#TWO MORE CHAPTERSSSSSS | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

azrielsiphons · 7 years

Text

Prequel; Azriel-Centric Stories Set Before ACOTAR (ch. 8)

This is a collection of interconnected short stories about Azriel’s life before any of the events of ACTOAR through ACOWAR.

CHAPTER 8: LENA

Make sure to read Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 4.5, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 9, Ch 10

Read the follow-up fic Shadows and Darkness: One and the Same

Time Frame: Immediately after the events of Chapter 7 - 2 months before Rhys is made High Lord

Summary: Aeron summons his Shadowsinger and Commander to his office the morning after the events on the bridge between Azriel and Lena. As he walks through the House of Wind, Azriel recalls the events that happened after Rhys was rescued from Amarantha’s camp during the War.

NOTE: Only two chapters after this one friends! Then begins the fic that this prequel has been leading up to, Shadows and Darkness: One and the Same, set during and after ACOWAR. Please enjoy and reblog!

It was before daybreak that Azriel was summoned to High Lord Aeron’s office. As he laced his boots, perched on the edge of his bed, he wondered if Lena had gotten any sleep. He certainly hadn’t.

“I see you.”

“And I see you.”

He still couldn’t quite believe it. That Lena — his Lena — had impossibly chosen him. That they were doing… whatever it was they were doing. Courting, pursuing one another, being together, whatever the label was, they were doing it. They had chosen one another.

His Lena — likely the most powerful fae in Prythian as soon as she mastered her powers, the kindest and most passionate individual he had ever met, the most beautiful female inside and out — had chosen him. Sleep had been a far concept when he had the way she had looked at him to dream about instead.

And even though every bone in his body was saying to go to her and hold her and scream from the rooftops that she had chosen him, he knew that they had to be secretive. He was selfish enough to have her, but not selfish enough to condemn her to whatever awful consequences her father would subject her to if he found out.

The Daughter of the Night Court with an Illyrian bastard Shadowsinger. Aeron would disown her — or worse. Wren might fight for them, but she would lose.

He didn’t want to think about what Rhys would do.

No, if he was going to be with her — and he couldn’t pull himself away at this point — he would do everything in his power to make sure she wouldn’t be damned for it. Even if that meant looking at her from afar and resting in the knowledge that she had chosen him all on his own.

The world didn’t have to know. As long as they knew.

With a deep breath and a roll of his shoulders, Azriel exited his room and walked through the quiet House to Aeron’s office. He didn’t fear Aeron — at least not for himself. He only loathed the male. For the way he treated Wren, the way he underestimated Lena, the way he spoke to Rhys and Cassian.

Azriel would never forget the day that Rhys was rescued from Amarantha’s camp during the War and he and Cassian received the order not to remove the ash bolts still embedded in Rhys’s wings. They had taken him to the cabin, Cassian and Azriel carrying Rhys between them, blood trailing behind them in the snow.

