A court of Shadows & Blood (An ACOTAR / Azriel fanfiction)

Chapter 14

Evening came quickly and I found myself sitting beside Azriel outside the cabin as he sharpened his blade.

"You left your daggers in Velaris." He said, out of nowhere.

I looked away from the snow covered peaks and towards him. "They were not really helpful when I actually needed them." I shrugged.

He tilted his head to one side, his dark curls brushing against his forehead and I resisted the urge to push them out of his face.

Throwing a leather bag towards me, he shook his head, "Here. You never know when you will need them."

I opened it, only to find two shiny daggers inside. I pulled them out and ran their shape edges against each other. "Is this why you went out in the afternoon?"

"No. It was for something else."

I narrowed eyes. "You can't just say it, can you?"

He smiled sheepishly." Spymaster, remember? I would be useless if I couldn't even keep a single secret."

I clicked my tongue, "What now? We can't just sit and wait."

"We can not." He stood up and held out his hand. "Let's train."

I smiled and took his hand. I was barely on my feet before Truth-teller cut through the cold air and missed my abdomen by inches.

I stepped back quickly and kept only one dagger at the front. Azriel's shadows snapped around him like dark serpents and I kept my shadows at bay. They would be useful later. His shadows were shields while mine were weapons.

It was only seconds later that he swung his blade and I had to back away. When I lifted my dagger, sparks flew from the speed and force of the steel colliding. He pushed me back for a moment before I used my other dagger and my lighter body to my advantage.

Twisting around him, I pushed him towards the sloppier ice and I returned to the powdered snow.

He smirked at me and before I could understand, pounced at me. I lost my footing and he had me pinned to the ground. The only thing between my neck and the edge of his blade was my dagger. My arms burned from the force of holding one dagger in place before I managed to move my other arm and finally held both daggers in place, right above my neck.

He pressed with all his force but because his feet were still on slippery ice, he didn't have much grip. The only thing keeping his body in place was his hand that was beside my face. I wrapped my free foot around his knees and, with all one small blast of my power, pushed him off of me.
He almost lost his grip on his sword but it wasn't of any use anyway.

With both my knees on the sides of his chest and my daggers crossed around his neck, he decided it was better to just let the weapon go and breathed deeply.

I caught my breath but didn't move, waiting for him to strike again.

"You won." He said at last, his shadows melting away.

I waited for a moment before tucking my weapons into their place and relaxing my body on top of his.

His chest rose and fell under my weight and a single drop of sweat travelled down the side of his face.

I leaned down and pressed my cold lips against his warm ones. His grip on my thighs tightened while one of my hands rested on the side of his face. Maybe it was the fact that one day, soon enough, my daggers would not stop at the side of his neck, but I let my lips linger over his for a little longer.

" What are you supposed to say when you pin down the man you love?" I asked.

He laughed. "I don't know." He smiled against my lips before I sat up, still with my knees digging into the ground on both sides of his chest. "I'm enjoying this-" His eyes lingered on my legs and his chest "-though." His golden eyes twinkled as a devilish grin spread across his face.

I considered tearing his clothes away right then and there for a moment, before getting off of him and leaving him laying on the snow alone.

"I'm going inside. I need to take a bath." I patted down my clothes before turning around. "And you are going to join me." I said over my shoulder.

"As her grandness wishes." I didn't need to look behind to know that Azriel was grinning from ear to ear.

Cassian and Morrigan were talking to Alcina when we returned inside and I stopped in my tracks.

"What happened?" Azriel asked.

"Looks like we will have to wait until everyone is sleeping or gone." I glanced around at everyone. I wasn't really fond of people watching me as I disappeared inside a room with their friend following close behind.

"Why?"

"Everyone is watching." I explained in the mildest way possible.

He looped an arm around my waist and pulled me to the side, down one small corridor and back into the room where we were last night.

I've never loved anyone in my life before, mother said it wasn't easy. For once, she was wrong. Then again, she had never met Azriel. It was so easy to love him that I felt like I might have been doing it since I took my first breath. It was so effortless to see him and fall for him everytime, I might as well be breathing in the love every second.

In that moment, with our wet bodies pressed together and the steam from the hot water rising up and curling like veins, I tried desperately to understand it.

I tried, and tried, and tried, but failed to pull away. I failed to tell him he shouldn't be this close and that he shouldn't let me be this close.

I failed to tell him that he shouldn't love me. I shouldn't love him. But I did and he loved me back.

And that was my curse. Not me being the devil's bride, not The Ideosy - This love was my curse and I couldn't bring myself to resent it.

His hand travelled down my spine, bringing every pore and nerve to life and left me wondering what would I do if he was someone else; Or if I didn't love him with all of my rotten existence. Would I drag him to Reapersbrook and sacrifice him?

Or would I become the devil's bride and let him unleash himself on innocent lives? No.

I would have done everything to stop Lucifer still and I would have sacrificed a innocent life in exchange of millions of innocent ones.

I would have done whatever it would take to bring him to the alter and then, with one quick blow, chopped his head off to banish Lucifer to hell forever.

But the truth was that he was not someone else, he was Azriel and I couldn't do that. I could only love him.

The words were swelling up, slowly choking me until one day, I would have to sacrifice him, and they would kill me.

Would he struggle? Try to stop me? Try to save his life as I chained him down to that rock and my blade hovered over his head? I looked into his eyes and had my answer - He wouldn't.