucien said as he flopped down on one of the chairs in the corner. “Or wait, I have a better idea! Hey little man, what do you say? Should daddy put on a show for us?”

Elain giggled from behind him but instantly stopped when Azriel glared at her. Traitor.

“Don’t you have anything else to do Vanserra?” Az questioned with a sneer. Lucien smirked in response.

“Not at all.”

Thankfully, Azriel’s phone started ringing. He quickly walked towards his phone, picking it up. “Thank god you called.” He released a relieved breath. “You have no idea what I was going to have to do.”

“Yeah, well you’re not going to be glad when I tell you what happened.” Rhys’ voice came through the phone.

“What do you mean?”

There was a pause before he spoke up again. “It’s Graysen.”

~~~~~

Elain had noticed how Azriel’s whole body tensed while he was talking on the phone. He spoke quietly, so she couldn’t catch the conversation, except for the ending.

He turned towards Elain with a stern face. “I need you to remove my sling.”

Elain frowned. “I can’t authorize that. I have no idea how to handle wounds like these. Or what the standard procedure is, but I’m pretty sure the sling is supposed to stay until you’re wound is filled.”

He grabbed Elain’s hand and dragged her out of the room, Lucien and Daemon now busying themselves with another game. “ I don’t fucking care what the doctor’s verdict is. I need you to remove the sling. Today.”

Elain paused. “I want to come along with you.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

She inhaled deeply and sat up straight. “You’re obviously going for some super secret spy mission or whatever and I want to go with you.”

Azriel cocked an eyebrow at her and Elain exhaled frustratedly. “Look, I was about to get married to that man. I need to know what kind of man he truly is. And I can also keep an eye on you. Ensure you don’t cause more damage to your hand and back.”

Azriel scoffed. “I think I can manage strenuous activities.”

“JustDance does not count as a strenuous activity.”

“I was talking about how I carried you up to your room.” He mumbled while crossing his hands.

Elain’s eyes widened at the statement, but she held her ground. “I won’t remove the bandages restricting movement if you don’t let me come along.”

“Fine.” He started walking away. “I’ll get it done by someone else.”

Elain quickly dashed ahead and snatched the car keys from the bowl near the foyer. Azriel made a grab for it, but she moved away.

“Stop acting like a kid.”

“You stop acting like a kid.”

Azriel growled and pushed Elain against the wall, trapping her body with his. He bent down, his forehead against hers. Elain gasped, not expecting the closeness. Azriel turned his head slightly, breathing near her ear, a shiver running down her spine. He wrapped his hands around her waist.

“I won’t forgive myself if something happens to you.” He whispered into her ear.

Elain tilted her head up and looked directly into his eyes. “I have too much to lose to let something happen to me.” She breathed out. He once again rested his head against her forehead, his hands tightly clutching her waist, before he groaned.

“Promise me. Promise me you’ll run away at the first sign of danger.” Elain was silent for only a moment when Azriel pushed deeply into her, their breaths mingling, bodies meshing into one. “Promise me, damnit!”

“I promise.” She whimpered out, their lips just touching. She was about to reach out toward him when he moved away, holding his hand out.

“Get ready by nine, we’re going to a club.”

She placed the keys in his hand but dragged him to his room, where she silently removed his bandages.

~~~~~

Azriel spent the entire day preparing for the job. Rhys had informed him that Graysen would be holding an elaborate party at one of their own clubs, which they used for money laundering. It was suspected that Graysen might try and sell his own drugs there, and all Rhys had asked Azriel was to observe.

A large ‘Do Not Engage’ post-it was stuck on the folder that had been delivered to Azriel regarding the mission. He had not informed anyone that he was also taking Elain along with him, however, he believed he should, just in case something did happen.

Along with preparing himself, he also prepared Elain, informing her how to recognize if things were wrong and what to do if things went wrong. Unfortunately, he did not have enough time to teach her how to shoot, so he settled for showing her the basic way to hold a blade and the best places to stab someone for immediate effect.

He pretended to not notice how her hands shook when she first grabbed the knife. He tried to make it easy for her, telling her to handle it like a scalpel, but that did nothing to ease her.

When he knew she had had enough, he sent her to get ready, informing her to dress accordingly.

Which he was greatly regretting.

Apparently, dressing for a club for Elain meant dressing up well enough to kill him. Or make him want to kill anyone for looking at her.

She was wearing a black net blouse with a black bralette inside, leaving very less to the imagination. Below it, she was wearing a grey miniskirt that just reached her thigh. And then boots. Spike heeled, up to her thigh, black colored boots.

“Is this okay?” She asked meekly. She twirled and his breath caught when he saw her back. There was just a single string, leaving the rest of her back bare, the only thing preventing me from touching her is the black netted cloth covering her.

Is it okay? Oh God, fucking kill him already.

He just nodded stiffly, walking outside to where her car was kept. He swung his hand, trying to get used to moving it. He had promised Elain he would get it properly checked, as well as a complete blood test, to ensure there weren’t any traces of poison left in his blood.

Azriel slid into his car and grabbed the wheel as Elain sat on the passenger side. She looked around the SUV and smiled slightly. “You finally got an Aston Martin, huh?”

Azriel smiled hesitantly, remembering what they would discuss for their future. “Yeah, one of the first things I got when I started earning enough.”

“I thought you would’ve gone for a sports car or something. Not an SUV.” She pointed out.

“Well, that was the plan, but I don’t know, this car just kind of caught my attention.” He shrugged and she just nodded, turning her head away, indicating the end of the conversation. He maneuvered the wheel slowly, his arm slightly aching.

“Isn’t this kind of car for families?” Elain suddenly asked.

Azriel glanced at her. “Not exactly, but it is family-friendly. Why?”

She looked down at her lap where she was wringing her hands. “Do you plan to have a family? In the future?” Her voice was filled with uncertainty.

“Never thought of one without you.” He answered truthfully. She closed her eyes and exhaled, her shoulders dropping. Was she disappointed?

“What are we supposed to do?” She turned to look at him, her eyes standing out with black eyeliner and kohl.

“You will be doing nothing. I, on the other hand, have to observe and keep an eye out for any illegal drug activities.”

“Isn’t that something the cops should be doing?”

Azriel let out a chuckle. “Sweetheart, that’s our club. We can’t have someone else come in and steal our business.”

He glanced at her to see her face scrunch up in confusion. It looked so damn cute, even in the sexy dress. Speaking of the sexy dress, her skirt had inched up revealing her soft-looking skin and all Azriel could think about was how they would feel wrapped around him. Hopefully, while he was eating her out.

Shit, where did that come from? And now that it was in his mind, he started imagining how his hands would feel on her, inside her-

Stop. You’re driving. Nooo.

He instantly looked ahead, paying attention to the road and the road only, ignoring the slight pressure he felt in his jeans. He knew bringing Elain along would be trouble.

“So which club are we going to?” Elain asked, unaware of Azriel’s thoughts.

He continued looking ahead as he answered, “City Nights. You’ve ever been there?”

“Uh, no. My friends and colleagues go there but Graysen never allowed me. Although, he himself was there a lot.” Then she gasped. “What if we run into him?”

“Why do you care? Want to run into his arms the first chance you get?” Azriel grumbled out without a thought and he instantly regretted it. He glanced toward her and she was staring at him with wide eyes, hurt visible in them. “El, I didn’t-”

“You’re right. I will run into his arms. Because I’m desperate, right? I’ll go back to the man who doesn’t even care if I’m alive.” He furrowed his eyebrows at her and she scoffed. “Yeah, I heard you telling Cassian about it. How Graysen said that he would be okay with me and Daemon dying with you guys. He practically gave you a thumbs up to hurt both of us.” She shook her head. “Of course, I’ll run back to him.” Then she crossed her arms over her chest and completely turned away from him.

And he couldn’t help but feel like a major dick.

~~~~~

As soon as they entered the dimly lit club, Elain beelined towards the bar and downed three shots simultaneously. “I would like to start a tab.” She politely informed the bartender, who glanced at someone behind her, as if looking for confirmation.

Elain whirled around and found Azriel standing behind her, shaking his head in denial. Elain groaned in frustration.

“Don’t look at him. I am my own person. In fact, he’s kidnapped me and my son and is keeping us at his house forcefully. Be kind to me.”

She could feel Azriel rolling his eyes behind her. “Her drinks are on me. And keep count.” He leaned down, his lips brushing her ear. “I have to go up to the office. Stay here.” She felt his lips travel down her neck, her core tightening. She shivered in response and he smirked at her, leaving her at the bar.

Elain ordered a cocktail, nursing it for a while. She looked around when she found one of her old friends, Vassa, in the middle of the dance floor.

Vassa also seemed to notice her as she moved toward Elain. “Lainie! Oh my God! It’s been so long!” She exclaimed, pulling Elain in for a hug. Vassa was wearing a golden satin slip dress, reaching only to the mid of her thigh.

“What are you doing here?” Elain questioned. “Last I heard, you were working in Adriata in a lawyer firm.”

Vassa nodded. “I’m still there. I’ve been sent here for a client. What about you?”

Elain paused. “Oh, just letting off some steam.”

Vassa gave an obvious lookover at Elain. “You look like you’re looking for more than letting off a bit of steam.” She stated with a mischievous smirk. When Elain didn’t say anything, Vassa grabbed her hand. “Come on, I know exactly what you need.”

