My Sweet Salvation

Anger

Weeks were passing by fast, Lavender was now 5 years old. Since nobody had any idea when her actual birthday was they asked her to pick a random day.

She had picked sooner rather than later curious about the whole event but had come to regret it quickly.

She didn't enjoy all the attention it brought, she attempted to shy away from all of the cheers and laughter and attempted to tuck herself away with her shadows.

It had only grown worse when Mor and Cassian had brought out the cake singing happy birthday, Lavender had froze and her shadows became aware of her anxiety, they had simply decided to take matters into their own hands.

Azriel had attempted to intervene but he wasn't fast enough.

Mor and Cassian stopped moving and singing as dark tendrils of shadow seeped out from Lavender's skin and floated towards the cake. They simply plucked the cake from the two and flung it out the window.

Mor had been so disappointed and had stormed off which had only made Lavender even more angry, she had a full on temper tantrum and needed to be sent to her room to calm down.

Rhysand was becoming more and more anxious by her behaviour, she stopped being so outspoken and confident and began to shy away becoming anxious and overwhelmed.

He had spoken to Azriel on a number of occasions about her dependency on her shadows but Azriel had reassured him it was all normal and he would keep an eye on her.

Her behaviour only got worse when Rhysand had called in his bargain to get Feyre to spend more time away from the Spring Court, with him visiting her, Lavender saw less of him which only made her act out more.

Cassian and Azriel tried to keep her busy by teaching her how to fight and fly hoping she'd have something else to keep busy with and too exhausted to act out but it didn't seem to be helping too much.

The more angry she became the more angry her shadows grew which in itself was dangerous for the inner circle. Azriel began to train her shadow wielding powers and he saw how advanced she was at such a young age which made him more concerned about her power as she was fully grown.

Amren thought about possibly putting Faebane in her food which had only earned her outrageous expressions from the other members, Rhysand had winnowed back to yell at Amren causing the entire city of Velaris to shake before winnowing out again which made Lavender even more unsettled.

She questioned why she didn't have a Mama, and why her Daddy was always leaving her, one day she overheard Mor telling Cassian it was because Rhysand was in love and that had only fueled Lavender's anger.

She didn't have much of an outlet and all that rage began to build.

One morning she was punching Azriel in the sparring ring, he was showing her the correct form and she'd snapped.

"I can do it!" She spat *SMACK*

"Little shadow" Azriel warned as he felt her anger controlling her movements "Talk to me?"

Azriel was in no means the cuddly member of the inner circle, rather keeping a distance from Lavender but the more her shadows controlled her the more he began to intervene and found himself protective of her.

Instead of punching Lavender had simply fallen to the floor, Cassian stopped what he was doing to walk other. Lavender looked up towards Azriel and had only burst into tears, something changed between them during that moment.

He sat on the floor and opened his arms towards her, giving her a choice and she'd crawled into his arms whilst her tears wrecked her.

Cassian gritted his teeth as he watched Lavender falling apart, he was angry to see her so emotional.

"Everything is okay" Azriel soothed the child and she'd only wrapped her arms tighter around him.

Rhys was in Cassian's mind a moment later and he was sharing the memories with him.

Rhys had instantly winnowed back and stood in the training ring, he lent down and wrapped his arms around Lavender. She stilled, but then turned and held him just as tightly.

"My Mama died, and you keep leaving" she cried and Rhys heart shattered.

"I'm so sorry, Lavender" he cried into her hair.

That was the first time Azriel and Cassian had seen their brother fall apart.

"Promise me?" She whimpered "Promise me you won't leave again?"

"I promise" and a tattoo had  appeared along his arm, it turns out bargain marks didn't appear on children, and Rhysand was glad for that.

Lavender had cried herself to sleep in the middle of the training ring and Rhysand had just layed there holding her in his arms wanting to remain there forever.

"She's so angry at me" Rhys shared with his brother's

"I don't think it's just you, Rhysand" Azriel stated as he lent down to push some of Lavender's curly black her back from her tear stained face.

"She's just lost the only Mother she knew and taken to a strange place with a new family. It's a lot for any person, nevermind a kid" Cassian agreed.

"What do I do?" Rhys whispered

"I think it is time to tell Feyre" Cassian admitted climbing into the ring to put an arm around his brother's shoulders.

Lavender's shadows danced around her skin but one remained wrapped around Azriel's ankle. All the males looked at it and Cassian grinned.

"I think Lavender has a new favourite"