A Court of Beasts and Shadows >ACOTAR Fanfic

15 Years Later

Rhea

The sound of roaring filled my Fae ears and I blocked out it out, the sounds hurting my too sensitive ears. The room that had been my hell for the past fifteen years of my life was always in darkness thanks to the iron mask that covered my face. Iron chains bound around my waist and arms, restricting my access around the room had dampened my powers for as long as I could remember. I could only see one person every week, when she had entered my mind, filling my thoughts with her malicious thoughts, her memories mingling with mine. Her face was always in my mind and her name. A name I hated more than the room itself.

Amarantha.

There was a male who visited me, one with a smooth voice who told me he was my father. His tears, his voice breaking as he told me of my mother, of the woman who had kept me a prisoner for years on end for her own gain. He had tried to project himself into my mind but when I begged him not to, not able to allow someone else into my mind like the savage female who tortured me. He had respected my decision, not pushing it.

Rhys.

My fathers name. A name I would never let Amarantha banish from my mind for one of her games. She hadn't visited me in a while, something I was immensely relieved of. The fae-bane whip she used on me, her claws digging into my skin and then raking down my skin until I screamed. My wings, now ruined according to Amarantha and Rhys, when Amarantha had set them on fire repeatedly, burning the feathers and flesh until I nearly screamed the mountain down.

The day after when my father had come in and had roared. Falling to the ground and had held me, his tears stinging my open wounds, but I hadn't cried.

I hadn't cried since I was seven years old.

And I had no intention of ever letting Amarantha have that satisfaction of knowing I cried. When she told me repeatedly that I was a prisoner because of my father's actions, that everything that happened to me, the whipping, the fire, the starvation, the isolation, was all because of him.

I didn't know what to think but I knew I would never blame my father. I had never laid eyes on him before, but I knew he was a good male. He couldn't protect me, something Amarantha had made clear to me regularly.

The air was cold against my body. Rags of old clothes barely covered me and were soaked in blood. I wasn't allowed blankets or new clothes, nothing.

The roaring got louder, and I hissed. What was with all the noise? Did Amarantha find another play thing? I felt pity for the poor creature that now suffered by her hands. Was she doing to the poor thing, that she did to me? Or was she inflicting new methods?

I focused my Fae hearing and almost recoiled. There was a female screaming and I could hear Amarantha's voice. It was faint, but I could pick her voice out of a crowd of a city.

A splitting headache came on and I shut out the noises, groaning. The iron mask over my face was hard to breathe in sometimes and it was also too tight around my throat. It went all over my face and the back of my head, trapping my hair inside it, and went down my throat.

"I keep a mask on you, so no one will ever have to see how ugly you are. You are not worth looking at, you don't even deserve to be alive, you are only alive by my decreed."

Amarantha's cruel words were a constant reminder of who and what I was. I was nothing, nothing more than dirt. I didn't deserve to live, that I deserve every whipping, burning, and horrific torture she could conjure.

"Do not let her win. Ever. You are strong, stronger than me. You can beat Amarantha."

My father was wrong. Amarantha had won a long time ago.

***

The noise had gotten louder and then it had continued for a while and I felt at peace. Nobody was bothering me, but it was getting colder and colder. I had to admit I was curious to what was happening, but the noise was too strong for my sensitive hearing.

Sudden sharp noises like a door banging. My head raised, as I could hear footsteps. The door opened, and someone walked in. There was no swishing of dress material, so it wasn't Amarantha. And father would have told me when he walked in... who was it?

I kept quiet as cold hands gripped my arm and suddenly the chains there fell. I stood still as the chains dropped my other arm, my waist, legs and then hands gripped the mask and searing heat shot through the mask and my back arched, my hands scrabbling, and met soft material. There was a clicking sound and the mask was pulled off and I opened my eyes.

The room was dimly lit but the light still hurt my eyes and I immediately shut them, groaning. Something warm and soft wrapped around me and I was lifted, hearing a low grunt. I tried opening my eyes again, and the light stung but it wasn't as bad as before.

I looked up and my vision was a bit blurry, but I saw a male. A male with red hair and sort of yellow eyes. He looked down at me and I forced myself to speak.

"Who are you?" I whispered, my voice low and hoarse. He started walking out, still carrying me. The outside of the room was stone lit with torches and he went up steps and the lights got brighter so I shut my eyes. Who was he? Where was he taking me?

"My name is Eris" he replied and carried me out.