A Court of Blood & Mercy || Elriel Dual POV

Chapter 29 - And Everything Was Perfect

Elain knew she had been acting recklessly for the past day or so.

Maybe longer.

Because she had been trying to avoid him, really, she had been. Taking naps, feigning chores and tasks, or even dividing them with solitude and silence when all she wanted to do was interrogate him with questions about his favourite colour or what it was like to learn how to fly or what he had thought the first time he had met her as a human. Maybe ask if he still loved her.

It was insanity, but she couldn't help it.

Discussing the Blood Duel by the river... it had nearly caused her to faint.

From the moment he had looked at her in that kitchen belonging to her daughter and her mate and the Vanserras and told her she was so godsdamned beautiful, she was a ship wrecked on the shores of a foreign land. Completely hopeless.

It was like something had been completely unlocked in that moment; the demons or sprites or whatever latent feminine desire dwelling within her suddenly pressuring her toward wild truth and passionate indiscretion.

She had tried to still her heart after the moment, disappearing into her rooms for a "nap" which was really just her twisting and turning on top of her quilts, fighting the urge to kick her feet in the air, squeezing her feather pillow across her face to stifle her girlish squeal of excitement.

And then he had been at her door, inviting her to an afternoon in the forest like he was requesting her to a ladies' tea. It had taken everything within her to not urgently shout "YES," forcing herself to remain poised and ladylike as she joined him on the trail.

Then she was following him through the trees along the river, gazing at his wings and tripping over her feet as she fought to tear her eyes from the slope of his neck, the line breaking from his head to his shoulder like he was carved of marble, his shorn skull filling in slightly, the remnants of his curls sprouting like little stems of grass, curling and whispering to her as she found herself biting her lip.

She followed him like that, in the sun, her mind conjuring images of what it would be like to graze the inside of her wrist against the skin on his neck until she simply could not withstand it anymore.

She passed him then, allowing him to follow behind her, relieved to find mercy for her eyes, though it almost felt worse in a way, to have him following her closely, her body suddenly completely alert and acutely aware of his presence, wondering suddenly if her posture was good enough, or if she had missed a rat's nest on the back of her head. Cursing herself for not having her lady's maid actually come in and wash her hair, self-conscious she so was as to what she must look like in his eyes.

And his breathIng... his scent... it was nearly unbearable.

"Godsdamned beautiful."

She felt her throat swallow a lump.

But then they were talking and she was saying things she never planned on, poking and prodding at the wound between them... forging and testing the boundaries that she had painstakingly set.

And she didn't now what she was doing exactly, but she couldn't stop herself.

Twirling and laughing with Azriel... it was like a drug... or perhaps it was sobriety. For the first time in fifteen years... her mind felt engaged and sharp and her thoughts were clear and her heart felt fresh and alive. Like she had come out from behind a veil and the first face she truly saw was his.

It was as if she was being born again.

The fact that he had tortured her greenhouse architect into swearing on his life to build her a greenhouse— why, that was an act of devotion she found so unbearably attractive and sweet, she had hardly been able to stand up any more. Surely, she felt pity for the poor fae, but the vicious passion as to which Azriel supported her interests... it was strangely endearing.