~~~~~

At the club. Will update if I see something. Azriel shot a message to Rhysand as he walked out of the back office. He hadn’t gotten anything out of the logs and information provided by the bar manager.

So Azriel was left with the old-style technique. Staking out.

Azriel groaned when he saw Rhys had sent a message. Perfect, and Az, we all know that your hips don’t lie.

He looked up towards the bar where Elain had been, but only now, she wasn’t there. He frantically looked around the entire area but couldn’t find her anywhere.

Azriel prayed to the gods above that she didn’t run away.

He moved through the dancing crowd, ignoring the way they were all practically groping each other. He reached the back exit when suddenly the door opened and Elain walked in with another girl’s hand over her shoulder.

The girl beside Elain was smiling widely, too widely, and she was wearing a golden dress that came up to her mid-thigh. She glanced toward Azriel and her gaze turned predatory. “Why hello there handsome.” She drawled. “I’m just finished here, wanna go next?” She winked at him and he widened his eyes at Elain who was grinning at the girl.

Did they-? Is she-? In the few minutes, she was missing, they-? The fuck?

Elain giggled and swatted the girl on her shoulder. “Don’t listen to her Az.” She looked at him with hooded eyes. “She’s a friend of mine from college, Vassa. Just found her here.”

He glanced at Elain who seemed to be all smiles and sunshine at the moment. Maybe the shots did their magic.

Suddenly Elain perked up and looked at her with wide eyes. “Ooh, I love this song!” She shrugged out of her friend’s grasp and clutched his hand. “Let’s go dance!” Before Az could even comprehend what was going on, she had already pulled him onto the dance floor and had her arms around his neck.

Az didn’t recognize the song playing so he started swaying along with Elain, tentatively placing his hands on her hips. She rolled her eyes and brought his hand right behind her, placing it on her ass. Azriel’s breath hitched and he glanced at Elain, who was smiling at him.

She moved forward and pressed herself into him, his jeans getting tighter and tighter by the second.

Fuuuuuck.

She probably noticed how much it affected him because she smiled mischievously and then she brought his mouth down onto hers.

He hesitated at first, utterly shocked at what the fuck was happening, but then he eased into it. Both of their bodies moved with the beat of the music, their lips molding together. She tightly grabbed his hair and tightened her hold on her. She bit his lower lip, causing him to open his mouth, allowing her entrance.

That was when he tasted it.

He was surprised he hadn’t smelled it on her before. It was the one scent he had an absolute aversion to, the smell of weed throwing him back to his childhood.

He moved back, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look up at him. She smiled giddily and her eyes were bright, but red and dilated. Her cheeks were flushed, and he knew it wasn’t from the dancing or the kissing.

“You’re high?” He asked her, but her smile was answer enough. He ran a hand through his hair. “You’re fucking high.”

“It was just one joint.” She said nonchalantly, rolling her eyes.

Who would’ve given her the drugs? She hadn't talked to anyone but him and… her friend, Vassa. He looked around to spot the woman and he saw her near the exit, leaving. Az moved ahead, but Elain pulled him back.

“Az, I want to dance!” She pouted at him.

He ignored her and pulled her along with him. He marched outside the club, and the cold air hit him. He remembered that behind him Elain would probably be freezing. Ignoring all the annoyance he felt towards her, he shrugged off his shirt and placed it over her shoulders, leaving him in a black t-shirt.

The girl was nowhere to be seen and any possible footprints were covered up by the heavy snow.

He turned around to drag Elain back into the car but she wasn’t there. Instead, she was walking - skipping - towards the bridge, singing ‘Play-Date’ loud enough for the dead to hear.

He rushed towards her when she suddenly climbed up on the ledge of the bride, causing his heart to drop.

The fuck did she think she was doing?

“Elain, get off of the ledge,” Azriel said calmly but she wouldn’t listen, continuing to walk around as if she was a fucking professional acrobat. “El, it’s snowing. It’s probably very slippery. Get down or else you’ll fall and hurt yourself.”

Instead of getting down, she started laughing. “You really think falling off this bridge is going to hurt me more than you did?” She laughed again. “You’re very, very, very badly mistaken Mr. Knight.” She spread her hands. “I could fucking die and it won’t hurt as much as living without you hurt me.” She started moving her hands up and down as she walked on the ledge, slightly wobbling.

Only this time, she didn’t place her foot on the ledge. “Woah!” She lost balance and stumbled, falling behind in the river with a splash with a slight shriek.

“Elain!” Without a thought, Az ran and jumped into the water following behind her. He swam deeper, finally reaching her outstretched arm, grasping it, and pulling it upwards. He broke through the cold surface of the water, chills traveling through his spine. Finally, her head came above and she sputtered. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” She shouted.

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? You just jumped off a fucking bridge!” He screamed in return. She started flapping her hands in the water and he swam towards her. As soon as Az reached her, she latched onto him. He held her up and Elain wrapped her arms around his neck, oblivious to the pain it caused his still-healing shoulder.

“I didn’t jump off, I slipped.” She stuttered out, shivering due to the cold.

Az scoffed at her. “It’s your fault for walking on the ledge. You’re lucky the lake isn’t iced over.” He looked into her eyes. “You normal now? Or do you want to try some more drugs?”

“Fuck you.” Trust me, he thought, I want you to. “It’s your fault I was in that state in the first place.” Azriel ignored her jab, dragging her towards the shore. “Actually, all of this mess is because of you. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been back at my home with Daemon, living my normal life.”

“With Graysen? The man who treated you like trash? Who verbally abused my son?” She looked at him with wide eyes and then he finally registered what he said.

“Verbally abuse?” She questioned. Azriel just shook his head, telling her to drop it. “What do you mean, ‘verbally abused my son’?” She asked, her voice a soft whisper.

“You didn’t care when it was happening. Don’t care about it now.” He stated harshly, instantly regretting it.

She stiffened and he quietly carried her out of the water, not letting go of her until she was seated in the car. Az turned on the heater and passed her his jacket from the back seat. She quietly took it and looked out of the window.

He didn’t say anything, knowing that she would talk once she wanted to. Instead, he turned the radio on and Ariana Grande’s ‘One Last Time’ was playing. Both of them listen to it silently, watching the lights pass by as they drove back home, the lyrics fading one after the other, but still stuck with him.

One last time

I need to be the one who takes you home

One more time

I promise that after that I’ll let you go

~~~~~

They spent the entire ride back home in silence. Elain stilled, wondering when she started thinking of Azriel’s house as ‘home’. Azriel hadn’t uttered a single word throughout the whole journey and Elain was grateful for it.

She was still coming down her weed high. It was stupid of her, but her mind wasn’t working at the moment. She was already drunk, sad, and yes, lonely, so when Vassa had offered her a joint, she hadn’t given it a thought.

Elain didn’t understand what Azriel meant when he said that Graysen would verbally abuse Daemon. If it were true, why hadn’t Daemon told her? Was she such a bad mother that her own son didn’t trust her?

And how did she not notice it? Graysen had always seemed cordial enough around Daemon. Yes, he didn’t like that Elain had ‘baggage’ but he never showed his obvious dislike in any way.

As soon as Azriel stopped the car in the garage, Elain ran out, rushing towards the house, and slamming the door behind her.

She stormed up into her room, still wet and dripping, ignoring the cold chills passing through her body. She closed the door and had just removed her blouse when suddenly her door burst open and Azriel charged inside.

“Get out.” She demanded, pointing her finger towards the door.

“No.” He folded his hands across his perfectly sculpted chest. “Stop hiding it.” He stated calmly, his eyes raking over Elain’s body just once before he locked eyes with her.

She glared at him in response. “I’m not hiding anything.”

“Elain, please. Please do not lie to me. I can’t take it anymore!” He banged his fist into the wall beside him causing Elain to flinch, but he ignored it.

“Az, what do you want me to say? That even after all these years, I’m still in love with you? Well, you’re wrong. There’s only one person whom I love and it’s my son. There’s no space in my heart for anyone else. And definitely not the person who broke me.” Liar, liar, liar.

“Yeah, well I call bullshit.”

“Screw you, Azriel Knight! You can’t come back into my life and usurp my whole life.” She pushed against his chest, but it did nothing to him. “You can’t expect me to still have feelings for you. I’m fucking engaged!”

“You just needed someone who made you forget about me! Even though he didn’t love you, or you loved him back, at least he got your mind off of me.” He started stalking towards her, making her move backward. “And in all of that, you didn’t even care that he was abusing our child, telling him that he wasn’t good enough.” He was right in front of her, her back against the wall. “You might have gone through a lot in life El, but you screwed up when it mattered the most.”

Her hand moved on its own and struck him, causing a sting in her palm. His eyes were blazing as he looked at her. She raised her other hand to strike him again but he grasped it strongly and looked at her. Something flashed in his eyes that she couldn’t comprehend.

“Fuck it.” He muttered as he leaned towards her, crashing his lips to hers.

