Two Months Later

The evening was falling on the King's City. In the midst of a dying crowd appeared a small girl with vibrant red hair. No one batted an eye as this was an almost daily occurrence.

"Hi, Azrael got some fresh flowers coming in tomorrow," a sweet voice called.

Azrael turned and smiled. "Oh wonderful I was hoping for some peonies?" The florist smiled and shrugged. "Okay keep your secrets then," Azrael laughed and carried on.

Things had taken a turn for the better during the last couple of months. Azrael helped Rosemary in the inn a few days a week which she was grateful for. During the afternoons, Azrael would head to the forest and meet with Anéislis to practice her magic. Each day becoming stronger and more confident. Raden would never ask where she went off to but could always tell from the scent of pine that lingered in her hair. He was happy for her though. Each day he could see the change in her confidence and was grateful for that.

Raden was more over the city's celebrity if you say that. While there was an abundance of magic and creatures of all kinds roaming the city, Raden was the star of all of them. He stayed hidden for the most part but occasionally made an appearance, mostly with Azrael by his side. On one particular day, he had caught the eye of a king's officer who eventually invited him to the palace ground for training. Raden took the invitation and spent his days hidden behind the walls away from the prying eyes of the curious.

The inn couldn't be any more welcoming today. Azrael walked in and fell dramatically onto the couch.

"Are we exhausted from today's adventures?" Rosemary entered from the tavern that was attached. She was carrying a crate full of glass mugs. "If we aren't bleeding out, how about some help."

Azrael laughed and jogged into the kitchen grabbing another crate. "New mugs?" She peered down into the crate.

"Had a mishap last night and ended up with at least twenty broken mugs," Rosemary explained.

"By mishap would you so happen to mean a bar fight?"

Rosemary gave her a smirk and rolled her eyes.

Azrael jogged off after Rosemary. Setting the crate on the bar counter. "I know a thing or two about tavern fights thank you very much."

Rosemary began pulling out mugs and wiping them down. "Oh really? I wouldn't take you much for a tavern girl."

"Raden and I ventured into a few on our travels around." Memories flashed through her head causing a smile to form. Rosemary caught the small smile and nudged Azrael with her hip. "What?"

"Nothing," Rosemary smirked. "I just think it's cute when you think of Raden."

Azrael rolled her eyes and laughed.

"It is. You get this giddy little smile and your cheeks get all red. It's cute seeing young love blossom," Rosemary defended. "It's a breath of fresh air around here."

Azrael didn't say anything but felt her face redden more. In truth, their relationship was growing stronger by the day. Raden kept to his word and let his guard down more. Some days were harder than others, but Azrael was there to help him. Her trust in him was slowly growing and she knew that he wouldn't walk away from her again.

"What about you?" Azrael looked to Rosemary. "Were you ever in love?"

Rosemary sighed, "I wouldn't say I was in love but I did have the biggest crush when I was younger." She saw the smile fade away from Azrael's face and shook her head. "You don't want to hear about that."

"I do." Azrael placed a hand on Rosemary's.

"His name was Daniel Forge. He was the talk of the village I grew up in. All the girls were head over heels for him and I was no exception," she laughed. "I of course wasn't the top of the pick. My sisters had been married off to fine men the second they were of age. Beauty like you had never seen. All the boys in the village begged for their hands in marriage but they of course found very nice men that had estates across the world. When I came of age, it was quite a different story. None would even give me the time of day let alone dance. My mother wouldn't accept that I was probably never going to marry and continued pushing me to the social events of the week."

Azrael had hopped up on the bar to sit. "So what happened with Daniel?"

"Daniel was the most popular boy at every event. He danced with the prettiest richest girls that attended. It was all I could do to push through the crowds just to get a glimpse of him and I knew that he would never dance with me, but I still had hope. Anyways, one night my mother got me all dolled up and pushed me out the door to yet another party. However, this time Daniel came up to me." Rosemary glinted in her eyes as if she was that young girl again. Azrael smiled at the thought of seeing Rosemary younger. She had a beautiful soul that was worth more than any beauty standard of high society. "He asked me to dance and swept me across the dance as I had always dreamed. It was a beautiful night and felt like he finally saw me." That glint disappeared immediately. "What I didn't notice was the group of girls giggling around me. Word had gotten around that my mother paid the Forge family a hefty sum for their son to dance with me. Just a single dance and I was of course left in the dark of it all. Angelina Thompson was the one that shared with me that bit of information and I was of course embarrassed by it all. So embarrassed that I left without another word going straight home."

The opening of the door caught their attention. It was a customer wondering in looking around pretty clueless. "You are open yeah?"

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Rosemary let out a sigh. "Yeah we're open what can I do you for." She planted a hand on her hip showing off a bit of attitude.

"Just some stew."

Rosemary nodded and headed off to the kitchen with Azrael hot on her heels. "Wait so what happened?"

"My father had stayed home and was there when I showed up on the doorstep with my makeup ruined because I had cried so much. I told him the entire story before my mother could come home and twist it into it being somehow my fault. He wasn't happy with my mother but this wasn't the first time she had done something like this. She had always favored my two sisters over me because they were the talk of the social events in a good way mind you. They fought all night about this being the final straw for my father and that he wouldn't let me be treated like this ever again." Azrael followed close behind Rosemary as she grabbed everything needed for the stew. She peered into the pot and frowned. "We'll need to make a new batch." She scooped some into a bowl and headed out again. "So anyways the next morning my father woke me and told me to pack what I needed that we were leaving. My mother stood at the doorway waiting for me to lug my bag down with me." She sat the bowl down in front of the customer and turned to Azrael. "And you know what she told me? She told me that I was her greatest regret and that I would amount to nothing without her. I realized that it was never about my happiness but her image."

