Chapter 5

It took a few more weeks for Elain to come round more, she woke one morning her vision and hearing much clearer, sheer is what Azriel said she was and it made sense slightly even though she knew nothing about what she truly was. She was fae now and born by the cauldron and it had given her a gift or a curse, it certainly felt like a curse at first but what if these visions could help and save her friends and loved ones?

Elain learnt that the two fae which were her hand maids were named Cerridwen and Nuala and where part wraith, she had become quite attached to them and she would help them with their chores around the house which Elain discovered were one of multiple of Rhys homes, she much preferred this house then the house of wind, the town house they named this one and it was much more homely. Since coming down here she hadn't gone back up to the house of wind as there was no reason for her to. She was also introduced to the other members of Rhys and Feyra's court, there were two other females in his court, a short female with a short temper, she reminded Elain of Nesta which unsurprisingly they got on fairly well which Elain was happy to see Nesta adjusting to there new lives, the other female was a tall beautiful blonde fae, apart from when the red haired male which she found out was named Lucien which happened to be her mate was around Elain was relatively fine to her new life. Her heart was still mending from the mess Greysen had done to it and every time Elain caught the glances Azriel made towards Mor and saw the pinning in his eyes Elain felt her heart hurt each time and it felt if that wound was reopening again. She told herself she just needed time to heal and would ask herself why did it hurt her to see Azriel with someone? He had known Mor for hundreds of years and her weeks, she had no right to feel anything and besides what made her think he would be interested in her? He mostly likely saw her as an extension to Feyra or even a little sister herself, Mor was sexy and beautiful and Elain was a girl comparison, she could never compete and really why would she try? However, when Lucien was around it was completely different, she hadn't failed noticed Azriel was always absent unless he needed to be there was Lucien was nearby. Feyra had explained what a mate was and the "tug" she felt towards Lucien meant, Elain failed to tell Feyra however that when he was around, she felt fear and pain not arousal and want. Lucien turned out to be relatively a kind and nice male from what Feyra had told her but Elain could not get passed what he had done to her, that he had taken her from her home, even if he didn't want to do it he still did and she could not forgive him, his presence hurt her physically and emotional and the strain to just get simple words out in his presence was killer to her, she wondered if there bond was broken from the start, maybe whatever to cauldron did to her got in the way of her mating bond, maybe it hurt because it was connected to the wrong partner? Whenever she tried to suggest this to anyone, they shot her theory down quickly like it was forbidden to even question it, the only thing Elain was certain about the bond was she didn't want it, she wanted her own choice on who to love, she felt it was the one choice she had left and would not let this mating bond stop that.

"Why can't you do it?" Cassian asked Azriel, Azriel sighed "because you're the general and you'd be better at training them then me" the truth was Azriel wasn't sure how being so close to her would make him feel or act. Azriel had asked Cassian if he could teach Nesta and Elain self-defence, considering war was coming it only made sense they learn some and he prayed they wouldn't need to act upon it. "Fine, I guess they do need more of an expert and plus your far to strict when training" Cassian smirked at his brother, "you ask Nesta and ill ask Elain" he says casually "wait?! Why do I have to confront Nesta? This is your idea, I'm the one training them" Azriel smirks to himself " because you just cant pass up the opportunity to talk to her" he couldn't help but tease his brother who's cheeks turned crimson, Azriel found it amusing how smitten Cassian was even if he claimed to hate her, though Azriel was worried his brother showed his feelings too obvious and Nesta seemed to sort to easily break Cass heart.

Elain was searching through her wardrobe on what she should wear today when a gentle knock came at her bedroom door, she tied her dress robe around herself and opened the door to find Azriel standing there. "We thought you and Nesta might want to learn some self defence with war coming, its highly necessary for you to be able to protect yourself" his voice was soft but had a hint of concern and his gaze was strong, Elain felt her heart flutter at his concern and greeted him with a smile "that's a good idea, I'm not sure ill be any good at it but ill try" he nods his head to her " ill get Nuala to bring you some fighting leathers to change into" Elain felt her cheeks burn, fighting leathers….she couldn't wear something so figure hugging around males "c could I wear something less ummm…..revealing please" she quickly looked away as his own cheeks started to go pink, her own flush intensifying "uh sure, I'm sure we can find you some pants and a tunic…..it's just dresses aren't really free enough to fight in" she nodded thanks and quickly closed the door, her heart was pounding with embarrassment, if he didn't before he certainly didn't see her as a woman but a innocent little girl but how could she wear such a thing, Elain though steam was escaping her ears from her embarrassment.

