A Court of Shattered Dreams

Chapter 3 - The Beast

The wooden hilt of my hunting knife was in my hand before I had a chance to process it. My body was running on pure instinct as I stared at the snarling, gigantic beast with golden fur. Distantly, I registered my sisters shrieking, felt the blistering cold hit my face from the missing door, and saw my father's terror-stricken face.

A part of me had still been completely unbelieving that I was truly living Feyre's life. This felt like a dream, a reverie gone wrong.

I stared into Tamlin's eyes. His beastly form had to be as large as a horse. His body was somewhat feline, but his head was distinctly wolfish. Curled, elk-like horns protruded from his head, and black, daggerlike claws shot from his paws. His yellow fangs were curled in a snarl.

A part of me wanted to fall to my knees and weep for a clean, quick death, but I knew I had no real reason to fear. He wouldn't kill me, and I had a family to defend.

My heart pounded wildly in my ears as I pressed my sisters into a corner, putting my body between theirs and the beast's.

He reared onto his hind legs and bellowed through a maw full of fangs. "Murderers!"

I glanced over my shoulder. My sisters were screaming, kneeling against the wall as my father crouched in front of them. Another body for me to defend. I took another step towards the High Lord, keeping the table between us. My bow and quiver were across the room, behind him and at the door.

I knew I couldn't kill him, but that didn't mean I didn't want to.

"Murderers!" the beast roared again, hackles raised.

"P-please," my father babbled from behind me, limping to my side. "Whatever we have done, we did so unknowingly, and–"

"W-w-we didn't kill anyone," Nesta added, choking on her sobs. Her arm lifted over her head, as if that tiny iron bracelet would keep her safe against the giant faerie.

I snatched another dinner knife off the table, snapping, "Get out," and brandishing the knives before me. "Get out, and be gone."

He bellowed in response, making the entire ramshackle cottage shake. The movement left his neck exposed. I hurled my hunting knife, staring in shock as he slashed out with a paw, sending it skittering away as if it were nothing more than a fly.

His teeth snapped in my face, making me leap back and almost trip over my cowering father. I knew the lunge had been nothing more than a warning, but he could still kill me with a twitch of his paw. Nesta and Elain wept and prayed behind me, begging to whatever long-forgotten gods might be listening.

"Who killed him?" the creature asked, stalking toward us. His claws embedded in the wood, one by one. I took another step forward, deciding to play dumb as I stared into his green and amber eyes. "Killed who?"

He growled. "The wolf."

I breathed deeply, calming myself as Elain's wail reached a high-pitched shriek. I raised my chin slightly, challenging, "A wolf?"

"A large wolf with a gray coat."

"If it was mistakenly killed," I said to him calmly as I could, knowing exactly what his answer was going to be, "what payment could we offer in exchange?"

He pushed off the table to pace in a small circle before the shattered door. A bitterly cold wind blasted through the open door, making me shiver. "The payment you must offer is the one demanded by the Treaty between our realms."

"For a wolf?" I retorted, and my father murmured my name in warning.

The beast whirled on me. "Who killed the wolf?"