~~~~~

AN: Hope you enjoy!

Next Chapter: 10 March

#elriel #elriel fic #one last time #elain archeron #azriel #elain x azriel #azriel x elain #gangster au #acotar au #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #feyre archeron #rhysand #nesta archeron #cassian

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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i knew eriel would be endgame the moment Az gave TT to Elain and everyone was in shock because he had never let anyone touch that dagger before.

if you think that sarah wrote that scene (wich is the cover of acowar) to later make elain and az end up with other people... idk what to tell you

209 notes · View notes

harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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Breaking Point

Pairing: Elriel

Summary: The tension between Rhys and Azriel finally comes to a head. The relationship between all three brothers is tested.

……………

It was five after seven, and Azriel was late. He hadn’t been to a family dinner since Nyx was born, but Rhys had all but threatened him to show up, using Feyre as an excuse.

Feyre missed him. Nyx barely even knew him.

Azriel had tried his best to stay as far away as possible from the River House, and he had almost succeeded. Had succeeded in that he did not allow his shadows to enter the premises, did not inquire after its inhabitants. Did not step foot on the perfectly manicured lawn, or in the lush courtyard.

But his dreams betrayed him. In his dreams, he went to the River House. To her.

He barely slept anymore. She followed him, even into his dreams. Whether she found him in the garden, or in the family room, or in his bed, she was always there.

Holy gods, how he wanted her. How he missed her even more.

And so when Rhys he insisted he come to his first family dinner in months, even though he warned Azriel that Lucien would be in attendance, Azriel could not resist.

All of those sleepless nights had weakened his resolve, and dark bruises lined his undereyes like shadows. His Illyrian skin was as pale as it had been when he was locked away in that godsforsaken keep.

The sun reminded him too much of her.

He spent too long getting ready to fly to the River House. Took his time donning a crisp white shirt, and clean black trousers. Attempted to fix his hair, which had been the least of his worries.

If only he could see Elain one more time. Then he would be satisfied. If he could see that she was happier without him, then he could leave her in peace. Even if he would never find it himself.

Azriel’s hands shook as he buttoned his onyx jacket. He felt strung out, exhausted. There were times when he could have sworn he heard her calling for him, calling his name. But when he tried to go to her, to answer her, he would jolt awake and find he had drifted off at the dinner table, or in the bath after training, or even mid-conversation with Cassian, or Nesta.

They would give him a worried look, but never pried.

He felt as if he was going mad.

Azriel ran his hair once more through his hair, not bothering to look in the mirror. He knew he looked horrible, sickly, even. But there was nothing to be done about it now, he was already late.

The stars above Velaris shone as brightly as ever as Azriel took to the skies from the balcony off his room at the House of Wind, and flew in the direction his heart led.

……..

As soon as he landed in the garden, Azriel knew he had made a mistake.

Faelights illuminated the whole house in gold, bright light shining warmly from within as his family crossed in front of the windows - Mor holding Nyx to her chest as he played with her long braid, Nesta perched atop Cassian’s lap in one of the winged back chairs, Rhys huddled in a corner, back to the garden as he talked to Lucien, while Feyre entertained Varian and Amren, who stood with her arms crossed while holding an exorbitantly large glass of dark red wine.

He didn’t see her, but knew where she would be. Carrying dishes to and from the kitchen to the dining table, steam wafting off rosemary potatoes and roast chicken and fresh rolls and steamed vegetables. Dessert in the oven, ready to be served after the main course had been devoured. She would be wearing a linen apron that the twins had gifted her last Solstice, with her name embroidered in a dusky pink at its hem.

Her face would be flushed from the warmth of the oven, but eyes alight as she took care of her family, as she fed them and made them happy and felt wanted, useful.

Azriel knew it all. Had lovingly taken care to learn it all as he had watched her, had talked with her.

The garden was just beginning to thaw, he noticed as he made his way to the kitchen door. Soon small green buds would appear in the plots currently covered with reused burlap sacks, coinciding with the celebration of Nynsar.

Her scent almost stopped him in his tracks, as he reached for the door handle. Honey and jasmine wafted to him on a spring breeze, and his shadows seemed to sigh in answer. His wings shook with anticipation, aching to spread from some carnal instinct, the desire to hold her and intercept anyone who may interrupt.

But he may never sleep again, if he did not know she was alright, happy. That was what he convinced himself at least, as he continued. That is was a purely selfish desire for a good night’s rest that prompted him to enter a space where he knew she would be.

And as always, his instincts had not failed him.

Elain was reaching for a pan from inside the oven when he stepped silently through the door, reining his shadows back as they instinctively lurched for her.

She was luminescent in that golden faelight, as they reflected off the sheen of her silken braid, her unblemished skin. The embroidered apron covered a simple gown, so light blue it was almost white.

Azriel couldn’t breathe, couldn’t take another step. He felt his eyes widen, his shadows swirling, uncontrolled, as he watched her silently, waiting for her to notice him. Allowing himself that selfish, undisturbed moment - where it was just the two of them in that warm kitchen, peaceful in a way that he would never deserve.

“Azriel!” Elain sucked in a surprised breath as she said his name, and he fought the urge to close his eyes, to freeze time on those three syllables. If he had the harp, if he could command it as Nesta had those months ago, he would choose that moment to wield it, so that he could hear his name on her lips over and over again, a song he would never tire of hearing.

But too soon, time resumed.

“Shit,” Elain cursed, shaking her hand as she dropped the hot pan with a clatter. The noise in the other room quieted and Feyre called out for her sister.

“Elain?”

“Fine!” Elain hastily replied, yelling back through the closed door, before looking up at Azriel. Her beautiful face now twisted with pain as she straightened, still shaking her hand, fingertips an angry red from where she had grabbed the hot dish.

Azriel couldn’t help himself, and took a small step forward. Willed himself to speak, to say anything. To not be silent for once in his godsdamned life.

“Elain, I’m so sorry. Can I help?”

He reached out a hand, his siphon already pulsing, aching to heal her perfect skin, her gentle hands.

Elain pulled away, cradling her injured fingers to her chest.

It had been less than a minute, and Azriel was already ruining everything.

“No, thank you,” she muttered, her eyes shifting away, to look in any direction but towards him.

His heart fell into his stomach. He had done this. He had ruined them.

“Elain, about Solstice, I’m so —“

He kept his voice low, but couldn’t stop the urgency from entering his tone as he took another small step forward, willing her not to back away. Flicking a glance toward the closed door to the dining room, where her mate stood. Where Rhysand stood.

“No, Azriel,” Elain stopped him, her voice breaking as she stood her ground but did not look him in the eye.

“I understand. I understand perfectly clear, that it was a mistake. And what a fool I was.”

She took a shuddering breath.

“How stupid I was to think that I would be good enough for you…”

The remainder of Azriel’s heart shattered, at her words. At the very inkling of the idea that SHE was not good enough for HIM, when it was very much the other way around.

As she turned, Azriel watched the reflection of a tear slide down her flushed cheek.

Fuck Rhys. Fuck the Cauldron, and fuck the mating bond.

He would not stay silent for another 500 years.

“Elain, I…” Elain needed to know the truth. She needed to understand how much of a coward he had been. Needed to understand that at the very least, even if it was too late, that he loved her.

Because Rhys was right. He knew he didn’t deserve her. After weeks of lying awake, staring at the capsule of powder next to his bed, the earplugs, a pile of handwritten notes, he knew the truth as well as he knew the pattern of scars on the back of his hands, and the language of shadows.

He could not give her children, could not give her the gift of seeing her beautiful eyes and smile on the face of a child. He could not give her a title, or power.

But he could love her. He could love her for the rest of his life.

“Elain, I…”

His mouth turned dry, his tongue heavy as if his throat had been stuffed with cotton. As hard as he tried to continue, to explain his behavior at Solstice and why he had left her as heartbroken as he had been at the bottom of the landing, he could not speak.

It was like his nightmares, the ones where he screamed and screamed for help as the flesh on his hands burned, smoldering red in the darkness, but no one came. No one heard him.

“Azriel,” Rhys’ dark voice rumbled a thunderous warning from the open door to the dining room. And although he had never experienced it himself, Azriel knew what was happening. Had seen his High Lord wield this power against their enemies, time and time again.

