𝔸 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕞𝕖 (ACOTAR FANFIC)

Fifty-one

Time ceased to exist in the darkness. I wasn't sure if days or hours had passed since I'd last been let out. I always forgot that part of being locked up. The lack of time perception. In some aspects it made me feel like I was losing my mind. In others I was grateful. When you didn't know how much time had passed, you cared less about it.

     I counted my meals as they came. Though, I wouldn't put it past the High Queen to order them to give it to me irregularly so I'd begin to lose track of time. Which I was. There wasn't much to do in the cell, I'd taken to drawing on the floors with stones and thinking about what Feyre and I's first trial could be. Amarantha was smart—as much as I hated to admit it. Someone who wasn't intelligent wouldn't be able to track the seven High Lords of Prythian into taking their thrones. I refused to underestimate her and be caught off guard. I needed to expect the worst.

    Footsteps loomed from the corridor. I sat up in my cell, getting to my feet. I didn't bother to hide next to the door that time, after my run-in with Lucien I realized that the guards were so boring that they'd never try anything. Even if they did I was suited to defend myself. Since they still had yet to take my daggers. Honestly, were they just lazy? Did my show with the Attor when I'd first came here not convince them I could hold my own?

    The door clicked and in came the guards. The one in the front made a move to grab me but I moved out of the way. I really wasn't in the mood to be manhandled, "Try to grab me again and you'll find that your hands have been cut off." I walked around the guard and out of the cell. The guards surrounded me. Blocking me in as we walked.

    They practically herded me to the throne room like a lamb. The first thing I noticed as I walked into the room was my sister before the throne. I walked past the crowd that seemed to always be gathered here. I approached with my head held high, though my mind was racing as to why we were here. I stopped at the foot of the dais. Trying not to cringe at the faerie queen and her serpentine smile.

    Amarantha clicked her tongue, still talking to my sister, "You look positively dreadful," she said to her before turning to Tamlin at her side, but his expression still remained impassive, "Wouldn't you say she's taken a turn for the worse?" He didn't reply. Didn't do anything but stare.

    I was getting really sick of him just sitting there and letting Amarantha toy with us like dolls.

    The angry troll looked at me then as if she was just noticing me, "You know," she mused, "I couldn't sleep last night, and I realized why this morning," she looked between us, "I don't know your names. If we three are going to be such close friends for the next three months, I should know your names, shouldn't I?"

    Neither of us replied. I'd never give up my name to her.

    "Come now, pets. You know my name—isn't it fair I know yours?" there was movement to my right and from my peripheral vision, I watched another Attor appear through the parted crowd. I'd make their species extinct someday. "After all," she waved a hand, her eye-ring reflecting the light of the room, "You've already learned the consequences of giving false names." Guilt ripped at me as I thought about Clare and Maya, still pinned to the wall.

    "Rhysand," Amarantha called. Casual steps sounded from behind me. They stopped when they were beside me. He was close. So close I could feel the heat of his breath as he exhaled.

    I saw him from the corner of my eye, his dark hair still shining like the night sky. He looked at Amarantha bowing at the waist. Even in the cramped room, I could still feel the power radiating from him in waves.

    Amarantha lifted her brows, "Are these the girls you saw at Tamlins estate?"

Rhysand brushed an invisible speck of lint from his tunic before his studying gaze landed on me and then my sister. That was entirely rude, he definitely copied me with the lint. His eyes were bored—uninterested, "I suppose." he answered Amarantha.