Any Day Darling: A Feysand Story

Part 26: A Friendly Discussion About War Crimes

Everyone grew silent as the three of us walked into the room. As Cassian closed the door and took his seat, I scanned the room. I was surprised to see my sisters looking back up at me, both of whom rarely wished to be involved in running our court. Even more surprising was Mor, sitting silently next to Cass, making eye contact with the ridges in the table. Rhys and I sat down at the large circular table.

"Okay, let's get started." He said, grabbing the file folder Az slid across the table to him. "Refugees?"

Azriel nodded. "Population, individual files, places of residents, and so on." Rhys handed the massive file to me to flip through.

"Have there been any problems?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Nothing more than scared fae having trouble adjusting."

"Good," Rhys said. I handed the folder back to him, and he placed it under his chair. "In the future, we will need to spend more time working with aid, but for now, we have far greater matters to discuss."

"Have you heard anything from Nuala?" I asked the spymaster. He closed his eyes and shook his head again.

"No one comes in or out of the two southernmost courts anymore." He said grimly. "It would be a suicide mission to try to get her out, or to send anyone else down."

"So, we have no new information?" Rhys asked.

"Not exactly." Amren said, "Varian got in contact with me this morning. He said that the borders were closed, so it was hard to know what was going on, but that they hadn't seen any fires, and no one has made any attacks in the Summer Court."

"That's good, isn't it?" Elain asked.

"Not smelling the smoke, girl, does not prove the absence of flames." Elain slumped a little in her chair. Amren turned to look at me. "They suspect no one is coming through because they can't reach the border. No one knows more than that."

"We have to send someone down there." I insisted. "I would go down myself if it wasn't for...the baby. I've infiltrated the Spring Court once I can do it again."

"No, "Rhys rasped. I can't go through that again. I put a hand on his arm and nodded. "But you're right. We need an informant of some kind. The Spring Court members who snuck over the border, are they talking at all."

"Yes and no," Az said. "They know jack shit about the rebellion and the current state of the people, but once I got them started, there wasn't much they didn't tell us about their High Lord. It seems like Tamlin has been preparing for quite some time."

"Preparing how?" Mor asked, speaking for the first time since we came back home. Az looked over and Nesta and nodded, Out of her pocket, she pulled a long vial, filled with shimmering powder.

"I caught one of Tamlin's cronies coming in via the ocean. The little bitch swam up here, fuckin' shifters. Three of these were strapped to his arm. He tried to open one and force it down my mouth; you're lucky he survived long enough to start talking."

"Madja thinks its mutated faebane," Az said.

"Mutated?" I asked "how the hell—"

"We have no clue," He said shaking his head, "But if what the assassin said was true,"

"What did he say?" Rhys asked, calmly. Too calmly. I reached for his hand and held on tight.

"He said that when poisoned with a small dose, it nullifies your natural power, replacing it with some strange version of its own magic." Nesta said, "Apparently when Tamlin found it, he...He tested...on humans first, to see what it would do. In small doses, it healed them. But when he gave it to the high fae, in low doses, they lost their powers, found new ones for a few hours, then fell into a trance. But with a whole vial, supposedly, they went mad. Ripped everything in the room to shreds, and if they survived it, they couldn't be healed after."