The Cabin By the Lake: Chapter 2
**This Chapter contains NSFW content**
Once the sleeping Rhysand and Feyre were dropped in the lake, chaos erupted.
Rhysand roared loud enough for Varian to hear him deep underwater, and Feyre turned into a shark to hunt Azriel and Cassian down.
Thus began what would be several hours of attacks and counter-attacks traded between the Illyrians, Feyre, and her mate. She never actually learned to swim properly with her wings that first day, but she did figure out how to winnow Azriel and Cassian to the bottom of the lake and up a hundred feet into the air with their wings pinned shut.
That more than anything ended the furor before a full-scale war could be declared. Azriel and Cassian loved being dumped in the lake from so high up.
When the victims begged for their punishment, it took all the satisfaction away.
Azriel showed a lightheartedness that surprised even his brothers. He'd been raised in silence and solitude, and even after being free he usually preferred to listen and observe. Something about the lake made him want to laugh and smile, to be as immature as the rest of the Inner Circle and actually let himself enjoy the bright summer day.
The group left the lake only when the sun slid behind the mountain and cast everything to shadow. They changed into dry clothes and came together once more around the now-blazing bonfire, where Cassian and Nesta brought out strips of seasoned meat and vegetables on steel-tipped skewers. Marshmallows followed the main course and Azriel found himself passing along the sugary confection rather than blackening it in the flames as he'd always done.
"You alright?" Rhys sat beside Azriel and nudged him, "You aren't gorging yourself on sugar. You aren't getting sick, are you?"
"I'm fine, I just feel tired all of the sudden." He answered somewhat truthfully.
"It's been a long day," Rhys agreed, "but I know when you're full of shit. Want to talk about it?"
"Don't need to." It wasn't something Rhys could fix. He loved this lake, the cabins, everything- but he also knew he wouldn't get to spend as much time here as the others. He couldn't do that to her.
"Whenever you'd like, you know where to find me." Rhys elbowed his brother just hard enough to jostle him. Then did it again. Then again. Only when Azriel laughed and swung back did Rhys relent.
Mor cleared her throat and glanced to Elain, "Azriel? I believe youwere nominated to tell the story of the spirit camps? It's dark and we have marshmallows, now is the perfect time." She'd noticed his silence and unusual aversion to sugar too, but telling the story of the spirit camps always made him happy.
"Spirit camps?" Nesta looked to Cassian.
"Technically we're at the upper edge of haunted territory," Cassian patted her hand and smiled, "surprise?"
Nesta glared, then reconsidered and shrugged, "I guess we haven't been killed yet, so we're probably fine." Her power whispered to her when death was nearby, and she sensed only life around the lake.
Elain made a face and pulled Lucien close. He let her sit on his lap and wrapped his arms around her, even though most of his focus was still on turning his marshmallow-loaded stick at just the right speed to tan it without burning anything.
Varian peeled the blackened skin off of his marshmallow and began to toast the gooey inside that had remained on his stick, but he watched Azriel with rapt attention. In Adriata, where the fisher folk ruled, tales of sea monsters and water ghosts were common. He loved a good scary story- hell, he was in love with the subject of many. What would those frightened old fishermen say if they could see the vicious Amren trying to clean melted marshmallow off her fingers?
"Don't worry Elain, I'll keep it mild." Azriel promised. He cleared his throat, "The Northern tribes don't know where the spirit camps came from, or even when they formed. No one can confirm their existence, but Illyrians lost in a winter storm often reported seeing lights on the distant hills- bonfires that were nothing more than ice-covered logs when they approached. Some reported hearing war-drums, and went out to investigate- never to be seen again."
He lowered his voice, forcing the others to lean in, "Every now and then, bodies turn up on the steppes- males and females with pure-white eyes whose faces are contorted in terror. Imagine, a battle-hardened Illyrian warrior, scared to death without anyone hearing so much as a gasp."