Rhys’s screams of pain would always haunt him. As would what followed when Wren and Lena arrived.

~~~~~

6 years prior

Azriel was sitting outside, elbows propped on his knees. Rhys was sleeping — finally. It had taken Cassian almost laying on top of him for Azriel to be able to shove the sleeping and pain relief herbs into Rhys’s mouth and force him to chew.

His screams… Azriel had seen and partaken in many horrible things in his lifetime. He was no saint. But nothing that he had seen or done would likely ever haunt him the way that the sound of Rhys’s screams did. Those ash bolts were deep within the membrane of his wings. The moment they had gone to remove them Aeron had told them no — to leave them.

Azriel couldn’t believe it. Aeron was a cruel male and a cruel father, but to leave the bolts in Rhys’s wings was… as cruel as it got. Azriel and Cassian were ready to go against the order until Aeron had said if they removed them before the week was over he would kill all three of them.

So they had taken him to the cabin to heal. Azriel had expended almost all of his magic winnowing them there, and now Rhys was finally asleep, Cassian had passed out shortly after, and Azriel was… he didn’t now what he was doing.

He was so tired. This War was too much. The things Aeron was making him do, the fact that he couldn’t fight alongside his brothers and had to do Aeron’s dirty work instead, it was too much. Having to do what he did and then look Wren in the eye, the wonderful woman who had taken him in as a favor to his mother, who thought of him as her own and deserved infinitely better than Aeron, it was too much. Having to look Lena in the eye, Rhys’s 16 year old sister that adored him and he thought the world of and was forced to watch and do nothing as her brother constantly walked into battle, it was too much.

He was just so tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of who he was turning into.

Just as his eyes started to flutter shut, he heard the flapping of wings far off in the night sky. He was up and at the ready immediately, blade in his hand. He couldn’t tell who it was, but there were two Illyrians flying straight for the cabin, that was for sure.

He waited, biding his time before he called out to Cassian. But then as they got closer, the blade dropped to his side and his shoulders relaxed. He sheathed it at his back, knowing there was no danger. At least not for now.

As soon as the cabin came into Lena’s view, she shot ahead of her mother. Azriel started, sure that he had never seen anyone fly as fast as she was in that moment. Wren shouted, but Lena paid her no mind, landing hard about fifteen feet ahead of where Azriel stood, snow blowing up around her at the impact.

“Where is he?” She spat, panting heavily, hair strewn wildly around her flushed face.

“Lena—”

“Where is he?” She repeated, a low growl coming out from deep within her chest. She stalked right up to Azriel and tried to shove him aside, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist lightly. She froze, looking up and glaring at him, her body trembling with restraint.

The sheer power she emanated felt like an arrow to his chest.

“Let me go, Azriel,” she said lowly, threatening. He had never seen her like this before.

“You need to calm down first,” he told her softly. “He’s sleeping, he’s needs to rest in order to heal.”

Wren was closing in behind Lena, and Azriel had a feeling she had slowed down intentionally.

“Is he…” Lena swallowed thickly, her violet eyes filling with tears. “Is he going to—”

“He’ll live,” Azriel said assuredly. Lena released a heavy breath, her body relaxing as she took the hand that Azriel had around her wrist and squeezed it tightly.

“Okay,” she whispered, breath hitching as the tears began to fall freely. He wanted to reach out and wipe them away, but knew it would be inappropriate. “Okay.”

Wren touched down and Azriel turned, dropping Lena’s hand.

“Azriel,” Rhys’s mother said, completely composed but also completely serious. “Where is he?”

“Inside,” he said simply, turning and meeting Lena’s eyes once more before leading them into the cabin. Cassian jumped up from where he was sprawled out on the couch the moment the door opened, his eyes dark with exhaustion and worry.

No one said anything. Cassian cleared his throat and motioned for the females to follow him. Azriel trailed behind Lena, keeping an eye on the rigidity of her shoulders and the way her hands trembled.

As Cassian opened the door to the bedroom where Rhys was laying on his stomach with his wings stretched out, fast asleep, Lena hesitated while her mother went right in.

Azriel stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. At his touch she loosed a breath, swallowing thickly before stepping into the room.

Azriel thanked the Cauldron for the domestic magic of the cabin. The blood seeping from Rhys’s wings was constantly being magicked away so Lena and Wren couldn’t see how bad it was.

But it was still awful. Black veins spread out from where a single ash bolt was struck through each of Rhys’s wings. His cheek was pressed against the pillow, his skin pale and clammy. Even in his sleep his breathing was shallow.

Wren remained completely composed — though Azriel noted the way she was holding her breath — as she walked around Cassian and knelt at the edge of the bed, taking Rhys’s hand in her own.

“My boy,” she whispered, smoothing back his hair from his forehead. “My sweet boy.”

Lena was frozen to the spot, choked sobs bubbling up from deep within her chest. Tears streamed down her face as she covered her mouth with her hand and ran from the room, shoving Azriel aside in the process.

Azriel took off after her without a second thought, following her out the cabin and back into the biting cold of the night.

