Chapter 8
Arwen had been checked on a few times that day. Probably to figure out if she was faking it or not. Bastards. They should know that she enjoyed training enough to put through with it if it was nothing more than a headache and a bit of tire from the night before. If she had the mind, her brother would have a broken nose from one of her shoes.
By the time her stomach was calling for dinner, which had yet to appear in her room, she was frustrated enough with staying in the one room all day to go searching for it. Each step was slow and calculated.
It was a bitter reminder of the months after she had lost her wings. A time when simply walking was such an effort that there were days Arwen did not have the stamina to even try. Stumbling, off-centred, over-compensation for a weight that was no longer there. Wings were like tails, helping them balance and could be twisted and shifted around like extra limbs.
She kept a hand to a wall. Arwen's body kept switching between abnormally light, and like the weight of the mountains were upon her shoulders. Her skin itched and something buzzed through her. The sensation was new, and if she deigned to admit itâfrightening. I'm not sick, she kept telling herself. Arwen knew sick, she knew hungover.
She found Cassian, Rhysand and Mor waiting in the main gallery near the pavilion entrance.
"What are you doing up?" Cassian asked, the first to notice her.
"I'm starved," she answered through a weak smile.
He gave a grunt of agreement as Rhysand took her arm once the wall disappeared. "Az will be here any minute. He's dropping off paperwork then we're heading to the townhouse for dinner." They had been waiting for some time, but Rhysand assured them that he had entered through Velaris's wards not long ago.
"Do you want to come with us?" her brother asked. "Or I can send food to your room again."
"I'll come," she said, determined to at least enjoy one meal with her family.
Sure enough, the sound of wings came as Azriel landed with the swift grace of a feline. He tucked his wings in tight, extracting folded papers from his inner jacket pocket. As a natural movement, he surveyed his environment with a trained eye, noting everything he could see, hear, smell. His shadows whispered into his ears of everything else. Azriel's eyes lingered on his mate, who leaned against her brother as he handed the same male his report. Rhys took it, flipping through the first couple of pages and then with a swish of his hand, it disappeared.
He heard Rhys mention something about dinner down at the townhouse and he gave a mute nod of agreement. His desires before returning centred on crawling to his own room and spending the night alone after the long and hard day of flight, tracking, and reporting. That was until he watched Arwen tiredly blink up at him, her lips careening in a small smile of welcome. He hoped he managed one back. Now, he knew he would have to follow them, so he could put his mind at rest at seeing her poorly appearance. What had happened since last night?
They made their way to the pavilion, Cassian hauling Mor to his chest who theatrically draped herself. Azriel stayed behind Rhysand as he picked up Arwen, her cheek resting on his shoulder where Azriel could watch her face.
Arwen smiled at him again. Azriel was sure he managed one back this time.
Her untamed hair tore against the wind as Rhys took to the sky, her fingers holding his jacket tight. She watched Azriel over his shoulder. The way the wind rippled through his short waves, the slight adjustments of his wings. The way is his eyes would drift over to hers every few seconds. Devastatingly handsome. Arwen tucked her head back into her brother's neck, so she didn't stare the entire time.
"You're not going to roll out of my arms, this time then?" he taunted her. "Because we can get this over with quicker if I just drop you."
"Where's the fun in that?" she scoffed. "I've got to get a bit of fear out of you. And a bit of annoyance. Otherwise I'll be neglecting the duty of a sibling." The view of Velaris was utterly brilliant. The city was just being taken by sunset, the last amber lights of day glittering over the Sidra.
"Yet I'm not allowed to annoy you?" Rhys prompted back with a dry smile.
"Your existence annoys me enough." There was a sudden drop, the strength of his arms disappearing just long enough to elicit a short shriek that had Cassian and Mor chuckling. Arwen grumbled and held tighter to his neck.
"What was that?" Rhysand sang, barely doing anything to smother his smile. He heard Arwen grumble, about to say somethingâthen she slipped. Or turned. Or something. All he knew, was that her weight disappeared from his arms. And he wasn't the one to let go.
~
Arwen sucked in a draw of air as she began to fall. She hadn't even felt him let go, but he must have as she had been comfortable and had no intention of twisting from his grip. The three figures with their wings spread out, casted dark shadows against the cerulean sky. It was a second, perhaps two or three, before Rhysand flew down after her. Arwen smiled, but didn't laugh as usual as she had no intention of feeling the rush of air that night. Her hand reached upwards but her brother took his time to catch up.
Cassian remained higher with Mor but Azriel had drifted lower.
Rhysand's wings tightened against his back as he sped up his dive as she met the halfway mark between where they once were and the grounds of Velaris. She manoeuvred her arm so it would hook around his neck and he stretched out his arms so she would slip into them before he spread his wings once again.
He caught her, wings shifting outwards.
But she wasn't in his arms. Rhysand frowned and readjusted his flight path again. He was so sure he had her. Her body was right there, and his arms were underneath her back and legs.
Arwen saw his frown and her own formed. She lengthened out her arm again to him. Rhysand didn't pull these tricks as Cassian did. He didn't wait and risk collision. In fact, she was rather sure he hated when she would twist away and let herself fall.