He had taken away Azriel’s ability to speak.

Elain’s eyes widened in confusion as Azriel felt his throat closing, a suffocation that pressed on his windpipe and allowed no sound to escape. His hand went to his throat, out of pure instinct.

She whipped her head toward Rhys in horror. Their family remained in the dining room, visible briefly behind the swinging door before it closed behind Rhys.

The world shrunk to that one room, to the three very powerful beings that stood inside it.

As Rhys glowered at Azriel, Azriel struggling to breathe beyond the hand of power that clutched his throat, he felt a light extinguish inside of his mind. A carefully guarded candle that he had held close to his heart, ever since the day that the sun had been taken from him, since his mother had been separated from him. A small kernel of hope that had burned even in the darkness, even as the hand protected it became mangled and ruined, a small boy’s hand hovered over that flame through 500 years of war and pain and killing and heartache.

All it took was a kernel of his brother’s power, directed at him, to extinguish it. To devastate any hope of love and happiness that he had found in the dreams that haunted him at night, taunting him as he laid alone in the House of Wind.

The only thing left was darkness.

Azriel felt the past few months began to spill out of him, even as his words could not. He had neglected not only his body, but his power as he had tried and failed to drain himself physically, beating himself bloody in the training ring as he tried to force his body to need rest, to sleep.

A delicate crack, like the sound of a wine glass breaking, filled the silent kitchen.

Three pairs of eyes flashed to the fissure splitting the cobalt siphon on top of his left hand in two, dark blue light leaking ominously from its core.

Rhys violet eyes turned dark, while he threw up a shield of pure, dark night in front of doorway. On the other side which held Feyre, and Mor holding Nyx.

The faelights of the kitchen dampered as a cold breath blew through the room. Any warmth disappeared into its sweeping voice. Even Death stood nearby, watching over the boy who had once spoken to it in the dark, prayed to it, dared to bargain with it.

Darkness and night and stars triumphant swirled around Rhys, his eyes black as he threw up shield after shield around Azriel. To protect the others in the house.

This was it.

Azriel felt his shadows swarming around him, lashing out at the dark cage like vipers. Elain watched in horror, and even as she turned to scream at Rhysand, the noise of their power drowned out her voice.

All he could hear was the tinkling glass - another spider crack appearing in his supposedly unbreakable siphons.

He allowed himself one last look at her, barely visible through the chaos of Rhys’ power.

And then he disappeared.

……………….

Azriel went to the first place that he could think of. An abandoned training arena, at the base of the mountain outside of Velaris. It was where he had taken to disappearing to in order to train. It was no longer safe for him to practice and let off steam so close to where the Valkyries trained.

He stepped out of a shadow mid air, and allowed himself to plummet. Barely feeling his stomach drop as he fell, wings flaring out of instinct, his own body betraying his mind, desperate to save himself from hitting the ground at full force.

When he landed on his knees, the world split beneath him.

Blue light exploded from his cracked siphon, and the remains of the glass imploded, shattering on the ground at his feet, some falling in the fissure that the impact of his body, his unrestrained power, had created in the earth.

Azriel screamed.

He yelled and screamed until he felt like nothing more than an animal, clutching his head in his hands as he bent over, still on his knees, roaring at the pain that had finally filled him past the point of containment.

Shadows flared around him, a deadly storm of cold and darkness. A sheet of ice spread out before him, freezing the thawed spring ground.

A thin line of warm blood fell from his nose.

His power had overtaken him. The carefully maintained facade that he had kept for hundreds of years, cracked and shattered. Heartache and betrayal plunged a dagger more deadly than Truthteller over and over into his chest.

“Azriel,” a voice called to him, through the chaos. Barely breaking through the torrent of shadows whirling around him.

Death watched as Cassian took a step toward Azriel. Warm red power melting the ice beneath his boots. His formal jacket long gone. No armor covering his chest.

He only held up a hand, his wedding band a beacon of gold in the night.

“Az,” Cassian called again, this time softer.

Azriel was still screaming. Years and years of cold rage pouring forth from his lungs as he finally, finally let it all out.

The way they had treated his mother. His hands, ruined, a physical reminder forever more of the pain he would wrend on others, the blood he would spill. His loneliness. The way he had wanted to die, day after day, in the dark of that keep. Mor. Finding Mor, nail to her womb. War after war after war and blood so deep it could fill an ocean. Losing Rhys. Getting Rhys back, only to lose him again. Losing Cassian.

Elain. Elain, Elain, Elain. His light. The gods’ answer to his prayers.

Cassian did not fear Azriel, as he appraoched him. Did not flinch away from the bite of the shadows or the watchful eye of Death, as he went to him.

The spymaster of the Night Court was bent over, his arms wrapped himself as his roars turned to cries of pain, anguish so deep that it was almost inhuman.

Cassian fell to his knees, and held his brother.

His own face twisted in pain as Azriel sobbed in his arms, power still writhing beneath Cassian’s hold, trying to escape the shadowsinger as he fell apart.

Cassian held him through it all.

“I’m here, brother,” was all he said, his deep voice warming the frigid night. “I’m here. I’m here.”

Over and over again, until Azriel’s wracking sobs slowed, his siphons dulling as the power finally drained through the remaining cobalt orbs.

Cassian held his brother through it all.

………….

A/N: I think that something along these lines is bound to happen. Rhys and Azriel are too similar and equally stubborn, I think the tension is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and they can heal. I love Cassian’s emotional depth, especially in the first few books, and I think that he could be a key factor in helping to repair the relationship between the brothers. Also, this may be the angst-filled thing I have ever written.

Also I adore Rhys, but for the sake of this story he is especially morally grey, as I think he may end up being for part of Elain and Azriel’s story. I think morally grey means that chances are that character is going to be the villain in someone’s story, at least for a time, even though we know Rhys’ rationale - he’s protecting Feyre and Nyx. Which I think is so interesting in regard also to Azriel’s relationship changing with Rhys and Cassian - now his brothers each have mates, who forever more will be their top priority. Just makes this all the more heartbreaking, at least for me.

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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*flynn rider with the swords at his face image*

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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One Last Time [Chapter 7]

An: All characters belong to Sarah J. Maas

Warnings: Mature language, violence, alcohol consumption, smoking, drugs

Hope you all enjoy!

Masterlist

Songs:

Lose You To Love Me - Selena Gomez Perfect - Selena Gomez Ghost of You - Selena Gomez & the Scene

Azriel woke up in immense pain.

He looked around and found himself in his own bed, a sling around his left hand and a bandage wrapped around his waist. He groaned, not remembering anything after he stumbled on top of Elain.

The door opened and he found Elain standing there, with a glass of water. She paused when she saw him, and she instantly moved towards him.

“How are you feeling? Are you feeling any pain?” Elain questioned, placing the glass of water on his bedside, and checking the IV stand beside him.

“How long have I been unconscious?” He questioned, his throat parched.

Elain handed him the glass along with a tablet, which he took without a fight. “It’s only been a day. You lost a lot of blood, and we weren’t in an exactly sterilized condition, so I thought you might have died from sepsis.”

Azriel frowned at her. “I thought you were a doctor.” He breathed out.

She looked at him angrily. “Oh, I’m sorry! I haven’t operated on someone in their dining room with no proper equipment and alcohol!”

He just closed his eyes and let go of her hand. “Well, apparently your dream college wasn’t that helpful.”

She stilled. “That’s a low blow.”

He huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, and I had a god damned bullet in my arm, so kill me for being fucking pissed at you for leaving me.”

She slammed her hand down onto the bed in anger. “You’re really gonna blame me?! I wasn’t the one who cheated with some cheap slut! That was all you!” And then, she stomped her foot. She couldn’t believe she actually did that.

“Elain-”

“No. I loved you with everything I had. More than I ever loved anyone in my entire life, only to find you sleeping with some girl whose name you probably wouldn’t even remember 10 years later. I gave birth to your child and it almost killed me in the process! Do you have any idea how much it hurt to look at him and see the face of the boy who literally broke me?”

“El-”

“Oh and let’s not forget how you crashed my fiancé’s ball and kidnapped me along with my child and have kept me here for an entire week!”

“El!”

She glanced at his expression filled with pain. She then realized she was squeezing his injured arm. She grabbed her hand back and distanced herself from him. Az rubbed his arm, hoping to relieve the pain slightly.

