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vermillionflames · 8 months

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I don't know if anyone will actually want to read something like this but I wrote it anyway. I might continue it or it might rot in the drive for the rest of eternity, who am i to say?

I am aware I have many things I need to update, but the mind writes what it wants.

It's about one of Azriel's spies, idk. There's Eris there too and he's always hot.

Thanks!

Odessa hated the cold.

She had rarely been exposed to it when she was a youngling. Her parents were High Fae and could very well afford to have all the fireplaces lit and the finest of furs. Expenses she brought with her when she became a lady-in-waiting to the princess. If only that were still her job.

Odessa shivered, tying her scarf tighter around her neck. Her master could have given her any job, sent her anywhere, but he chose here. The bloody Autumn Court, where there was always a chill in the air. It was nighttime, which made it much colder, and the town she was stationed in was clearly lacking in funds.

“Rumor is that he visits the pub and makes deals with unfavorables after he’s drunk. Just watch him and tell me how he behaves. Report back to me. Do not engage with him.”

Her master had assumed the target would show up with a day or two of her being there. But it had been five days with no sign of the male. And to make matters worse, the pub had not needed a barmaid, so she had little choice but to offer herself up for other work. And now she was elbows deep in water, washing dirty dishes that were half covered in vomit. The flames of the oven conveniently did not reach the sinks, and, because she was playing the act of a poor, lowly fae, her skirts were thin and made of itchy fabric.

If only her master had given her orders to fuck the male instead. She had troves of fine lingerie waiting to be seen by someone. Back at her apartment, where she longed to be.

A commotion in the dining area alerted Odessa someone of importance had walked in. She placed the mug she had just rinsed off on the counter, wiping her brow to hide her tilt of the head, her eavesdropping.

“Oh, c’mon Lord Eris-” Bingo.

“I’m going outside for a smoke,” She told the cook. It would be easier to eavesdrop from the windows than the kitchen.

“I don’t recall giving you a break,” The male said, cocking his head to the side.

Odessa turned out, her eyes as wide as saucers, “I’ll be right back,” she promised, sticking out her chest a little more than necessary.

The male waved her off in annoyance and she was quick to get out the back door and round the building. She pulled a pipe from her skirt’s pocket, piling it with ground lavender in case anyone came out looking for her. She leaned against the building, beside one of the windows. Odessa watched him from the corner of her eyes, listening.

Eris did drink, and he did gamble. But with coins, useless currency to someone of his rank. Suddenly his back went rigid, straightening before he turned around to look outside the pub, at her. Odessa was well trained in the art of spying, no thanks to her master. From his chair it would look like she was stargazing. She removed the pipe from her teeth with one hand and ran through her matted hair with the other. She would look like a tired, underpaid servant.

The male’s mouth furrowed into a thin line, before he turned back around. He stayed for a few more drinks, losing only ten coins at the card game, before winnowing away. It was then Odessa realized any normal, cranky cook would’ve come and grabbed her by now. Her break had lasted far too long. Either he would be expecting sex or would hold her earnings for the night. Not that she needed the money, but he had tried this trick on her the previous night as well.

Odessa headed back to the staff door, planning to work out the rest of the night, in case someone else said anything of interest about the High Lord’s son. But when she opened the door, the cook was on the floor, blood leaking from his mouth.

“Shit,” she whispered to herself.

“Really, Odessa, we must stop meeting like this,” Eris purred, hiding in the shadows in the corner. Odessa frowned as the male stepped towards her. “You could have at least glamoured yourself to look somewhat different.” He grabbed a lock of her hair, smelling it provocatively.

“I’ve actually decided to change career paths,” She shrugged, “This is my life now.”

Eris grinned like a leopard who just found its prey, “Tell your High Lord that this is my pub and he and all his friends are welcome to come here as themselves.”

“I’ll spare us both the time and say he already sends his regrets, but he is far too busy to do such a thing.”

“My brother’s do not visit pubs, they prefer other forms of… recreation.” Eris placed a hair behind her pointed ear. “And they would’ve seen right through you.” Odessa narrowed her eyes. “I’m beginning to think you want me to catch you, capture you, and take you to my torture chamber,” He purred.

“Well,” Odessa sighed, “I must admit I was enticed, but if I have to have bad sex, I’d much rather go to the pleasure house and steal your brother’s money for it.”

Eris frowned, “Tell Azriel he has nothing to worry about. I have just as much to lose as Rhysand does if we get found out.”

“Any other messages you’d like me to take to my masters?” Odessa tilted her head to the side, “Or can I go home now?”

