Throne of Glass and ACOTAR Crossover (complete)

Chapter 46 - Feyre

The outside of Hybern's fortress is plain, stone walls and small windows. It's so different from the intricate designs favored in Prythian that I'm taken aback for a moment. I didn't realize how much I had come to expect soaring architecture and luminous gardens.

Beside me I hear Aelin suck in a breath, as though steadying herself for what is to come. If she can than I envy her. My mind is a roiling cesspit of thoughts and fears, memories and grief. I can barely think enough to put one foot in front of the other, I'm not sure how I'm going to manage a fight.

I can feel the lead weight of the book at my side. It has been thankfully silent, not inserting any 'helpful' little comments. It hasn't even laughed to itself yet, and for some reason that unsettles me. Its silence, when I had become almost accustomed to its babble puts me on edge, because it means that this time something is different. Something has changed.

Rhys slides his hand into mine. "Ready?" he whispers in my ear.

No. Not remotely. Not even close.

"When you are."

Rhys gives me a sad, sideways smile, like he can hear the lie in my words. He probably can.

For a moment we stand there like that, just looking at each other. He should kiss me. If everything were normal, this is the part where he would kiss me.

The knowledge is like an iron hand clamped around my heart, and I lean away, ever so slightly. I can see the little spark of hurt behind Rhys' eyes, but he hides it well. He gives me one last smile and strides toward the wall, Aelin and Rowan right behind him.

For a moment I can't move, I'm frozen, watching their retreating backs. The painting flashes before my eyes, the colour of my friends against the cold stone of Hybern's walls; such a small spark, a small chance against that immense, immovable monument. There's no way that we can win this. It's impossible.

All of a sudden I want to run to Rhys, throw my arms around him, and kiss him. I want to kiss him until the world has fallen away and there is nothing left except us and the sky. I want to kiss him until even we have crumbled to tiny particles of dust, and we blow away on the wind. But they have almost reached the wall, and I have to catch up.

And besides, I can hear the book, no longer silent.

"Go on, little liar. It's time to get going now. It's time."

I run to catch up, my footsteps pounding a rhythm in my mind,

Save. Kill. Love. Hurt. Save. Kill. Love. Hurt. Save. Kill. Love. Hurt.

Finally I reach the three of them, walking in silence. Aelin is playing with something in her hand, a dagger maybe, and scanning the ground before us, her clever eyes not missing a single thing. Rowan is doing the same, analyzing the battlefield, trying to find a weak spot, or maybe even just an enemy. Rhys is looking at nothing, just looking straight ahead.

When we reach the wall, Aelin looks at it, then us, with a single raised eyebrow. "What now. We need someway in, unless you all have some walking through walls talents that you failed to mention."

Rhys half smiles. "Not quite."

Then he scans the wall, looking for what I'm not sure. Then his eyes land on a single spot, and he grins. I don't know what it is that he notices, because to me the wall looks uniform, a single slab of grey, but Rhys looks sure when he lays his palm against the stone, and closes his eyes.

To my shock as much as Aelin and Rowans, a segment of the wall, large enough for a person to fit through, simply melts away, as if it was never there.

"One of Azriel's spies found this a couple weeks back. It wasn't worth the risk of going inside, but he made note of it."

The smile has faded off of Rhys mouth, leaving nothing behind but a solid determination, and perhaps even a hint of fear.

Aelin saunters forward. "Give that spy a raise."

Then she's gone, disappeared through the empty hole. Rowan follows her, leaving Rhys and I alone. There is again that urge to grab him and hold onto him, to freeze this moment and never let time move forward, but then he too is gone through the hole and I am alone.

"No turning back now!" the book whispers to me, and I'm not sure if it's wicked delight or regret in its voice.

I breath, in then out, and take a step forward, then another.

Finally, I step through the hole in the wall, which closes with a snap behind me. It's pitch black on the other side, so dark that even my Fae eyes can't pick out and details of my surroundings. So I take one more step forward, then suddenly I'm falling.

I don't know if I scream, or if I'm so surprised that I just don't have a chance. I feel as though the world simply stopped existing under my feet.

Then, as suddenly as I started falling, I stop. The first thing I'm aware of is that I'm on the ground, knees shaking and hands throbbing. The second thing I notice is that there is light.

I pull myself to my feet, and nearly jump out my skin. I'm in an enormous hall, lit by flickering gas lamps. To my left I can see Rhys, already on his feet and staring, unmoving. On my right, Aelin, lips pulled back in a silent snarl.

I try to run but I can't. My feet are stuck to the ground beneath me, and pull as I might, I can't move even an inch.

From the other side of the room I hear a loud chuckle, a sound that turns my blood to ice in my veins.

Hybern steps out of the shadows. "Lovely of you to join us my dears. It's been too long."

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