A Court of Bastards [ACOTAR]

Chapter 12

The night air was crisp and still between the cobbled streets, and a thin mist settled over the street lamps - the very last of autumn still clinging to the sun set in the bay.

Bella had insisted they visit Rita's. She would go nowhere else, she declared, especially if this might be Fiona's last night in Velaris. There was no line outside when they arrived, no one manning the door to what looked like a dingy little cellar room. Fiona's doubts must have shown on her face, as Bella only laughed before grabbing her hand and leading her down the stairs.

They emerged, however, on a large dance floor beneath a vaulted stone ceiling. It might have been a cellar once, the kind that a very rich merchant might store rows upon rows of priceless vintage wines in. But now the club was packed with dancing fae, none of whom so much as looked up when Xander, Riordan, Fiona and Belladonna took up a table in the corner, a few steps away from the bar.

Bella immediately disappeared to get them drinks, grinning at the white-winged fairy bartender - an old friend, apparently.

Riordan leaned back in the booth with a lazy grin. "Gods I missed this place."

The corner of Xander's lips twitched. "It's been...what, two years? Maybe less?"

"Still too long." Dan shook his head.

"Do they not have dance halls in the Day Court?" Bella asked, returning. She slid a tall glass filled with purple liquid toward Fiona, whose eyebrows raised. The Illyrian gave her a look as if to say get over yourself, so she took a sip. The taste of blackberry and orchid roared down her throat.

"Of course we do," Riordan nodded gratefully to Bella as Fiona spluttered a cough. "But no one does a night better than Valerians."

"You're damn right about that." the Illyrian grinned, raising her glass. Fiona caught eyes with Xander as they raised their drinks and she took another sip, starting to enjoy the way it burned.

"But aren't you technically Illyrian, not Valerian?" she asked.

Bella shrugged. "I'm just as Illyrian as he is." She tipped her head to Xander, swirling a dark amber liquid around in his glass. Fiona glanced between the two of them.

"But he-"

"Doesn't have wings, no." Though Xander seemed unruffled, Bella's eyes glinted a warning. Or perhaps that was simply defensiveness for her friend, or cousin, or whatever they were. "But Xander completed the Blood Rite, same as any Illyrian warrior. Better, actually."

Fiona had picked up only bits and pieces of Night Court culture in the last week, traditions and rituals that she only partially understood. But she knew enough to be surprised.

"And they let you compete?" she asked, turning her gaze to Xander.

His lips parted but Bella interrupted, "He earned their respect. They hadn't seen a warrior as skilled as him since our own fathers took the Rite." Her chin lifted with pride as Xander slid her an amused look.

"Thank you, Bella." he chuckled. "But I can tell my own stories."

Fiona had half a mind to tell him that she doubted it, but she took another swig instead. Riordan had been watching the dance floor, his knee bouncing with restless energy, but he turned his focus back to the table as Xander spoke.

"Nyx and I started training at the same time. My mother refused to let either of us go for several years, since Illyrians consider it disgraceful to have parents crowding the warcamp with any...unnecessary sentiment." he smirked. "It was my uncle - Bella's father - who finally convinced her to let us go. So when we arrived we were seriously out of our depth, thrown into classes with children our own age rather than our own skill level. But we learned." Xander shrugged in a way that suggested there was much more to the story than that But she didn't push it as he continued, "And I realised that I could still be of use to the legions, even if I couldn't fly. In time, so did they."