Heres Chapter 3! - Tumblr Posts

A COURT OF LIGHT AND SHADOWS

Chapter 3: Nerves

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If Gwyn had thought the day before had been one of the worst of her short but experienced life, she was wrong.

That day promised many more problems.

Especially like asking Azriel if he could go with her to buy a dress and not get ridiculed in front of everyone when he probably said no.

She swallowed hard and clenched her abs, telling herself there were only 2 minutes left until that damn exercise was over and she could go to the library to continue the work that Merrill had imposed on her.

"Legs together, Berdara." Azriel's voice brought her out of her thoughts, turning her head to find him looking back, his face as serious as ever. Forcing herself no matter how much pain it caused her, she closed her legs and continued to support her body, preventing from falling flat on the hard floor of the ring.

Satisfied with the change in position, Azriel turned around and continued giving directions to the other priestess who were doing something that he claimed was wrong.

"I'm sure you couldn't even take the 5 minutes I've been like this." She grumbled disdainfully, moving her arms slightly to release tension, feeling droplets of sweat trickle down the neckline of her shirt, cooling her hot skin.

"Possibly he could endure 20 minutes of plank and then be 3 hours running, then do a series of push-ups and sit-ups." Elián answered.

Gwyneth rolled her eyes: "What part are you on? His or mine?" She protested, looking sideways to find Nesta and Emerie in the same situation, grunting with overexertion, cursing how little stamina they had after 3 weeks of absolutely no exercise.

"You have said a piece of information that was wrong. I have corrected it." He remembered.

Gwyn rolled her eyes again, breathing, blasting air through her burning lungs.

Everything burned.

And she still had to figure out what the hell to do with the ceremony. What dress should she choose? A simple one, gala, what color, with or without lace?

She began to feel her head throbbing, deducing that this was a signal to stop thinking about it and focus on maintaining the correct posture so that the two Illyrians controlling the exercises would not scold her.

She had to do the perfect exercises. She had to get Azriel's mocking smile out when he corrected some movement or posture.

Stupid, damn illyrian.

When the two minutes were up, the three Valkyries flopped to the ground, exhausted and sweating like pigs.

"I'm going to make that bastard sweat when we go to that damn cabin." Nesta murmured, making sure her mate wasn't listening to her from the other end of the circle, which was helping a priestess up.

"That's not fair." Emerie muttered, brushing the dust off her leathers. "You are going to spend at least a week having sex on any surface of the cabin but we have to come here, to this hell."

Nesta laughed softly, shrugging her shoulders as she grabbed one leg, stretching it out.

A hiss came from her mouth, possibly all of her muscles were clenched.

"You should do the same."  Elián recommended.  "Otherwise your whole body will ache."

"I'm the one who has to go through pain, stop behaving like a worried mother."  Elián sighed, avoiding giving an answer.

But anyway, she followed the advice of her voice, grabbing the soles of her feet and stretching as long as she was, hearing with satisfaction how it gently creaked her back, undoing the knots that were in the back, in her muscles.

She stayed in that position for a few more seconds, then jumped up.

Next, she grabbed her neck from one side and gently moved it to the other, removing any knots that might be in it.

Finally, she did the same to her legs, hearing them creak slightly.

She went to the water station, putting her hands in the shape of a bowl and immersing them in the tub of water, to later drink from them, wiping the remains of water with the back of her hand.

She walked over to where Nesta and Emerie were, Nesta lying on her back while Emerie was on her belly, avoiding damaging her hurtful wings.

"We deserved 3 more weeks of vacation." Emerie whimpered, putting a hand over her eyes like a visor, blocking out the bright morning sun.

"We deserved more than 3 weeks. For the Cauldron, they almost killed us, we should have had a whole year of vacation." Nesta said, mimicking Emerie's movement, sighing softly when the sun stopped hitting her eyes.