Azriel had everyone's rapt attention (to the ruin of a few forgotten marshmallows), "Every last one of the northern tribes has reported losing good soldiers, females, or even younglings to these spirit camps. Over the millennia hundreds of bodies have been found, and thousands have gone missing. Some say the spirit camps feast on their souls, while others say they kill only to expand their undead ranks. In the history of Prythian, no camp has been hit harder by the spirits than that of Lord Serkan, five hundred and twenty-three years ago."
Goosebumps rose on Feyre's arms as she listened to Azriel's tale, "Lord Serkan was an arrogant, haughty upstart who aspired to be the greatest of the northern Camp Lords. He conquered the smaller tribes, and even a few of the larger. Before he could make his big push though, in the icy cold of one fateful winter, Serkan's greatest soldiers began to vanish one by one. Only when the fifteenth disappeared, never to be seen again, did the High Lord of Night finally hear his calls for aid."
"The High Lord had a son- a powerful male who was training as an Illyrian soldier, a male who could easily overthrow him. That Lordling was sent to Serkan's territory to investigate the apparent slaughter, and what he found-" Azriel looked to Rhysand.
They all did.
Rhysand's face was all shadows and firelight. Feyre couldn't tell if he'd pulled his normal darkness around for effect, or if the night was listening to the story too. "My father hoped I would perish in the territory claimed by the spirit camps. Or at least- he wouldn't have mourned if I did. A normal High Lord's son is inferior to his father, subordinate in power and manner. Me though- even before I assumed the mantle, my power was greater than his. I fought back against him constantly, and I think part of him hoped I would be removed from play by those spirits."
"I went north, to Lord Serkan's territory, and I brought with me the two strongest Illyrians in history. If I was going to war with the dead, I would have help. We kept our presence secret, posed as warriors on some sort of pilgrimage through the spirit lands, and asked all who would speak to us about the attacks on Serkan's people."
"Before they vanished, six mentioned hearing something in the night- a voice calling to them. They'd followed it north, everyone went north. We ventured out of the camp and for two days we wandered the wilderness, tracking down each and every body. Some males it seemed had sat down in the snow and simply waited to freeze to death; others we found trapped beneath the ice on lakes that had been frozen for months- yet they'd only gone missing weeks ago; and some- the biggest and meanest of the bunch- we found impaled on the tops of pine trees- their tips going straight through the mouth and down the throat of their victims."
Elain whimpered and Lucien held her tighter. He finally noticed his marshmallow was nothing but ash and set his skewer down to hold his mate fully. Feyre was staring at Rhys with her mouth ajar, and even Mor and Amren- who'd heard this story a hundred times- were listening with rapt attention. Only Varian was smiling in terrified glee.
Azriel took over the story telling once more, "It took three weeks- three incredibly long weeks- during which two more warriors vanished- but eventually we found the rift between this world and the Beyond, where the spirits crawled through at night to slaughter Serkan's best. Rhys entered the rift himself, accompanied by Cassian and myself, and together we did battle against the Spirit Lord who ruled that camp. The battle was ferocious, and his attacks left us all more dead than alive… but eventually we overcame him, and chained his soul deep in the underworld."
"We fled the rift, and in our wake it sealed forever. No more of Serkan's men died that winter, though plenty of Illyrians have been lost to those spirit camps since. Their hold over the Illyrian steppes will never be broken, but that one invasion was stopped." Azriel was whispering for effect by the end.
Elain was the first to break the silence after Azriel finished his tale, "Great, I'm not going to sleep for the whole two weeks we're here." Her voice was high, and Lucien immediately nuzzled her neck and began to murmur oaths of protection into her ear.
Feyre caught the glint in Cassian's eye, and the sparkle of mischief in Mor's, "Hold on…" she thought back through the story, and nothing caught her attention more than the Camp Lord whose men were so gruesomely murdered. Lord Serkan. Why did that name sound so familiar? It clicked into place and she let out a long, low breath, "Serkan was your-" she caught herself before she said 'father'. Azriel never allowed such a intimate title, "-he was your sire."
"And they were the males who guarded my cell." Azriel smiled at the naked relief that lit Elain's face. "I was seventeen, I'd just come into my full power, and I'd been free long enough to really hate them all. I left Serkan and my half-brothers alive so they could see their camp fall back into obscurity on the steppes. Their finest warriors- all horrific males, don't worry- were lured out of the camp one by one thanks to a voice in the shadows. Trapping them beneath the ice was how I learned to winnow others."
