A Storm of Flames and Deceit

IX. Just the Mystery

Nephele

I love the feeling of winnowing. If you got your mind right, it felt like you were falling.
The air is warmer in spring when I open my eyes. Back on the northern side of the isle, there wasn't much of seasons- just rain. Already, autumn court had been a shock. Our autumnal season back in Hybern had only been the leaves of the trees turning brown and sludgy until they fell onto the squishy earth.
There wasn't a spring back home either, no flowers. As it was, I had to sneak into town into floral shops to see any flowers for myself, my favorite always being lavender.
But spring court was...
Spring was enamoring. The leaves were a shade of green I'm not sure I've ever seen before. The air was practically gold with sunlight and pollen. The flowers bloomed in every shade of beautiful, sporadic and wild. Bees buzzed. Dragonflies hummed. Birds sang.
"Wow," the word falls uselessly from my lips for lack of something substantial to say. Eris might be chuckling at my expense- I'm too enamored for care.
"Come," he tugs my hand a bit. "We should go see my brother and let him know we have arrived."
I blink out of my trance. "Your brother?"
"My youngest brother," he replies. "Lucien."
I nod, swallowing. I haven't much care for Eris' brothers thus far. "What's he doing here?"
Eris looks upon the massive manner looming ahead, overgrown ivy and other foliage surrounding its stone walls. "Lucien isn't welcome in Autumn anymore- it's a long story," he looks a little stiff. "But he is good friends with the High Lord of this Court."
"What's his name?" I ask- it feels like something I should know.
"Tamlin," he replies. "But you probably won't be speaking to him. These days..." He trails off, not offering more as he looks to the tree line in the distance.
"These days...?" I poke. He glances back at me.
"Tamlin has a beast lurking within him as part of his power. The woman he loved had fallen out of love with him and into the arms of a man he hates, who killed his family, and after the war ended, he had become... feral," Eris explains simply. "He roams the land in his beast form, surviving off his sorrow. That's why his court appears to be so overgrown and jumbled."
I frown, looking around. "It still looks quite beautiful to me."
Eris shrugs, indifferent.
"Eris," a voice calls from the porch of the manner, a similar drawl as Eris, less posh though. I gaze up at the porch as we approach the man. His hair is long and copper, and he is built like his eldest brother, long and lean. That's about where the similarities end.
For starters, his skin is much darker than my fiancé's which is pale white, flushed pink, and dotted in freckles. In fact, Lucien's skin looks only a few shades lighter than mine which is odd because while my father's skin is as pale as any Vansera, my mother's skin is a deep ebony, balancing me at a medium brown, favoring my mother's complexion. Lucien's long hair also appears to have a different texture to it, the strands thicker than the silk-smooth hair that Eris has.
And his eye...
His eye appeared to be metallic, lined in scars.
"Lucien," Eris says in return. The brothers do not embrace- I don't know why I expected them to. Lucien's gaze flickers to me, and his eye seems to whir in examination. I shift uncomfortably, still holding Eris' hand like a lifeline.
"This would be your fiancé?" he concludes, turning to Eris for confirmation.
"If I'm to assume I'm the only one," I smile, extending my hand. "I'm Nephele- it's nice to meet you." He takes my hand, pressing a polite kiss to the knuckles. I must admit- he's quite attractive. Not so much so as Eris, but certainly a beautiful man. As I notice this, Eris loops me back under his arm, away from his brother, the territorial asshole.
"So you're the general's daughter?" He asks, leading us inside. I blink, glancing at Eris.
"I wrote to him," he explains. "He knows who you are."
I nod, breathing out. No lies today.
"It's quite the piece of information, Eris," Lucien continues on. "This alliance alone is enough to turn every High Lord and the High Lady against him once and for all- not that any of them were big fans of him anyway."
Eris nods, leading us through the eerie manner. The walls are covered in ivy and claw marks, but the red heads move with ease, steps unfaltering. I have nothing to fear. "And it might be enough to convince them that Beron is their problem too."
I glance up at him. "You're planning to overthrow your father?" I ask quietly. I could've guessed that he might one day, but so soon?
He nods. "And your father will go down with him," he adds, looking over my face. "I assume that would please you."
I nod, swallowing, feeling breathless. I never considered it was possible to get vengeance on father, but Eris had. Our fathers' fates were entwined the same way ours are. "I'm not a huge daddy's girl, believe it or not," I understate, and Eris chuckles.
"Then, I suppose you'll have no issue being sworn to secrecy about this all," he says as we follow Lucien into a meeting room which is relatively untouched compared to the rest of the house which is utterly battered.
I blink. "You think I'd tell my parents about any of this?"
He shrugs casually, dropping his arm from around me and taking a seat. "I met you three days ago, Nephele- it's just an extra precaution."
Fair enough, I suppose. I still feel a bit insulted, but I turn to Lucien. "And you have met with us to swear us in?" I ask. The ritual of sworn secrecy takes a mediator, someone who can bind the two in silence.
Lucien nods, and I return my attention to Eris whose face is completely neutral.
"Fine, let's do it, Hot Stuff," I say, taking his hand, preparing for the binding. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
...
It hardly takes any time for Lucien to bind me to secrecy, but them filling me in on how they plan to expose Beron takes much longer. I wonder why they bother. I mean, they don't need me to be in the know. They just need me to make Eris tolerable.
I quickly gather that Lucien is not at all like Eris' other brothers. He's kind- if a little moody like Eris. But I cannot picture Lev and Darian encouraging such discussion. Lucien however...
Lucien wants vengeance. For what, I can't say.
Eris reveals that he intends to expose his father's support of my father to the other High Lords, to inspire inspire insurrection. To clear a path to the throne with all of Prynthian backing him.
It wouldn't be easy.
In fact, the terms of the alliance between our fathers were warded only to be spoken of by those of Vansera or Speirling blood. I suppose Beron forgot that included his outcast son.
"We need the night court to find out," Lucien taps his finger against his chin. "They're our strongest allies. Whatever Rhysand and Feyre decide, the other courts seem to follow."
Lucien nods. I don't bother asking who Rice Man and Farrow are- I've asked enough question. "Yes, those daemati powers they both have make them quite influential when they want to be," Eris says with disdain.
I blink. "Daemati?"
Lucien squints at me. "Yeah...?"
I laugh, covering the sound with my hand, and they stare at me like I've lost my mind. I glance back and forth between them. "What?" Eris asks.
"Oh, come on!" I grin. "It's so obvious!"
"Spit it out, Sweetheart- we don't have all day," Eris says, rubbing his temple. We had been at this table for quite some while.
I lean back in my chair, laugh fondly. "Under these wards we cannot speak or tell of the true alliance our fathers have, correct?"
Lucien frowns. "Correct."
I grin, twirling a piece of my hair upon delivery. "But what if someone looks into our minds and stumbles upon the truth?"
Eris and Lucien exchange dumb looks, and I think that I have perhaps never been more smug. "Neph, you're a genius," Lucien praises, and I snort.
"Damn right," I reply.
"One problem," Eris puts in, ever the pessimist. "We cannot invite them into our minds in any way. To the wards, it's the same thing as telling."
I frown, deflated. Lucien ponders, the whirring of that eye as he gazes onto the ceiling for answers. But it is Eris who comes up with the answer to his own question.
"We goad them into it," he decides, his attention turning to me. Something devilish enters his eyes, a smirk crossing his lips. "And I know just the mystery that they won't be able to resist looking into."