“I’ll ask someone to bring you some food, then I’ll get your medicines. You should rest.” She walked out of the room, leaving him alone once again.

~~~~~

Elain was sitting at the dining table, scrubbing a spot on the table that was stained with blood. Apparently, blood stains were relatively difficult to get rid of. The entire house was bustling with men, Rhys and Cassian opting to stay the entire time. Daemon had gotten up early as usual and had been slightly unsettled by the newcomers. He had then questioned about Azriel. Elain had just informed him that Azriel had been injured and was resting. After that Daemon just asked permission to stay in his room and to be informed of when his father awakened.

That itself had unsettled Elain further.

However, she had told Daemon that Azriel had been up in the evening and since then Daemon had stayed by Azriel. It slightly stung that her son would rather stay with Azriel than her, but she didn’t blame him. They had ten years to make up for.

“Ellie,” A hand grasped her own wrist, pausing her scrubbing motion. She glanced up to find Cassian looking at her with slight worry. “I think it’s clean enough. I’m pretty sure even Az’s snobby ass won’t mind.”

Elain just nodded and made to get up when Cassian placed both his hands on her shoulders. “I think you should rest. Let the others handle things, okay? It’s not our first rodeo, you know?”

Elain’s face crumpled at the thought of this happening before and Cassian instantly engulfed her in a hug. “It’s okay. He’s safe. You saved him, Ellie.” He hummed softly.

Elain just clung to him harder. “He was so close to dying. I was so scared, Cass.” Elain sobbed into his shoulder and he just held her, rubbing her back soothingly.

~~~~~

Azriel woke up with a groan.

This time, not feeling pain, but immensely stiff.

He turned his head to see Daemon engrossed on the iPad Azriel had given him. He tried moving his hand, only to find it in a sling. He sat up, ignoring the pain, and cleared his throat.

“Good morning,” Daemon said softly, looking at him carefully. Azriel smiled at him.

“Mom’s with Uncle Lucien. And she left medicine for you.” He pointed at the side table, which had 3 orange pill bottles along with a water bottle. “If you need any help I can call one of the men that are downstairs. They’ve been here for the past two days. Uncle Cassian and Rhys were also here, but they usually come in late.”

Azriel got up on his own and went to his bathroom. He looked in the mirror and slightly winced at his condition. He looked like he had been run over by a truck. He freshened up and returned, to find Daemon still engrossed in his iPad. He wondered if a kid should be allowed that much screen time.

“Hey Daemon, um, want to play a game?” He asked unsteadily. Daemon looked at him, his eyes bright with happiness.

“Sure! What should we play?” He turned the tv off and looked at Azriel expectantly.

“Um, how about, we ask each other a question and we have to answer it truthfully?” Daemon looked at him with furrowed brows but then nodded happily.

“Okay, so I’ll go first. What’s the best gift you’ve ever got?” Azriel questioned.

He thought about it for a minute and then smiled. “Ooh, I know! On my fourth birthday, mom gave me a blue bunny. She said she had one just like that when she was little. Also, the same one that kind of exploded in your room.” He frowned. “Maybe I shouldn’t like that anymore.”

Azriel withheld a sigh. “Don’t think about that, okay? You and your mother are safe and that is all that matters. Your turn buddy. Ask me anything.” He told him with a smile.

“Where were you all these years?” He asked with an innocent face. His question blew Azriel away and he blinked twice.

Azriel fidgeted with his sling and looked everywhere thinking of an answer. He turned and saw Daemon still looking at him waiting for an answer.

“There were some things that kept me away from you. But trust me, if I had the chance, I wouldn’t have left your side for a moment.” Az told him sincerely. Daemon nodded at him and then said, “Your turn.”

“What was it like? Living with your mom and everything.”

“It was nice. Momma would always come home from work and play with me. We’d go out every weekend. She even took me to Disneyland along with Uncle Lucien!”

“How about Graysen?” Azriel wanted to know how that man had treated his son.

Daemon’s bright face fell into a frown. “Graysen was not that good. He usually never came to our house. But whenever he did, he would be really mean and would always shout at momma.” Azriel clenched his fists at the thought of someone shouting at Elain. “And whenever momma wasn’t there he would always say mean stuff to me.”

“What kind of mean stuff?” Az asked with a hoarse voice.

Daemon shook his head and glanced down. Azriel looked at him carefully and spoke up. “My dad wasn’t a nice person.” Daemon snapped his head up at him. “He would hurt me and my mother. When I was 9 years old, he hurt my mother really badly and he hurt- he hurt me too.” He involuntarily gazed down at his own hands.

“Did he do that?” Daemon asked softly. He nodded, his gaze not shifting from his scarred hands. Azriel heard a rustling noise and footsteps and then suddenly Daemon was beside me.

He took Azriel’s hand in his own and gave it a soft kiss. “Mom says that a kiss fixes things.” Azriel held back the tears that pooled in his eyes. Daemon then pointed to a small scar on his forehead. “I got hurt when Graysen pushed me into his desk. It was bleeding, but he got it fixed. He told me to tell mom that I fell on my own.” Azriel looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. He felt anger raging inside him, the thought of someone hurting his son made him homicidal.

“Promise you won’t tell her? I don’t want her to feel bad.” Daemon held up his pinky. Azriel reluctantly interlaced it with his.

“I promise.”

Daemon smiled and sat back when the door opened and Lucien walked in with a man and Elain behind him.

“Oh look Elain, he’s awake! You didn’t kill him!” Lucien exclaimed and Elain punched him on the shoulder, her face turning red.

“Shut up Lucien. I already knew that.” She muttered.

The man behind him cleared his throat and Azriel instantly recognized him as Lucien’s father, Helion. “Azriel, nice to meet you. Unfortunately, it’s in these circumstances.” Azriel nodded in greeting.

“Gramps!” Daemon got up from his seat beside Azriel and ran towards Helion who spread his arms and lifted Daemon as he neared him. “Dae! It’s been so long!”

“Um, Helion, why don’t you do what you are here for?” Elain said uneasily.

Azriel narrowed his eyes at Lucien who smirked. “Elain here believes her attempt at saving your life was subpar. So, to assure her that she did not damage your body, we brought in a specialist.”

“He’s a trauma surgeon.” Elain pointed out. “He has better knowledge than I do and well, I haven’t even completed my residency, so.” She shrugged and Azriel groaned, not liking that he would have to go through a whole checkup.

~~~~

After completing his checkup, Elain led Helion out of the house, thanking him for taking the time to look at Azriel.

Helion hugged her before whispering in her ear, “You need to talk to him and put both of yourselves out of your misery.” Elain just nodded in response. Lucien also left soon, claiming to return the next day.

After dinner, Daemon also moved upstairs to his room, preparing for bed, which left Elain alone with Azriel. He was working on his laptop, frowning at something on the screen. She cleared her throat before questioning, “How are you feeling?”

Azriel looked up from his laptop and gave her a soft smile. “I’m feeling good.” She smiled back at him. “I don’t think I’ve thanked you for saving me. Thank you.”

Elain shook her hand, waving her hand as well. “No need. I had no other option but to help you. The Hippocratic Oath and all.” Azriel frowned slightly. “I didn’t exactly save you, I just-”

“You saved me. I would’ve died if you hadn’t done what you did.”

She averted her eyes. “I just didn’t want Daemon to lose his father.” She got up and busied herself with taking out his medicine, placing them in a paper cup, and handing them to him along with a glass of water.

“Nesta wants you and Daemon to come to her daughter’s birthday party” He suddenly said.

“Her daughter?”

“Tootsie?” He said, probably wondering if I knew who that was.

“I know her name. It’s just, I didn’t expect Nesta to invite me over for anything.” Elain answered softly.

“Yeah, well she called me and said that she would really appreciate it if both of you were there. Will you go?” He asked softly.

She widened her eyes. “Of course, I will. I’d love to go!” Then she looked down. “But, I would need to buy her a gift and everything and I don’t know if I have clothes to wear to a party-”

“Elain. It’s okay. I’ve gotten her a gift card, it’s all Nesta wants anyway.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. “And regarding the clothes, I thought Feyre and Nesta brought a few over?”

“Yeah, they did.” She said meekly.

“Good. Wear those.”

She nodded but didn’t look at him.

He sighed and placed his laptop down on the table. “Elain, we need to talk.”

~~~~

She had just nodded and left, saying that she had to change. So even Azriel had gone up to his room and had managed to get into my sweatpants and a black t-shirt. By the time he reached downstairs, she was already sitting on the couch wearing a set of dark blue PJs.

He cleared his throat and sat on the couch opposite her. She had an entire bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand while Azriel just had a small bottle of water in front of him.

“You know how my dream was to go to Adriata and then live our lives there?” He asked her and she scoffed.

“Of course, I remember. It was my dream too.”

Azriel inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. “I didn’t get in.”

She looked at him with wide eyes. “What do you mean you didn’t get in? Your GPA was better than mine and then you even had football.”

“I don’t know, but I wasn’t accepted. And there you were, so excited that you had gotten accepted. I knew that if I told you that I hadn’t been accepted, you would have agreed to stay with me and go to Velaris University.”

“Of course, I would’ve. It wasn’t that important.” She said stubbornly.

“But it was. I didn't want to be the guy who would hold you back. I couldn’t be that guy whom you would resent.”

