A Court of Beasts and Shadows >ACOTAR Fanfic

Chapter Fourteen

I should have known Rhys would have done something about me being mated to Tamlin.

After all, he had seemed unnaturally collected about the whole drama, had been quiet when around me, as had Azriel and Cassian had made a joke about 'running away from my prick of a mate'.

But kidnapping me, I never thought of that.

Four hours earlier...

After my talk with Kallias, I was in tears, as was he nearly.

Kallias told me of my mother, Dekara, a beautiful female, High Fae, who had been my father's lover in secret, afraid of Amarantha's wrath. Months had gone by of their secret affair until one of Amarantha's spies caught Dekara leaving Rhys's bedroom, and had gone to Amarantha and told her of her whore bedding another female.

Dekara had been locked away for months, presumably tortured by Amarantha, but instead was pregnant with Rhys's child and had been killed nine months later, her body strung above Amarantha's throne, unable to pass on, her body never being burnt.

The daughter of Rhysand, High Lord the Night Court, niece of Kallias, High Lord of the Winter Court, mated to Tamlin, High Lord of the Spring Court.

I had been born of ice and shadows, and then chained to a beast of horns.

To escape one prison, only to be trapped in another.

The look on Tamlin's face when he caught me once again with Kallias, a handsome High Lord, he had been livid, and I wanted nothing more to fall at my father's feet and beg him to take me as far away as he could, to never be the prize of a High Lord.

But my conscience wouldn't allow it.

Tamlin's first thought would be that Rhys stole me away, second would be of Kallias, since he had caught us talking twice already and I wouldn't share the contents with him which infuriated him.

But he couldn't control me.

I caught Feyre in the hall and asked could I speak to her private, and had asked her about Tamlin, everything about him. She told me of after what Amarantha had put her through, killing those innocent Fae, Tamlin had ignored her needs, to make himself feel safe, how he became possessive and eventually obsession had clouded his thoughts and he had handed his lands over to Hybern to get her back.

How could I be mated to such a male?

I knew that within a few hours, Tamlin would leave the Autumn Court and take me with him to the Spring Court, a thought that terrified me.

I didn't want to be mated to a High Lord, I didn't want to be tied to my father's worst enemy for an eternity.

The Lady of the Autumn Court, a shell of the female she had once been...would I become like her?

I didn't want to cry ever again, but the tears were about to surface, and I felt weak. What was the point of crying? Why did we cry? It showed that we were vulnerable while crying, which was a weakness.

"You don't want to go."

I turned around and saw Cassian standing there, emotions flickering across his face. None of the usual cockiness was there and I refused to wipe my eyes, my vision not blurring from tears just yet.

"Of course, I don't want to go with Tamlin" I snapped at him, tears now running down my cheeks. "I don't want to be some High Lord's consort, I don't want to be forced to spend an eternity sewing and planning parties, I don't want to have children and I definitely do not want to be mated to a High Lord!"

Cassian was suddenly holding me as I cried, and I sobbed into the soft material of his Night Court attire. He smelt for some reason, strongly of lavender. I pulled back and looked up at him and he tilted his head, puzzled.

"The big bad Illyrian smells of lavender" I laughed through tears and a grin broke out on his face as he joined in on the laughter. "Blame the baths here" he managed to say before breaking into more laughter.

We managed to sober up eventually, sitting on the balcony, Cassian's wings out in case I fell, or he fell off the balcony. I didn't bother mentioning to him about the fact I had my own wings, but if I went to the Spring Court, I'd be forced to discontinue my lessons with Azriel.

(Those aren't really what I imagine Cassian's wings to be like but they're close enough. I imagine them to be more solid in built and a lot bigger)

And he was the only one I trusted to see my wings.

I looked at Cassian, taking in the huge wings, the muscles on his body and asked him a question that was lingering on my mind.

"What if I just...disappeared? Would you just turn a blind eye?"

Surprise flickered across his face. "Rhea, sweetheart, everyone in the Inner Circle would turn a blind eye to your 'sudden disappearance'. We'll all help you escape Tamlin."

I tore at my bottom lip with my teeth. "He's a High Lord though. He'll go to war to get me back, and the first thought he'll have will be that Rhys was the one to help me escape. It's too suspicious and dangerous."

Cassian shrugged. "We've dealt with worse than some whining High Lord."

I barked a laugh. "I've heard your usual smartass answers and the best you can come up with is 'whining?'"

Cassian smacked my head playfully. "Your young, I'm protecting your innocent ears from my smartass answers...you know...you are a shadow-singer."

I rubbed my head ruefully. "I'm terrible at spying if that's what your implying. I've no idea how or why I'm a shadow-singer, but I'm the shittest one ever."

"I'm sure you're not all bad."

I looked up and saw Azriel standing there and Cassian suddenly stood up, his massive left wing that had been behind me, crashing into me and I went flying, hitting the ground with a yelp.

"Sorry, Rhea, forgot I had them out."

Cassian held a hand out to me and I took hold of it, but instead of pulling me up, Cassian suddenly grabbed me by the waist, his other hand slipping under my knees and picking me up and winnowed away.

***

When we all reappeared in a house, I struggled, trying to get out of Cassian's arms but he held me tight. I let my powers wash down to my hands and he let me go, cursing, and I fell once more to the ground.

"Where the hell am I?" I cried, stumbling to my feet and Azriel tried to steady me but I pulled away from him, eyes flashing.

"You're in Velaris" said Azriel, no emotions on his face.

"Why?" I snarled, knowing my hair was turning white, as it did whenever I got angry.

"Because we're kidnapping you, sweetheart" grinned Cassian.

**********

As you can imagine, kidnapping her won't last too long since Tamlin's a High Lord and eventually she'll have to go to the Spring Court with him.

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