Chapter Text
"Az," Elain said, practically bouncing over to him. Azriel pushed off the doorway he was against and raised a brow.
In her hands was a white and gold card, likely fresh from the mail. "Guess who's been invited to the Day Court ball?"
Probably him, Cassian, and Mor, if Az knew Helion at all, but he asked, "Who?"
"All of us! It's not a masquerade, but I was thinking..." She came close to him, grinning. "Maybe we don't have to wait a year for Summer Court's next costume party. Maybe you and I can get dressed up for this one."
Not again. He'd narrowly survived the backfire from the Mamma Mia costume-
"I know that look. You can't tell me you didn't have the time of your life in Summer. We got to sing! We got to laugh! You loved it, Az, don't deny it."
He almost had to swallow looking into her eyes. It wasn't quite the song that he loved.
Elain continued, "We can make everyone come. And you'd be stupid to think Feyre and Rhys won't steal the show, and that Nesta wouldn't make Cassian look stupid for the whole Court."
She wasn't wrong. He considered, then said, "If it's not a costume party, then what would we wear? You can't mean to dress as-" he almost choked "-the Papas Mia at a formal event."
"Hmm. Then I guess I'll just match you. I can wear whatever you want me to wear."
He sighed. "Elain, I'll happily bring you, but I don't plan to dress up-"
"Feyre, look! The Day Court invited us all to a ball!"
Just like that, his chances of slipping out of this were gone. As their High Lady came over to fuss over the invitation, he snuck Elain a look that said, 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦.
She just grinned in response.
_____
After Azriel had been adamant that he wouldn't dress in any special bright colors, and Elain had been rooted in matching him, she just humphed and said she'd figure something out.
Now, in the foyer waiting next to a cringing Cassian decked in bright red, he worried and waited. It was unfortunately true that black was...not her color, but since that was the only thing he regularly wore, he'd no idea how she planned to match him.
Nesta and Mor appeared, decked in black and gold respectively. They were equally resplendant, though the skin coverage of their gowns was vastly different.
"Planning to take Helion up again, Mor?" Cassian crooned.
"Now, sweetie, you know I always dress like this," she replied, a smirk on her bright red lips. Az wasn't sure her outfit truly had cutouts or was the leftover of cut-out fabric, but it did shine and set off her golden hair and brown eyes. It would be no trouble for her to go home with a Day Court male.
Nesta pressed to Cassian, flashing her teeth in a grin at the fabric under her hand. "Comfortable, darling?"
To his credit, instead of fidgeting and complaining, her mate smiled and whispered, "I'll be grateful when you get this off of me, sweetheart." Then nipped her ear.
Az scoffed and looked away, meeting the eyes of an emerging High Lord and Lady trailed by Amren.
Rhys, surprisingly, wore a pearly white suit, which complimented Feyre's silvery gauze dress. They looked picture perfect for two Court Rulers appearing as guests in Day- not overdressed enough to pull constant attention, but certainly not plain. Amren wore a black jacket and pants, along with the earrings Az had given her, and one of her necklaces that he knew cost a fortune. She didn't look as if she would be dancing tonight, but that wasn't unusual for Amren.
The rest of the Inner Circle greeted the additions, but Az looked for their missing person.
Nuala and Cerridwen had been escorted to the party by a pair of Day Court brothers, but had helped get Elain ready before they left.
His eyes scanned for the female, a bit of party anxiety already nagging at him, when he caught movement in the stairwell. Her slippered feet drifted over the ornate rugs, carrying the train of her skirt with her-
Azriel's breath caught when she stood atop the first step.
Her gown was a shimmering, spotless cobalt, skirt full around her, sleeveless with straps mimicking glittering black swirls. Under her throat sat a necklace that could be carved obsidion, a collar with a sapphire set into its middle. Curling around her forearms were bands like spun onyx, reminescent of Helion's golden snake band. And in her softly upswept golden-brown hair sat a thin headpiece that could be mistaken for a tiara, night-dark and glimmering with tiny blue gems.
She looked like one of his Siphons, complete with whirling shadows and her own inner light.
Elain smiled that beautiful smile at him as she carefully descended the stairs, black shoes peeking out under her skirt.
He heard Mor whistle, along with compliments from her sisters, but Az hardly registered them. Cauldron, she...
Elain looked up at him when she reached him at the landing, that grin still tugging on her soft pink lips. "I owed you," she whispered.
Her proximity, her beauty, her daring...
It was both a blessing and a curse that she was dressed as his siphons and shadows.
Because now more than ever he wanted to claim her as his own, wanted to press his teeth into her spotless neck and mark her as 𝘈𝘻𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘭'𝘴.
He had enough sense left to pray that his scent and demeanor hadn't changed, that she and his family didn't notice the unfazable Spymaster left speechless by the delicate female in the blue dress.
"Everyone ready?" Rhys asked, already grinning in anticipation.
Az barely managed to hold on as Elain took his arm, and the Court of Dreams winnowed to the Day Court.