i n t h e s h a d o w s - a z r i e l (slow updates)

Chapter 7

Mor had left in the middle of the night when she had decided that what she had done with Azriel's mate was utterly wrong. She had arrived at the townhouse with everyone gathered in the living room. Helion and Eris were also there which made her tense. 

"Mor," Rhys said as she entered the house. "Do you have news from Eil'?" 

Everyone looked at her, eager for news from their friend. The event of the night flooded her head and a wave of guilt went through her as she met Azriel's eyes, hopeful for any information regarding his mate. 

She let Rhys know that she needed to discuss this with him privately while she said she had nothing interesting to share with everyone else and that they had only spent the night playing games and nothing else. Rhys blinked at her, the only sign that he had understood the urgency of her situation. 

"You missed a meeting," Rhys just said, as if Mor hadn't said anything. He turned back to the living room. "We'll have another meeting tomorrow and I'll send a message to every High Lord for a meeting," and with that, everyone was dismissed. Mor realized that Amren had a point in wanting Rhys to become High King when he can dismiss two High Lords just like that. With a small gesture, Rhysand showed Mor his study, wanting to know about what she had wanted to say in private. 

"A High Lords' meeting?" Mor said as soon as Rhys closed the door behind him. "What did I miss?" She knew the walls of the study would block anyone from eavesdropping. 

"Eris told me that he had a witch on his lands that think Eil' is also one" Mor stared at Rhys like he had grown another head. She didn't what shocked her the most, that witches still existed or that Eris was foolish enough to tell Rhys about it.

"Also," Rhys continued. "Apparently, I'm greedy because I don't want Eileánóir to rule Prythian." If Mor's jaw hadn't been on the floor before, it was definitely now. 

Mor studdered as her thoughts flooded her brain, not knowing what to ask him first, which made the High Lord smile. 

"Yeah I know," Rhys looked at the books stacked on his desk. "As apparently she is more powerful than me," he began, his eyes twinkling. "And that she saved our asses more than once," he continued. Mor couldn't disagree with that statement. If it hadn't been for Eileánóir, Prythian would've probably been destroyed by now. "Eris and Azriel came with this insane idea of Eil' becoming a kind of High Queen of Prythian," he finally looked back at Mor, trying to see whether she would agree with them. 

Mor thought about it for a while. Eil' is indeed insanely powerful and she trusted her to protect Prythian as if she had been born here but she could see that Rhys wasn't on the same page as her. 

"Does Amren agree with them?" Indeed Amren had been pushing the High King Rhys agenda a lot lately. 

Rhys nodded as he walked to his desk to start writing the letters to the different High Lords asking for a meeting. "She told me that if I was really adamant about not wanting to be High King, she would push Eil' to take my place," he sighed as he took his pen and ink. 

"If Amren thinks it's the best for us, then we should probably listen to her," Mor said. If someone knew what would be best for the Night Court, it would be her. 

Rhys looked at her, still holding his pen. "Everyone seems to agree with that statement," she could've sworn that she saw disappointement in her High Lord's eyes as if her not agreeing with everyone else was his last hope.

"Anyway," he got back to his letters ending that part of the conversation. "What was that urgent thing you couldn't tell me in front of everyone?" She could see Tarquin's name on the first letter from where she was standing. "You seemed quite nervous," Rhys added. 

Mor danced on her feet, trying to find a way to tell him about tonight. The silence made Rhys look back at his cousin with an arched brow. "What is making you so nerv-"

"I slept with her," Mor said in a blunt, cutting Rhys in his sentence. Ink splashed everywhere as the pen fell from Rhys' hand. Mor could feel her cheeks getting wet from her tears as her nerves gave up.  It took Rhys a few seconds to register what his cousin had just said. 

"I'm guessing that you haven't told Azriel?" the High Lord asked after Mor had calmed down. 

"Please don't tell him," Mor didn't even want to know how badly Azriel could react. 

"He's gonna have to know at some point," Rhys sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. That problem would be adding to the pile of problems he already has. 

"Let's just speed up the process of bringing Eil' back here so I don't have to spend time alone with her anymore," Mor said, her throat tightened. Rhys could see in her eyes that she had grown fond of Azriel's mate in a way she couldn't and that it was indeed better for her if they went forward with their plan of bringing Eil' back to Prythian. 

Later that night, he had called for another meeting, letting his friends know that they would introduce Azriel to Eil' tomorrow and that they will bring her memories back as fast as they could. Rhys couldn't lie that having everyone worried about Eileánóir and Mor going to the continents almost every day weakened the protection of his court, everyone being too busy to do their original jobs, especially Azriel who had not given a report on his spies in other courts since his mate had disappeared. With the war that just ended, he couldn't spare the time to go slowly with their plans of bringing her back home.