Shadows like mine

2

The beach was made from black pebbles and pieces of ice were scattered across the smooth little stones.
Four Illyrian warriors were standing around something—this girl that apparently was very important.
"Why is she so special?" asked Cas as they walked towards them. He could not see the girl, just wings.
"The Illyrians thought it was better to alarm us than handle it themselves—probably because they don't know how," spoke Rhysand and they approached them.
"High Lord," one of the young warriors spoke. "She's very strange. I don't know, but everyone here feels like we should get the hell away from her."
As they got closer, Azriel started to feel it as well. The more steps he made towards this girl, the louder his instinct was screaming. His shadows became darker.
They screamed danger. They screamed death.
The warriors moved away to reveal a young woman, dressed in rags. Her hair was long and black, her skin pale like snow. She was curled up like a baby and stared at something in the distance. Her eyes were golden, like he watching a sunrise.
But all that did not make him stop dead in his tracks, made him stop breathing. It were the shadows. Twirling around her, almost hiding her from the world.
"Az..." whispered Cassian and he turned to his brother. Azriel's eyes widened, his shadows got bigger and he froze.
"Shadows," mumbled Feyre.
"Shadows like mine," said Azriel soft and he could barely believe it.
He had never seen another shadowsinger. He had never seen anyone that looked more like him. Azriel always thought that shadowsingers were very rare. After searching in the library for more history about this kind, this kind of magic, he gave up. It always seemed like that the shadowsingers disappeared through time and that Azriel was the first one in hundreds of years.
    He came up with more theories about the shadowsingers—maybe they were created instead of born? Whatever the reason of their disappearance was, it didn't matter now.
    This girl was one too. But maybe his eyes tricked him.
    His own shadows, didn't know what she was. Many words came across his mind. Unwanted. Isolated. Banished. Death.
    Azriel did not know what to do.
"How did she survive the water?" asked Rhys out loud and he watched the sea, the ice floes in the water. "It is too cold for anyone to make it here."
Azriel wanted to find out. He wanted to ask her how she did it. Why she was here. Who she was.
But he couldn't move. He just watched the dancing of her shadows. They looked like his shadows, but something was off.
Her shadows... looked darker. Way darker. Like he was looking into an endless pit. A sharp edge seemed to protect her.
Feyre was the first one to react. She slowly stepped forward and kneeled down, with enough distance.
"Hello," she said soft and the girl immediately stiffened. He knuckles were white when she held on to the rags that barely covered her smooth body.
Her eyes filled with fear.
"My name is Feyre. These are my friends. We would like to help you." They all waited for a reaction. None came.
"What is your name?"
The girl started breathing louder and slowly, slower than a snail, she moved her head so she could look at Feyre. Then at the others. At him.
She said something, but no one heard her. "What?" asked Feyre. It looked like the girl wanted to cry when she opened her mouth again. Like she did something wrong.
Azriel frowned. What was going on?
"Aurora," she whispered hoarse.
Feyre nodded and looked at the others. "Aurora, how did you get here?"
Aurora didn't move. It took her a few seconds to react. She stared at her shadows and she seemed... afraid. Of them? Of her shadows?
"I can't say."
It made everyone frown now. "It is impossible to survive this cold water," said Feyre calmly. "We would like to know."
Slowly Aurora shook her head. "I can't say," she repeated.
Feyre looked at Rhys. He was frowning as well and they held a conversation in silence, through their own bond. Azriel wished to know what they would do. Leave her?
Give her to the Illyrian warriors? Lock her up? Many option ran through his mind, until Feyre spoke again.
"Aurora, me and my mate want to take you to Velaris. Have you ever heard of it?"
Aurora shook her head again.
"It is our city. Well protected and wealthy. We want you to let us take care of you."
"That's generous," mumbled Cassian and Rhys slapped his butt with a swipe of magic. Cassian just smirked.
"You can't."
Now she started to move. Like someone pointed a weapon at her, she started to crawl backwards, the peddles crushed. Her eyes were filled with this fear again.
"Why?"
Feyre had gotten up and walked towards Aurora again. Now she was sitting on her backside, covered her chest with her arms. Her breasts would've fallen out of the rags if she didn't cover them.
As good as possible, she tried to cover up her pale female body. Her shadows did not and it seemed like she was happy they weren't close to her body.
Aurora did not answer until after a few minutes. "I hurt people."
"Do you want to hurt them?"
She shook her head. "No."
    Feyre and Rhysand looked at one another. Cassian raised his eyebrows at Azriel. Maybe she had some kind of disease? He sent this thought to Rhys.
    But instead of agreeing with him, Rhys slowly shook his head. That is not it, he said in his mind. This is something we haven't seen before.
    "You won't hurt us," promised Feyre with a smile. "We will protect you."
    "It is not a good idea." Aurora looked at her small pale toes in the black pebbles and the shadows around her moved ruthless.
    "Aurora," Rhys said and stepped forward. "As High Lord, me and my mate will help you."
    With a frown in her forehead, Aurora looked at him with her golden eyes. "What do you mean?"
    "Close your mind," he answered. "You're an open book."
    "Rhys!" hissed Feyre and she shot daggers at him with her eyes. He simply shrugged.
    "She needs help," he said and stepped closer to Aurora. She crawled back. "I briefly saw that you need help."
    "What kind of help?" she asked with a daring tone. The shadows around her became sharper.
    Azriel wished he knew why she did that.
    "Come with us," he offered. "We will take care of you in Velaris. We will help you."
    Aurora looked like she was thinking deeply about this offer. Azriel couldn't stop looking at those shadows. They looked like his own, but different. How could they be so different?
    "Why would you?" she then asked.
    "Sorry?"
    "Why would you help me?" Her golden eyes looked frozen.
    Rhysand looked at all of them. Cassian looked like he thought this wasn't a good idea. Azriel didn't blame him. What did they know about this girl? Her whereabouts? How she got those shadows?
    "Because once I needed help too," said Feyre. "And they helped me, even though when it seemed like a bad idea."
    "It never was a bad idea. I don't have bad ideas," protested Rhys. Feyre ignored him.
    "I can name twenty bad ideas you've had the past two weeks," mumbled Cassian. "And one of them was getting a golden penguin statue."
    "Drunk plans don't count," said Azriel.
    "Anyways," continued Feyre loudly, with an angry look at the Illyrian men. "I know how you feel. And they helped me. I want to help you, so you know."
    Feyre held out her hand to Aurora, whom looked skeptical.
    "I don't interact much," mumbled Aurora and she got on her feet. She still tried to cover herself as much as possible. "And I don't touch people."
    Cassian raised an eyebrow and already started walking away.
   "That is okay," said Feyre. "We welcome you to Velaris."