The Last Queen (An ACOTAR / Azriel fanfiction)

Her Wings

If he expected to find her sleeping by his side, Azriel was thoroughly disappointed the next morning. He dragged himself downstairs to find Daggerheart sitting on the floor of the kitchen, drinking tea from one of her mugs. She pointed at a kettle and he poured himself some too in a cup with a handle.

It was still pouring outside and the sky was dark.

"Is it still early?" He mumbled and rubbed his eyes.

"Too early." She said. She glanced at some of her plants worriedly and he realised they would probably die because of this much rain and no sunlight.

"We could bring them inside." He offered.

"No." Daggerheart sighed and set her empty cup on the dining table and crossed her legs on the floor. "It's fine." Then, she eyed the stool he was sitting on. "I made it this morning."

He looked down at it. "How long have you been up?" He asked.

"For too long, Mr. Death and doom." She stretched and smiled. "You know I thought when you bought furniture, it just came the way it's supposed to be used. Apparently, they give you planks and some nails." She said, somewhat irritably. "You know how expensive furniture is? I pay them all this money and for what? So I cam build my furniture myself?" She shook her head. "Deplorable." She waved an arm towards the woods in the distance, "I could just go there and chop some trees, you know? It would also make up not exercising." He realised he had been grinning at her little tirade.

He put his face above the steam rising from the cup, "How would you carry all that furniture then?"

"I can fly you know?" She raised her eyebrows.

"How?"

She ignored his question. "Waiting and waiting and waiting." She grumbled. "When can we go back? I have work that needs to be done."

"It can wait." He suggested.

"I want to do it as quickly as possible." There was an underlying anger in her words as she traced her finger over the floorboard.

"Daggerheart?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

She clenched her jaw and nodded.

He extended his hand and she eyed it with suspicion before holding it and climbing to her feet.
"My hair look better." She brushed her other hand along the length of her remaining hair. "Thank you."

"Where are your wings?" He ignored her attempt at diverting his attention.

She clutched his hand harder.

"Did you go anywhere while I was sleeping?" He tugged at her arm.

She pressed her lips together and nodded. Her eyes moved from being pointed at their joined hands to outside the window. "It's okay. I lived without them before the war."

Then where did they come from? The question bubbled up in his throat but he decided this was not the time for it.

"But you liked them."

She smiled, "I did. It's strange, really. One would think I'd hate them."

"We'll get them back from wherever they are." He promised.

She looked at him, "You really shouldn't make promises, you know? I won't be in your life for long."

He shrugged, "Maybe I'm just doing this so you'll owe me a favour. Maybe I'll ask you to reject the bond in return."