"How nice." Feyre shivered.
Lucien was rubbing Elain's shoulders, warming away her goosebumps, "So what about going into the underworld and fighting spirits?"
Cassian chuckled, "We walked around long enough to make our presence known, then headed off to a human city that no longer exists and bought our little Azriel his first female."
"We all got so monumentally drunk for those three weeks that my father mistook the world's strongest hangover as the side effects of a near-death experience with a ghost," Rhysand said.
Feyre, Nesta, Lucien, and Varian all laughed, but Elain was still pale, "Just because that one time it was Azriel doesn't mean there aren't still spirit camps out there killing fae!"
"It's alright Elain, I've been out here for three hundred years- all but the last five of that alone. Nothing ever bothered me." Cassian offered a smile.
Rhysand nodded, "Besides, thanks to those ward stones you might as well be in Velaris right now. None of the spirits in Night have everthreatened a High Lord or his home, I think it's safe to say this place is immune from hauntings."
"I would still feel better if Nuala and Cerridwen were here," she frowned. The half-wraiths would know in an instant if there were any unfriendly spirits nearby. Unfortunately, they never ventured near the water if they could help it. Their mother was only a wraith because she drowned.
"Yeah, it would be nice…" All eyes turned towards Mor. She cleared her throat, "What? I'm surrounded by stupid, mushy couples. Who wouldn't want more singles here?"
"You aren't single though," Rhysand raised an eyebrow.
"Here I am, idiot."
He stared at her a moment, "Uh-huh… Well, out of respect for the singles, should the couples head off for the night?" It wasn't exactly late- it was still before midnight- but he wanted to play with Feyre for a bit and break in the bedroom set.
All couples were thinking the same thing.
"Sounds fine with me. I think Elain would be more comfortable indoors right now." Lucien murmured a promise to put up wards against spirits.
"One little rule I'd like to put out there," Cassian said as he stood, "no sex in the lake unless you're the only ones here."
Amren snickered as Varian helped her to her feet, "Too late."
Everyone froze at that. "You never left the outcropping. We all saw you there." Cassian gaped.
Varian's face went bright red.
"You couldn't see underwater, and Varian had gills." Amren smiled at each horrified expression. She pulled Varian behind her into the night without another word.
"I need a shower." Cassian looked down at his body- he'd been in the lake the whole time Amren was.
"We all need showers." Rhys agreed.
"Hey! What the hell are we supposed to do?!" Mor asked as the couples began to drift off into the night.
Cassian threw a bag of marshmallows at her.
"Jerks." Mor grumbled. She offered the marshmallows to Azriel, but he waved them away, "So, you're not eating sugar… Let me guess- sick from lunch?"
Azriel nodded, "A little. I may have eaten too much."
"Shocker."
He chuckled, "I'll stay as long as you'd like."
"I'll stay as long as you'd like." She said.
"Let me guess- you're exhausted?"
Mor breathed a sigh, "Completely. You?"
"Barely awake," he offered a half smile. "Would you like to go to sleep?"
"I need a shower first, thanks to Amren and Varian." Mor stood and Azriel followed suit.
"If it helps at all, we were far enough away that we're safe."
"It helps, but I still feel gross," she shook her head. "I'll kill that little old dragon."
Azriel snorted, "I'm more impressed with Varian than anything- when did he stop being so cautious around us?"
"I don't know, but we need to remind him what fear feels like."
Azriel sent a shield to smother the bonfire and walked off into the moonlight with Mor, "Just so you know, if you brought your female the others would be on their best behavior." She'd been somewhat quiet too, and Azriel guessed she was missing her companion.
"I know," Mor smiled softly, "but this place- it isn't ideal for her. She'd be on edge the whole time, and I really want her to be comfortable. It's scary enough being introduced to you all as my lover, I don't want any added stress."
"It's the same for me and mine," Azriel nodded. "This is my idea of paradise- but it wouldn't be hers."