Her brother sped his dive, now his hand reaching for hers as well. The wind ripped at her hair, sending it snapping around her face. Arwen just made out his hand equalling with hers. He closed his fingers around her wrist yet she didn't feel his firm grip. She felt nothing but air.
His hand was going right through her. Rhysand tried again, then again, using both arms to try and grab her and halt her plummeting.
Panic swelled in his eyesâsomething she did not miss. "Rhys," she cried warily. She was still falling, plunging towards the ground. Rhysand tightened his wings as close and narrow as they would go, enough to be painful. He kept waving his arm through the air, through his sister; but she was as tangible as smoke itself.
It wasn't possible. He kept denying that what he was seeing was true. He couldn't even touch her, couldn't feel her. He tried not to imagine what would happen if she hit the ground, but a few images struck his mind. His heart started pounding painfully.
Azriel had been observing the fall mindlessly at first. But now he was streamlining towards them both, Cassian flying somewhere behind him with Mor as he too caught on that something wasn't right.
"Take my hand!" Rhys gritted through a cry. Arwen was breathless, unable to even respond past attempting to follow the command which was given in the voice of a High Lord. His hands flung through her body as though she was nothing but a mirage.
And the ground was becoming terrifyingly close.
Azriel appeared beside him, his hand also reaching out but there was no difference. It was her, not Rhysand. Arwen let out a whimpering wail as her desperate clawing failed. "Arwen!" He didn't let his eyes off her, commanding his shadows to her form but they weren't strong enough to stop her fall even if they could hold her.
Rhys's eyes flickered behind her in what he knew were the last few precious seconds they had left to figure something out. Arwen screamed, their hands still passing through one another. His clenched teeth bared as one of his own cries of frustration surfaced.
Then he felt skin.
He took a viper grip along her forearm, wings snapping out so hard and fast that it strained his back and sent a spike of pain down his spine. Just as they were about to pass the roof of a city building, Arwen swung like a pendulum from her brother's grip, her feet sweeping just metres from the ground.
Azriel had to twist out of the way but he managed to take flight a second after, dodging a small group of civilians that had stopped to watch the spectacle. He paid them no mind, soaring back into the air above. He watched Rhys lift her past the buildings and over the wide Sidra River.
Then she was falling again.
Rhysand's flight faltered harshly, but Azriel was already diving just seconds behind him. Arwen's body left a hard ripple through the water and he dived through it, following the trail of bubbles.
A world of whitewash surrounded him the moment he dived into the water. It was dark, barely a streak of light penetrating anything below the surface. Azriel kept his wings tight, kicking and stroking his arms through the water without a thought of how far down he was going.
He could just see her body through the cloak of darkness. Her hand was still lifted, fingers curled around water. He swam deeper as she sunk, eyes closed. Move, move, move, his mind screamed at him. Azriel closed his hand around hers, bubbles passing his lips in the breath of relief that he could feel it. He hauled her to his front and started to kick back to the surface.
Rhys had not been far behind him, metres below the surface but he rose back up and breached, then disappeared into thin air. Azriel kept kicking, her legs limply grazing between his. His head broke through to the cool air, his lungs seizing a new breath. Rhysand had winnowed to the edge where Mor stood, Cassian knelt near the water. Azriel kicked hard, balancing her head over his shoulder to where his brothers' hands were extended and waiting.
He clasped onto the crafted stone edge of the river, the other arm around her thighs and heaved his weight up. Rhysand and Cassian grabbed her from underneath her arms, tugging her back onto solid ground.
Her wet hair clung to a pale face.
"What in Cauldron's name happened?" Mor demanded, voice taut.
Rhysand ignored her, examining his sister. He lifted and twisted her around, laying her front over his arm and began to alternate between rubbing her back and giving hard thumps with his palm. "Come on, come on," he muttered.
Cassian offered his hand to Azriel but the spymaster ignored it, his own strength enough to bring himself back to the riverside. He fell into action, stone-faced and silent, kneeling on the other side of his mate. He cupped her jaw, pinching it open and rested her forehead in his other palm to keep her airway clear.
Cassian knelt on a knee, looking between all four of them. Mor was the only one to meet his gaze, but they were just as equally lost.
Arwen coughed. Just a small, choking sound, yet one that relieved Rhysand of a growing pain in his chest. He continued rubbing her back, but softening his pats as her coughing grew, water spluttering from her mouth.
Arwen flung her eyes open, hands scraping against the ground. At her push, hands assisted her into sitting up and she fell towards the most comfortable and familiar ones she recognised. What had happened to her? "Rhys." Her voice broke, tears swelling in her eyes as she gripped tightly onto his arm as he held her to his chest. She hadn't been able to feel him. She had slipped through him like a ghost.
"I've got you," he whispered. "I've got you."
Azriel fell back onto the path, arms stretched straight and balanced over his knees. Droplets of water hung from his hair, tickling around his eyes. He still said nothing as he watched Arwen cling to her brother like everything depended on it. He couldn't blame her for that. He wanted to hold her too, to prove to his mind that she was thereâthat he could.
Rhysand's eyes were wide, not truly focused on anything. But the others could see the terror behind them. The dwindling reservoir of panic as he held the back of her head.
It was Cassian who broke the silence. "What the absolute fuck just happened?" he whispered.