A Court of Light and Melody

Chapter 50 - Which Side You're On

"Stab the body and it heals, but injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime."

- Mineko Iwasaki

Song: Man or a Monster - Sam Tinnesz, Zayde Wolf

The room went wholly still and Gwyn didn't notice that she wasn't breathing until her chest began to burn.

It made sense now why Nesta, Lucien, and Azriel were not present. Why Cassian had given Gwyn that wary look...

Elain. The apple of Nesta's eye.

Elain. Lucien's mate.

Elain. Azriel's chance to move on.

Elain. Gwyn's first friend outside the House of Wind...

Her heart...

It hurt.

Morrigan broke the silence, her voice somewhat strained. "Why?"

Feyre shook her head. "We aren't certain, but Graysen was her betrothed before and... we have our assumptions." The High Lady straightened in her seat and Gwyn was admittedly in awe of her strength. "But according to the archer, Graysen and his men want the land of the Spring Court. There's also some... resentment for what was done in the past and fear that we hope to Make more humans against their will."

Hatred, the word flashed in Gwyn's mind like a bolt of lightning. They hate us.

"So we negotiate handing over more land," Morrigan said. Her eyes shifted to Tamlin whose lips were in a tight line. "That would mean restructuring all Courts, not only Spring."

Rhysand's expression was stony. "They aren't interested in negotiating, and they firmly believe that we have no right to bargain. They want to take what they need and along with it, a healthy dose of revenge."

Through the haze of hurt and shock, Gwyn realized that she could not blame the humans for their outrage. Apparently, neither could Rhysand, Feyre, or Tamlin if they were as amicable as they appeared about negotiating the redistribution of fae land...

But even with their justified hatred, the mortals could not expect them to just accept death...

Still, Gwyn had to ask. "Is there any chance of ending this bloodlessly?" It wasn't only the former priestess in her that was hopeful. "I know they have an edge with faebane, but there's got to be something."

"We'll get to that," Feyre assured. "But in regards to the faebane, we learned that Nuan's disappearance was also Elain. According to the archer, soon after Gwyn's rescue Elain set out to abduct Nuan, posing as a messenger from the Night Court tasked with retrieving her for Rhysand and I. We don't know where she is being kept, and without Elain we don't know where to begin tracking her."

"Also following Gwyn's escape from the Archeron estate," Rhysand began (and it suddenly made sense how Graysen had realized Nesta's former home was up for grabs), "Graysen had Jurian imprisoned in their dungeons. As far as we know, he's alive. The archer said that Graysen, under no circumstances, will kill a human. Even Vassa. He apparently sent her off on some fruitless quest to find a cure for her curse."

"So to answer your question, Gwyn," Tamlin sighed, "We cannot end this bloodlessly. Lord Graysen is intent on war and with his supply of faebane and Elain at his side the odds are stacked against us." He leaned forward. "But we can gain an edge if we get Elain back. She's with him and his men now. She has visited on multiple occasions, notably whenever she claimed to be seeing Lucien, but as of last week, she has taken up permanent residence there."

"How does getting Elain back give us an advantage?" Emerie asked.

It was Morrigan who answered, her eyes fixed on the High Lady. "Because Elain is a seer... whose visions apparently were not as weak as we were led to believe."

Gwyn had to fight to keep her jaw in check. Nesta had told both her and Emerie that her sister had "seer magic" but it had supposedly been depleted since Hybern. Or at least, Elain had expressed no serious intentions to delve into her power deeper.

But it was so obvious now that her magic ran deeper than she had led everyone to believe.

Her predictions were why Graysen's men were always in the right place at the right time. How they knew when to take risks. The humans hadn't been getting lucky with all their attacks. Elain knew exactly when and where to strike.

Which meant...

"Our numbers don't matter with their supply of faebane and especially as long as they have Elain," Rhysand said. "All we can do is send word to the other courts of the threat, draw up plans to extract Elain, and prepare to push back Graysen's men."

Gwyn did not miss the way the High Lady swallowed when Rhysand mentioned informing the other Courts of Graysen's planned attack and inevitably... Elain's betrayal. She couldn't imagine what was going through Feyre's head. Her own sister...

Rhysand, likely realizing the same thing, continued to steer the conversation. "Graysen's men don't speak for all humans. Once we have... neutralized them, it's best we begin peace talks as soon as possible. But one thing at a time. First we need to prepare for the arrival of our reinforcements, then we can start planning on how to get Elain back. Depriving them of her assistance is our best chance at victory, especially without any antidote to the faebane."

Rhysand continued to talk through battle plans but there was a roaring in Gwyn's ears that drowned him out.

Azriel.

Not just the unresolved conflict between them, but what may happen to him. They had gathered a lot of information from the archer, but not enough to know of Graysen's interest in Azriel.

Azriel was powerful, but Elain could see their every move. How long till they attempted to take him?

She couldn't tell Azriel. He'd turn himself right over out of his stupid sense of duty.

Gwyn swallowed, her eyes flicking to Rhysand and Feyre. She could tell them. They would know what to do and they would know how to protect Azriel.

But that could wait.

Right now, she needed to find her mate.