𝔸 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕖 (ACOTAR FANFIC)

Forty-Five

Feyre had sunk to her knees on the floor as I gently consoled her, I knew what she felt in that moment—I'd been her after all. Before Kai's death, I had never been struck by grief like that. I'd killed people, but I didn't know them. They were strangers to me. I was a wreck after his death. I had cried. I had screamed. I had become lost.

But I'd healed. The wound was still there and it had scarred. But it no longer pained me to think about it.

Tamlin may or may not have been dead. Unless he did this to his own manor—which was entirely possible given his nasty little temper—he was in trouble.

I placed a hand on Feyre's arm and looked at my sister. Without a word, I pulled myself to my feet and offered my hand to my sister who gingerly took it. I pulled her up to her feet and we seemed to share a silent conversation.

She needed to know what happened here. And I was going to help her.

We needed clues. Evidence. Luckily I was good with these things. I separated myself from the scene, looking at it from a more logical perspective. As if it was a puzzle and all I needed to do was find the right pieces and the picture would magically reveal whatever happened.

I thought it was safe to assume that this had something to do with the "she" I'd heard about. They talked about her like they talked about the blight. I'd had time to properly examine the events that happened here in the Mortal lands. And I'd come up with...a few theories.

Tamlin and Lucien had told us about a blight upon Prythian, taking magic, poisoning the lands, killing younglings. I'd seen many "blights" before and those things weren't stated in the how to be a blight 101 textbook.

My most plausible theory was that this "She" was the blight—I forgot her name, it was like Amy or something.

Feyre and I began to walk around the house, I took note of the splattered blood and the claw marks that ould have been from Tamlin's struggle or rage.

Feyre rubbed her face behind me as she likely tried to try and re-route her thoughts from where they'd drifted. The two of us walked into the dining room, the windows had been smashed and there was a large trail of blood that flowed across the floor like a river, the walls were worse here the claw marks were constant and they were definitely from Tamlins rage and not struggle.

The blood on the floor was marred with footprints, almost like Tamlin and Lucien had been in here when this happened and walked out without a fight.

Something crunched from the hallway and without a doubt in my mind, I grabbed my sister and yanked her behind the door. It wasn't the greatest hiding place, but my hands automatically went to the daggers at my sides. Behind the door was a vantage point if anything.

Something limped into the room and sniffed. The only visible part of it was its back—cloaked in a black cape, medium height. My fist clenched around my dagger, ready for anything.

The creature sniffed again. Before it slightly turned toward me and I felt my shoulders slump. I placed my palm flat on the door before closing it, "Alis."

Alis jumped and turned around towards us with a hand on her heart. Her dress was torn and her apron was gone entirely. She looked relatively okay though, she wasn't hurt—save for the slight limp on her ankle. She rushed for the two of us, her tree bark skin bleaching birch white, "You two can't be here." She took in our array of weapons that had been strapped and hidden all over us, "You were told to stay away."

I had only met Alis a few times, but she and Feyre were close enough. She should know I listen to no one but myself.

"Is he alive?" Feyre asked instantly.