A Court of Song and Shadow

Chapter 35

"What?" I ask as my heart drops, and I look to Tanwyn who also looks terrified.

"What do you mean it is Mor's blood?" She asks, and Az just stares at us--stares right through us.

"Az," I stand in front of his hazy gaze to try to get him to explain, "Is she--"

"She is alive." He responds and then looks to Tanwyn, "Cassian can explain."

So rarely have I heard Az use Cass's full first name. Az holds out both of his hands for us to take, I do not hesitate to take it and then we are quickly traveling through his shadows.

It takes me a moment to adjust against the bright light and new location, it takes me even longer to realize what was going on.

"You piece of shit." I hear my brothers voice and watch in terror as he punches a bloody Cass already kneeling on the muddy ground of the Illyrian camps. Rhys lifts his fist back again to punch Cass when Tanwyn and I both go running over to them. Tanwyn runs in front of Cass and I run infront of my brother and grab his arm.

"What the hell are you doing?" I ask with my eyes widened, Rhys ignores me as he pushes me aside and goes to throw another punch at Cass. Tanwyn quickly unsheathes her sword and points it at Rhysand.

"Do not lay another hand on him." She growls at him, and Rhysand looks between her standing in front of Cassian and then Cassian still kneeling on the ground and my brother lets out a laugh.

"You are not going to want to defend him when you find out what he did." Rhys says, "Get out of my way."

"No." Tanwyn does not back down, and I look to Azriel.

"Are you going to help him?" I ask, and Azriel just crosses his arms and stays silent. I walk back over to stand in between Tanwyn and Rhysand. I see pure rage written on my brother's face, and I look down to Cassian who has pure defeat written on his.

"Brother, stop." I say slowly to him, but he goes towards Cassian again. I grab his shoulders and push him back as hard as I can.

"You do not want to do this right now, sister." Rhys warns, and I freeze at the pure hatred in his voice.

"You obviously have made your point, look at him!" I shout, but Rhys does not even listen as he begins charging at me. I stand my ground as his fists meets my arm. I quickly drop to the ground and kick his feet from under him. He falls and I flinch at how hard his head hits the ground--but it gives me time to jump on him and hold him down as he struggles to break free of my grip, "Stop it!"

"Tell them!" Rhys shouts as he turns his head to look at Tanwyn helping Cassian off the ground. "Tell them what you fucking did."

"Someone explain what the hell is going on." I shout, anger rising through me because nobody is taking the time to explain to any of us what happened.

"You are not going to tell them?" Rhys asks with a laugh as Cassian watches him with no emotion written on his face, "You are a fucking coward."

"Tanwyn--" Cass manages to get out, and his voice breaks as he says her name. He reaches for her but she just looks at Rhys.

"Cassian slept with Mor." Azriel finally says from the shadows. I release my grip on my brother as I fall back on the ground, "When Keir found out, he had her brothers torture her and then left her at the Autumn Court's border with this nailed to her--"

Azriel reaches into his pocket and pulls out a bloodied piece of paper, I reach up to take it from his hands as I read the scribbled handwriting,

The whore is your problem now,

-The Night Court

"The Autumn Court found her and left her there. I found her." Azriel's shadows have disappeared completely. I feel bile rising up the back of my throat at the thought of everything that happened but I keep it down.

"You are an actual bastard, you knew!" Rhys stands up off the ground--covered in Cass's blood and mud and points angrily at him, "You knew how my family is, you knew what they would do to her!"

"No," Cass shakes his head, and looks to Tanwyn who just has tears running down her cheeks. She does not even look my way as she winnows away. "Damn it Az!" Cass tries to stand up slowly, but fails.

"She deserved to know." Is all Azriel says.

"She deserved to hear it from me, not another male!" Cass begins to raise his voice at Az, and I step in between them. "I knew that your family would most likely disown her, and that the engagement between her and Eris would be severed, I never thought--"

"You are right, you did not think." Rhysand's voice breaks as I see a tear run down his face. Oh, gods. If Rhysand was this upset, then I could not even imagine what Mor had to go through--Rhysand winnows away to gods know where. I debate doing the same but the sight of Cassian bloody and bruised sitting there in the mud stops me. I look to Azriel who is just staring at his brother in pure hatred--something I have rarely ever seen on Azriel's face. I stand in front of him and place both hands on his shoulders so he looks into my eyes.

"Go tend to Mor, I will be right there." I say to him, and it takes him a moment to even register what I say and then he disappears within his shadows without even saying farewell. I angrily walk over to Cassian as I help him up off of the muddy ground and practically carry him back to his tent. I throw him back on his cot and he lets out a groan of pain. I quickly gather a bowl of water, bandaging, and healing salve. I kneel on the side of the cot and begin assessing his wounds.

"Do you--"

"Do not speak to me." I warn him as I rip off his shirt to see all the bruising and gashes underneath. I wince when I realize how hard Rhys would have had to hit him for these wounds to appear this bad. I begin cleaning the mud off of his chest and face and then cleaning the wounds themselves.

"Tanwyn." Is all he says, I do not know whether it was a statement or a question but I ignore it. We sit in silence as I tend to his wounds and I can only imagine what Mor looks like.

"I am going to ask you questions, and you are going to answer them." I say as I harshly push down on one of his gashes as I clean it to emphasize how serious I am being. He nods his head slowly. "Whose idea was it?"

"Mor's."

My heart drops as the realization sets in--this was Mor's plan all along. I had wondered why she would choose to come to these camps rather than the Valkyrie's and now I know it was because she wanted to use Cassian to get out of her engagement to Eris. Why she thought that was the best way to get out of their betrothal was beyond me.

"You are a fool." I say as I begin to apply the healing salve.

"I was drunk and Mor was so upset--I did not even think."

"No. You did not." I finish applying the salve and sit back in my chair, "Do not ever tell me you loved Tanwyn, because if you did, you would have never  put her through that."

Before he can respond, I winnow away and find myself in the healing room of the mountain palace. I lean against the doorframe to stop myself from falling over when I see Mor laying on the table--battered and broken. Azriel is helping my mother and a few other healers clean her wounds. I look for Rhysand but do not find him in this room, and I have no clue where he would have winnowed to. I stand there for a moment, and when I realize Mor is in good hands and will be okay--I begin walking away.

Azriel quickly follows me, "Where are you going?"

"To make sure her family pays for what they did to her."