chapter sixteen

─── hunting 

          "𝔐aiya, what do you want done with the spares?" I turned at Firoh's shout, pushing the leaders head further into the ground as I located my second in command. The taller man was walking along a row of prisoners as I hummed.

"Have we got any use for them?"

"No."

"Then kill them." I grabbed the leader by the wings, dragging him along behind me as he whimpered and cried out. Isaak walked on the other side of me, cleaning blood from his hands. "The women and children?"

"Memories have been wiped, all injuries healed and sent along to the women's only camp in Illyria. A few of ours are following and making sure they arrive." Isaak explained, as he wiped the last of the blood from his hand. "They'll be there by morning and we'll ensure that the leader is ready for them."

"Good. Go check over our soldiers, then come home." I told him, before grabbing Miller, my head strategist. "Help Firoh burn the bodies, but please try not to start a forest fire."

"Aye." He shot me a lazy salute, before hurrying off to hopefully prevent a forest fire. I'm not sure how much faith I had in them, but I could only hope they'd manage that.

"Please, do not..." I gave the leader another kick in the face, scowling as he dared to touch my leg with his grubby little hands. 

"You clipped little girls wings and betrayed your court, you don't get to talk," I hissed at him, scowling further. "Now, we're going back to Hewn so I can chuck you in a dungeon cell and torture you to my heart's content."

He began to sob, pleading and begging as more of my soldiers appeared, disposing of the Illyrian soldiers that had deflected against the Court. They'd come down from Illyria, where they knew they'd be hunted for what they did to young girls, and instead ended up near to Hewn so we'd taken it upon ourselves to dispose of them.

I rolled my eyes at the whining, making a mental note to take his tongue when I went to visit him and torture the location of the other deflected Illyrians from his lips. Maybe, when I was finished, I'd send his wings to Rhysand in a box.

The wind whipped around me, tugging at my hair and exposed skin, before I reappeared in the entry hall of the Hewn City. Soldiers rushed towards me in an instance, ready for my command.

"Take him to the cells, chain him up and take his siphons." I handed the prisoner over to my dungeon guards, who nodded and dragged him away. Turning back to the others, I cocked an eyebrow. "Why are you here and not training?"

"The Illyrian is here." Keir brushed through the crowd, waving the other soldiers away. He folded his arms across his chest, falling in beside me as my eyebrows furrowed. Azriel was here? 

"He is, is he?" I raised an eyebrow, trying to think if I missed an important event but his birthday wasn't for months and our anniversary was two months after that. My birthday was a month ago. "Why?"

"He didn't say." Keir replied, as he continued to walk me towards the throne room and along the streets. Children rushed past us, giggling and playing with each other, as others headed for the markets in the middle levels of Hewn. The throne room was located at the top, meaning it was a fairly long walk upwards, but it was worth it. The room had windows carved out of it, allowing me to look across Hewn and see every bit of it. It was large enough for most citizens to enter when we had city wide meetings, allowing everyone's voice to be heard on whatever topic was on the agenda to be discussed, and it was where my seat of power was.

"Ah, helpful." I muttered, before shaking my head. "It's probably about the orb. I'll deal with this then."

"Of course." Keir nodded, and I turned, watching as the legions started to reappear down in the training grounds. I could see lamps being lit up and I knew they'd be having celebrations. The streets were busy, the houses were full and the mines were finishing up their day's work as I smiled. Turning on my heel, I noted that Keir had disappeared towards his own home, taking the time to trek the final few steps into the throne room. I wanted to hurry, to find my mate as quickly as possible, but I had a reputation to maintain.

Entering the throne room, I smiled at the sight of my mate at the other end of the hall. He was sitting on the steps ahead of my throne, sharpening the dagger I'd gifted him years ago, his wings taking advantage of the wide space to spread out to their fullest extent. Shadows curled around his fighting leathers and his siphons basked him in an azure glow.

"Well, this is a surprise. I thought you had business in Velaris." Azriel looked up, a smile growing on his face as he sheathed his dagger and stood up. I reached up, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and clinging onto him as he crushed me into his chest. "But I'm always happy to see my favourite bat."

