𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟕

" 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦  "

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𝟖 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧

╰┈˚ · ° . ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀᴀɪɴɪɴɢ ᴏꜰ ʜᴇʀ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴍᴀɢɪᴄ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴀɢɪᴄ ɪɴ ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ, winnowing was the hardest thing that Maiven had to learn.

Morrigan, who the Bloodsinger had met just a week after Rhysand had explained to her all about her powers and history, and who apparently was the High Lord's cousin, was the one who was training her that day.

The blonde made Maiven practice winnowing for hours and exhausted wasn't even a strong enough word for what the Bloodsinger felt.

Mor winnowed the two back to the Moonstone Palace's living room and as Maiven's feet touched the floor she sprinted to the couch and ungracefully threw herself on it.

"Tired?" Rhysand asked amused from his seat at the table

Mai groaned and buried her head further into the pillow

"She is just being dramatic" Mor chuckled taking a sip from the glass of alcohol that she had filled for herself

"Don't listen to her. She is trying to kill me." The bloodsinger scoffed

"Like I said. Dramatic." The blonde commented

Maiven opened her mouth to speak again but her magic sizzled in her body as it felt the presence of a fourth person's blood. The crimson-haired Fae snapped upright. She scanned the room before with wide eyes she stared at the High Lord

"Rhysand, we didn't stumble on you with a lover, right? By the Cauldron, you are making that poor soul hide aren't you?"

Rhys furrowed her eyebrow "What are you talking ab-" The male stopped talking as he realized what the girl was saying "Of course you can feel him" He mumbled

"Feel who?" Mor asked confused

"So it's true. You are hiding th-"

"Azriel, come out" Rhysand said cutting Maiven off

Mor laughed as a really annoyed Azriel revealed himself from the shadows. Maiven looked at the shadowsinger. He was beautiful. Tall, with dark hair, golden-brown skin and piercing hazel eyes. On his back he had two massive Illyrian wings. The skin on both his hands was marred by brutal burn scars. Azriel was surrounded by shadows, and silence and calmness seemed to pulse around him. But he was near-unreadable.

Her gray eyes met his hazel one. Mai tilted her head as she tried to read the shadowsinger. His shadows danced around him and she could have sworn that they tried to move forward. Azriel widened his eyes and just like that, he was gone, merging back into his shadows.

Maiven couldn't feel his presence in the room anymore, she turned toward Rhysand who had a huge smirk on his lips

"Did I pissed him off so much?" Maiven asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"No, Azriel just doesn't like to talk." Rhysand said. The smirk on his face widened as he talked to his Eardreor.

Maiven shrugged her shoulders and laid back on the couch too tired to think more of it. She was exhausted after all the winnowing training that Mor had made her do but still, her mind went back to the shadowsinger. She couldn't read him and that didn't happen a lot of times for her. But maybe that wasn't the only thing that made her think about him.

•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅• 

╰┈˚ · ° .  Two days later Maiven winnowed herself to the Moonstone Palace. Rhysand wasn't there so she was alone.

Her head was a mess. Sometimes her memories were too much for her to handle.

As soon as she arrived at the residence, Mai walked to the library, and sat down on the ledge of the glassless window. Her back rested against the pillar, her legs were withdrawn to her chest and her eyes were closed as memories flashed through them.

Let me out!

She was 10-year-old in this memory.

Please!

But they didn't let her out of that cold and dark cell, not for days, and sometimes, Maiven still felt as if she was still in there.

"Hi" Someone said

Mai snapped her head to the side, opening her eyes, and there, next to the door, cladded in leather and shadows, was Azriel.

His voice was dark and smooth as his shadows gave form.

Maiven was so immersed in her mind, in her memories, that she didn't even feel the presence of another person there with her.

"Hi." She said, making eye contact with the shadowsinger.

"I wanted to apologize for the other day." Azriel started "I was very surprised." He walked forward until he stood next to the pillar in front of the girl. "It never happened to me before that someone knew when I was in the shadows. It took me by surprise I guess." He explained

"It's okay" Maiven reassured him "I understand"

"I'm Azriel"

"Maiven" She introduced herself shaking his scarred hand. Mai slightly smiled up at him. His hazel eyes interlocked with her gray one. Seconds passed without any of the two moving, too busy to study each other. Their features, the emotions that they both masked behind the facade that was almost always permanently on.

Maiven was the first to look away. She could still feel his stare on her as her eyes traveled to the stars "You can sit if you want" she said

Azriel's shadows buzzed with excitement but the shadowsinger kept them on a thigh leash. He sat down in front of her, resting his body on the moonstone pillar at his back, but his eyes didn't trail up to the stars. No, they stayed locked on the red-haired fae like they couldn't move away from her. And honestly, Azriel didn't want them to.

"Why are you sitting here?" He asked.

His low voice sent shivers up Maiven's skin. She refused to acknowledge it. Her eyes didn't stray from the star-filled night sky as she continued to feel his burning gaze on her skin.

Azriel could feel the walls that she had built around herself. They were so high and thick that not even him could feel a whisper of her emotion. But they were written all over her face when she thought that she was alone.

Maiven's heart beated faster as her memories surfaced again. Her face was blank of any emotion but the shadowsinger heard her heartbeat speeding up for a second before she calmed it down.

A tendril of his shadows escaped from his control. It slithered around her ankle without her noticing it.

Maiven let out a breath as she instantly calmed down.

"Thinking." She answered "About my past." The fact that she decided to tell the truth surprised even her.

"I know you were an assassin." Azriel stated

"I am an assassin." Mai corrected "I don't think that it can ever change. It's what I am. What I was raised to be. "

"It's true." The shadowsinger said "But you don't have to be only that now. And it's your choice."

Azriel was right, because even if Maiven was a Bloodsinger and had all the responsibility that comes with being one, she was free. Rhysand would never force that on her. She could choose for herself now.

Maiven looked away from the stars. A small smile grew on her lips as her head turned towards the spymaster.

"Thank you." She whispered.

The shadows around the Illyrian buzzed again, but with happiness. As Azriel looked at her, her smile, her eyes, he couldn't help the slight increase of his heartbeat.

Maiven's eyes were clear from the fog of her memories for the first time that day. But the small sparkle of hope in them was new. Hope, something that was foreign to her for years, but now, for the first time, Mai thought that maybe she could be more. More than just a puppet in the hands of the black-haired Fae who destroyed her childhood.

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone! New chapter!

Finally Azriel!!! After 26 chapters these two finally meet!

We are almost at the end of this book, just one last chapter!! I'm very excited for ACOMAF.

Anyways thank you for reading this and if you'd like, please, let me know what you thought of this chapter with a comment and a star.

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