“Tell him to consider giving you to me,” Eris looked her over, “I could train you to be a far better spy.”

Odessa rolled her eyes, stepping away from the male before she winnowed away.

The dark halls of Hewn City greeted her. She didn’t like it here much either, but no one would bother her as she walked past the royal suites and street tricksters to her master’s dungeons. No one but his spies went there, not even the High Lord, so no one knew that there was a secret door that led to an office where all the spies met. Where they received their missions and gave reports. It was enchanted to notify him when someone entered.

Odessa stood before the oak desk, waiting for his shadows to bring him to the room. She rolled her neck, aching for a long, hot bath.

Hazel eyes met hers. “Well?” Was all Azriel said.

“Eris has a high tolerance for alcohol,” she shrugged. Her master gave her a pointed stare in warning. “Eris goes to a run down pub and plays card games, betting coins, because he doesn’t have any friends. The ale is watered down, so no one is as drunk as they think they are, and Eris knows it. His brothers go to brothels… and Beron has been staying inside the Forest House, using his wife as target practice.”

Azriel slumped back in his chair, “Nothing out of the ordinary, then?”

“I understand why you don’t like him,” Odessa started, ignoring the way Az raised his brow at her, “But he is risking a lot allying himself with us…”

“Beron is still up to something,” Azriel said, his frustration written on his face. He would be a lot angrier if he knew how badly she had fucked up, but she would keep that to herself.

“It wouldn’t be unlike Beron to tell his sons different things… or nothing at all,” she suggested.

“Then we’d have to go to the source to get more information,” Azriel said blankly. Odessa didn’t like what she read between the lines. “Go home,” He waved her away, “You stink like pub vomit.”

“Thank you, master,” Odessa rolled her eyes before exiting the dungeons and promptly winnowing far, far away from the Court of Nightmares.

There once had been a time when Azriel had bowed to her, when she had been above him in rank. But the hands of fate were cruel and now her life depended on taking orders from lesser fae and Rhysand’s mercy.

Odessa flicked on the light to her bathroom, ripping off the soiled clothes and tossing them into the fire. Her apartment, thankfully, was warm and inviting as she strode to the kitchen while the bathtub filled with water. It was situated in the middle of Velaris, which she was sure she was only able to live in because she visited the city many times while being Rhiannon’s lady.

The female grabbed a handful of berries from the counter, where she had left them before leaving a few days ago. A painting of her friend was hanging on the wall, where it had been placed when they were both young, after Rhiannon had given her this apartment for being her lady. A “place to get away from your duties” she had said.

“There’s no point in thinking about the past,” Odessa told herself as she stepped into the tub.

But the past plagued her. Her life had been one of many riches and joys before misfortune took its toll. She had been a wealthy noble, then the only lady for the only princess in the court, luxuries and comfort surrounded her and all she had to do was help her friend get dressed and keep certain males away from her side at celebrations. Then Rhiannon died and her parents did not welcome her home, and she had to beg on her knees for a half-Illyrian male to help her. Rhysand took pity on her, didn’t throw her out into the cold, let her keep her apartment in the secret city, but she had to work for it. And, for reason she’ll never know, the High Lord and his Inner Circle had thought her a good spy for Azriel.

Her training had been intense, many times she had cried and begged to be married off for alliance for the court instead, but no one allowed it. After years, Azriel had toned her into a fine warrior, Rhiannon would laugh and her parents would die if they knew how talented she was with a blade. But, then her training became seductive, males taught her how to get them to spill secrets, how to use hand movements and eye contact to get what she wanted.

It was then that it all clicked for Odessa. She had been a flirt as Rhiannon’s lady-in-waiting, but that was part of her duty to her lady. Most males didn’t like the notion of being told no, and Rhiannon couldn’t risk that kind of confrontation. So, if a male was unfavorable to Rhi or the Night Court in any way it had been Odessa’s job to distract him, to turn him away from her.

And that’s exactly why Azriel made her his seductress.

Her missions involving sex were few and far between, but she had been craving a good rail. One she knew Eris was capable of giving her. Paying for orgasms at the pleasure house didn’t entice her, but her master would no doubt kill her if she went to sleep with an enemy without reason of getting information. Odessa had shared his bed plenty of times to know who he was, had shared plenty of other beds with actual enemies to distinguish the difference. She wasn’t like her High Lord or his friends, she was like Rhiannon, who believed Eris had a good heart.

But Rhiannon was dead, and Eris had done one too many wrong things to have the Shadowsinger’s trust, and Odessa was stuck as an indentured servant.

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