Their Fireheart

Chapter Thirteen

Azriel

I watched with thinly veiled amusement as Aelin glared across the sweltering warehouse at Cassian and Aedion - now completely at ease as they joked around, without a hint of the earlier hostility present.

Despite her apparent annoyance with their antics, I knew Aelin was secretly pleased they were getting along. It was clear that she loved her cousin dearly and was ferociously protective of him. That was evident by the eagle-eyed intensity with which she'd watched his sparring session - keyed in for any sign of discomfort from the still-healing wound on his side.

Which raised the question of how exactly he'd gotten injured to begin with ...

The reminder of how little we knew about her time back in Erilea grated at me. As pleasurable - and needed - as our reunion last night had been, not knowing what my mate had been doing these long weeks we were apart had my magically confined wings itching to burst free in agitation.

That conversation would need to happen sooner rather than later.

Cass and Aedion were still cheerfully bickering when a bright hello sounded - pulling me suddenly from my thoughts.

The six of us whirled around, weapons up, as a pale young woman with startling green eyes closed the rolling door behind her, arms full of boxes and bags. The way she had effortlessly snuck up on five lethal predators was unnerving - and then I caught a whiff of her scent. Narrowing my eyes, I honed in on the potential threat, tracking her every movement as she entered the warehouse.

Something ... primal teased at the edges of her scent, making my hackles rise as she took two steps forward, stopping dead in her tracks as she beheld the group of fae males she was faced with.

Then my mate was suddenly moving, snatching some of the bags from the strange woman's arms and steering her into the apartment a level above. Aelin clearly knew her, though that knowledge still didn't put me entirely at ease.

My now-silent connection to the shadows pulsed with phantom pain, their absence as visceral as an amputated limb. The loss of my magic was nothing - nothing - in exchange for reuniting with my mate, but it felt as though I'd had my most vital sense ripped away. Especially now, when Aelin's disappearance was so fresh, and she could be at risk, entirely out of my sight -

As soon as I got my magic back, there would be a shadow stuck to her side at all times.

"Who is that?" I directed my question towards Aedion and Rowan.

"Lysandra," Aedion supplied. At our blank faces, he expanded, "She and Aelin were ... raised together, in a way. Lysandra is a courtesan and was trained by a madame who is a close associate of the King of Assassins."

A sliver of pity wormed its way free at the revelation the girl was raised a courtesan. If brothels here were anything like those in the seedier cities of Prythian - it wasn't a kind existence. Despite Aelin's less than ideal upbringing as an assassin, I could at least be thankful she hadn't had to endure the distinct kind of pain that accompanied life as a courtesan.

Noting the understanding in our gazes at her profession, Aedion pointed out tauntingly, "Not too bad on the eyes, is she?"

Scoffs and silent glares met his observation, but Aedion looked reluctantly pleased. I didn't doubt this was just another in what was sure to be a large collection of tests to ensure we were worthy of being mated to his cousin. Not that I cared, he could levy a thousand challenges my way and it wouldn't change a damn thing.

Aelin was mine.

And I was hers.

Truthfully, I hadn't even registered the stranger's beauty - even if it was objectively obvious looking back - as I'd been much too preoccupied with sniffing out a potential threat. Not that it mattered, there wasn't a woman or female in all the realms that could match Aelin's stunning allure.