A Court of Flowers and Stars

Chapter 1

This story has been edited, so if any of the comments don't make sense, that is why! Hope you all like the new (and hopefully improved) story :)

-Megan's POV-

It was tense at dinner tonight, both me and father knew the likelihood of me coming home alive was slim, but I was born for this, I knew I was.

"You know what you have to do, right?" He asked, shifting in his seat.

Anyone who didn't know him would think he was worried for me, but I knew he was worried I wouldn't get the job done.

"Yes father, you worry too much," I said as we walked away from the dining table and towards my room.

He watched in silence as I strapped five daggers to my body, two on each thigh then one on my hip. I only needed one for this, but it's better to be safe. Once I was sure every blade was secure against my skin-tight bodysuit, I turned to look at my father, just in case this was the last time I saw him.

"If you fail, they won't hesitate to kill you." He said, stepping closer so we were only inches apart.

He told me this at least once a week, so I was used to it now, he said it so often that the scare factor it once had was now long gone.

"It's a good job I won't fail then, isn't it?" I replied, smirking at him.

I was expecting a slap for that, but it didn't come, he just looked me over.

"Use your powers only if you need to, they will still be settling, this needs precision." He said, now that was a new one.

"You worry too much; everything will be fine." I told him, meeting his eyes.

"This is what you were born to do Megan." He said as he took my face in his hands.

I nodded and stepped back, checking my blades one final time, and looking my father over before I winnowed to the Night Court. The home of my target, and my lifelong enemy.

When I landed the cold slammed into me. I was told the Steeps were freezing, but this just took it to whole new level. My suit didn't do much to help ward off the cold so I hoped this male didn't take too long to show up so I could go back home.

I crawled into the middle of a bush, it providing me a little shelter from the cold while also giving me a place to hide. I was here early, but I wasn't risking my one opportunity of him being alone.

I had only been sat there for ten minutes when I heard male grumbling.

"Cassian is so dead when I get home." He was saying to himself.

I couldn't help but tense. I don't know why, but hearing his voice made me want to just go back home, even if I had been trained for this my whole life.

He rounded the corner and I leapt out, the hilt of my dagger hitting him on the head. He fell to the ground before going limp, I couldn't be dealing with a warrior.

I rolled him over, so he was on his back, his black hair looked like spilt ink in the snow, and his face was peaceful. I shook myself and pinned his arms to the ground with my knees, just in case. I pressed my blade to his throat, but I couldn't make myself slit his skin.

'I can't do it,' I realised with a small amount of horror.

The male under me we still so young, not as young as me, but for the fae, we were both still children. He was so innocent looking, laying there in the snow. I had to do this, once flick of my wrist and I could go home, that was all I had to do.

I couldn't, and I was going to die because of that. I failed my one purpose in life. I was worthless. At this point I might as well turn my blade on myself.

I heard the wing beats from above me and I knew this was it, my life was over. Something slammed into the snow in front of me and I dared to look up. This was the male I was supposed to hurt by doing this.

The High Lord of Night was less demon like than I thought. He just looked like a normal male, sure he had the Illyrian wings folded behind him, but not the scales and claws I was made to believe. The only reason I knew it was him were the violet eyes he possessed.

I told myself to snap out of it, I was here to kill his son, not admire him. I gripped my dagger a little tighter and pressed it a little closer to his son's throat. Not that I could draw blood still, no matter how much I told myself I had to.

"Get off him," the High Lord snarled at me, fists clenching.

That was when I saw the male I had been told about, the man who tortures people for fun, who plays with minds.

I couldn't, I was born to kill the child of Night. Why was this so hard, he deserved this for all of the things he had done to my family.

I couldn't stop the terror from clawing its way up, I knew I was going to die, but how much pain was he going to put me through first, was I going to become one of his playthings?

That thought alone made my blood go cold, I could end my own life, make it quick and painless, or I could use my magic. I didn't have enough energy to winnow back quite yet, I just needed to stall for more time.

My other option was surrendering. Maybe if I surrendered, he would be lenient towards me, after all, I didn't actually harm his son, I couldn't bring myself to.

I slowly pulled the dagger away from the boy's throat and rolled off him, standing in one swift motion, never taking my eyes off the High Lord. I was calculating every possible escape route as I did so.

If I could incapacitate the High Lord for long enough, I could winnow to the middle and wait out there until my magic replenishes enough to get back home. I decided that would be my safest bet to get out of here in once piece, so I threw my dagger.

I aimed for his thigh, and I would have hit my mark if he didn't pluck it out of the air mere inches from his leg.

I took a step back, eyes widening in surprise, I was completely screwed, I was going to die a slow and painful death, I just knew it. There was no getting out of this.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked, surprising me.

I stared at him in shock, I knew I didn't take after my father looks wise but if he took the chance to scent me it would be very obvious why I was doing this. Then again, my father had taken precautions against things like scent, I didn't think they would work, but I did now overwhelmingly smell of lavender.

'Rule two, if you are caught, your identity must remain a secret at all costs, this can't be linked to me.'

My father's voice floated around in my mind. Rule one had been don't be weak, but I had already disobeyed that. No, if I was going down, I wasn't going to drag my father down with me.

I stayed silent, I should never have come here, this was a fool's mission. The High Lord glanced over my shoulder, so I turned to see what he was looking at, keeping half of my attention on him as I did so.

I didn't get so see what was behind me before something cold slammed into the back of my head. I fell to my knees with the force of it. Black spots crossed my vision, and the wind began circling me. I had kept it at bay so far, I couldn't have it whispering to me as I did this, but now I needed to hear it.

'Give us orders, we can keep them at bay,' it hissed.

"No, it's ok, just stay with me, please," I whispered back to it before I fell to the side, my world going dark.