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Chapter 3: Miscommunications lead to fallout

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I found him. He's…will be alright. We need to talk.

That was all Cassian had said. It was something. Something eased in Rhys at these words. even when they still made him wonder.

What…what did Cassian mean? Where was Azriel that Rhys couldn't reach him but Cassian could? What…

They were all milling around in the Garden of the River House, waiting for Cassian, because he had needed to admit to Mor and Amren what was going on, and Feyre and even Nesta had come down to wait for her mate's return. She was playing with Nyx, softening for the boy in a way she only rarely did for any of the adults.

Nyx was playing the glowing ball that Azril had bought him for his birthday that day. Fast becoming a favourite toy for his son, who loved the way the colours would shift.

And then Cassian landed in the garden where they had all converged. Rhys could just stare at his sudden appearance.

Nesta was the one who voiced it.

"Cassian, what happened to your hair?" she asked, incredulously. Cassian's thick dark hair, normally pulled back into a knot at the base of his neck was…non-existent. At least half of it.

"Long story," Cassian gave back, his voice dark. "I still have my eyebrows, right?"

"Is that a question you need to ask?" Feyre asked with some amusement. "Yes, you have."

"Where did you find Azriel?" Rhys demanded and Cassian turned towards him.

"At his house. He'll be out of commission for at least a week…rather plan 10 days," Cassian said evenly. That was not what Rhys had wanted to hear, but it was better than what he had half expected.

"Did you bring him to Madja?" He asked and Cassian glowered.

"As I wasn't about to kidnap him from his mate, no." He bit out those words and Rhys blinked.

"What?" he asked, hoarsely. His mate? Azriel had a mate? Since when? How? Who?

When had that happened? He hadn't…He hadn't heard a single thing about that, hadn't had one bloody inkling. Azriel had kept it a secret, hadn't he? A secret from him even, locked away from his daemati abilities.

"So you didn't know. I was wondering," Cassian said, harshly.

"Azriel has a mate?" Feyre finally managed to bring out. "Since when?"

"Did you know?" Mor asked Cassian, who shook his head.

"Did you really think I was going to pair him off with some random florist if I knew that he had a mate? No, I didn't know," Cassian assured her. "I was…shocked."

"That still doesn't explain the hair," Nesta said quietly. Cassian sighed, touching the hair with a near grievous expression.

"Yeah, it does. She burned it off me."

Rhys could just stare. Yeah, the hair was singed off rather than cut off now that he looked at it. But…how.

"She burned off your hair," he repeated flatly. What?

Why had she done it? How had she done it?

It was Cassian. Lord of Bloodshed, General of the Night Court's Armies. And some random female had…gotten him to hold still somehow to burn off his hair?!

"In her defence, I deserved it after I forced my way through her wards…and held a knife to her throat," Cassian waved him off.

This story was getting more convoluted by the minute.

He wasn't the only one who had that feeling.

Amren, the voice of reason, finally cut in.

"Start at the beginning," she demanded sharply.

"Azriel didn't show up at our weekly meeting today. Rhys couldn't reach him mentally either," Cassian explained. "So I went to check on his house. After I walked around the forest for five minutes, because the ward had an enchantment on it that deflects you away…I thought I was very smart if I forced my way through the ward…" Rhys's eyebrows rose at that. He had never even heard about an enchantment like that being worked into a ward. It spoke of paranoia more than anything.

"And did you?" Nesta asked, sounding impatient.

"Yes," Cassian said with a sigh. "That's how I got my hair singed off. I got through though and…tackled Azriel's mate to the ground. Though I didn't realise that she was his mate then. And then I held a knife to her throat that she melted out of my hand."

He threw said knife in Rhys' direction who caught it. It wasn't even similar to a knife anymore, just a cooled-down hunk of metal in a roughly puddle-like shape. He could just stare at it, turn it around in his hands.

"How did she even do that?" Mor asked, staring at it. "What is she?" It was supposed to be a rhetorical question.

Cassian answered nonetheless.