Gwyn sat on the floor, looking at her friends: "I'd rather be up here. I'd spend all day in the library if not for training."

Emerie dropped her hand, glaring at Gwyn: "Haven't you made any headway out of the library yet?"

Gwyn denied.

She had told them at one point in the Blood Rite that she was tired of being in the library, and that she wanted to go out and discover the world.

Sure, it was easier said than done.

"Everything in its time." Nesta considered, grabbing her friend's hand and squeezing, smiling slightly.

Gwyn smirked, squeezing back and stood up, looking up for Azriel.

She needed to get the uncertainty of the dress once and for all.

Unfortunately, she couldn't find the Illyrian anywhere.

She watched as Cassian approached them, lowering his head in greeting. Gwyn followed suit, asking, "By any chance, you don't know where Azriel is?"

Cassian stared at her, then took a quick glance around the ring, surprised when he saw that his friend had disappeared.

"He was here just now." He muttered, scanning until he gave up, giving her half a grimace. "He will be inside the House, I can search for him if you wish." He offered, but the priestess refused, announcing she would look for him herself.

She said goodbye to her friends, Cassian and the priestess she knew, and entered the House of Wind, letting her eyes get used to the artificial light that hung on the walls.

She began to look from place to place, suspicious of what she might find there.

"It's a simple house, Gwyneth, you won't find anything out of the ordinary." Elián reassured her, but it was of little use, since her nerves were on the surface.

"Why the hell did I say I was going to the ceremony?"  She whimpered, feeling her heart beat faster and faster, forcing herself to stop, waiting for her heart to calm down.

"If you don't want to go, it's okay. Nesta will understand." He told her.

She knew Nesta would understand her. She was trying enormously to get out of the library and go to the ceremony, and Nesta wouldn't be mad at her if she finally decided not to go.

But Gwyn would be mad at herself.

After all that she had tried, all that she thought she had made progress, she was not going to let fear stop her from enjoying one of her friend's happiest days.

But for now she needed to sit down, she needed to think.

She didn't know where she was, she saw doors and more doors and torches lighting the hallway.

Where the hell had she been?

She frowned, pretending to remember how she had gotten there.

However, she didn't pay attention to where she was going, she had been too busy trying to keep her from having an attack.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, calming down, as she decided what she should do now.

Looking straight ahead, she decided to walk a little more, searching for any mark on the wall to guide her, until she found herself at the end of the hall.

She spun around, beginning to hyperventilate, feeling cold drops of sweat running down her back.

"There is no way out. There is no way out. There is no way out." She thought, trying to attack her own thoughts, but she couldn't. The fear she felt in her body paralyzed her.

She chewed on her lip until she felt the metallic taste of blood flood her mouth.

She dropped against the wall, hugging her knees to his chest as she said: "I'm the rock against which the surf crashes, nothing can break me, I'm the rock against which the surf crashes, nothing can break me, I'm the rock against which the surf crashes, nothing can break me.

But, of course, there were many things that could break her.

Being in a dark hallway, lost, was one of them.

She didn't know how long she had been in that position, it might as well have been minutes, it might as well have been hours.

But suddenly she heard footsteps. Footsteps of man, noticing the weight of the steps.

She didn't want to raise her head. She must not raise her head.

She knew that Elián was probably speaking to her, but panic prevented from understanding what he wanted to say to her.

She shrugged even more, praying to get smaller and smaller and smaller until she became invisible, closing her eyes and holding her breath.  Who was the man who was coming? What did he want from her? What was he going to do to her?

She listened as the stranger moved, as Gwyn prepared to scream, to fight, or to go limp and pray to whatever god was listening at the time that the man in front of her would think she was dead, leaving her alone.

But what happened was much more different.

She began to perceive caresses, as if feathers were grazing her neck, soothing her nerves, while others settled on her arms and legs, doing the same.

She looked up and found the last person she expected to see right now.

Azriel was looking at her with concern and curiosity.

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