A Court of Night and Shadows

Chapter 21

Azriel

We sat in new places, accentuating all of our unease. Cassian managed a quick look at me before taking his first bites of the roasted chicken matched with potatoes and greens. A simple meal, generally likable and comfortable for everyone. I sat across from Rhysand, an arrangement that would be easy for us both. I didn't want to think about whether having us all finally get together was difficult for him. I didn't know the extent of what he'd bore Under the Mountain, but no matter how long it took him - even if he never recovered - I knew we would all still be here with him, eating dinner together at this very table.

"It's good to see you, Feyre," Mor said to our High Lord's mate who sat beside him dressed in a fine winter sweater, something I knew to be a favorite of hers from my time watching her over the wall. She'd chosen something comforting just as the rest of us had; Mor had dressed in one of her usual gowns, as if everywhere she went was awaiting her treasured arrival, something I found to be both arrogant and deserving. Amren wore some shade of grey, a typical choice for the beast within her. I'd always suspected it was the color of her true flesh that she was instinctively drawn to. Cassian and I had worn our typical battle leathers, the common clothes we both wore daily. It took quite a lot to defer us from them. And then Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, dressed surprisingly in his Court of Nightmares attire. My hope was that he was clinging to the strength of the flashy garb, not the mask behind it.

"You have no idea," Feyre laughed with a jostle, startling us all at her silliness, including herself it seemed. "I'm sorry," she offered quietly as she settled down while all of us watched her. All of us but Rhysand, who chewed on some vegetables quietly. "I guess I'm just a little stir crazy from being, well, shut off for so long."

I could nearly feel the whispers of power constantly spilling from the enchanted gem I knew now resided within her skin. I begged them to speak, sent out gentle waves of my shadows to entice, to tempt the stone to tell me all its secrets. But this magic did not speak my language.

"Well, you didn't miss much," Cassian replied, nonchalant. I gauged the reactions around the table, searching for a single disagreement to his statement. The only reaction seemed to be the same empty sorrow that had haunted us all since the return of our High Lord and his mate.

"Oh really?" Feyre asked, finishing a bite of chicken she'd swiftly sliced with much less force than I knew she'd once needed - back when she was mortal. I didn't know what she'd become at this point, but her scent was now far from human. I sympathized with her. While I was fae, I was also something else and yet sometimes I was nothing at all. "Nothing exciting happened while I was sleeping?"

"Well you did miss Mor having a little too much to drink more than once at Rita's," Cassian said with a wry smile.

"Don't even bother mentioning all the times you drank so much I had to come walk your ass home," I countered, knowing Cassian needed to be shot down from time to time to keep up his extreme level of spunk.

"Oh, whatever, I was fine."

Amren laid down her fork she was using to push her food around her plate, still unsure about showing Feyre her true colors. "If fine means singing so loudly to the dance music that I could hear you from my apartment, then sure, you were fine."

We all laughed at that, especially Cassian, and we were all rewarded with a genuine smile from Rhys.

He hadn't been handling his return from Under the Mountain well.

But that was none of my business.

"I'm sorry," Feyre said again, drawing my attention from my plate. Rhysand's too, apparently as we were the only ones who ceased our eating to look at her this time. "I feel as though I know you each a bit already, and honestly, I'm not very good at having friends so I'm not quite sure how I should be acting right now," she punctuated her confession with a large bite of potato, filling her lush cheeks.