“I wouldn’t have resented you then. But what you did, made me resent you much more than normal.” She said softly causing him to inwardly groan.

“I didn’t know how to tell you and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to break it off with you, so I-”

“Cheated?” She asked mockingly. “Hurt me? Made me feel bad about myself?”

He shook his head ruefully. “I never wanted to hurt you.”

“But you did Az! How else would I feel when I find my future husband sleeping with someone else?!” Her breathing fastened.

“I never slept with her.”

There was silence for a moment and then she started laughing hysterically.

“You really expect me to believe that?” She said in the middle of her laugh.

“Yes, I do.” He said carefully because god only knew what was going on in Elain’s mind.

She took a gulp from the bottle in her hand and wiped her mouth before she started laughing again.

“Elain, I’m serious. Stop making a fucking joke out of this.”

She instantly stopped and glared at him, hatred filling her eyes. “You just told me that you didn’t sleep with the girl whom I found in bed with you. That it was all just a ploy to make me stay away from you so that you won’t crush my dreams.” A single tear ran down her face. “Azriel, you’re the one who made it a fucking joke ten years ago.”

Azriel’s eyes softened and all he wanted was to sit beside her and hold her once again. “Elain, I was only a kid. I didn’t know what was right and what was wrong. I did what I thought was best. And there is nothing else that I regret more than that.”

“What about the girl?” She asked softly, her gaze averted.

“She worked for Rhysand’s father and agreed to help me fake it.” Elain bit her lip and looked at him with sad eyes. “I didn’t even touch her, I couldn’t.” He added.

She shook her head as if she were trying to process everything. Azriel expected her to yell at him, maybe even cry. But he never expected what she would say next.

“I was so pissed off that day. A night before your birthday. Probably, the first birthday I had spent without you in years. I had every intention of getting drunk and spending the entire day in my room. But fate had something else planned.” She smiled sadly as she wiped a few tears. “Around 1 in the night, I felt this - this immense pain from my stomach. Lucien thought it must have been alcohol poisoning. But I knew it was more. It was something much more.” She let out a hollow laugh. “I thought I was dying. Something I was willing to accept. I had already left my heart and soul in Velaris. I was as good as dead.” Azriel looked down at the floor, unable to meet her eyes.

“Lucien took me to the ER and guess what they told me? I’m going into fucking labor.” She shook her head and took another drink from her bottle. “They took me inside, all alone in the pain, and three hours later I was holding my son in my hand.” She sniffed and wiped her tears again, her eyes red-rimmed. “He was so small and weak. The only thing I could think of was how I failed as a mother even before my child was born. How I was a failure as a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend, and even as a mother.” Her voice cracked and all Azriel wanted to do was go to her and hold her. Tell her that she didn’t fail as a mother. That she wasn’t a failure. That he still loved her. But he didn’t. He knew he didn’t deserve her forgiveness. The last thing she needed was for him, the man who ruined her life, to be near her. “Then, he opened his eyes.” She smiled sadly. “He had your eyes.” She whispered as she hung her head down, tears falling freely. “I was so scared Az. I was so scared and I needed you.”

“But I wasn’t there.” He answered, his voice hoarse.

She nodded solemnly. “You weren’t. And I should hate you for it. But I can’t.” Her voice broke again and she started sobbing. Az got up from his seat and sat beside her, holding her with one arm, and allowing her to rest her head on his chest. She gripped the front of his shirt as she continued sobbing. He ran his hand through her hair soothingly and soon the sobs stopped as her breathing became even. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he picked her up and took her to her room.

After dropping Elain off, Azriel laid down on his own bed after taking his medicine and fall asleep, imagining a life where he had chosen to stay with Elain the entire time.

~~~~~

Elain and Azriel had come to a sort of truce.

They did not discuss the night prior when they had all sat down for breakfast in the morning. The silence had been filled with Daemon’s chattering and small replies from both of them.

Elain knew Azriel was right when he believed that she would’ve dropped the idea of Adriata University in a heartbeat if he had told her the truth. But she knew that it wouldn’t help anyone now. All they could do was look forward.

That evening, Elain, Daemon, and Azriel stood in front of Nesta and Cassian’s house for their daughter’s birthday. Their house was like a large-sized traditional white picket fence house.

Az got out of the car and helped Daemon. “So, what do you think?” He asked as he came around and stood next to her.

She looked at him properly, for the first time since he came out of his room looking like a greek god in a nice outfit. Albeit it was just normal black denim jeans with a black button down which fit him perfectly along with black converse, he still looked mesmerizing.

And apparently, she was staring.

She cleared her throat. “It’s nice. Not something I would expect Cass to live in.”

Az scoffed. “It’s a fucking barbie dreamhouse replica.”

Elain pursed her lips. “Actually, I think yours is the dreamhouse. This one is just a normal doll house.” Az sent a glare in her direction and she just giggled.

They walked to the front door which Az opened without knocking. Inside, the house was mesmerizing. There were balloons everywhere, soft yellow light brightening the room. A huge portrait of Cassian, Nesta, and a little baby in their hands hung above the fireplace. All along the walls, there were shelves decorated with books, photo frames and decorative knives. At least Elain thought they were for decoration purposes.

“Elain, you came!” Nesta exclaimed from the corner of the room. She had a little girl with dark hair, much like Cassian’s, however, her eyes were stormy blue-grey just like Nesta’s. “This is Tootsie. Don’t ask, Cassian named her.” Nesta said with an eye roll. “And Tootsie, this is Auntie Elain and your cousin Daemon.” Tootsie looked at Elain with wide eyes and then down at Daemon, who himself looked at her with wide eyes.

“Hi! Happy birthday!” Daemon exclaimed as he held his hand out toward her. Tootsie looked at him and also extended her hand in such a way that she almost falls out of Nesta’s hold.

“Birthday!” Tootsie exclaimed and Nesta placed her on the floor. She took hold of Daemon’s hand and dragged him further into the house. Daemon looked back at Elain who nodded encouragingly.

“Nice house.” Elain greeted and Nesta narrowed her eyes at her and smiled. “Glad you made it. I thought Azhole wouldn’t have been able to convince you.”

“You still call him Azhole?” Elain asked. Nesta had taken to calling Az by that name when Elain and Azriel had first started dating.

“I’ll stop calling him that when he stops acting like one.” She replied and both of them giggled, while Azriel let out a sigh.

Cassian called Nesta and she excused herself. Elain busied herself looking at the various photos. There was one of them from high school. She was in her cheer outfit, all three of the boys in their football uniform, while Nesta and Feryre were wearing jeans and sweaters. Elain also had a letterman jacket around her, which was obviously Az’s. She smiled to herself as she remembered the day that photo had been taken.

“That was just before I told you that I love you.” A voice stated from behind her. Elain whirled around and found Az standing with his hands tucked in his pockets, giving a thoughtful look at the photo. “It comes in my list of top ten days.”

She raised her brows. “Top ten?”

He nodded and moved towards her, picking up the frame in his hand. “Definitely in the top ten.”

“What other days are a part of that list?” She asked as he placed the frame back in its place.

He looked at her for a moment and then shrugged. “You were there for all of them.”

Elain was not sure if she was breathing or not. She gazed into his deep hazel eyes and knew there was no wall, no shield. He had completely opened himself to her.

And that scared her.

~~~~~

Elain was enjoying herself. She had missed her sisters and had forgotten how much fun it had been to be with them. It reminded her of her teenage years, when she was just another carefree person, with the whole world ahead of her.

Both the sisters had tried to catch up with Elain with events of the past decade.

Elain learned that Cassian and Nesta had gotten married three years ago, four months before Tootsie had been born. Feyre and Rhysand had an impromptu marriage because they had not been sure if they would survive the next day or not.

“It was really sweet actually,” Feyre stated. “Well as sweet as a wedding can get when arranged within half an hour.” She added.

“The only thing that ever mattered was that you were there with me,” Rhys said as he came up behind Feyre and hugged her with one arm.

Cassian flopped down beside Nesta. “I actually enjoyed it. I was the one who officiated it.” Then he smiled wolfishly. “Batman here was the flower boy.”

Elain glanced toward Azriel, who was standing behind her. He glared at Cassian and flipped him off.

“Why was he the flower boy?” She asked.

Rhys grinned widely. “Our dear Az had a small infatuation with flowers at the time. Oh, there wasn’t anyone else, so.”

Azriel blushed slightly and turned his glare toward Rhys. “I was the best flower boy you could’ve ever had.”

Feyre snorted and Nesta sighed impatiently. “Can we stop talking about this and focus on the birthday girl? Because I’m pretty sure I haven’t heard from her in the last ten minutes and that is extremely frightening.”

All three men widened their eyes and straightened. “Cassian, I think we should go look for her.” Rhys nudged him with his shoulder and they both swiftly moved away. Azriel just smirked at the three ladies.