"I'm sorry, I know exactly how you feel." They reached the edge of the lake and Mor reached out to squeeze Azriel's hand, "I'm glad we can talk like this."
"I'm sorry we couldn't sooner," he squeezed back. "I know I was one of the reasons you were suffering for so long…"
Mor waved off his apology, they'd already had a long discussion with one another after she came out, "The past is the past. Besides- we both have someone now." She elbowed him and raised an eyebrow, "What's she like?"
Azriel smiled softly, "She's amazing… I have no idea what she's doing with me. Any minute she'll start wondering too."
"She'd better be worthy of you. Remember how I get if I don't think a female is right for my boys."
"Yeah, I still think Nesta and Cassian's mating bond snapped in place just to spite you," Azriel chuckled.
Mor had hated Nesta for how she treated Feyre, when it became obvious she and Cassian had eyes for one another she'd gone on the warpath. It was only for Feyre's sake that she gave Nesta a chance to prove herself equal to Cassian's kindness and warmth.
"Your female has to be worthy of you too, we're just as protective."
Mor smiled, "I think she is, I really do."
"Mate?"
"Maybe." Mor elbowed Azriel again, "What about yours? Mate?"
"Maybe… I didn't used to think so- we were together once before and it wasn't anything more than physical. After that we managed it as just friends… The relationship started up again after Rhys came back from Under the Mountain… I think we both needed a memory of better times. But then-" Azriel shrugged, lost for words. "The love just sort of appeared one day. I've never felt like this before- I didn't even know it was possible for me. With her I just feel… whole."
Mor smiled, "That's exactly how I feel with mine. I think we both might have found something special."
"Took us long enough," Azriel huffed.
"That it certainly did." Mor stood on her toes to kiss his cheek, "I'm going to go check on her in Velaris. Have a good night Az."
"You too, and tell her we're already holding a place for her in our family."
"Tell yours that as well." Mor smiled and vanished into the night.
Azriel took a moment to enjoy the moonlight and the chirping of crickets in the distance. He watched the waterfall and let his shadows wrap around the cabins- confirming everyone was safe without invading anyone's privacy.
This place- it was truly something magical.
He'd meant it when he said he wanted to live at the lake- but he knew it was unlikely to ever happen. Especially not if she really was his mate. He would never let her push herself into coming here, not when he knew how nervous it would make her.
Azriel felt something slip through the border stones- something that was utterly immune to their magic. It felt cold, like the whisper of mist through a graveyard.
He smiled at that hint of doom and left the lakeside for his brand new cabin. Azriel took his time as that feeling grew. His shadows whispered of its presence, though his other senses couldn't detect it at all.
That was always something he'd loved about her. The way she moved through the world as though it and she were wholly independent.
Azriel walked in through the patio door and went to a nearly panel in the wall. Behind it was the thick blue curtain that would block off the entire lake-facing side of the house. He walked the curtain across his living space, until darkness ruled uninterrupted by so much as a sliver of moonlight.
He kicked off his shoes by the door, then removed his shirt and laid it neatly over the back of a chair. Azriel could feel that presence watching him, waiting for him to go upstairs and cover the balcony windows too. He went instead to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass of scotch. Azriel leaned against the countertop and drank slowly, grinning at the frustration that flickered through the other presence.
Oh, but anticipation was half the fun.
Azriel finished his drink and set it in the sink- then turned on the water to wash it. By the time he'd dried the clean glass and returned it to the liquor cabinet he could feel that presence fuming.
It was torment for Azriel as well- when he headed casually upstairs at long last his pants were far too tight.
He walked down the hall to his bedroom. His shadows filled the space, but he could feel the other darkness stroking them. Her magic sang to his, and the sensation of their power intertwined was greater even than the feeling of her hands on his wings when they made love. He was breathing hard by the time he opened his bedroom door and pulled those blue curtains across the wall of windows.
Cassian had explained that the bedroom windows were only one-way. The Inner Circle could see the lake, but even if they fully illuminated their rooms at night, not so much as a hint of light would escape to the lakefront. Complete privacy- with a view.
