TASTE OF FREEDOM - AZRIEL'S MATE (ACOTAR)

Chapter 2: Muscle memory

"Sorry, I'm late." The one illyrian who just arrived said to Cassian.

Of course Raven knew who he was, the Shadowsinger. She's heard about all of the High Lord's friends. The priestesses like to gossip... a lot...

Her breath got heavy as she was taking on his appearance. His leather clothes fitted so well on him and he was so, so tall... Nesta cleared her throat beside Raven and her cheeks burned.

Raven's never seen someone so tall before and his face... She couldn't even describe it... When she realized she was staring at him again, she turned to her friends who were nice enough to pretend they didn't see her reaction.

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Azriel was speechless as soon as he got his eyes on the new female at sparring ring. He was still flying when he saw her there with her eyes closed and enjoying the sun on her face...

Like she's not seen it for a long time... When he took a breath and felt her scent, his wings almost stopped moving and he got chills all over his body. "What the hell is this?", he thought to himself.

He landed next to his brother and apologized for arriving later than usual. His stomach was suddenly sensitive, his eyes were trying to look the female's way all the time and his shadows... oh, his shadows were crazy.

They usually behave and sometimes, they show his emotions when he doesn't want them too, but now... they'd never behaved this way before. His shadows wanted to go there where she was, he felt they were desiring to touch her and that surprised him more than anything...

"This is Raven, today it's her first day with us." Cassian was smiling like he saw through his brother's behavior. "Raven, this is Azriel. He's gonna be your tutor for now."

Raven... he knew that name... One second later he remembered and had to force his face to stay cold. The girl Feyre and Rhys saved from Under the Mountain... He never saw her on his visits to the library.

Azriel didn't offer his hand to her, thinking she wouldn't be comfortable with it, so he just nodded in her direction. Her cheeks were red and in contrast with her pale skin.

The sparring started and Azriel shared his attention between giving the instructions to the females in front of him and looking at Raven while she followed them with accuracy. Somehow, he was surprised again.

"Have you ever worked out before?" Azriel heard his own voice saying, like he had no control of himself.

She was surprised when she realized his question was for her. Her eyes, who were all over the place because everything seemed new to her, focused on his. Something on Azriel's mind roared when their eyes met.

"I have, but it was a long time ago..." she cleared her throat before answering him. Her voice sounded more delicate than she was expecting.

"Your muscles seem to remember" and that was all he said to her during the session.

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If her muscles were familiar to those exercises, they didn't show. Her body was aching from head to toe and even breathing was difficult while she pushed her book cart through the library's halls.

"You'll get used to the pain, you know", Nesta said when they met at the third floor.

"Well, they sure don't know that", she replied, making an ugly face because of the pain.

They walked in silence for a while, but Raven saw Nesta looking at her a few times before turning away again.

"What?" Raven asked when her friend did that for the fourth time. She tried to look innocent, but failed hard.

"I don't know... how was your first day being outside again?"

Raven looked around and put some books on the shelves before answering.

"It was nice, everything seems new to me... and Velaris' view seems amazing from up here." It was true. She couldn't stop thinking about the sparring area's view of the city.

"And other views were good too, right?" Nesta bited her lips from smiling. She could feel Raven's cheeks warm from where she was standing beside her.

Some phrases or tones were difficult for her to identify, but somehow Raven just knew what Nesta was referring to.

"I actually don't know what you're talking about..."

Her friend's laughter was heard through the whole floor and their eyes widened because of it. Nesta soon lowered her voice and looked at Raven with disbelief in her face.

"Well, you don't but I actually do know what I saw earlier..." Raven's body posture was casual, like she really didn't know what Nesta was talking about, so she continued. "Azriel wasn't acting normal either, you know... I think your presence distracted him"

Raven finally looked at her with half shot eyes and Nesta had to stop herself from laughing again. She liked to tease her friend.

"Okay, I'll stop. Only because I'm really happy you came today."

She smiled at Nesta and rolled her eyes, like it was nothing. "I'm happy I went as well."