Azriel blinked a few times as the door closed in his face, he personally would of loved to she her in fighting leathers, the thought of her in leathers all sweaty and red faced started to make his cock hard and he quickly shook his head to banish the image, probably a good thing she decided against the leathers, "ill be back in 30 minutes to take you up to the house of wind" he heard a whimpering "ok" from behind the door and sent a shadow to inform Nuala.

Nuala was with Elain within 10 minutes with a black pants and a dark blue tunic, she braided Elaine's hair and Elain looked at herself in the mirror " I look umm" "ridiculous" the wraith replied for her and Elain let out a sigh "I guess elegance isn't what were looking for when your protecting yourself" she looks more at herself, this certainly wasn't her colour or style but it was still better then the leathers, it wasn't much longer before a gentle knock was at the door again and Elain opened it to see Azriel staring at her, his lips etched into a half smile, was he laughing at her? Of course, she looked stupid but that was mean " Hey! Knock it off, I don't look that bad" she noticed him try and correct his face but failed, he looked even more amused then a moment before "I didn't say anything" "your face did, I bet if you wore a frilly shirt you'd look just as ridiculous" she started to picture it, Azriel in a field full of wildflowers and a open tied dark frilled shirt….the only thing that was ridiculous about her image was how unridiculous he looked, he face started to burn again "I could pull it off" he smirks down at her, clearly away of her flush. "t this isn't what I thought self-defence training would be" she giggles, he chuckles in response and puts out his hand to her for her to take as he winnows them both to the house of wind.

Azriel and Elain appear in the training court and Azriel notices Cassian alone, Azriel knew Nesta wouldn't join but it was worth a try. He walks up to his brother with Elain by his side, he can tell he's sulking, "did she slam the door in your face?" Cassian glares at his brother in answer then he turns his gaze to Elain and a giant grin appears on his face, "don't you start too" he hears her demand, there something rather charming about how she tries and put them in there place, if only she could use that tone on him alone, when there alone and he's tied to a chair and…stop it, he quickly says to himself, stop being a creep.

Elain watches Azriel move away to the edge of the pitch then turns her attention to the hulking male in front of her. " First things first I want you to show me what you would do to protect yourself against and attacker, I'm going to come at you slowly and I want you to show me what you'd do" " I only know what Nesta and Feyra told me to do if someone was trying to hurt me" " alright sweetheart, show me what you've got" Cassian wasn't trying to sound condescending but considering Elain was less then half his size and bulk she couldn't blame him for talking to her that way but she did feel something inside her snap. He started to come over to her and a menacing stride and as he got close enough she did what she was always told to do if a male was coming to hurt her, she lifted her leg with all her might and kicked Cassian right between his legs and started to run in the opposite direction, she heard Cassian whimper and let out a cough then she heard Azriel burst out laughing his hand slapped his own knee as he sat on the bench, she had never seen him like that. "maybe don't call her sweetheart next time Cass" Azriel mocked him, Elain turned her attention to Cassian and saw him bent over with his hands cradling his manhood, Elain had never actually had to do that before or seen it done but she now knew why both of her sisters had told her to do it, she ran back over to Cassian shock and horror in her eyes, had she really just hurt him? Oh, the mother no, she hoped she hadn't, she wasn't meant to. "I'm so sorry Cass" she gently puts a hand on his shoulder, and she notices he's grinning devilishly " seems I drastically underestimated you, glad I'm not Greysen as the next time you see him just do that to him" he manages to get out through whines. He stands back up like nothing had just happened " that was good but unfortunately you can always rely on a kick to the balls, especially if your attack doesn't have any" for the next two hours Cassian went through the various weak spots for her to aim for to unable an opponent to give her enough time to run to safety. By the time the session was up Elain was covered in sweat and a few bruised and proud of herself and content, Cassian placed a giant hand on the top of her back as pat and walked her back over to Azriel who was stalking towards them.

Azriel had watched them train intensely, he was impressed how quick she picked up different techniques and felt confident if she practiced shed be able to keep herself safe when he cannot, he knew in the upcoming conflict he won't be able to keep her 100% safe and needed to be able to fight himself without her safety distracting him. "That was very entertaining, It seemed you had met your match Cass" Cassian raised his eye brow and smirked " maybe you should train our little ball kicker next time, see if she can get the best of the spy master" Azriel tried to keep him composure but knew training her himself wouldn't be wise, he was wary or the close contact with her but he noticed her gaze on him eager for him to say yes. "we'll see how you handle yourself first".