So when Azriel pulled those curtains closed it wasn't for the sake of modesty, it was because across the short patio that lake was still visible in the moonlight.
The second Azriel finished closing the curtain he felt two hands on his hips. He looked down to see something like shadow brought to life slip beneath the band of his pants, felt her cool touch slip around his cock, and that other hand wrapped up his torso to his neck.
He closed his eyes at the sensation as she began to stroke him- light enough to tantalize without giving him what he wanted. The other hand wrapped around his throat not to choke him, but to feel the pounding of his heartbeat and the vibration of his heavy breaths.
Life- his little wraith always loved to feel the sheer life in him when they were together.
He didn't give her any warning. Azriel became shadow and mist, and he whirled on her own darkness. They crashed together as he swept her towards the corner of the room. She had a choice when he pounced like that- let him shepherd her, or slip around him and leave him staggering alone until she was ready to be caught.
Azriel broke upon the wall like a wave of night itself. As his shadows crashed back, he let his physical form solidify- as did hers.
Nuala wrapped her legs around Azriel's hips and jumped into his arms. Her lips crushed against his own, and his tongue entered her mouth. Her back was pinned against the wall, limiting where his hands could go. Azriel stroked her sides, her breasts, her stomach- until he grabbed one hip tight, pulled his cock free from his pants, and guided it into her fast and hard.
She let out a wrenching scream and held on tighter as Azriel's body slammed against her- slammed into her. That first thrust made her eyes roll back and when she forgot to kiss him, he pinned her mouth in place with his own.
Azriel held her thighs tight as Nuala's legs went limp. He pulled out and thrust into her once more, earning a slightly softer cry of pleasure. Her graveyard mist wrapped around his shadow and it didn't feel as though they joined at just their hips- it was as if their entire beings were crashing together.
Nuala managed to wrap her hand again around Azriel's throat as he ground against her. His panting cries against her lips forced the kiss apart- there simply wasn't enough oxygen.
Nuala and Azriel looked down as one, to watch the way her folds were parted by his thick cock. She curled her hips into his thrusts and Azriel groaned. His hips ground against the knot at the apex of her thighs and Nuala's legs began to tremble.
One hand slid down Azriel's torso to his ribs, where she pulled at his body, urging him to go harder and faster. She wanted him to take her for his pleasure. Nuala knew he would make sure she was exhausted by the time they were finished, he never failed to satisfy, but she wanted to feel all that primal life he was capable of giving.
Azriel tightened his grip against her hips and thrust hard and fast, leaving Nuala to rely on the wall to hold her up. She was so warm and wet- he couldn't last for long.
He pulled her away from the wall, slid out of her with a wimper from both, and laid Nuala face-down on the floor. Azriel kicked off his pants before he pulled her legs apart and knelt. He grabbed her hips once more and yanked her back onto his cock- now spearing deeper than before. It scraped against her most sensitive spot as he entered and Nuala's body began to shudder.
Azriel crawled forward until her back was firmly pressed into his chest- until he could feel the shuddering of her heart and the pounding of blood in her veins. Thrusting at this angle meant he couldn't go particularly fast- but his cock certainly ground harder against her. He slid his hands over the back of hers and held them tight.
Azriel licked at the curve of her ear as Nuala let out a series of short gasps. Her hips rose and her body tightened around him.
She wasn't the kind of female who screamed as the electric wave of an orgasm crashed over her. She gasped and began to shudder as every inch of her body zeroed in on that glorious cock between her legs. Azriel moved his hands to her shoulders and slammed into her as hard as possible while her walls grabbed him in a vice and hot moisture rushed around him.
"Azriel!" she found her voice long enough to gasp his name. When he didn't stop moving, that wave of pleasure thrust her under again and again, until spots danced in her vision and she couldn't stand the erotic sensations a moment longer.
Hearing her gasp his name- the blinding need and love in her voice- was his undoing. Azriel felt himself tightening and he threw himself down on her back once more so that his mouth was right beside her ear.
She was quiet. He wasn't.
"Nuala! Fuck!" Azriel loosed a wordless shout as he came inside her.
