A Court of Wind and Song

23: Freedom

Nesta

Both real and not real, I had been in the Cauldron again. Drowning in those freezing waters, endless black hell burning me alive with something that had not been fire. But then a familiar voice was calling my name, a male voice calling to me with such desperation, enough to distract me from my own suffering. A flash of light that banished the pain, prying the hands that gripped me away with a power as old as the world itself.

And then a violet hand in mine, flecked with golden stars, pulling me up out of the waters, extinguishing the flames. A gentle melody in my ear, calming me like a lullaby, drifting across my skin like a warm breeze.

When was the last time anyone had sung to me?

Had anyone every truly done so?

Two voices, one male and one female, more beautiful than anything I had ever heard, creating a soft cloud in my mind that carried me. With warm loving arms, the arms of parents I never truly had, leading me to a land of childhood dreams. The land was soft clouds, rolling hills of it, the sky a warm grey, an eclipse of darkness in the sky. Not darkness in a threatening way, but rather something else. Something warm, like the setting of the sun after a long day. And so, I had curled into that bed of clouds and leaned into the arms of those melodies. The pain was long forgotten as I drifted away into sleep.

And when I woke up, I knew it hadn't just been a dream. The sheets on the bed were changed, my hair was braided in a coil it hadn't been in when I went to sleep. The curtains were tied back, a tiny crack in the wards around the House allowing cool air to slip in and freshen the room. My face was wiped clean, a new silk nightdress that I hadn't gone to sleep wearing soft against my skin.

All I could do was pray to whatever gods there were that the House or Leur had been the one to change me.

I just got up as I always did, the House making my bed behind me as I slipped from it. I picked out a training outfit, a pair of navy blue leathers that Leur had made laid out on the bed. I went to the bathroom, deciding to leave my hair in the braid and just wash my face. I took my time brushing my teeth, slipping on the leathers, adjusting the straps and pulling on a pair of worn in boots.

And when I stepped outside my door, I almost didn't notice it at first.

But that was in fact Cassian, strewn across a couch that was far too small for him with a ratty red blanket barely covering half of him. Long legs and wide wings hanging off the side, his mouth hanging open as he snored.

As if that wouldn't have been strange enough, a glance to the left revealed an entire four poster bed drug into the middle of the hallway. Two heads of black hair, one violet toned and one pure black. A pair of small black wings, tanned skin with swirling black tattoos. Another pair of wings, wider and larger as one wrapped around her body, as if he could cocoon her, hide her from the world. Black and violet shadows still and resting peacefully at their shoulders around the navy blue bedding.

And I realized that it was the first time I had ever seen Azriel asleep.

Leur, I had seen once, after the King had thrown her miscarriage in her face. And just as I had then, I was surprised at just how innocent she looked. just how small she seemed curled in her mate's arms. Both of them, so off guard in comparison to how they usually were. It was almost strange to see Azriel asleep, to see the way he guarded her even when unconscious, to see the way she curled into him as if he was the only safe thing in the world. And I could not stop the slight pang of jealousy that gripped my chest.

And you would have never known, the power that resided on that bed. Like two sleeping dragons, disguised by the form of two lovers. It felt almost like I was intruding on some private moment, seeing something I wasn't supposed to.