“Lena!” He called out. Lena only ran harder for the tree line, her legs and arms pumping fast and hard. Every time her feet hit the ground there was a flare of dark magic behind her.

She fell to the ground at the tree line, dropping to her knees and vomiting in the snow.

Azriel slowed as he came up behind her, his siphons flaring as they sensed the power radiating from her.

He said nothing, only knelt behind her and pulled her hair back as she began to dry heave. With his other hand he rubbed soothing circles on her back. Eventually her heaving stopped and she entire body shook with her sobs.

Azriel remained silent as she turned and fell into his chest, clutching onto his shoulders with trembling hands as she cried against him. He held her tightly to his chest, pressing his cheek to the top of her head.

“I hate him,” she whispered suddenly, voice small but firm. He knew who she was talking about. “I absolutely hate him.”

“I know.”

“How could he do this?” She spat, sitting up to meet Azriel’s eyes. “It’s his son. It’s destroying my mother, his mate. How can he not care?”

Azriel didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know.”

Lena let out a filthy curse, stumbling out of Azriel’s hold and standing to her feet. Azriel followed suit, trailing after her warily as she began to pace angrily, her power still flaring.

“It’s wrong. It’s just wrong,” she muttered, running her hands through her hair wildly. “He’s treating us like the enemy when he needs to be making sure Rhys is healthy and safe so he can help defeat the actual enemy. This is bullshit!”

Her powers flared out several meters, melting the snow around them. It cascaded around Azriel though, not touching him.

“Lena, come inside,” Azriel said gently, waking to her at a slow pace. “Sit with Rhys. He’ll need you when he wakes up.”

Lena laughed humorlessly, meeting Azriel’s eyes. There was a sadness there he had never seen before and never wanted to see again.

“No,” she said in a dead voice. “No Az, what my brother needs is to be rid of my father. That’s what we all need.”

Azriel froze. “Lena—”

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Lena stop!”

He saw that she was winnowing just in time, reaching out and grabbing her elbow and being ripped across space with her. Her power whipped around them, warm darkness cradling them as they were flung across not just the Night Court, but all of Prythian.

A second later and they were in the Spring Court, just outside of the mortal lands in a forest. The sounds of the camp where Aeron and the Night Court army resided awaited below them.

Before Azriel could make a move beyond his complete and utter disbelief that she had winnowed them that far at just 16 years old and with hardly any training, Lena tore her hand away from his and began stomping out of the tree line and towards the camp.

Right for her father.

“Lena!” Azriel hissed, reaching out and grabbing her around the waist, lifting her off the ground and pulling her back.

“Let me go!” She screamed, thrashing in his hold. She scratched and tore at his leathers, her nails pulling at the always sensitive scar tissue on his hands. “Azriel let me go!”

“Stop it, stop it,” he hissed, putting his hand over her mouth as he pulled her back into the tree line. He cursed as she bit his hand, dropping her back to her feet. “Dammit Lena!”

He looked down at his hand where her canines had pierced the skin, blood dripping from his fingers to the ground below. Lena froze, her eyes widening.

“Shit,” she whispered. “Shit, shit… Azriel I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to—”

“What the hell, Lena?” He snapped, keeping his voice low. “What are you thinking? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

Realization seemed to set in and Lena’s breath hitched, her shoulders falling. “I didn’t… I just saw Rhys and I—”

“You didn’t think. Lena you have to think before you do.” He reached out and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “You are… stronger than I realized,” he admitted. “And I know you’re angry, believe me I know. Do you think I didn’t want to rip your father limb from limb when I got that order? When I had to wash my best friend’s blood off of my hands, my clothes?” Lena sniffed, biting her lip as she tried to hold back her tears. “I was so livid I couldn’t think straight. But if I had disobeyed your father, or flown out here and tried to kill him…”

Azriel reached up with his hand that wasn’t bleeding and caught Lena’s cheek in his hand.

“You would suffer for it. Your mother would suffer for it. Cassian, Rhys, me, everyone… They would all suffer because of my lack of control. I know you care about us and about your court. And if you go down there and try to kill your father, I’m going to have to go down there too and we’ll both get killed.”

“I wouldn’t let that happen.”

Azriel chuckled sadly. “I know you would try. But even if you’re stronger than your father, he has centuries of control and training under his belt.”

“Well what do I do, Azriel?” She choked out. “What do I do? I can’t sit here and watch my brother in pain and do nothing!”

“You wait,” he said quickly. “You wait, you bide your time. And then when this War is over and you and Rhys master that power deep within you…”

He trailed off, seeing the realization in her eyes. She took a deep breath, her eyes widening.

“I wait,” she said softly.

Azriel smiled. “You wait. You get him back for everything he’s done to you when the time is right and you can make it hurt.”

“And you’ll be with me?”

Azriel smiled, chuckling as he pulled her into an embrace, his arms wrapping around her shoulders and hers around his waist tightly.

“Every step of the way. I’d want nothing more than to serve you as High Lady.”

Lena scoffed, shaking her head against his chest. “As if that would ever happen.”

“It will. Just wait.”

