Shadows like mine

10

"I swear on the Cauldron," grumbled Cassian as he poured his glass with wine until it almost flooded, "that woman is something else."
    Mor drank her glass empty in one chug.
    "If she loses her consciousness one more time, I'll lose is."
    Four bottles of wine were standing on the table. One was for Cassian, one for Mor, one for Nesta and one for Amren.
    Rhys was drinking something stronger that reeked like shoeshine.
    "I still don't understand what actually happened," said Nesta and she took such a big sip, that her cheeks were swollen with wine.
    Elain was slowly sipping her tea. Her face was still pale, and she couldn't take her eyes off of Azriel.
    He just kept looking at the table.
    "She touched your face," Elain said softly. A flash of jealousy shot on her face. "Why?"
    Azriel felt sorry for Elain.
    He knew — of course he knew — that she had feelings for him. And for a while... he had feeling for her too. Maybe it would've been possible. She could be his, in some sort of way. She could never be his mate, but that didn't mean that love couldn't exist between them.
    But now there was so much going on, that his head had not enough room for Elain.     
    And then there were the dreams.
    About that sun in the shadows.
    Since they found Aurora at that beach, the dreams were coming back. The first time he had the dream, was in that dark tower. The last time he had this dream, was the day before the battle with Hybern.
    Why did they return?
    "When our shadows touched each other," started Azriel. "We were... alone."
    Cassian filled his glass again.
    "Alone? Alone where?"
    Azriel didn't know how to explain it. He would try, because his family needed to know. He needed the knowledge.
    "In this dark space. It was never ending. It was just us and shadows. And we held hands."
    Elain put her cup down. Hard.
     "You held hands?" asked Rhys and he raised his brows. Stars were dying en reborn every ten minutes.
    Feyre massaged his shoulder, trying to make his stone hard  muscles to relax. He had seen enough death. Especially now his son was born. Azriel knew Rhys and Feyre had enough of Death.
    And now there was this young woman, who was Death's compagnon. His connection to the living world.
    "As soon as we touched each other, we were pulled back to the real world." Azriel thought of the place. How they held hands. How her eyes had shone, so bright.
    "So that's why she got up," stated Amren, "to touch you. She wanted to check if it was possible."
    "You're probably the first person she could touch," mumbled Feyre. "The first person she could touch, without them dying or Death taking over her body."
    "This is insane," moaned Mor and she decided that it would be better if she just drank straight out of the bottle.
    "Can I have another bottle?" asked Cassian. Magic answered, let another bottle of red wine land in front of Cassian.
    "So... is it a bargain we can break?" Rhys was thinking out loud.
    "Well, we weren't able to break your bargain with Feyre, about the dying." Amren showed her teeth — she still was mad about that deal.
    "Are we even sure it's a deal?" asked Nesta and she leaned back. "To me it sounds like Death just claimed her, like she said before. She can break loose from him, right?"
    Rhys shrugged. "We don't know."
    "I'll go to the library, tomorrow," said Amren and she massaged her temples.
    "I'll come with you." Nesta looked at her friend and they smirked at each other.
    "And I will train her," decided Azriel. He looked at his family. "I'll talk to her, train her. If I am the only person that can get close to her without dying... it's the best shot we have."
    Nesta raised her glass at him.
    "Let's hope the Mother watches over both of you."