The sensation of his heat filling her, shooting through her with every pulse of his cock made her gasp. Azriel reached between them even while he continued to cry out with pleasure and whipped his fingers across her knot.
She couldn't pull away from his touch, and the weight of his body against her back meant that as hard as he pushed against her, she could go nowhere. His rough hand between her legs, the thundering of his heart against her back, and his lips crying out her name sent Nuala over the edge again despite herself.
"Azriel," she gasped, then opened her mouth in a wordless shout as she came again- harder than before. He was only halfway through his own orgasm when her next one began. She rippled and tightened along his length, squeezing every last drop of seed from his body.
He licked her cheek when his orgasm ended, licked the curve of her parted lips until her body pulsed and the tension suddenly left her. Nuala took a hard breath as Azriel's arms wrapped around her upper torso, pinning her to him. Her usually cold body was warm from where he'd covered her with his own- sharing some of that life she was so addicted to.
He eased himself out of her and they became shadow once more. This time Azriel guided her darkness towards the bed and beneath the covers. When they returned to their physical forms, Nuala was laying on her back, legs parted on either side of Azriel's hips, and his mouth was already attached to her neck. She couldn't see his hands beneath the warm sheets, but she could feel them stroking up and down her sides. His wings were tucked tight, which made it easier to maneuver beneath the thick sheets.
"Hello," she combed her fingers through Azriel's hair. He was sucking and nipping at the skin just beneath her breasts.
Azriel looked up with a light in his eyes few ever saw and grinned, "Hello."
"Cerridwen went off to visit our mother, so I thought I'd surprise you."
He settled against her body and Nuala hooked her legs around his hips, "I like this kind of surprise." Azriel slid his arms beneath her so that he could hold her tight even as he braced most of his weight on those arms to protect her. Their hips were locked together, his cock still throbbed against her knot, but neither made a move to begin again.
Nuala looked around a bit, and as she did Azriel lowered to devour her neck once more. Their liaisons never concluded before he'd tasted every last inch of her skin, "This cabin is beautiful, and it's just you?"
When she looked back he was forced to release her throat, "Cassian made one for each of us."
"It feels… strange in this place." Each time she'd climaxed some kind of power had rippled in the land below, the life of the Cauldron responding somehow to what was happening on the surface. Like an aftershock or the rolling of water after a stone was cast. It was as if their display of life fed that magic. Nuala considered the mighty well of power for any sign of danger and found none, "I like it."
"I thought you might," Azriel sighed and that light flickered again, "but it isn't the only beautiful place in this world." Azriel kissed her nose.
"You love the lake," Nuala cupped his cheeks in her hands, "there is no reason to be ashamed of that."
She claimed Azriel's mouth with her own to distract him as she searched his heart. His face was unreadable when he wanted, but the shadowsinger had never quite mastered his own darkness- and it spoke with all the honest emotion he kept hidden so well. The misty silence of her power stroked his and reached into every corner of the bedroom.
She could taste it in those shadows- the cabin meant more than he would ever say, all because of the love that had gone into its construction. It was made for him- no one else- and only with him in mind. This was a gift from his brother, and a gift from the new sister the Inner Circle had allowed into their lives.
The lake was surrounded with evidence of Cassian's love for his friends, a display of family, love, and life that simply couldn't be replicated anywhere in all of Prythian.
But Azriel tried to keep that hidden from Nuala, and he was willing to find a way to compromise because the female he loved was too afraid to live with the massive lake at its heart.
"I don't want to go anywhere else." She whispered as their kiss broke.
"What?"
"I don't want us to find somewhere else. I want to be here with you… and them."
Hope shot through his darkness before he could smother it, "Nuala, you don't have to push yourself. It's alright."
She shrugged in his arms, "I want to push myself, so long as you are there with me. I want you to be here with your family in this place… and I want to be here too."
Azriel opened his mouth to argue, but Nuala seized his lips with hers. He didn't move as she kissed him, and she could feel the uncertainty in his shadows. He didn't want her to feel pressured, to make herself uncomfortable just for his own happiness.
