On Thin Ice: Azriel x OC

Chapter 13

Back at the townhouse, Nova headed straight for the stairs, muttering, "Sorry about the scene," as she passed Rhys.

She didn't stay for anyone to respond, she just went up the stairs. With the way she left everyone, they all left her alone.

The girls decided to go into town, mainly just to let Nova have some space.

Rhys had to visit Spring Court, after Tamlin's absence at the meeting. He volunteered Azriel to go with him, Cassian had gone last time.

Azriel objected, wanting to stay with Nova, but had no excuse good enough to convince Cassian, without outing them as mates.

Rhys walked Feyre and the others to the door, leaving Azriel and Cassian behind.

Cassian started to get concerned at the seriousness on Azriel's face, "Please just go check on her."

"I've got her Az," Cassian replied as Rhys came back to retrieve Azriel.

Rhys noted the looks each of them had on their faces, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Azriel muttered.

Cassian nodded once at Azriel before they winnowed away, as confirmation for his request.

After a few seconds, a dark presence entered Cassian's mind, followed by Rhys' voice, Is it Nova?

Yeah, he's concerned about her.

I figured, she wants space but probably needs someone to talk to.

I know, I've got her.

The dark presence stayed for a moment as if he was debating on saying more, before leaving completely.

Cassian decided to give her some time alone before going to talk to her. 

Upstairs, Nova sat with her back up against the wall outside her bedroom door. She heard things happening downstairs but didn't pay any attention to them.

She was zoned out, lost in thought when Cassian came upstairs. She didn't notice him until he sat down next to her.

Neither of them spoke for a long time, Nova just thinking about everything and Cassian enjoying the comfortable silence.

Nova started after a while, "There was a rotation of 6 guards. 2 at a time, they switched every 8 hours. They each took turns." She didn't have to explain for him to get the point. "Alex would come down to watch once a month. He watched as they took turns fucking me." She paused for a moment. "I would scream, but they would just choke me until I passed out."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before she spoke again. "They got me pregnant." She felt Cassian's gaze shift to her face as tears filled her eyes. "I spent weeks trying to figure out how to abort the baby without anyone knowing because I couldn't have the baby live to be tortured. About three months through the pregnancy, I had a miscarriage."

A tear fell down her cheek during another moment of silence. "I don't know what I would've done if that baby had survived." She looked over to Cassian, who was still looking at her when more tears fell. "I've never told anyone that. No one knows that I was pregnant." Cassian grabbed her hand and gave a reassuring squeeze.

Her breathing slowed and she continued, "I felt guilty. Because fae babies are so rare. It was my responsibility to keep it alive, and I couldn't even do that. I was grateful for the miscarriage, but it broke me. I gave up after that, I stopped fighting."

After a moment, Cassian spoke up, "What they did to you wasn't your fault. You did what you could to survive, and you deserve the world for getting through that."