A Court Of Frozen Shadows- Azriel X Reader

25 Vines

My mind was growing conscious again, blinking, I remained dancing, letting myself remember where I was, who I was and who else was here. My eyes landed on Azriel, the group, none of them batted an eyelash to me, good. They seemed even weaker than before, I guessed that it had been around 2 hours since I had been drugged.

My fingertips rose up Lord Balton's arm, I then realised I was straddling him, I kept my harsh grip on him, making an effort not to look into his eyes, he would know it has worn off. 

The hall was less crowded now, many had left with their women and went to bed. Lord Balton seemed to be deep in thought so he didn't realise when I swiftly climbed off of him, walking to the back of his throne and began caressing his arms and shoulders. My eyes wandered around the room, I counted only 14 men left. It was better than the 100 from before, though I wouldn't be able to beat them alone, I looked at my friends who made an effort to try to save me, they weren't in the right state to fight. "Sit next to my throne." Lord Balton's voice struck me, he didn't wait for a reply as he got up, furiously walking away. The inner circle's eyes lit up, they realised that this is their chance. 

I desperately tried to gain their attention, though they didn't look at me. I needed to find a way to get them to that bookshelf, through the passage, Lord Balton's magic was still acting upon them here, weakening them to the point where they could barely move. I frowned, I needed to weaken Lord Balton's magic first, which would allow them to gain their strength back enough to run and escape. 

There was now only 10 men here, all fully intoxicated. Standing up, I gripped the sword from before, the one I was supposed to kill Azriel with, it was heavily in my hand. I climbed onto Lord Baltons throne, taking his goblet with him, I lifted it up high, throwing it to the floor. 

The shattering glass forced everyone's gaze to whip to mine, I could tell that the men were highly intoxicated, they will be easy to knock out. "If you all leave now." I looked into the men's eyes," I'm sure the High Lord and High Lady of the Night Court will grant you mercy when they burn down this institute." A few laughed, the others looked at me with a mix of confusion and amusement. 

"Put the sword down before you cut yourself, puppet," One man called. 

My grip on the sword tightened, I pointed it towards him, "I assure you, I can use it better than you," It was a lie, a complete lie, I had never even used a sword till a week ago. 

The man chuckled, throwing the intoxicated woman off of him. "Alright lovely," He grabbed his own sword, it was smaller than mine, he walked towards me, I analysed him, his left shoulder was sunken, I saw a peak of a bandage under his sleeve. Perfect. 

Jumping from the throne, I kept my head high, back straight, he didn't bother to circle me, he dove in, trying to slice me open, I moved just in time, he tried again, I quickly blocked his sword, using what little strength I had to push him away. 

Pushing from my gut, I swung to his stomach, his reaction was late due to the alcohol, using the opportunity, I twisted his bandaged arm, my small hand barely wrapping his thick muscles, I kicked the back of his leg, forcing him to the ground, smashing his head into the concrete, he groaned as I straddled his back, gaining whistles from the men watching. Gripping his hair, I lifted his head, hitting it into the tiles over and over, till he was unconscious and blood began to pool.

"Behind you!" I heard someone call, I rolled to my left as quickly as possible. The second man then plunged his sword into the first man's back, instead of me. 

The faint smell of citrus flew to my nose. Shit. Balton's back. In lightning speed, I threw my own sword across the room, grabbing the sword from the mans back, I plunged it into my left arm. I let out a small cry. 

Lord Balton entered the room, I cried, "Help!" The tears running down my face were real, I had a damned sword in my arm. Please work, please work. I begged, forming the plan as I went along.

Lord Balton surveyed the situation, the first man on the floor, the second man looming over me, a sword in my arm. "Who the hell hurt my kitten?" He roared, it shook the floor, the ceiling. I flinched. I hated people raising their voices. 

With a shaky hand, I pointed to the first man, "He- he tried to touch me," the tears kept running down my face, my faked high pitch voice hurt my ears,"I-I fought back and, "I pointed to the second man, "He-he stabbed-"

The man scoffed, "Sir, she's lying-"

"How dare you damage my property," Lord Balton stalked over to the man, striking him to the ground. "Everyone. Out." The men didn't need to be told twice, they didn't bother to correct me as they scrambled from their seats, taking their women out of the room. 

Stage one complete- again. 

Lord Balton straddled the man, punching him, blood flew from his face. Wincing, I looked away, grabbing the sword from my arm, I squeezed my eyes shut as I grabbed it, biting my lip so hard that it bled, I pulled the sword from my arm, only the smallest wince coming from my throat. Standing up on my shaky legs, Lord Balton didn't even see my shadow looming over him as I held the sword over him. He was too worried about beating the man's corpse. I closed my eyes, plunging it into his back. 

He cried, whipping over to me, I scrambled away from him, I heard the bookcase falling- they were escaping. I fell over shuffling away as Lord Balton loomed over me. Everything was moving so fast, a couple of minutes prior, I was poisoned. Grabbing a sword, Balton brought it down, it flew to my chest. 

Shadows protected me.

Lord Balton was kicked away from me, a sword hitting his own, Azriel was stumbling, he barely had any energy. I was falling in and out of consciousness. Someone picked me up by my waist, "No!" I cried out, struggling against them, needing to help Azriel, he was fighting a losing battle. The two men circled each other, both terribly injured, they came together, the swords clinking, scraping against each other, a spark emitted from the two metals colliding. Fear clouded my judgement. "Azriel!" I cried, Az turned at the sound of his name.

I had distracted him. 

There was a shout behind me, the hands left me and the figure which had held me ran to Azriel as a sword came crashing into his stomach- though, it never made it, I forced my hand out, screaming in terror and desperation, vines appeared from the ground, curling around Baltons's sword, the tip touched Azriel's chest. The vines pulled the sword from Baltons grasp. I kept my hand out, vines crawling around Lord Baltons throat as Cassian grasped Azriel, dragging him to the exit. 

I clenched my hand, the vines tightening around his neck, he let out a gurgle, he grasped at his throat till he eventually went slack, he was unconscious. 

I was going to faint, the magic draining me, my arm was still bleeding. Another set of arms helped me up, I barely recognised Amren as she wrapped her arm around my waist, we both trudged towards the door, everything was spinning as we ran to the exit, there, Cass and Azriel waited, grabbing us and widdowing us out of there.