i n t h e s h a d o w s - a z r i e l (slow updates)

Chapter 23

Eileánóir was still amazed by everything in the Rainbow. Everywhere she looked, she discovered something new that she hadn't seen the first time they came here which was logic counting that the last time she came here, she had a panic attack in the first store they went in. Even if it wasn't a good memory, she smiled, thinking about the feeling she had when she first saw the cottage, in Azriel's arms while he was trying to calm her attack. She could still picture the field of sunflowers from where they were, high in the sky. 

Azriel couldn't stop looking at his mate. The lights of the Rainbow were making her eyes shine, almost sparkling. She looked so amazed by all the shops and artists' houses. He had to admit, the Rainbow was the great pride of the Night Court and he's sure people from other courts would travel just to see it if they knew about it. But he wished he could see this place with his mate's eyes. He could feel the excitement and happiness she felt by just being here but he couldn't actually see how wonderful it was in her eyes. He wanted to see that happy face forever, the awe in which she was every time she looked somewhere new in this place, he didn't want that to end. He smiled as he saw his mate running to a window of an artist's shop who was exhibiting their work. He stayed where she had left him, looking at the scenery from an external look, smiling like an idiot. While Eileánóir was speechless from the beauty of the place, he was in the same state by seeing his mate in this scenery. All his life, he thought he would stay alone, being entirely true that the Cauldron hadn't given him a mate and that he was to live with a one-sided love with Mor and now, everything felt right. He would still sometimes feel like everything was a dream, not believing that he could actually be happy, that he could actually have a perfect match, that strong bond with someone that you couldn't explain to someone. Since Rhysand had found his mate, he had tried to explain to his brothers what it felt like but everything that Azriel had been told was nothing to what he was actually feeling towards Eileánóir. He could write thousands of words about how he felt and yet, it wouldn't truly explain his feelings as it was so complex and strong. Never before had he felt something similar, it was pure bliss. 

From what he could tell, Eileánóir was talking to the artist who painted the artworks displayed at the window. She looked really excited from the little jumps she was doing, making Azriel laugh softly. This. This is what he wanted his life to be. By the time the war will end, he'll spend eternity like that, just enjoying the little things with his mate. He didn't want to think about a post-war without her, he couldn't. She had to survive, no matter what. 

He was brought back to reality by his mate, pulling on his hand to follow her as drifting off to his thoughts had him frozen in place. He smiled and looked at her. "Where do you want to go now?" 

"Well..." she looked around as she was looking for something then looked back at him, smiling. "What if we had a little date at the cottage?" she already looked excited about her idea which made Azriel smile bigger. She didn't let him the time to say anything before she continued. "Let me about thirty minutes then let's meet at the cottage, I'll find cool things to spend the evening on," she looked proud of having thought of that. 

"Sure," he grinned. As long as he spent the evening with her, he'd be happy. "But," he smirked, having a great idea. "I'm in charge of food." He already knew what he was going to do and asked himself why didn't he think about doing that earlier. 

"Okay!" Eileánóir, too, had a precise plan of what she had to buy and prepare for the night. "See you at the cottage in half an hour," she said, already running in the opposite direction of him, going to a shop she saw earlier when they were walking in the city. Azriel looked at her running away laughing, making him laugh and shake his head at the childlike behaviour of his mate.

When she finally disappeared from his sight, he turned around and went to the area where all the restaurants and food shops are. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before but he wanted to make Eileánóir discover Velaris' typical food and snacks that she probably never saw nor ate before. He went for small portions of food so they could eat a lot of different things like in a picnic. Thinking of which, that would be a cute idea of a date too. A picnic in the sunflowers fields during a sunny afternoon or at the end of the day, watching the sunset. He kept that in a corner of his head for another day. He could feel people's eyes on him, some bowed to him while some moved back with a feeling of fear. It's true that he was known to be cold and scary to a lot of people but he didn't really care, as his mate could see through that, the real him behind those cold, dark walls that he built around him and his heart. He didn't care about what other people thought of him as long as his mate was by his side.  

He picked everything from snacks to a dessert that he loved a lot and was sure Eileánóir will like as well then wandered a bit longer in the streets as he still had some time to kill before going to the cottage. He looked at the different shops in the street he was walking in until a certain shop caught his eyes. He walked in the shop, already knowing exactly what he was going to buy. 

From the outside, he seemed composed but on the inside, he was as excited as his mate for this date. 

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I'm so sorry, I wanted to post the actual date on valentine's day but putting the date in this chapter would have made it way too long and I wouldn't have had the time to write it in details anyway so I guess you'll get it around next week! 

I feel like I've found a certain pace of posting so I guess it will stay like that, around one chapter per week and if I can write more, perhaps two but I'll have a lot of work for the next weeks cause my art teachers think I only live for them and never sleep

anyway! I hope you liked that chapter, again, sorry I really suck at writing fluff but I'm trying my best haha