A Court of Death || ACOTAR

47

Cassian and Azriel were drinking. A lot.

"You know," Cassian began with a wide grin, "I never understood you being jealously of Death, 'cause, like, he's Death but then he showed up here all naked with his cock hanging out and I was like, wow now that's a fine ass man. Guy looks like that is hung like that, yeah, I'd be nervous too."

"Cauldron, I tried not to look but that thing was ridiculous," Azriel said with a snort, a sound rarely heard from him, "absolutely ridiculous. King of a whole realm and armed with that? Unfair. Made even worse by the fact that he's a decent guy."

"Oh, he's great," Cassian agreed with a laugh, "when he ripped into you and Rhys I wanted to cheer him on. Full fuckin' package right there."

"And some-fucking-how I was wrong," Azriel replied with a laugh, "when he said I made a new future by being so fucking stupid and not trusting her...it's unbelievable. She could have had him and she chose me and then I was the one to fuck it up."

"It was good while it lasted though, wasn't it?" Cassian mused before taking a long drink. "So damn good. I hadn't ever seen you so happy. And she loved you. So much, Az. So fucking much."

"She did," he murmured with a nod, "she loved me, and I wasted it."

"I think you could get her back," Cassian said, "maybe not but I think this you has a chance with her again. A really slim chance but still. If she ensures your presence long enough to get to know the new you, I think you'd have a chance. But I don't know if she'd stick around long enough to get to know you. She's got no interest in getting to know anyone. You know what she is interested in? Killing the King. She wants to kill him herself."

"The things that monster did to her...she deserves to kill him. If she doesn't do it, I will." They finished off their glasses and Azriel refilled them both. "I miss her. And I miss being happy. But I think, even now, she's better off without me."

"Probably," he agreed, "she's probably better off without all of us. We fucked up pretty bad with her. Made a mess of it all. Bad mate, bad friend, bad brother, bad cousin, bad...whatever the fuck Amren is." They both laughed at that. "I still can't believe she researched Death. I didn't think she even liked Astryn all that much."

"I still can't believe how massive Death's cock is," Azriel shot back, and they both laughed again, hunching over with their shoulders shaking.

"Un-fucking-fair," Cassian said between laughter, "and his face? Ridiculous. Death being hot is weird. That's not right. Why is Death hot? I expected him to be, like...spooky."

"Spooky?" Azriel echoed incredulously.

"Yeah! Fuckin' spooky! He's Death! Death should be spooky. That should be a job requirement. But he's so not spooky. Fucking blonde godlike man with a monster cock. That's not spooky that's just morale lowering for the rest of us."

They broke down into laughter again, nearly knocking their glasses off of the table.

"And he had a demon tied to his bed," Cassian added on breathlessly, "a fucking demon! What the fuck! That's so funny. I wonder what that's like. Fucking a demon. Probably pretty wild."

"A demon," Azriel laughed, "a demon!" He pauses to catch his breath. "How does he go from wanting Astryn to wanting a demon? Full turn around."

"Ah, what's that old saying—the monster cock wants what it wants," he joked with a grin.

"Fuck!"

They drank through the rest of the night and passed out on the couches, wings hanging haphazardly over the edge and their empty glasses discarded on the floor next to the empty bottles.

Azriel woke up first, blinking blearily before stretching out to try rod himself out of the soreness that came from a night on the couch. He cleaned up the mess he and Cassian had made the night before. The night before was a bit of a blur, memories of far too much talk about Death's cock shining through the haze. He did not want to know what led them to talking that so much. The words monster cock were imprinted on his brain.

Cassian woke up a little later, a loud thud preceding his wake up that was immediately followed by a string of curse words. Azriel found him laid out on the floor and almost laughed, knowing he rolled off of the couch.

"Damn good thing you already moved the glasses," Cassian muttered, "that would have sucked."

"You going back to Astryn's or staying here?" Azriel questioned, trying to sound casual.

"Staying here. For a while, at least. She wants me to stay away for a while. She might go visit Helion. That's what she said at least. I don't know if she really will for if she was just trying to convince me to stay here for some time. I hope she goes to see him. He deserves to know she's alive."

Azriel nodded, not voicing any of his other thoughts. Was she in love with him? Was he in love with her? Or had they just been casual all those years? Could you even be casual with someone for four centuries? Four centuries didn't seem like a casual thing. But he reminded himself that it wasn't his business. She wasn't his business.

"You're not staying away for as long as you did before," he concluded instead, "you'll go see her again soon."

"I will," he agreed, "I won't go that long without speaking to her again."

"Good," Azriel replied with a nod.

"She'll be okay, Az," he promised him, "she thrived in the Middle for four centuries. She's strong. She somehow made friends with the monsters out there. Her cabin was exactly as she left it. She'll be okay."