"Maiya," He purred as I scratched at the joints of his wings, causing them to flare open. He sighed, before pulling away to press a soft kiss to my lips. "That nickname is growing old."

"Not for me." I teased, before kissing him once more. "So, why are you here? Business or pleasure?"

"It's always a pleasure when I get to see my mate's beautiful face."

"Have you been taking lessons from Cassian?" I teased as Azriel laughed softly, his head tilting back but hands staying wrapped around my waist. "But seriously. Why are you here?"

"Rhysand wants me to speak with you and why are you covered in blood?" Azriel pulled away, looking me up and down with concern plastered all over his face. "Are you injured? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm alright." I smiled, as he continued to check over my body despite my protests. I grabbed onto his head, bringing it up so that he could look into my eyes. "Azriel, I am alright. It is not my blood."

His eyes narrowed. "Who's blood is it?"

"Rogue Illyrians." He looked unimpressed as I grinned at him. "They betrayed the court and I didn't harm any woman or children, honest. They would just on our borders."

"Where did you send them?"

"I told my legion to take them to the women's only Illyrian camp." I shrugged my shoulders. 

"And the leader?" Azriel cocked an eyebrow as I spun on my heel and turned away from him, kissing my teeth. "If I go into the dungeon, am I going to find the leader?"

"There's a possibility that there might be an Illyrian in there." I shrugged, grinning at him over my shoulder as I set my sword down.

"You know that's mine and Cassian's job that you're stealing." Azriel pointed a finger at me as I sat down on my throne, leaning back into the seat with a grin. "Stop doing it."

"But then I have nothing fun to do." I whined, closing my eyes as Azriel's amusement drifted down the bond. "Plus, it's not my fault that you're slow. That sounds like a you problem, not a me problem."

"What do you want me to tell Rhysand?"

"That is obviously could not have been me." I shook my head as Azriel hid a smile. "I'm not allowed out of the Hewn City. It was other Illyrians. In fact, it was you."

"It wasn't me though and he'd know that was a lie." Azriel prodded at the side of my ribs as I batted his hands away. "Look, I've come here because-"

"-Rhysand needs something and is too much of a pussy to come and get it from me, so he sent you because he knows I won't kill you." I raised an eyebrow as Azriel nodded. "What do you want?"

"The orb."

"What orb?" I decided to play dumb.

"The orb with the truth magic in it from the human queens. The Veritas?" I made a face of recognition, as I nodded, knowing what he was talking about. "So?"

"No."

"Maiya..." Azriel pleaded, his eyebrow cocked an arms folded across his chest. "We need it. I know you talked about it with your advisors. There's another war coming and we need the human queens on our side. We also need them to give us their part of the Book of Breathings and the only way we can do that is if they trust us."

"It is not my problem."

"But it is my problem." Azriel crouched in front of me, grabbing my hands as I looked down at his wide hazel eyes, "and because you're my mate and love me dearly, you're going to give it to me?"

I took a deep breath, a glare forming on my face before I held my hand out and summoned the Veritas. It appeared in my hand, as Azriel smiled.

"I love you."

"You're terrible." I placed it into his hands as he stood up and grinned. "Now get out of my court Azriel or I will chase you out."

He didn't move, placing the orb into a bag and turning back to me as I watched him.

"What are you still doing here? I thought you had to get back to Rhysand," I cocked an eyebrow as Azriel shook his head and sat down in front of me.

"You were scratching at your back again." He pointed out, as I stopped what I was doing. Sure enough, I was scratching at the back of my armour where the scars of my wings were hidden. "You've had a bad day that means."

"It's nothing."

"Hm, I'll stay for a few hours." Azriel pulled me to my feet, grabbing the bag. "Tell Rhysand that you were uncooperative in giving me the information and I had to spend hours trying to persuade you to tell me."

"You can?" I perked up at the thought, clutching onto his scarred hands as he nodded. 

"I'll even make you some more grybai before I go back." Azriel promised, as I grinned at the thought. "I know that they are you favourite."

Out of all the Northern Illyrian dishes that Azriel had created for me, at the behest of his mother, Grybai was my favourite of it all. He only made them rarely, close to the winter solstice time, but they had been my comfort food for years to get me through long winters where Azriel was not with me and my scars hurt more than not.

