Answered Dreams (ACOTAR | ACOMAF | ACOWAR)

Chapter ☆ Twenty-Seven

Rhys subtly brushed a bit of red dust from the back of Feyre's sweater as he followed her to their table. The Inner Circle look up as they appeared. Cassian was the first to speak. "You look like shit," he said by way of greeting. 

Rhys eyed the other male. "Believe me, you don't look much better," Rhys said, sliding into the chair beside Feyre. 

After a moment Cassian spoke again, glancing between Rhysand and Feyre with raised brows. "Couldn't have been any good if it was over that quick."

Feyre gave Cassian only a passing glance as she reached across the table for the bottle of wine and began pouring her own class before retorting, "It really is a damn shame you hear that so often that you'd never know otherwise."

Even Amren chuckled at that one. Cassian was glowering, but, with a quick glance at Mor, he said, "I've never had a complaint on my performance. Care to form your own opinion on the matter?" Cassian countered. 

Rhysand's answering growl of warning should have been enough to shut Cassian up. 

"Don't get your pants in a twist," Cassian snorted. 

Rhys picked up a roll from the basket on the table and chucked it at Cassian's head. He might need to go outside and find a few more bricks.

Feyre put a reassuring hand on Rhys' leg under the table. 'No more fighting... you need to eat as much as I do' she whispered down the bond, glanced at him from the corner of her eye and an amused smirk playing on her lips. Oh, this was going to be a very long dinner indeed...

Rhysand blinked. Once. Twice. His brows furrowing as he glanced over at Feyre briefly. Did she think he enjoyed having the compulsion to rip everyone's throat out? But he nodded infinitesimally, a slight dip of his chin. He would do his best, if Cassian kept his damn mouth shut. He shot a glare at Cassian that promised death. Slow, excruciating death. Cassian offered what could have been an apologetic smile. Not apologetic for what he had said or even for goading Rhys on... but sympathy for the instincts at war with logic in his mind. Rhys sighed, picking up the menu. It would be a long, long dinner indeed.

She mouthed "I love you" to him as a silent thank you and squeezed his thigh once before bringing her hand back up and reaching for a roll before Rhysand threw the all down the table. She struck up conversation with Mor, Az- anyone who would deter Cassian's over abundance of teasing. Though Feyre deducted there would probably be a few well-aimed rolls at his head before the night was through.

Rhys was still glaring at Cassian over the top of his menu when the waitress came back to take their order. "I almost forgot how much of a delight you can be when you're on your cycle," Cassian said to Rhys before placing his order. 

Rhys had the compulsion to grip Cassian and shove him face-first into the basket of rolls and then impale him with the leg of the chair he was sitting in presently. He knew that on any other day, his hackles wouldn't have been raised so easily. He would have given just as he got, with verbal abuse. Witty retorts were his specialty. But all his cleverness seemed to elude him. So he sat back, listening to the conversation circling the table, keeping his eyes on her. The sight of her happy, and smiling and laughing... it calmed him.

The conversation and food swirled and mingled around them as the dinner went on and Feyre realized that yes- she was truly happy. Even with Cassian being a pompous ass. Swallowing a piece of potato, she picked up her glass of wine... and knew Rhys was watching her. She turned to him, a smile in her eyes, and with her free hand moved to lace her fingers with his, uncertain if the gentle touch would be too much still, but wanting just the slightest contact all the same. With her wine glass she held it up before her- a silent toast... To them. To the life they would share and the future they would build together.