A court of shadow and spying (Azriel X OC)

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A little later, we all found ourselves in the living room.
Rhysand still had that snooty grin on his face, which I knew he wouldn't lose anytime soon.
Azriel had eventually helped me get down the stairs, since the wounds on my thighs made it a little difficult for me to walk.
Still, by the time we had all settled in, I found myself next to Azriel. We sat together on one of the couches, as did the others around us. Spread out in front of us, however, was a stack of papers.
'You took them?' I asked, shocked.
The papers, the information was now in front of us.
Cassian gave an approving nod.

'But surely Ashbury will notice that, now it just makes us even more of a target. The next time he goes to his office, he will see that something is missing and his most important information at that. Isn't that a little reckless?'
I looked at them, concern in my gaze, but it was not returned.

You underestimate us.
It came over to me and I couldn't help but furrow my brow. How in the world could they have done this in one night?
I just glared at Az from the side before Rhysand spoke up.
'We put an illusion over it. To Ashbury, it will look like everything is still in its old place and no one has ever even gone into his study. He will be able to see all the information and associate it. He'll think everything is there. That's why he won't even question that something was stolen.'
I ran my hand over my chin. If this really worked, we could keep all the information with us, copy it and use it without ever raising suspicion.
I watched the papers, I wanted to know what was in them. I was eager for news. I wanted to know what I had now spied for, trained for, suffered for, why we had pulled all this off. Everything seemed extremely mysterious, but that Keir was up to something I did not question. Keir would always be plotting something to get more. Be it power, prestige, or strength. He was just obsessed.
'All right', I agreed. 'Then I guess we should go see what Keir is up to, shouldn't we?'
And so, we spent the next few hours looking through all the information and seeing if there was anything important for us.
And indeed, we found important upcoming dates and parties that were to be held. All in the names of other people who were unknown to us, but that would soon change. We found potential people who were part of Keir's inner circle and decided to have them spied on. We now needed everything we could enact. Azriel would soon send out his spies and so hopefully we would get some new information. After all, we did not yet know why or how the festivals were to take place, we only knew that they were to conceal the real deeds of the inner circle of Keir.
They were camouflaged, the coven acted only secretly and so it would be difficult to know where exactly they were at the festivals, who was coming along and who would act suspiciously.
I took the next file and opened it.
And faltered when a picture glanced back at me. I quickly turned the page, trying to figure out what it had to do with him.
But Ashbury's notes were a mystery to me, barely connecting to the person.

'Guys?',I asked up. One by one they looked at me, their eyes glued to the file on my lap.
'Do you know him? ',I asked and held up the picture of the guy.
The guy's skin was hazel, he almost shimmered in the glow of the light in which the picture was taken. Dark brown hair fell into his face, accentuating his sharp features. His eyes shimmered with a beige golden glow.
He was from either Dawn or Day Court; of that I was certain.
My inner circle eyed each other before Rhysand took the picture from me and studied it more closely.
'What does the file say?', he asked urgently as he placed the photo on the table between us.
'I don't know, it doesn't really make sense to me', I said, and handed the file to Azriel, who had already taken it from me.
'Why? Do you know him?', I inquired of them. They all had their eyes on Azriel, who was now reading the file and trying to figure it out.

'Guys... ',I asked again, but my voice became quieter at the end. I didn't know if they were close to this man or if they just found it strange that Keir and his inner circle were targeting someone from the Dawn or Day Court. Curious, I slowly leaned over to Azriel and looked at the file with him. Azriel tilted his head a tiny bit in my direction.
No one said anything, everyone was just waiting for Az's evaluation. Minutes passed while Azriel flipped through the file and furrowed his brow. I would have liked to wipe it off his face, he was thinking so hard.

'I think we should let Thesan know', Azriel finally concluded. He passed the folder to Rhysand, they seemed to be engrossed in one of their mental conversations, because both hardly said a word.
They held a meaningful look that I didn't understand before Azriel began to explain.
'That', he pointed to the picture, 'is Thesan's lover. And we suspect that Keir wants to use him.'
'What for? What would that do for him', I inquired again.
'First', explained Feyre, who was sitting next to Rhys,
'the Dawn Court is known for its excellent healing. Keir could use a healer, or someone to teach him.'
'On the other hand', Cassian now thought, 'he could be used as leverage. Thesan would do anything to get him back should Keir lay his hands on him.'

'But he is also the general of Thesan's forces, he would have a good chance to beat them', brought in Mor, who was sitting on an armchair.
'Really it would not make sense to attack a companion of a High Lord, one who is also very well trained in martial arts. They would hardly be able to take him by surprise. At least not in a fight.'

'But what if you took him by surprise, mixing something into his drink or food? What if he was sedated and then winnowed somewhere?', I asked.

'Anything would be possible, but if Keir shows up at Dawn Court without a permit, it looks suspicious. So, he can't go and take him away, it would be too risky. But so far, we don't know who else is in Keir's coven, except Ashbury', Rhysand now told me.
I gulped as I thought back to Ashbury, and I felt Azriel tense up beside me. A wall of anger came to me at our connection and I began to speak soothingly to Azriel.
I passed his shadow shield briefly but gently, letting him know that I was sitting next to him and that I was fine. That if he wanted to, he could hurt Ashbury for as long as he wanted once all of this was over. Azriel began to relax, affection and gratitude flowing to me, but he didn't need to thank me for it. I would always do it for him.
His hand twitched as if to reach for me, but he left it where it was, which admittedly disappointed me a bit, still.

'Ashbury can winnow.', I told them afterwards, quietly, guardedly. I had forgotten to tell them yesterday. Concern now mingled with Feyre's and Rhysand's eyes, generally the rest grew uneasy.
'When he took the bait, that's how we got to his house.'
I stroked Azriel's shield again, I didn't want him to get angry again because of something that was now in the past. He could catch up on his revenge later.  I knew, felt it, that every time we talked about him, his temper rose and he felt like he had to prove himself against him. To prove himself to me.
And yet he was already doing all of this.

'We need to set up a meeting with Thesan. We must warn him', Rhysand said firmly, reaching for Feyre's hand. She gave him an approving nod.

'He's having a gala, in a few days, if I'm not mistaken', Morrigan considered us, circling her wine in her glass.
'We could go and see him there afterwards; I think it would be the quickest way to discuss it with Thesan in Person. And it would be the most unobtrusive.'
I saw Rhysand nod.
'We'll send him a coded message despite that, after all we don't know when Keir plans to strike', Cassian brought up.

'Send one to Helion too, we don't know if Keir will try to cross his court. He needs to know to keep an eye on his borders.'

'Write to them that we need to meet at Thesan's Gala and discuss something urgent. Don't give too much away', Rhysand concluded before he and Azriel left the room together.
Azriel's hand brushed my shoulder briefly before he left with him. They had better, more important things to do now.
The rest of us began to go through the folders and files again, looking for more valuable information.
And as the sun sank on the horizon, we realized that this was probably the only information to which we could really contribute.
Because that was all Ashbury's information revealed.