~~~~~

Azriel shook off the memory with a deep breath as he continued walking down the hall in the House of Wind to Aeron’s office. That had been 6 years ago. Just 6 years ago and so much had changed. And yet so much was the same.

He had meant what he had said though. If Lena came to him tomorrow and said she was ready to kill Aeron and take his place as High Lady he would be right by her side. He would have been willing to do that even if the night prior on the bridge had never happened.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

Azriel rolled his eyes as he walked up on Cassian, who had been waiting on him. They had been called to the High Lord’s office together.

“Nothing.”

“Liar,” Cassian huffed as they stepped in time. “You have that line between your eyes.”

Azriel turned and looked at him with a raised brow. Lena said the same thing. He needed to work on his tells.

“It’s nothing,” he muttered.

“You sure?” Cassian asked, worry coating his voice. “After Lena left last night, you were a bit…”

Azriel realized Cassian’s train of thought with a start. All he knew was that the night prior he and Lena had fought and then she had left with another male. That’s all anyone knew.

And it had to stay that way. To protect them both.

“It’s fine, brother,” Azriel said with a smile. “Lena and I are fine. She’s always mad at me, it’s nothing new.”

Cassian made a humming noise that said he didn’t quite believe him, but wasn’t going to push it.

Cauldron bless Cassian.

They stepped up to Aeron’s office, Azriel taking the lead and knocking on the heavy door.

“Come in.”

They stepped into the office that they both had been in the office more times than they cared for. Azriel longed for the day he would walk into this office with Rhys or Lena at the head instead of their father.

“I need you two to go scout the camps,” Aeron said bluntly, cutting right to the chase.

Cassian tensed. “Is something wrong, sir? My men are—”

“Your men are fine,” Aeron snapped, clearly not wanting to waste any time. “I need you to find me your best though. I want you to go to every single camp, watch every single Illyrian train. Then bring me the best.”

Azriel cleared his throat. “Anything in particular we are looking for sir? It would help if we—”

“I need mercenaries.”

Azriel and Cassian froze.

“Mercenaries, sir?”

Aeron inhaled deeply through his nose, sitting down at his heavy chair and looking at Cassian and Azriel with disdain.

“My visit to the Spring Court was… less than productive.”

Azriel forced himself not to react. Lena had told them how her father had taken her to the Spring Court in hopes of a romantic partnership between she and Tamlin. It hadn’t happened and the tension between Aeron and the High Lord of Spring had only increased exponentially.

“I want to make sure that the Spring Lord doesn’t get any ideas,” Aeron continued. “And if he does, then we will be prepared.”

He’s preparing for another war already, Azriel thought to himself with a twinge of fear.

“I expect you two at the nearest camp before the sun rises,” Aeron said, looking down at reports on his desk, clearly dismissing them.

Cassian hesitated, but a look from Azriel had the pair walking out of the office. They parted ways, each going to their own room to grab their things and be in the air within the next five minutes.

As Azriel’s door clicked shut behind him, he hesitated. Visiting all of the camps would take weeks… weeks away from Velaris less than twelve hours after he and Lena had become whatever they were to each other now. And he didn’t have any proper time to tell her.

He could fly up to her balcony and wake her. But she needed her rest. She would be livid with him for leaving without a word, but…

There was another option.

In two strides Azriel was reaching into his desk and pulling out a pen and a piece of paper. He wrote quickly, his slanted handwriting legible but messier than usual in his hurry. He read over it once before folding it three times.

“Nuala. Cerridwen,” Azriel whispered, knowing the wraiths would hear him with their mysterious magic. The two females were Lena’s handmaidens and friends.

The twins appeared silently, eyes wide. They had had very few interactions with the Shadowsinger.

“Yes?” Nuala asked in a whisper.

Azriel took a small step forward, not wanting to startle the females as he held out the note to them.

“Will you deliver this to Lena, please?”

Cerridwen’s eyes lit up, a smile overtaking her features. A glance from her sister had her schooling her features once again.

“Of course,” Nuala said evenly.

“I know that you two care about her as I do,” Azriel said. “Please make sure that that note does not end up in anyone else’s hands.”

The twins nodded in sync, Cerridwen’s smile still in plain sight even as she tried to hide it. Without another word, they vanished. Azriel loosed a breath, closing his eyes and seeing Lena’s face.

He could survive a few weeks.

~~~~~

Lena —

I’m sorry that I couldn’t bring myself to wake you. You can throttle me over it when I return. Your father is sending Cassian and I to scout the camps for a few weeks. Try not to miss us too much.

There are thousands of words in my heart that I wish to say to you every day only to be overwhelmed by your smile the moment I move to utter them. You are everything, Lena. You are my every dream come to life. For so long I believed the Cauldron to be cruel for trapping me in darkness. And then darkness set me free — not only in my shadows, but in you. You set me free. The Cauldron cannot be so cruel if it allowed me to know you. 

I do not know when we will be back from the camps, but I do know that I will think of you every day. As I always have. I am selfish enough to hope that you think of me as well. I beg of you to stay safe, but if you will not stay safe, stay convicted of who you are: strong, powerful and capable.

 Yours — always,  Azriel

#acomaf fanfiction #acowar fanfiction #azriel #azriel x oc #azriel fanfiction #TWO MORE CHAPTERSSSSSS #the last chapter of the prequel will have a very exciting sneak peak at SAD OATS andI'm SO EXCITED for yalls reactions #please leave comments and do fun tags or message me your thoughts #and of course reblog and like and such #yall are the best !

216 notes · View notes