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

Epilogue

"Mor! Did you tell-" I stopped in my tracks and bit my tongue when she put her finger on her lips and shushed me.

Slowly, I walked over to the couch and whispered, "Sorry." Alcina frowned in her sleep but didn't wake up.

Morrigan smiled and replied, "She would be very grumpy if she woke up."

I shook my head when my sister shifted in Mor's lap and mumbled something in her sleep. "I have no idea how you put up with her."

"She's adorable. "Morrigan smiled fondly at her and caressed her cheeks.

I clicked my tongue and handed her the lemonade. Before she could start drinking it, Amren and Feyre appeared from around a corner.

Feyre's face lit up when she took in Alcina sleeping in Morrigan's lap. Amren, on the other hand, was quick to grab her glass of lemonade and settle down on the couch.
"Me and Cassian are both very close to challenging Az for a duel over you." Amren said over the rim of the glass.

"You don't have to." I laughed.

"Yours is the only food she can eat, I think we can look forward to a duel." Feyre said.

I rolled my eyes with a smile and asked, "Where is Azriel?"

Morrigan took a sip of her drink and pointed towards the stairs. "Upstairs. "

Alcina wrapped her arms around Morrigan's waist in her sleep and she pushed her hair out of her mouth.

I found Azriel on the roof lying on a blanket with his wings stretched out. His eyes were focused on a paper he was reading and he looked up when he heard me coming.

His lips spread into a smile as I walked over to him. I frowned and looked around after sitting near him.

"Where is she?" I asked skeptically. "If you let Cassian take her to raid the kitchen again, you are sleeping on the roof tonight." I narrowed my eyes in warning.

He laughed and shook his head, "She's right here." He lifted one of his wings and I saw a small round head. "I was playing with her and then she fell asleep."

I shifted and raised my eyebrows when I saw Cassina fumbling with Azriel's jacket. ".....Or so I thought. " He added.

I scooped her up in my arms while she thrashed around to get a hold of her dad's jacket again. She was, however, distracted soon enough by the gleam of my wedding ring.

I pressed my lips to her red cheeks and she giggled when I blew lightly on them. Not yet capable of standing up on her own, she clutched onto my clothes. "Having fun, aren't we?" I kissed her forehead.

She tried to reach for my finger in a futile attempt, her love for shiny objects partly a product of being given too many shiny gifts and partly because Amren would often look after her when she was just born and I still couldn't work a lot.

She puffed her cheeks out when I wouldn't let her get a hold of the ring and slipped it off my finger, giving it to Azriel. She was however adapt at getting her way so soon enough, she started whimpering because her mum had taken something from her.

I threw Azriel a look that said, "This is your doing." and he smiled sheepishly.

She reached towards my neck and wrapped her tiny arms around it while pouting. I rubbed her back and kissed her ear. "We don't play with rings, love. You could hurt yourself."

She whimpered one more time before Azriel pointed to one of the flowers that Alcina had put on the roof. There were flowers of all colours and shapes and she had spend almost a year into her little garden.

"What is that, Cassina?" She sniffed, her tiny nose red, and looked at the purple flowers with huge eyes.

She regarded it for a moment before wriggling her arms with excitement as she tried to touch the petals. I let her reach towards it and her little fingers brushed over the petals.

That only lasted for a second.

She grabbed the flower and ripped it off the stem.

She was just excited.

I chuckled and pulled her back. "No more. Your aunt would kill me if she knew I let this happen."

She pressed her cheeks against my shoulder and fiddled with my choker.

I turned my eyes towards Azriel, "What are you doing?"

"Work. These are letters from other courts." I bit my lip and nodded. It was going to take me a long time to get used to the working of the courts.

I leaned down and kissed him on the lips which resulted into a round of giggles from Cassina.

Azriel frowned at her and she laughed harder, her laugh like thousands of little bells ringing at once.

That noise caused her father to smile and take her into his arms. After ten months of being spoiled, she had learnt to laugh everytime someone frowned at her.

"Da-da." She mumbled, crawling over to him. It was the only word she could say, she had learnt it a few weeks ago.

He grinned widely and cradled her against his chest."Can you say Cat?" He asked, trying to get her to speak more.

"At!" She said before clapping her hands. "At."

"Yes, that's right. Cat." Azriel squished her cheeks and she smiled before pushing her head against his to give him a hug.

Although she never really knew what might made her dad upset and Azriel tried very hard not to show it in her presence, she always somehow knew when he was tired or sad. In those moments, she would try to get into his face, babble god knows what and pat his head to cheer him up.

She closed her eyes and laughed when Azriel kissed her all over the face. He sighed at the sight of her laughing face and whispered, "My favourite little secret."

Downstairs I heard the sound of someone screaming and frowned.

Not even a second later Morrigan yelled, "Cassian!" Followed by Alcina yelling, "That's it. This son of a bitch dies here."

I shook my head at the new fight they both had picked up before turning around to face Azriel and Cassina again. She was resting her head on her father's shoulder and her tiny palms were curled into fists, her eyelids drooping with exhaustion.

I leaned back, watching Azriel sing a lullaby to our daughter and marvelled at the fact that I had been blessed by one. If someone had told me I would have a family and a life this lovely a year ago, I would have laughed in their face and told them to drink less. As I sat there, however, the reality hit me harder than ever before and I decided to let it wash over me and experience the life that I had built for myself. It wasn't made of many happy moments in the beginning, but I loved it nonetheless and if it lead to where I was today, I would take that journey all over again.