A Court of Death and Retribution

chapter 38

When I woke, I was finally able to open my eyes. I slowly inched them open only to be assaulted by sunlight flooding through the window of my bedroom. "Fucking Cauldron!" I raised a hand to block the sun.

A dark laugh came from the corner of my room. "Language." Rhysand said as he stood from his chair.

I groaned and sat up slowly in bed. "How long was I out?"

Rhysand came up to the edge of the bed. "A few days. How are you feeling?"

"Fine." I sighed, looking down at my gloved hands in my lap.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you remember what happened?"

I bit the inside of my cheek and furrowed my eyebrows. The last thing I remember was unleashing my dark magic on everyone. My face paled. "Is everyone—"

Rhysand waved a dismissive hand. "Everyone's okay. Nyx and I put shields up before the blast hit."

Letting out a shaky breath, I leaned back against the headboard. "How do I control it?"

Rhysand sighed and sat on the edge of the bed facing me. "It's already yours to control. You just need to trust yourself to do it."

I gave him a pointed look. "It's the Dark Mother's magic. Not mine."

"And yet you wield it." His violet eyes held a hint of mischief.

Rolling my eyes, I got out of bed and started towards the bathroom. "Where is everyone?" I asked as I shut the door behind me to use the toilet and brush my teeth.

Rhysand hesitated, then spoke. "Azriel found your wings." I paused with the toothbrush in my mouth. "Well, technically the witches did, but Azriel's spies saw them find it."

I quickly spat out the toothpaste and rinsed before exiting the bathroom. "Are they getting them?"

"They're in the study forming a plan." He responded.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why aren't you there?"

He wiped away a smile that formed on his face with his hand. "I was kicked out."

"Why?" I asked as I slipped on my shoes.

"Nyx didn't like my plan." He followed me out of my room.

"And what was your plan?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rhysand winced with a small smile, as if he knew his plan was shitty. "To have you steal them back."

I stopped just before the stairs and turned to him with an evil smile. "You know, for my entire life I've survived by stealing things."

"That's why I suggested it." Rhysand said with amusement.

My own amused smile formed on my lips. "C'mon, I'm not taking no for an answer."

Rhysand followed me with a chuckle, and when we entered the study, everyone's head spun in our direction. Rhysand came around me and pointed back at me with his thumb. "She likes my idea."

The majority of the room glared at Rhysand, but Cal and Mor were trying to hold back their laughter. Amren wore an evil smirk, glancing past Rhysand to look at me.

"It could be a trap." Nyx sighed while crossing his arms.

I rolled my eyes. "Then I guess it's a good thing there's a room full of powerful Fae to back me up."

Cal couldn't contain his laughter anymore, so he let it out, earning a glare from Nyx.

Feyre sighed. "Bella, it could be incredibly dangerous. The witches and the Dark Mother still want you. If they took you—"

"If they take me, I'll just kill them all with my super fancy dark magic." I held my gloved hands up, wiggling my fingers.

Before anyone could respond, a loud shriek erupted from outside.

Everyone ran through the River House and out the back door to the gardens. We ran through the maze of the beautiful flowers that Elain had planted before we saw her.

Elain wore a look of pure fear as her head turned to us. Her eyes were widened, her mouth hanged open, and she was shaking terribly. Lucien shot past us and pulled Elain into a tight hug. "What happened? What's wrong?"

I looked around the garden to see if anyone was here, but I saw nobody. As my eyes looked past Elain and Lucien, my stomach turned so much that I vomited on the grass in front of me.

"Cauldron." Cassian groaned as Nyx shot forward and grabbed me before I fell over.

My head felt incredibly dizzy from shock. Nyx held my face in his hands with a worried expression. "Bella what's the matter?"

I looked past Nyx, Elain, and Lucien. Just beyond them was the thing that made Elain shriek. The thing that scared us. The thing that only the two of us knew about. I locked eyes with Elain, who I knew had to fear me now because of it.

Turning back to look at Nyx, I spoke, my voice wavering slightly. "The white roses are dead."

Nyx's eyebrows furrowed together. "What does that mean?"

I looked past him again and pointed to the once healthy and thriving rose bush. The same one that Elain had planted for me, truly believing that I would bring them all hope. Instead of the soft white roses and the green bush they sprouted from was a thick pile on black ash.

"Elain planted those for me. She—she saw a vision of them when I arrived. They're dead." I whispered, but I knew they could all hear me.

Lucien took Elain back to the House, shooting Feyre a nervous look. As I glanced at everyone, they seemed to all have the same wary expression.

My dizziness only increased, but it wasn't from shock. My dark magic swirled inside of me so viciously that it was causing my body to shake.

"We're too late." Azriel wore a haunted expression.

"What?" Rhysand looked over to him.

Azriel looked to me, and I understood exactly what he meant. The symbolism of hope had died with the bush. My dark magic was almost excited inside of me. I took a deep breath before speaking, hoping my voice came out stronger than I felt. "The Dark Mother has risen."

—

A/N

Sorry for the short chapter! I wanted to break this section up from the next one so it flowed better.

I hope you're all having a great day!

-Em