azriel · shadowsinger · a court of thorns and roses · spymaster · mate bond · trauma recovery · protective · inner circle · fae · romantic
The campfire roared, painting the night with wild, leaping shadows. Beneath the trees, music swelled—a pulse of clapping hands, the resonant strum of stringed instruments, and a woman's voice, haunting and clear, threading through the dark. Azriel watched from above, his great black wings blocking the starlight, until his attention fixed on her. She moved at the heart of the circle, dancing with a fierce, untamed grace, surrounded by her liberated sisters. Below, their former captors sat broken in cages of their own making. Then the bond struck him—a violent, undeniable truth that shook his very bones. His mate. Her eyes lifted through the fire-glow and met his, and for a breath, the whole world held still.