afflicted

21: 14 months before...

A/N: If you haven't noticed, I am now telling you Azriel and Callie's story. There will be quite a few flashback chapters to show you their relationship and give you some of those answers you crave, and then it will pick back up with the "present."

The changing of the tides was always a huge celebration in Summer Court. The day was already busy just as the sun broke through the small windows of Alis's cabin. Callie wrinkled her nose as she giggled, holding out a lemon pastry Alis had baked out to Azriel.

He twisted his mouth to the side, unsure about her offering. Callie swallowed her bite, gesturing for him to take it. He narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't trust things that weren't familiar to him, Callie had quickly noticed.

"I'm typically not a sweets person," he admitted, folding his muscular arms across his chest. Overnight, Alis had laundered his clothes and had returned them once he'd awoken. Callie rolled her eyes.

"Just try it," Callie urged. "Please."

She held it up in front of her face, an offering. She jutted out her bottom lip, pouting up at him. He groaned.

"Puppy dog eyes won't work every time, you know," he sighed. She grinned. "Unfortunately for me, they are working right now." Callie snorted a laugh through her nose, sending the layer of powdered sugar on the pastry all over Azriel's face. Her eyes bugged, immediately laughing as the white dust settled across the bridge of his nose and in his eyelashes. She clapped her hand over her mouth, hiding her cackle.

She ducked left, trying to run away from him to avoid whatever punishment he could conjure up, but he caught her in a few steps, banding his arms around her stomach and lifting up from the ground and back into his chest. She squealed and he leaned forward, taking a bite of the pastry still in her hand.

He froze, chewing slowly. He gave her a strange look that stopped her laughter.

"What?" She asked, concern laced into her voice.

"Bless the cauldron, Callie," He said, astonished. She absolutely beamed at him, eyes crinkling with joy as he sat her back onto the ground. She turned to look at him, offering the rest of the treat, which he finished in two bites, a low moan in his throat as he finished it, licking the powdered sugar from his fingertips. He dusted his face off with an eyeroll. "It's actually starting to get irritating how perfect you are."

"I'd be honored to make a batch just for you, shadowsinger," she winked.

"Holy hells, you can make them, too?" He groaned and she nodded. He looked ecstatic. He grabbed her hand, lifting it and surveying her fingers. His massaged the ring finger on her left hand with a hum.

"What are you doing?" She demanded, eyebrows raised. He ruffled her hair and she grumbled, leaning away to keep him from tangling it.

"Just thinkin'," he smiled lazily. "So, when does this whole thing start?"

"Oh, it already is," Callie said, wagging her eyebrows at him as she grabbed his hand and pulled him out the front door.

"About time," Vera complained, throwing her hands into the air as she rose from Alis's front porch swing, clomping down the stairs after Callie and Azriel. "You know these assholes guzzle faerie wine like water. And I refuse to do this sober." Callie laughed at her friend's dramatics.

They walked down the pathway to the water's public front, the crowd growing fuller the closer they came. Vera weaved them through the groups of fae, beelining for the table with the faerie wine. She grabbed cups, passing them to Callie and Azriel before grabbing one for herself, turning it up and quickly draining it before grabbing another.