"Half Autumn Court High Fae, Half Tartera," he said. Rhys's head snapped up at that.

He had only heard of one singular female that had that very specific pairing as parents.

"She said her name is Oriana. Surname Fireborn or Belmont, depending on who I asked."

Oh.

No.

It was Amren that started laughing, a sound so unexpected that they all turned to stare at her, even when she waved them off.

"Well, isn't that a surprise," she finally said, amusement blending into her voice. "The Third daughter of the First Daughter. Oriana Fireborn and our very own Shadowsinger."

Rhys swallowed as he remembered the only time he had ever met Oriana Fireborn.

Quite frankly, he would have been fine if that stayed a singular experience in his very long life.

"You know her?" Mor asked curious, Amren just nodded.

"Good for you that you survived Little Flames' Fire," she told Cassian. "Not everybody is that lucky."

"Little Flame?" Feyre asked, sounding a mix between amused and fascinated.

"Cyra calls her that," Amren said with a shrug.

"You call the Custodian of the Mountain Cyra," Mor repeated, sounding unbelieving. Amren shrugged.

"We have tea sometimes…every few years," Amren waved her off.

"Who are you talking about?" Feyre asked.

Right. He didn't think he had ever even thought to talk to her about the Tartera. Mostly they kept to themselves, so there wasn't a need for it. And he had gladly let Amren handle all of that.

"The Tartera Faeries live in the mountains surrounding Velaris," Amren beat him to explain it. "They are known for their…smithing work. The most expensive jewellery you'll ever see is made by them."

"We have a treaty with them of sorts," Rhys explained. "They have custody of the mountain. They pay taxes. For that, we leave them alone and mostly in peace, a self-governing colony." It was more complicated than that. There were rules in that treaty, about protection and what Rhysand could and couldn't expect from them. But they were peaceful folk who could be quite welcome to other species of faeries and High Fae if they had the opportunity. And they looked after the mountain and the Eternal Flame and kept mostly to themselves.

It was a mutually beneficial agreement for both sides.

"I…Don't we need to keep an eye on them?" Feyre wondered. "I…You never even mentioned them."

"They are quite peaceful," Amren said with a shrug. "They are a matriarchal society. Cyra is their leader. She has them very well in hand and stands for nothing that we wouldn't allow. If anything…she is stricter about it. They worship the Eternal Flame, after the legends gifted to them by the Mother herself. And they are very happy to stay in their mines and make money hand over fist. They haven't been involved in any war in millennia."

This was a good thing because Rhys was quite sure that Pyrithian would fall if they left their mountain to make war.

"They make art, not war. Let other creatures make war, let Tartera marry. It's their two mottos of sorts," he recounted.

"This is going to have some interesting ramifications," Amren thought aloud, tapping a finger against her chin. "Oriana Firebron is Cyra's granddaughter. The Third daughter of her heiress Adara. The Third Daughter of the First Daughter."

"What does that mean?" Feyre asked.

"It means that Azriel is mated to a bloody princess," Cassian said with a snort and a shake of his head. "Only he would manage to do that."

"The only half-fae of all her daughters," Amren said. "And admittedly, the most powerful one."

Yeah, that wasn't up for discussion. All three daughters were powerful in their own way but Oriana had an edge over her two sisters, even when he had met her at 18. Now….200 years later, he wondered into what that pure magical power had grown.

It must be a sight to behold.

"She is a magical powerhouse, I wouldn't bet against her," Cassian said with a shrug.

"How is Azriel?" he asked, changing the topic, because he had no clue how to deal with these new developments.

Oriana Fireborn. Of all the Faes in Pyrithian…this was the one that…turned out to be Azriel's mate.

"Azriel is unconscious and currently in a healing trance, which I have never even heard about," Cassian said, his voice carefully even. "He had multiple points of inner bleeding and lost consciousness at her, which in turn made her think that he was going to die. He didn't. She got him a healer. She pretty much dotes on him," he said with a shrug. "It's cute. Even when she's fucking terrifying."

"Why?" Feyre asked, curiously, looking surprised at that assessment from Cassian.