"Excuse me. If you two are done gossiping, could I get a spoon and something to drink." Both their heads snapped to the men sitting there.

Azrael gave a sweet smile. "Sure thing." She turned and the smile dropped as she headed to behind the bar grabbing a spoon and grabbing a bottle of cheap fae whiskey. She walked back over plopping the spoon into the stew and slamming the bottle down. "Enjoy."

The man looked up at her as if she had three heads. "Are you insane! I can't drink this."

"Well, there's a fountain just outside. If you get thirsty, then go dunk your head a few times." Then Azrael walked away.

"You bitch. This is not how you treat a customer."

She turned around. "If you were nicer to us then you'd have better quality service."

Rosemary was giggling as Azrael approached her but said nothing when Azrael raised an eyebrow.

"So was that the last time you saw Daniel? At the party I mean." Azrael picked up the mugs again and started cleaning them.

"No, he had decided to visit while I was leaving. I of course thought that maybe he was there to say goodbye, but he had come to fetch the money my mother promised him." She shook her head. "Of course, I was crushed, but as I grew older I realized that all he cared about like everyone there was their image. Somehow my sisters got lucky and have men who love them dearly and I'm grateful for that."

Azrael finished up with the rest of the mugs and turned to Rosemary. "Now you're here."

She nodded. "My father had many business ventures here and thought it was a great move. He opened up the tavern than the inn taught me everything he knew and I've been running it ever since." Rosemary was very proud. It could be seen in how she held herself as she talk about this place.

"Well, I'm glad you ended up here."

Rosemary leaned over and bumped Azrael with her hip. "Me too."

They went into the kitchen and began getting everything ready as some of the other workers trickled in preparing for the night rush. Azrael started feeling normal again and it had been such a long time since that feeling.

The tavern was packed by nightfall and it was all hands on deck. Azrael helped out behind the bar for the most part but they soon were finding themselves drowning. It was almost midnight and more were still spilling in.

"Rosemary we're running low on venison." A cook poked his head out of the kitchen causing Rosemary to groan. He looked over his shoulder then appeared again. "And carrots."

"Three orders for stew and one for a club!" A waitress yelled into the kitchen. Then off she went into the crowd again.

Rosemary disappeared into the back to check on the stock. She came back with quite a sour expression. "There's no way we can stay open for more than another two hours at best. There are too many people here." She looked at the door seeing a crowd outside. "Why is it so bad tonight?"

If the crowd outside was bad then the sea of people around the bar was hell. Azrael and the two other barmaids were running their asses off trying to keep up with orders. With every drink made, another three orders were being yelled their way.

"Hey! Why don't you show some extra skin!" A drunk yelled and three others laughed.

The barmaid was humored. "Go fuck yourself." She moved away to the other side of the bar taking order after order.

The drunk leaned forward on the bar. "Oh come back! We just wanted some fun."

Azrael appeared in front of him shoving his arms back. "Get off my bar!"

His face fell and the joking and laughter died away. "You better find your place bitch. You serve us."

"Yeah, I know but you're clogging up my bar with your sorry excuse of humor and there's plenty of others that want drinks. So I'm asking once again to get off my bar or I'll toss you out myself." Adrenaline had kicked in at this point and she wasn't about to back down. "Take your friends with you."

The next thing Azrael knew was she was sitting on the floor with blood pouring from her temple. There was commotion above and yelling. Azrael looked up to see the two others practically on the bar counter yelling and cursing. Rosemary knelt down to help Azrael up and held a cloth to her head putting pressure on the wound. Azrael then saw what was happening. The drunk man was being pushed away from the bar by the two maids while some others were pulling him and his friends back. At the same time as this, a group of men had pushed their way in and one was Raden.

Azrael turned to Rosemary. "If you don't want another fight on your hands, then take me into the kitchen before Raden sees me." Rosemary looked up over at Azrael and saw the group standing by the door. She nodded and proceeded to the kitchen.

Rosemary sat her on a stool and placed her hand on the cloth. "Hold this tight. I'll be right back."

The kitchen had emptied because of the potential fight leaving Azrael alone worrying about the others.

"If you don't get out of my tavern now…" Rosemary roared over the excited crowd. She was on the counter now with the other two shoving him back.

The drunk spat at her and swung. Luckily he was too drunk to aim properly. However, this caused him to swing around landing the punch on an unsuspected victim. This caused chaos to erupt. Blows were being exchanged and Rosemary began yelling for help. Raden peered towards the commotion seeing the struggle to contain the fight and began pushing his way towards the bar being followed by the others he was with.

"Out of the way!" He roared to the crowd. Everyone turned their attention but none moved. Raden began to push through quite harshly but he didn't care.

Many had turned their attention to Raden as he pushed through. He finally made it to the fight with the others. He easily picked up the drunk man who started everything while the others dealt with the friends. Rosemary pointed to the door and Raden nodded.

They managed to toss out everyone involved in the fight and headed back in. However, Raden was then bombarded by a sea of people pushing him and the others against the windows.

"Dude, what is this?" One of the men yelled at Raden.

"The fuck if I know." A quiet drink had quite literally turned into a shit show.