But she felt the exact same- Azriel had so little that was actually histhat he guarded it with his entire being. He wouldn't have given up the cabin- he'd never do that to Cassian- but he would have spent a lifetime secretly winnowing off once the group parted for the night, or going to the cabin whenever Nuala couldn't be with him.
When Nuala weighed that against her fear of the water, it was an easy enough choice to make.
"If you argue, I'll be angry with you." Nuala whispered onto his lips, "I want this. You can't talk me out of it."
He exhaled in a sigh, and that hope rippled through his shadows again, "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," Nuala laid back on the pillow and wrapped her arms around his neck, "I'm also stubborn, so don't test me."
"I love you," he shook his head in wonder.
"I love you too." She rolled her hips and Azriel loosed a shuddering breath as that light movement parted the folds of her sex. "Do you know why I always want you to take me the first time?"
Fast and hard- it always began that way for them. Three hundred years ago, after months of stolen glances in the halls, he'd walked into his chambers to find her on his bed, already naked and waiting. That night, and for the three months that followed, their initial joining of the night was always closer to fucking than making love.
The evening after Rhys, Nuala, and Cerridwen had returned from Under the Mountain, Azriel had found her back in his bed.
The affair resumed slowly- they went months between encounters- but bit by bit the days between grew shorter and at some point Nuala claimed his heart. Even Azriel couldn't tell when that happened. For three years now he had been with her, though as far as the Inner Circle knew he'd been dating a mystery female for the past three months. He loved her so much his heart ached when she was nearby and his soul burned when he had to dismiss her without a second glance.
But still, though they always ended the evening in a lover's embrace, they began with what he used to worry was selfish demand.
"I thought you just wanted to feel everything," he answered uncertainly.
Half-wraith, half-dead.
Nuala was warm when his body covered her- hence the thick sheets they were under now. Every position was chosen so she could feel as much of him as she wanted- his pulse, his breath, his need. It was all she could feel that pure life that she was so fascinated by. Azriel thought that was the only reason for their frantic beginning- she wanted to feel a jolt of raw passion.
"At first, yes." Nuala stroked his throat with the back of her hand and smiled at the throbbing of his pulse beneath her fingers. "I want you to take me because I want you to know that you can. That I allow it because I choose to be yours, and yours alone. I choose you- above everyone else in this world- to be mine." She brushed away the moisture gathering at the edge of his eyes, "My Azriel."
When his lips crushed against hers, Nuala felt a tear drip onto her cheek. He made a sound that might have been a moan or a whimper and tightened his grip on her, as if he could smother her in his embrace. It was the only way he could show her how much her words meant.
Azriel would be the first (and only) person to say it was stupid- at five hundred he was still carrying the shadow of that frightened, worthless eleven year old. A child alone, without any real family. But this female- this incredible, brave female who'd gone Under the Mountain to protect their friend- she thought he was worthy of her. She chosehim, when he always figured she would one day be with someone far greater than some unwanted Illyrian bastard.
It was a long while yet before he released her mouth and returned to her neck. He wanted to taste her- but even more than that he wanted to listen to her moans as he kissed down to her chest, across her collar bone, and wrapped his mouth around the curve of her breast.
Those ruined hands of his scraped across her flesh, leaving fire in their wake. Nuala grabbed one tight and held it over her own racing heart. She stroked the rippled flesh, licked at his fingertips, and reached between them to take hold of his member.
"I want you," Nuala whispered to him as her cold darkness was warmed by his own. She guided him into her and with a slow thrust they were joined, "I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine."
He wrapped his hands around her shoulders- not for leverage as he began to roll his hips, but to simply hold her. "I want you," Azriel said in a broken whisper, "I want to be yours… and I want you to be mine, if that's alright."
Nuala smiled sadly, "If it wasn't alright, I wouldn't have claimed you already." She gasped as Azriel pulled out only to slide back in slowly. "My Azriel," she whispered. He pulled out again, then paused. "MyAzriel." He thrust once more.
"My Nuala," he murmured before tracing her bottom lip with his tongue.
He never picked up his speed, and yet that wave began to build in them both. Azriel held Nuala with body and shadow, and her delicate hands traced along those mighty wings he kept pinned beneath the blankets.