"You have ever seen a Tartera Fairie, Feyre?" Cassian asked her. Feyre nodded carefully.

"Mostly I just see shadows…their eyes are like glowing coals," his mate responded hesitantly.

"Imagine a High Fae with skin the colour of coal and eyes that aren't glowing coals but are literal flames that move," Cassian said with a shake of his head. "She's scary. Believe me. Even when she's…nice, I suppose."

Rhys had a few other words to describe her.

"So what happened to your favourite jacket 200 years ago when you had a meeting with the Custodian of the Mountain?"

He couldn't help but shudder at Cassian's question.

"Yes, Rhysand, let's talk about that diplomatic incident," Amren said drily. "When you decided that my advice was clearly unneeded and you knew so much better."

"Let's not talk about it," he suggested.

Cassian just shrugged. "I'll ask her then. Oriana said she would let me know when Azriel was awake and talking again."

That was good. "Anything else?" Rhys asked.

"Yes," Cassian said tightly."What exactly happened that solstice, Rhysand?"

Right.

His breath caught in his throat at that question.

"I do not know what you are talking about," he answered carefully. He wasn't planning to tell Cassian what exactly had gone down. Especially not with the rest of his family in earshot. But Cassian was clearly a dog with a bone.

"Don't lie to me," Cassian snapped. "You and Azriel have been on the odds with each other for the better part of three years. Ever since that cauldron-forsaken solstice." It was true. For Azriel at least. Rhys hadn't been angry with his brother. But clearly, Azriel was.

"Oriana asked me a question. Actually two," Cassian changed the topic suddenly and Rhys just stared at him.

"And what does it matter?" he asked. What did it matter what kind of question Oriana Fireborn decided to ask Cassian?

"She's our brother's mate. It matters," Cassian cut him off. "The first was that maybe I should think about why Azriel wouldn't tell any of us that he found his mate," Cassian pointed out. "He's a private person, we know that. But Azriel and Oriana have clearly been together for more than a few days. or even weeks. It has been at least a month or two. Long enough that she moved in with him, that she turned his house into a home…that he buys table linens for them and that she wears one of his shadows as a fucking necklace."

Oh dear.

Azriel's shadows had taken a liking to her.

They were all going to die.

"So that was the first. Why didn't Azriel tell us?" Cassian continued. "And then the second question was who exactly had told Azriel that if he wanted to have sex, he should go to a pleasure hall and pay for it."

He could feel the colour leech out of his face, as Feyre reached for Nyx, but he said nothing.

"I didn't tell him that Rhys. So who did?" Cassian demanded.

"You don't know the context of that," he finally said quietly, a shocked gasp coming from either Mor or Feyre."

"Oh no, I don't," Cassian agreed, his voice so even that he must be forcefully restricting everything he was feeling because his siphons were glowing in a dully red. "But I can guess…So Rhysand. What happened at that solstice? What had it to do with Elain and what exactly did you tell Azriel?" he spat out the words into Rhys' face.

"It doesn't matter," he said quietly. It didn't. Azriel had met his mate and was clearly happy with her, so…whatever he had said about Elain…that was water long under the bridge…right?

"It matters," Cassian snapped. "I wanna know why my brother, who I love…why he didn't think that he could trust me with meeting his mate. With the most precious thing in his life. Why he kept her a secret? Not because of privacy…but because he was terrified, Rhys! Why else would Azriel keep her a secret? He kept her a secret from us. To protect her. Why would he feel like he needed to protect his mate? From us? From his family?"

He couldn't help but flinch.

"Why would Azriel do that? Unless you did something. Unless he thought that he needed to protect his mate from you?"

"It was nearly three years ago," Rhys protested, but Cassian wasn't having it.

"Yes, and it still matters. So tell me. Right now. WHAT HAPPENED AT THAT SOLSTICE?" Cassian's voice boomed and Rhys knew that…he wasn't going to get out of this now.

"Azriel…Azriel fancied himself in love with Elain," he said carefully. "And that Solstice…I found the two of them seconds away from…" he trailed off.

