𝒜 𝒞𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝑅𝑒𝓈𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒮𝒸𝒶𝓇𝓈 | ᴀᴢʀɪᴇʟ

Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Arwen snatched her glass of water from the small table it had been on, dropping to the stone rooftop ground before the shaking in her leg muscles had her falling. Rhysand followed her down a moment later. She knew that her training was hardly a workout for him, a fact which she pointed out and said she was fine to just go through drills Cassian had run her through before, but apparently he wanted the light morning.

Well, light to him. Arwen winced as she flexed her toes to stretch her calves. The pain in her hips, however, was from a completely different sort of stretch. "No more," she groaned. "I beg of you."

Her brother laughed, ruffling her hair. "You did well. You still strike sharp and the technique is there, just need to get that muscle back."

"Think Cassian can spare some?" Arwen angled her chin over her shoulder where the general and shadowsinger were engaged in a spar. It was quite the sight, both blind to the world around them. Even the weight of her gaze which Azriel had an uncanny ability to feel, did not distract him. "I'm sure Helion has a spell for that."

Rhysand snorted. "Almost certainly," he said, playing with her tease. "It's Cassian you're going to have to convince to spare you any. It'll be like stealing from the Weaver." It was her turn to snort at the image of Cassian snarling like the death god. "It'll probably just be easier to make it yourself. Safer too."

"Yet you sent your mate right into the Weaver's home," Arwen recounted with a mocking tune. "We have yet to talk about that, Rhysie."

Her brother rounded his lips and looked away. "Ah. I was hoping some things like that had been forgotten about. The others have already given me shit for it and Feyre darling has forgiven me. I have paid my dues." She thumped him hard on the chest with her fist, silently regretting the action with the rejuvenated shaking in her arm. "Ow!"

"Now you've paid your dues." Leaning back on her palms, she opened her heart to the clear sky. "I've wanted to do that for so long. It is rather nice that you hear my complaints now. It was your stupidity that annoyed me the most. Nearly drove me insane some days." Not a far cry from the truth.

They had a moment of silence, then: "Do you want to talk about last night?"

Arwen kept her gaze forward. "What about it?"

"You left. You left Starfall."

"I've missed forty-nine years' worth. Another isn't a big deal," she answered, keeping her voice low. She still hadn't had that talk with Azriel, much to Cassian's chagrin, but Arwen did have every intention to.

Rhysand leant forward, elbows bracing on his folded knees. "It's those forty-nine years that worry me. And the two hundred others. You've loved Starfall ever since you were a babe."

Shrugging, she decided to give the same answer that she gave Azriel. "It was just a lot. Being back. Feeling everything. I'm fine—spent the night with Az. Which, if you're going to question me on was absolutely—"

Rhysand rose a hand between them. "Don't need to know." Arwen grinned at the expected reaction. "But you're okay. I don't have reason to worry?"

"I'm fine." Fine. Fine. Fine. The first words she kept telling herself every morning before she let the rest of the world in.

~

It took a week for Arwen to feel right again. She wondered why she had felt such a way at all as she sat with her family in the sunlight room, gobbling down breakfast (enough so that Cassian had looked worriedly over her as though she might vomit at any second) and trying to be heard over the other rambunctious conversations. After, Arwen caught Cassian on his way to the war room. She galloped in front of him, falling into a backward stride and took his hands in hers.