When she was swept away by the force of her release, and Azriel found his own once more, the magic of the lake rumbled and something flickered through his dark shadows and her graveyard mist.
It vanished faster than lightning in a storm, but if they had looked to their power- if they had seen what was beginning to wake- Nuala and Azriel would have known their claiming wasn't just mere words. It was acknowledgement of something hidden even from their own senses.
"My Azriel." She whispered as she came once more, and that other force flickered.
"My Nuala." His simultaneous release joined with hers and made that power glow.
It wasn't ready yet, they weren't ready yet, and even though Azriel and Nuala moved together through much of the night- fate seemed content to bide its time.
The glow faded -and for a little while more, their mating bond slumbered.
—
Far too soon for his liking, Azriel woke to blinding sunlight.
It was streaming in from the glass wall where Nuala was standing perfectly still and staring out at the lake. It looked like she was facing down some mighty predator.
Azriel slipped out from beneath the blankets and stretched his wings as wide as they could go. He yawned and came to stand behind his lover, "Are you alright?" He rested a hand on her hip.
"I want to learn how to swim." Nuala looked back at Azriel, "Teach me."
He blinked a few times, "I'm sorry, my brain is still waking up and I think I heard something wrong."
"Teach me how to swim." Nuala looked back at the sapphire waters, "Mother died because she couldn't swim… so if I learn then I have nothing to be afraid of."
"I'll always give you anything you want… But how about we start small and work our way up to that? Start simple- like walking on the patio or something." Azriel wrapped his arms around her and held Nuala tight, protecting her from the distant water, "Don't push yourself too much- or at all- if you don't feel comfortable."
Nuala shot him a look, "I want to push myself. Remember what I said last night- if you keep arguing, I'll be angry with you."
Azriel kissed her, "I'm sorry. I'll help however I can." His heart soared at her continued commitment to staying at the cabin. He felt a tug- the thrum of Rhysand's magic helping Cassian announce breakfast was ready. Azriel sighed, "They're gathering."
Nuala nodded, "I suppose we shouldn't keep them waiting then."
Azriel's heart nearly stopped, "What?"
"You're mine," Nuala looked terrified, but determined, "and I'm ready for them to know it."
"Are you s-"
"Don't argue," a light sparkled in her eyes, despite her nerves. "I'm going to learn how to swim and they are going to get used to seeing me as more than a spy."
Before I lose my nerve. The words were written all over her face.
Azriel nodded, "I'm not arguing- but are you sure you don't want to tell Cerridwen first?"
Nuala considered it. It certainly felt like a betrayal to her sister, keeping this from her for so long, but she didn't want to wait. She couldn't wait, or else she might waste another three hundred years with Azriel as her secret. She wanted him, and she wanted the world to know that he was hers alone.
"Let's go get some breakfast."
—
They walked to the dining area hand-in-hand and completely in silence. Azriel cast nervous glances to her, equally worried about how the others would respond and how Nuala would handle being so near the edge of the lake.
She trembled slightly when they rounded the side of the cabin and the dining area came fully into view. Everyone was already assembled, and they were excitedly talking over one another, bombarding someone at the far end.
They were close to the edge of the group, and Azriel hit Cassian's back, "What are you all staring at?" he couldn't see through everyone to the center of attention.
When an all too familiar voice murmured in response to something Feyre had asked, Nuala froze entirely.
"Mor brought her female," Cassian said quickly, "You're not going to believe this. It's-"
Cassian's eyes found Nuala- then shot down to her hand in Azriel's. He staggered back and bumped into Rhysand, who turned to snap at Cassian.
"Did you two coordinate?" Cassian's head whipped from Nuala to whoever had everyone so excited, then back again.
One by one, the Inner Circle's attention turned to Rhys and Cassian- then to Azriel and Nuala.
When Lucien and Elain shifted, Azriel found out why Nuala froze.
Mor sat at the end of the table, hand-in-hand with her mystery lover:
Cerridwen.
Announcement:
For those of you who have been asking- chapters are posted every 3-4 days.
This is a six part series, with each part focusing on a different couple and alternating between smut and fluff.