A COURT OF FIRE AND ICE - AZRIEL -

Chapter One

!get him back - Olivia Rodrigo! 

Lexia POV

The heat of the morning sun scorched a hole into my back as I the loud banging noise rung like it's only purpose was to make my head explode completely.

"Fuck off" I grunted shoving my head under the mountain of pillows scattered around my bed.

"I'm not leaving until you get up. Put on your training gear and get out of this shithole." Her voice yelled shrill, feminine and yet so damn threatening.

"Well not everyone can bag the Lord of the Night Court now can we so excuse my shithole of a home" I replied back throwing myself out of the bed and swinging open the front door. Admittedly this house was a shithole and I hated it but I wasn't about to let Feyre get the satisfaction.

"Woah you look gross" she held her chest in shock. I rolled my eyes. She obviously looked perfect. Prim. In tight workout clothes that hugged every curve of her petit bone structure.

"It's-wait what time is it?" I leaned back finding the wall clock that sat at a wonky angle. "Six in the morning!? I didn't ask you to come knocking at the asscrack of dawn when I said I'd help you train"

She shrugged innocently. "The sun is already up. Plus what better time to train than when more than half the city is still asleep?"

"Any other time Feyre. Literally any other time. Ugh. Give me 5 minutes" I gave in. She was the High Lady. She was my best friend. I obliged because of the latter.

In 5 minutes I had managed to pull my long greasy hair in a high ponytail at the top of my head, squeeze into my training pants and throw over a large shirt over my sport bra. I figured it was a little too scandalous to be seen with the High lady in such an outfit.

I shut the small, ugly orange door behind me to find Feyre sitting on the step. "Lets go"

"What are we doing? Swords? Knives?" she asked eagerly. I looked at her in disbelief.

"You literally helped saved this entire kingdom not too long ago, I don't think you need help with those things Miss Magic" I retorted. "Today we work on mind training."

"Mind training? How?"

"By running" I replied my feet taking off forcing her to follow behind me.

The run was long but I stayed ahead. I ran a lot. All the time. Contrary to Feyre's protests, running served as great mind training because your mind constantly tells you give up. The easiest thing to do when you're running is to stop running. So you are forced to train your mind.

"Please lets stopppp" Feyre panted behind me. It had been an hour of us running, we were dripping in sweat, our own sweat burning our eyes, heart beating, mind clear. To her credit despite her complaining she stayed one step behind for the entire hour. We had run through the city as it was waking up and were now a few steps away from the first step of the House of Wind.

"Ok" I said.

"You're crazy" she exclaimed falling to the ground her breath leaving her.

"You're lucky I'm not making you run up these stairs" I laughed resting myself on the first step.

"You're lucky I don't throw you in the dungeon for almost killing my mate" A deep voice spoke from behind. I rolled my eyes, as I watched the shadows in front of me get larger. Three unnecessarily large wings coming down from behind me. Feyre smiled.

"The dungeon would be an upgrade from her current living situation" another voice annoyingly chimed in. I immediately turned around. I could tolerate Rhysand but Cassian. Absolutely not.

"Looks like you've decided to rejoin Velaris' most unwanted boyband. Done stalking Feyre's sister?" I smirked.

"YOU WHAT?" Feyre yelled jumping to her feet immediately racing behind me as the trio landed two steps above.

I crossed my arms, eyebrow raised, eye contact directly on Cassian. He threw he arms in the air as Feyre approached him but Rhysand quickly slipped his arms around her waist picking her up and flying away with her.

"What no thank you?" I muttered looking up at the pair now high in the sky.

"Were you training?" Azriel asked, his voice deep and smooth. My eyes fell on him. Freshly shaven, he smelt like cedar and vanilla. His hair slicked back, slightly ruffled from the wind. He wore a form fitting black tshirt and loose flowy black pants.

"Just running."

"Mental training?" he asked without missing a beat. Ofcourse he would know he was the one who taught me. Hours of running before sunrise. His voice in my head as I cried through the pain. As my feet bled and my vision blurred. I would hurl curses at him with each step. Back then I didn't believe in mental training. I didn't think I needed it. But according to Rhysand and Azriel I was 'too angry' and a 'wildfire' of a fae that needed to be taught to not pick fights at every given opportunity. Whatever.

I nodded. "She asked me to train her but I probably needed this one more than her today"

"The demons back at it again?" Cassian laughed.

"Fuck off" I glared. I knew he was just teasing but his guess as a little too accurate it gave me chills. Azriel nudged him and my stomach sank. I hated when they felt like they needed to tiptoe around me. It didn't happen often, but occasionally they would look at me like a wounded giselle, or damsel in distress. Just because of what happened. It made me furious.

"What? Y'all are making this way to deep" Cassian yelled in his defence.

"Yeah Azriel it ain't that deep" I sulked, arms on my waist.

"Let's go" Cassian said taking a step towards me. And before I could protest his arms went under my legs, picking me up as the pair launched into the sky.

"What. The. Fuck. Cassian." I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck in fear of falling.

"Are you trying to strangle me to death?"

"Yes."

"Pfft. You'll have to try harder than that, his neck is too thick to be choked" Azriel claimed flying next to Cassian. I looked like a baby being cradled in his arms. How embarrassing.

"I've told you so many damn times you need to warn me before you shoot me into the sky like a freaking bird"

"Bird?" Cassian looked at me offended. "You mean bat"

"No I mean bird" I frowned. Azriel let out a low chuckle I was too aware of, but Cassian didn't seem to notice.

"Rhys wants the five of us to meet at the House of Wind for breakfast. We came to pick you guys up, unless you'd rather walk up those stairs" Cassian smirked.

"Is that a challenge?"

"No. It's not" Azriel quickly butt in before Cassian and I were making bets we'd both severely regret in the near future.

I sighed.

"You know what happens when I fly." I groaned, closing my eyes.

"Oh yeah we have a solution for that" Cassian laughed as Azriel let out a soft huff of approval. Well great. 

Hey lovely readers. I hope you enjoyed this chapter cause I had so much fun writing it. Please like, comment and follow to keep up to date and so I am motivated to keep writing ahaha. I hope y'all are excited to see what Lexia and Azriel get up to hehehe. 

xo venus