A Court Of Shadow and Blood

☆ New Boundaries ☆

To those showing up because "Wait what? It's updating? I thought it was finished?" :

The story has been edited, and the entire ending rewritten. I would love it if you reread the entire story (the beginning is close to the same as before but with little new snip-bits that connect the story together) and enjoyed it all over again. But that is up to you.

Let's get reading 😁

***

Feyre had yet to return.

She tried not to worry, carefully bathing Lilith in her adjoined bathing chambers, but it did not stop her from summoning one of her spies to her room. There was a small knock, and Requeza entered, alone.

The olive-skinned female found her way to the bathroom without prompting and stopped on the threshold. Eblis blocked Lilith from sight as she toweled the girl off, inspecting the small cuts and too-pale skin. She could see the girl's ribs, but not too prominently to make her think she had been horribly starved. The girl's soft, curious eyes were on the person behind her.

Without turning, she told Requeza, "I need you to look for someone."

"Yes, Spymaster."

She paused. "No need to be so formal, Requeza," she then said, helping the girl dress into night clothes more fitting to her size-ones she'd gotten from Imillion as asked for by Madalyn. A fine dress of soft cotton the color of poppies, loose and free so she could move easily. Finally, she turned to her spy.

Requeza watched her, brown eyes carefully bland yet still holding a tinge of warmth for her. Like the majority of her Daemati Council, she'd raised the female when she was younger, taking her off the hands of a harried couple who could not stand the girl's ability to read their minds. They were frightened of their own daughter, and couldn't even trust her to not be forcing them to do things. It had deeply ruined Requeza as a girl, but Eblis, lonely and fed on blood and despair, had turned the female's sadness into anger so she would not care what her parents thought. She'd then whipped her into fine shape with training and practicing her skills, making her think that if she were to become a great daemati, she would be spiting her parents.

But the couple had been killed not long after handing their daughter off. By Eblis herself.

Now, Requeza offered only a flicker of curiosity at her stare.

Eblis sighed. "Are you loyal to me, Requeza?" She knew the answer, but she needed to hear it-needed to truly believe it before she took a leap off a precipice there would be no going back on.

Without even a moment of thought, her spy said, "Of course, Eblis."

She took a deep breath, nodding at the words. Relief curled around her, but with the harsh whip of memory. The last time someone trusted you, she told herself, they all got killed.

Eblis stood and faced her spy, fighting the fear and dread in her gut. As if sensing the gaze for what it was, Requeza stood taller, giving her a fierce look. Her previous crew had been strong, but it hadn't stopped them from being taken away from her.

She refused to think that way. They were strong and they would stay by her side. Together, they could withstand anything.

Eblis pushed the dark thoughts away, and stared straight into Requeza's brown eyes as she said, utterly void of emotion, "I'm betraying the Queen."

Requeza's gaze narrowed, back straightening the same time a small hand came to clutch the back of her leg. Eblis watched her closely, but the female said nothing, as if waiting for more. And, like a fool, she continued. "I'm also harboring the High Lady of Night so she can help me kill her Majesty and crown Madalyn as the new Queen of Hybern."