“What are you smirking for, pretty boy?” Nesta questioned with her eyes narrowed at him.

He just shrugged slightly. “I just know that she’s already asleep. Both her and Daemon are.” He directed this towards Elain, who frowned as she realized she had not worried about Daemon for quite a while.

“Elain, I think that kid is addicted to TV. He watches it an ungodly amount.” He pointed out, taking a seat right beside Elain.

Elain just shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “It’s fine, we just need to monitor his screen time.” She then glanced towards the staircase where Rhys and Cassian had gone up. “Why are they terrified of a three-year-old?”

Feyre snorted out a laugh. “She once managed to get into Cassian’s liquor cabinet and broke three bottles. We’re just lucky she didn’t get a hold of his gun.”

Elain sat in silence, stunned at the nonchalant way Feyre said that. Nesta clicked her tongue at Feyre. “She has no tact. I was terrified and didn’t let Tootsie out of sight for a whole month.”

Azriel placed his hand on her shoulder. “It’s not normal for us.” She glanced at him to see his earnest expression. “Hell, none of us know what a normal kid does. But we try our best.” He runs his hand through his hair. “El, I don’t know what a child wants, but I can assure you that Daemon will never come near anything like that.”

Elain believed him.

~~~~~

It was late when they returned home. Azriel had offered to take a sleeping Daemon up to his room but Elain strictly forbid him from him.

“I won’t always stitch you up, you know.” She claimed and moved to wake Daemon up. Azriel stood behind and observed it with a smile. He opened the front door for both of them and followed them, locking all systems and checking it once again.

He took a seat at his dining table and let out a large sigh. Elain returned a moment later and sat beside him.

“Daemon’s all set up. Although he refused to change his clothes or brush his teeth, so we’ll cross that bridge tomorrow.” She glanced up at him. “How are you feeling? Did you take your medicines? I got so caught up in everything I forgot to check on you.”

Azriel laughed slightly. “I’m fine. What about you? Did you have fun?”

Elain nodded slightly. “I forgot how much fun we all used to have. I’ve spent the past ten years so busy and alert, I had forgotten how it felt to let loose.”

Azriel took a chance and slid his left hand around Elain’s shoulders pulling her tightly into him. She instantly melted into his touch and he heard a sniffle come from her. He bent his head and rested it on top of her head.

They stayed that way for a while.

------

AN: It actually hurts that I could correlate this chapter with so many Selena Gomez songs.

Next Chapter on 24th Feb

#elriel #elriel fic #one last time #elain archeron #azriel #elain x azriel #azriel x elain #gangster au #acotar au #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #feyre archeron #rhysand #nesta archeron #cassian

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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Did anyone notice how at the start of ACOSF Nessian fans were pissed off at Rhys (Especially when the initial chapters leaked) and at the end of the book Elriel fans were pissed off at him.

Rhysand literally cannot get a break 😭

#elriel #acosf thoughts #rhysand #nessian #azriel pov #acotar

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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#elriel #acotar #azriel #elain archeron #elain x azriel #acofas #acomaf #acowar #azriel x elain

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

Summary:

Singer Hermione + Prince Draco AU

Hermione Granger, a famous singer ends up in a self-imposed exile, where she takes time to heal, but didn't expect to fall in love with a blonde haired prince.

Read on FFN

Read on AO3

#dramione #draco malfoy #hermione granger #draco x hermione #hermione x draco #dramione fanfic #dhr

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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I saw a post that was like "stop shaming people who don't change their profile pic because they 'look like a bot,' you're policing how ppl use tumblr <3 <3 <3" and it made me want to bang my head against the wall.

When people tell you to avoid looking like a bot, it's because if you look like a bot, you will be blocked and reported as a bot.

I don't are if you lurk, I don't care if your pic and title are cool or clever or whatever, just change them to something that shows anyone you follow that you're human.

Otherwise, if I see you in my new followers I'll assume you're one of the 30+ bots that followed me today, and I'll block and report you.

tl;dr: For crying out loud, it's not "policing people's experience" to tell them how to avoid having their accounts blocked and suspended.

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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Tumblr Fanfic Etiquette

A/N: I was not planning on posting this but I've been seeing a lot of hate in multiple fandoms, which prompted me to create this. Hopefully this educates people/newer users and prevents anymore hate from circling. Also please feel free to reblog or add on if you'd like to.

NO hateful messages. That's gotta be number 1. I don't care what you didn't like about the fic. Unfollow the writer or scroll past it. Do not spend your day/night leaving a hateful message because you didn't like X, Y, or Z. Just move on. It's not worth it and at the end of day, solves nothing.

Do not pressure writers to update a series or to write more. We all have a life outside of tumblr and you really don't know who's struggling with their mental health and who's not. -- Instead, opt for encouraging words like. "Hi. Just wanted to say I love your writing and can't wait to read more from you!" This let's them know you love their work without pressure.

If the writer specifically did not ask for it, DO NOT give them constructive criticism on a story or their writing in general. This is very, very rude. And even though your intentions might be pure, it's insulting.

If a writer has posted a standalone fic, please do not pressure them for a sequel. Especially if you didn't even reblog or give them any kind of feedback. Another option would be: "Hi. I really liked [name of fic]. Do you have any plans to turn [name of fic] into a sequel?

Do not befriend a fanfic author just because you think they can get your work more likes/reblogs/feedback, etc. No one likes to be used. This is just really shitty. Befriend people on here because you like them. Not because of what they can do for you.

Likes are nice, but reblogs are better. If you really like the author's writing, share their work or tell them via their ask box/dms how much it meant to you. Takes a second but means a lot.

If a fic author has a warning asking minors to not interact, respect it. Wait until your of age or find writers who are minors. Fanfic writers come in all sorts of age groups.

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harmonyindark245 · 1 year

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One Last Time [Chapter 6]

An: All characters belong to Sarah J. Maas

Warnings: Mature language, violence, alcohol consumption, smoking, drugs

Hope you all enjoy!

Masterlist

Songs:

Tornado Warnings - Sabrina Carpenter Forget Forever - Selena Gomez Blood // Water - grandson

It had been an entire week since Elain had called him out for cheating.

It had been so long since he thought about that day that he had actually forgotten the specifics. All he remembered were Elain’s tears as she ran out of the room, him not even trying to explain.

He knew he deserved all the hate she was spewing, but he wished it were different. He wished he could tell her what had truly happened that day, but he was a coward.

Rhysand’s birthday and Thanksgiving both passed quietly, with no suspicious activity that indicated any harm to Elain or Daemon. He found it funny that he was now protecting the two people he was meant to kidnap.

Azriel had been spending his early mornings with Daemon, getting to know more about him, telling him his own childhood stories. It felt surreal, to have a son. It disheartened Azriel whenever he heard a fun anecdote from Daemon’s initial years and Azriel realized he missed out on them because of his own mistakes.

He was proud of how mature and smart Daemon was. He knew it had to do with the fact that Elain was too young when she had him. He was also proud of Elain, for being able to handle a child while managing college, all on her own. Azriel knew though, if he ever told that to her, she would backhand him with as much force as she could.

Azriel had thought things would manage out when, out of nowhere, Daemon asked why he didn’t have a sibling. He didn’t even know if a ten-year-old knew where babies came from, and he didn’t want to give an answer that Elain wouldn’t agree with. So he just said, “Your mom might know.”

Daemon easily accepted the answer and continued eating his chocolate chip pancakes. Azriel wondered if Daemon was aware of the situation going on between him and Elain. Or did he think they were a perfectly happy family, all back together now?

Azriel snapped back to reality when his phone started ringing through his car system. He picked it up without looking.

“What?”

“Hello to you too Az.” Nesta’s cool voice came through the speakers.

He rolled his eyes. “Is this a reminder for Sunday? Cause that’s 3 days away and yes, I will just get her a gift card.”

“No Azhole.” Nesta snapped and Azriel smiled at the road. “I want you to bring Elain and Daemon.” Azriel instantly pushed the brakes, causing the cars behind him to honk at him.

“Elain and Daemon? You want me - the guy she wants to kill - to tell her that I’m taking her to a birthday party when she’s supposed to be kidnapped?”

Azriel let out a laugh as he started driving again. “Nesta, with all due respect, that is the worst idea you’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot, considering you’re married to Cassian. Shouldn’t you be the one to invite her?”

“I can’t. I fought with her a few days ago.” Nesta said with a sigh.

Azriel ran a hand through his hair, releasing an aggravated sigh as he considered her request. “Fine, I’ll tell her, but no promises.”

“Good.” Azriel thought she had disconnected but suddenly her voice came through the speakers, soft and timid. “And Az, maybe you should talk to her. About that night.” He didn’t respond and eventually, the click sound came, indicating that she cut the line.

He huffed out a breath as he thought about Nesta’s words. Maybe she was right and he should finally tell Elain the truth about what had happened ten years ago.

