A Court of Dreams and Promise

Chapter Five

 ✦ ───── ✧ Answers ✧ ───── ✦

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit." Rhysand paced frantically around the living room in the river manor. "Yes, I had hope, but I truly didn't expect this."

Azriel frowned at his High Lord, arms folded across his chest. "You didn't expect her to be alive?"

"No. Yes. I don't know." Rhysand groaned. "Holy fucking shit."

"Rhys. Stop cursing around our baby," Feyre said. She reached out and put a hand on his bicep. "Sit down and take a deep breath. Please."

Rhysand sighed, running a hand through his raven-black hair. He collapsed down on the floor next to his mate and son, gently caressing Nyx's head. "He's so big already."

Feyre leaned into Rhysand. "I know."

"I feel like it isn't vital for me to be here," Azriel noted.

Feyre's gaze darted to Azriel. "Of course it is. With this information, we need to discuss next steps," she said.

"Yes. That," Rhysand said. "Do either of you have any ideas?"

"You're the High Lord," Feyre said with a smirk. "You come up with an idea."

"You're the High Lady," Rhysand mocked, smiling. "You come up with an idea."

"Fine." Feyre turned to Azriel, handing Nyx to Rhysand. "First, how do we even find her?"

Azriel chewed the inside of his cheek. "I would start with checking in with my spies to see if any of them have seen her or even heard of a female matching her description."

"Who told you they saw her in the first place?" Rhysand asked.

"One of the Summer Court spies. The brunette female." Azriel shrugged.

Feyre raised an eyebrow. "You don't know the names of your spies?" she inquired.

"Darling, if we don't know the names of our spies, then no one knows the name of our spies," Rhysand said with a twinkle in his eye. "It all makes sense."

Feyre rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Azriel nodded to his High Lord and Lady. "I will check in with them tomorrow. Goodnight, High Lord and Lady."

"Goodnight, Azriel," Feyre said with a small smile.

Azriel disappeared into the shadows without another word, reappearing in his bedroom at the House of Wind. He needed a change of scenery, and one of the drawers in the tables beside his bed had something he had neglected to bring to the river manor.

Azriel yanked open the drawer, collapsing onto his be, and began to thumb through a stack of various papers. Some were yellow and faded, with swirls of dark ink. Others were crisp sheets of white paper, written on with blue pen or sharp pencil. All were written in the same script. Velaria's.

Azriel had read through these mementos at least once every month for the past centuries. Before knowing Velaria was alive, this was the small bit of her he had left, and he would savor all of it to his last breath.

A shadow nuzzled against Azriel's chin, and he looked down to see a shadow similar but unlike his own. Rather than it being rimmed with the typical navy blue of his shadows, it was indigo and sparklier than his. It was one of the shadows that Velaria had gifted to him before running away.

Where could she be? If she had run–

Azriel ran his finger over a map, trying to puzzle out where she had gone. She had started in the Night Court, near the Illyrian camps, but she could have gone any direction. His spy had said that she was seen in the Summer Court, but then she would have had to traverse through the Summer Court's bodies of water and found a boat. She did have magic, but did that enable her to cross rivers? He hadn't ever truly known the extent of his powers, but if she was able to walk across water...