"From what?" Nesta demanded.

"Well, he wasn't calmly explaining his feelings to her," he snapped right back. "Lucien was literally upstairs. Anybody would have walked in. So I ordered Azriel to come to my office."

"And then?" Cassian asked, still glaring at him.

"Then I told him not to pursue her," he admitted quietly. It was quiet. "She was a mated female. If this was going to go wrong, we would have been at war with Autumn and with Day. Lucien could have called a blood duel," he tried to explain.

"Azriel would have won," Cassian said, crossing his arms. Maybe he would have. Maybe he didn't.

"I couldn't take the risk of that," he said quietly.

"So you told him not to pursue her," Nesta repeated and he realised that..well. That wasn't the whole truth.

"No, I ordered him," Rhys said quietly.

"You ordered him," Cassian spat out the words.

He just nodded. "And Azriel is still moping around that. So that happened."

"So when exactly did you tell him to go to that pleasure hall?" Nesta asked sharply. "Before or after you ordered him away from the woman he loved?"

"He didn't love her," Rhys corrected her. "And that was after. If he needed to get that out of his system, he could do that in a way that wasn't going to put our Court at risk. And besides, it clearly all worked out, he found his mate, Elain is happy with Lucien," he added.

Cassian just stared at him, as Nesta huffed.

"Right," Cassian agreed, sarcasm bleeding from every word. "I am going to go home now, Rhys. Before I wring your fucking neck where your son will see that."

He was surprised by the venom that coated every word.

"He's our brother, Rhysand. Our brother," Cassian ranted.

"He was acting completely irrational," Rhys hit back. Azriel hadn't even thought about the consequences of his actions. Of what it could mean for Pyrithian at large.

"He was in love!" Cassian disagreed sharply.

"He was infatuated, he wasn't in love," Rhys snapped, his temper finally flaring. "What was I supposed to do, Cassian? Let him go and kill Lucien and put us at war with two Courts? Was I supposed to do that?!"

"If Lucien had called a Blood Duel, that wouldn't have resulted in a war!" Cassian snapped. "If Lucien had called a blood duel, everybody would have known what he agreed to. Death is literally the result of that. Autumn wouldn't have gone to war for a son that wasn't really Beron's in the first place! And for Helion? You think he would have started a war because his son was stupid enough to call a Blood Duel that he could just lose?"

He had never thought about it, quite like that.

"And Rhys…Azriel wasn't infatuated with Elain. He loved her," Cassian said quietly. "Azriel would have defied every damn Court for you. He did it for you. You brought home Feyre to us and he would have gone to the ends of the earth for her. Because he knew how important she was to you! And I could maybe forgive you for all of that…but to tell Azriel to go to a pleasure hall to find somebody to fuck because clearly, nobody else would want him? How could you say that?" Cassian asked him.

"I didn't say that," he defended himself. "I didn't say that."

"You know that that is how he understood it. That he would need to pay for sex because he's so disgusting that that is the only way he could get somebody to pretend to care for him. That's how he understood it, Rhys," Cassian hissed. "We both know him, Rhys. We know how he gets. How he thinks that he is never good enough, regardless of what he does. And you said that to him!"

He swallowed. Cassian's words were hitting something deep in him, something that he didn't like to think about too much, and didn't like to reflect on. It was…

"You know, Oriana warned me that if she found out who told Azriel that, she was going to put them on fire. I told her I would hold them down for her," Cassian said with a laugh that didn't sound amused in the slightest. "So Rhys ... just leave Azriel alone. Leave me alone. And for cauldron's sake, leave Oriana alone unless you want her to burn you to a fucking crisp." He flinched at these words. "And I highly doubt that that is a idle threat from her."

And then Cassian stomped away, Nesta hot on his heels. And he was left there sitting in the grass, staring at his son sitting in Feyre's lap.

Feyre was looking at him, blue eyes wide and shining with something, her mouth set in a firm line.

"Feyre," he choked out.

"Don't," she cut him off, harshly. "I am just going to say something that I am going to regret later."

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