~~~~~

Azriel had finally reached his destination. It had taken him an hour and a half from his office to get there.

He had managed to hack into the iPhones he had grabbed from the dead bodies of the men that had attacked the ball. There wasn’t much information available on it but he tracked a number common on both phones, which led him to an abandoned warehouse on the docks. Azriel scoffed at the cliche location. He sent his live location to both Rhys and Cassian as a fail-safe.

He parked his car hidden behind the large building. He checked his gun and blade before getting out of the car. He didn’t see any cars nearby and took his bag along with him. He reached inside to find it empty, a bunch of empty containers loitering the area. His phone beeped with a message from Lucien.

All is good here. Elain wants to talk. Daemon and I will be upstairs.

Elain wanted to talk. Good. Because so did he. He closed my eyes and promise himself that he would tell Elain everything once he went back home.

Azriel took out the surveillance equipment he had brought and started hiding them all around the warehouse. It took him quite a while to install the audio recorders as well as the cameras, placing multiple, covering the whole area.

As he was just about finished, he heard the sound of tires on gravel. He cursed and quickly wrapped up, ducking behind a container.

He saw multiple men enter the warehouse and took his gun out of his pocket, to be prepared. He slightly faltered when he saw Graysen along with the men. Azriel had not even considered Graysen could be related to the attack.

“You promised that you would give me the girl as well as a kid. Where are they Graysen?” Said a muffled male voice. Azriel looked at the group of men that had convened in the middle and saw Graysen had his phone out. The voice was most likely coming from there.

Azriel concurred that the girl and kid the man had mentioned were probably Elain and Daemon. What he didn’t understand was why them. And why Graysen would orchestrate an attack at his own father’s ball to get his fiancee?

“I’m really sorry, but I don’t know where they are,” Graysen muttered. “They’ve been gone since that night. I guess someone else took them.”

The other man clicked his tongue. “It really is a pity that people like you have power.” Azriel couldn’t help but wonder how the voice sounded eerily familiar.

“I suspect Rhysand took her. He’s married to his sister.” Another man spoke up.

Graysen let out a laugh. “What’s he gonna do? Torture his sister-in-law? He’s weak. They’re all on a deadline anyway.”

Azriel frowned at the confidence in Graysen’s voice. He had to figure out what Graysen thought he knew. Suddenly, a cat came out of nowhere and crashed into a pile of bottles behind Azriel. He jumped back and held back a groan as something pierced the skin of his back.

“Hey! Who’s there?” Someone called out.

Damn it.

With no time to think Azriel started off in a sprint, running towards the exit when gunshot sounds started.

Azriel moved quickly, trying to cover himself from any bullets with the help of the containers. He took his own gun and cocked it, taking a deep breath right before he straightened and fired shots in the direction of the voice.

He hit one man, which gave him time to get out of the warehouse. He darted towards the exit when suddenly, there was blinding hot, searing pain running through his shoulder, causing him to stop. He touched his arm and found his hand red with blood.

Motherfucking shit.

He didn’t stop running until he reached his car. Suspiciously, no one came out of the warehouse. He didn’t take any chances, and started the car quickly, flooring the gas pedal and driving away from there as fast as he could. He felt his breath get shallower and cursed knowing that by the time he reached Headquarters, he would bleed out. He couldn’t even go to a hospital.

He could only think of one thing.

Elain.

She was a doctor. She could help. Hopefully not kill him in anger. He decided to take his chances and swerved his car, heading towards his home.

For the first time in his life, he wondered what would happen if he didn’t make it. He might not be able to tell Elain the truth about everything. He might not be able to be an actual father to Daemon.

He groaned as his shoulder hurt while driving. He was glad he didn’t bring his manual. He stopped the car for a moment, tore a piece of cloth, and wrapped it around his wound to stop the bleeding. He could feel excruciating pain in his back as well but ignored it, choosing to reach home as quickly as possible.

He inhaled and exhaled deeply, each breath more difficult than the previous.

Maybe he was going to die.

~~~~~

She didn’t actually mean putting a bullet in him when she thought about talking to him.

Although if this was a sign, it was a pretty massive one. A bedridden Azriel would have no choice but to listen to her. If he survived.

Shit.

She somehow managed to drag Azriel’s semi-conscious body towards the dining table where she laid him down, pushing away all the objects present.

“First-aid-kit” He breathed out shallowly. “Kitchen.”

Elain ran quickly and opened various drawers and cabinets until she found the first aid kit in the cabinet under the sink. It was as big as a medic kit, which she was grateful for.

She ran back to Azriel’s side and took out a large pair of scissors, cutting open his t-shirt to get access to the wound. She removed the piece of cloth wrapped around his shoulder and slightly winced when she saw the bullet wound. She took a deep breath. You’ve seen worse than this. This is just a small wound. You can do this. She tried to reassure herself.

She searched the bag for anything to help with the pain and groaned when she came up empty. She once again ran to the kitchen looking for alcohol. She found an unopened bottle of Absolut in a cabinet and decided that it was the best option she had.

She unscrewed the bottle and poured it into a glass. She brought Azriel’s head upwards and poured it down his throat. “I’m sorry, but this is the only anesthesia I could get in a short time.” She took another glass of vodka and frowned. “And this is going to hurt like hell.” Without another word, she poured the glass over his wound.

He let out a disgruntled scream causing Elain to flinch. “I’m so sorry, but you don’t have hydrogen peroxide to clean it and this was a better option than using actual sanitizer.”

“It’s in my bathroom cabinet.” He groaned out, glaring at Elain.

Elain narrowed her eyes at him. “How was I supposed to know that?”

Azriel ignored her and tried to get up. “I need to call Rhysand. He’ll know what to do and get me to a doctor.” He doubled over in pain and that’s when Elain noticed the gaping wound in his back, gushing more blood than the gunshot wound. She gasped in surprise and pushed him down.

“By the time that happens you’ll have bled to death. Let me fix you.” She started rummaging through the kit to find a Rampley and cotton. When she didn’t hear anything in return, she turned around to find Azriel passed out on the table. She quickly checked his pulse to find it slow, but there.

She decided to not go searching for Hydrogen Peroxide and doused the pieces of cotton in alcohol hoping it would not cause sepsis. She decided to pay attention to the wound in his back first as it was still bleeding.

She managed to stitch the wound and bandage it before moving on his arm. She wiped it clean and used a pair of travers to keep the wound open, checking if there was a bullet still present inside, as there was no exit wound. Luckily, it wasn’t embedded deeply and she easily removed it. However, she found it to be slightly purplish in color, causing her to frown. She glanced at the bullet and found it laced with some substance. Her eyes widened and she quickly took an injection and extracted as much as she could from his blood.

Elain cleaned the wound properly, knowing he would need to visit an actual hospital soon. She stitched close the wound and cleaned away all the excess blood, placing a bandage over it.

She checked Azriel’s pulse once again and found it returning to normal. She finally felt as if she could breathe properly.

Elain grabbed Azriel’s phone from his pocket and took a swig from the bottle of Absolut kept beside her. She used his face ID to unlock it and called Rhys.

When he picked up after a while, she slumped down against the table. “Get here quickly, and get me a proper surgical kit. With blood bags.”

She cut the call and glanced at her hands, covered in blood. She ignored them as she covered her face with them and started sobbing.

~~~~~

Elain stayed on the floor until she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly wiped her face and rushed to the door, opening it to find Rhysand standing there, worry etched into his face.

He rushed inside, motioning to someone outside to come inside. Then a group of men came along with multiple iceboxes and cardboard boxes. “Everything you need to set up a surgical station.” He pointed to each box that was labeled.

She moved around looking inside the icebox to find multiple blood bags, each box holding a different blood group. “Did you raid a hospital or a vampire den?”

Rhys scoffed. “Had this in storage in case we needed to set up in a remote place. Usually, our resident doctor handles these kinds of things.”

Elain shook her head and asked the men to help her set up important equipment like an ECG machine and IV stand. “Should we set him up in the room?” She inquired.

Rhys just shrugged in response. “You’re the boss.”

“What’s going on?” Lucien’s voice came from the stairway.

Elain turned towards him and rushed to him quickly, once again breaking down. Lucien quickly hugged her, glancing at the table, and understood. He patted her back and shushed her. He grasped her shoulders tightly and shook her. “You see this every day at work. Go into Doctor mode, okay? You can do this.” She glanced at him and nodded, knowing she had to control her emotions.

She set her shoulders firmly and instructed the men to help her set up everything in Azriel’s room.

She could cry after she was sure Azriel was fine.

~~~~~

AN: I have a feeling I overdid the surgical process. Well. Hope you liked it!

Next Chapter on 10th Feb.

#elriel #elriel fic #one last time #elain archeron #azriel #elain x azriel #azriel x elain #gangster au #acotar au #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #feyre archeron #rhysand #nesta archeron #cassian

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