His mother also knew this, and would make them whenever I came, along with hearty food made with all different kinds of root vegetables that she grew herself. Azriel and I thought that she was intent on fattening us up, but we both loved it. Neither of us had that sort of home cooking, my own mother having not been there, and Azriel not having met his mother until he was in his early sixties. He had managed to find her, tracking her down and introducing himself to her, and from there, she'd become a part of our lives, and an important part at that.

"Thank you." I squeezed his hand gently, before leading him through the back corridors, and down into the upper level of my home. It was near the top, close to the throne room, and had been the family home before my family had died or been banned from entering the city. Azriel set his bag down on the hook as we both got to work undoing our armour and placing them away, though I knew mine definitely needed to be cleaned. Shadows curled around his shoulders as he tucked his wings in and started for the kitchen, and I padded along behind him.

My home in Hewn was made of dark obsidian, like my home in the court had been, but with hints of emerald and gold curling around the exterior. Despite how cold it had possibility to be, it had never truly been like that. The place was normally filled with laughter. Many a night, Az and I hosted Firoh and Isaak, along with some others from the legion, all of us cooking our favourite traditional food in the large kitchen and making the others taste them, or my legion would descend on me when Azriel was not there to laugh with me through the dark nights that I did not think I would live through.

It was too large for me alone, but it had never just been me. Hewn was a community, and I was a part of it, and that was all I could dare hope for.

I jumped onto the counter top, watching my mate grab all the ingredients he needed and begin to make the cookies, opening the tin beside me to snatch up one of the biscuits that Firoh had made me. They were a Summer Court recipe that his mother had given him, which melted on your mouth in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

"Firoh brought you food?" Azriel grinned, taking a cookie from the pot, before turning back to heat the honey in a large pot. "Can you grate this for me?"

I took the lemon and orange from his hands, leaning over the side of the counter to grab the grater from the cupboard as I did as he said. I had never been a decent cook, having never had the need for it, but I could just about make biscuits and cakes with little to no trouble. It kept my hands busy when I was stressed.

"He only does that when he knows you have been having trouble sleeping." Azriel stated, pulling spices from the rack and tipping them into the pot. How he knew how much needed to go in, I would never know, but the food always tasted delicious. I handed him the zest, knowing the recipe almost as well as he did by now. "You want to talk about it?"

I paused, looking down at the my hands and taking a deep breath. If I concentrated hard enough, I could still see the blood on them.

"It's just memories of the war, that's all." I scratched at the scar running along the length of my face, as Azriel turned. He reached for the flour, pressing a kiss to the scar as he went past so as to stop me scratching. "It normally is."

"They've been plaguing you for a while, worse than normal." Curse the mate bond and not being able to keep anything from Azriel.

"Yes, well normally, I think that you are dead." I sighed, resting my head on my hands as I watched him begin to mix the ingredients. "I keep thinking that Amarantha is back and she has you and that is why I couldn't hear anything down the bond."

He froze, shoulders and wings tensing, before he turned to look at me.

"You never told me this before."

"I thought-" I sighed, struggling to find the words as Azriel pulled the dough free to knead it. "I thought I had a handle on this."

"I know you like to do things on your own, but I am here." Azriel reminded me, as I jumped down to watch him put the dough aside to rise. "Even if it's late at night, I will be here to listen to you rant."

"I don't want to burden you. You have your own demons and I hate to think that I'm adding pressure to an already stressful situation." I took a deep breath in as Azriel turned to face me, allowing me to lean against his chest. 

"You're never a burden to me." He reminded me gently, grinning as he managed to get flour on my face. "Oops?"

"Azriel." He rushed away from me, as I began to laugh, truly and loudly. I knew that my mind was fracturing under the weight of the war, but in this moment, with Azriel by my side, I was more than content to ignore that problem.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, Maiya has just been killing people for the past couple of hundred of years and she just generally doesn't like a lot of people, nor does anything from the good of her heart, there's always an ulterior motive. I'm actually super excited to bring her into this story because she's going to be providing a lot of drama for everyone involved.

Let me know what you think of her,

Love Li xx