A Court of Shadows and Thunder // AzrielxOC SlowBurn Romance, ACOTAR FanFiction

Chapter XIII - The Watch

When Azriel reached Brianna's side, he couldn't help but look her over, scanning her for injuries. And when he met her eyes, he found that she was giving him a dubious look. 

"It's not my blood," Brianna told him, almost a little too harshly, then she flicked her finger toward the Syren laying in front of them, "I need you to hold his wings down while I put pressure on his wounds to stop the bleeding."

Azriel did what he was told in absolute silence like he had just gotten scolded for wanting to make sure she was alright. But there was urgency in Brianna's voice, and by the way she tried her best to squeeze out the already bloody cloth in her hand, by the way her breath was haggard, brows drawn in concern, he knew that this Syren was her utmost priority right now, and not the meeting with the generals that she was no doubt summoned to.

So Azriel looked down, at the wings he held as gently as he possibly could as to not inflict more pain, yet still keep him still. He felt the blood stick to his hands, oozing from beyond the feathers under his fingers. Now that he was touching them, he found them to be incredibly soft, yet with a little pressure, he felt the hard bones underneath the heap of plumes. And warmth, for there was skin too, skin and bones and arteries that had been cut up in a horrific manner, with gashes and slits all across the poor Syren's back, who in turn looked as though he was slipping in and out of consciousness from the sheer pain of it all. Azriel couldn't hide his grimace at the sight, the sick memory of what had happened to his own wings flashed in his mind. He felt his stomach twist into knots, the bile rising in his throat. 

Brianna pressed her cloth against once particularly deep cut amid the feathers, wincing herself as the Syren let out a strangled and weak cry of pain. It looked like it hurt her just as bad it hurt him, and Azriel frowned as more blood splayed out from the Syren. He almost felt sick, looking at the deep gash, the near shredded wings, almost feeling the sensation of his own wings tear up once again. But he kept it in, kept it subsided. He breathed hard, and that had made Brianna glance at him for a moment, almost in concern.

She looked at the other Syren female in the room. "I need you to find more clean cloth. And some boiled water," Brianna instructed to the female, and she gave her a quick nod, making her way out of the room. Azriel watched as her hands shook when she grabbed an empty bucket, probably to fill it with that hot water, and how wide and full of fear her eyes were. When he looked back at Brianna, she was cleaning out the Syren's wound with steady hands, like it was something she did a hundred times over.

"Where's your healer?" Azriel finally asked her, noting how they were only the two of them within the room. And judging by how badly the Syren beneath him was cut up, they were going to need a lot more than just clean cloth and boiled water to heal him, especially if he ever wanted to fly again. Those wounds needed to close fast, and if he could find their healer for her...

Brianna didn't meet his eyes, and at first Azriel thought she wasn't going to answer him, but then she managed to choke out, "We don't have that kind of magic here."

Azriel stilled, his eyes going back to the Syren bleeding out before him. Then he realised, much to his horror, that the reason why there was so much blood, why it was still pouring out of the Syren and pooling onto the floor, was because his wounds weren't healing at all. Azriel looked at Brianna again, almost in disbelief as he pieced his memories together. 

They were lesser fae, but they didn't possess much magic of their own. Whatever sort of magic they could harness, it wasn't the type that could heal, and so when situations like these happen... there was nothing they could do about it except pray that they were strong enough to survive their injuries. He saw the pain flicker in Brianna's eyes, like she knew he understood what she had meant.