The Dark Flower (Azriel x OC)

10. The High Lord of the Night Court (Persephone)

By the time Summer Solstice came around, things were more tense than ever before. They were just days away from the end of their deadline and still, Feyre had not declared her love. As for Percy, she found herself becoming more and more reclusive, but she didn't want to risk her father's temper even further. So she attended lessons, even if she didn't participate and just sat there in numb silence.

Percy felt that she might as well have gone mute as well as blind, because she hardly ever spoke to anyone anymore. Tamlin and Feyre were always running about trying to find romance with one another, Lucien seemed to think that she was still in the midst of a tantrum and avoided her, and Moira... Moira talked at her, not to her. 

Still, Percy found herself hesitantly knocking on the door to her father's study, stomach twisting slightly as he told her to come in. 

He sighed when he saw her, "Shouldn't you be at your lessons this time of day?" 

They'd hardly said a word to each other since that day in the garden.

"I didn't come here to talk about my lessons," Percy told him as she clasped her hands together in front of her. 

He made a displeased sound. "Then what did you want to speak about?" 

Here goes nothing... "I heard that Feyre was being allowed to attend the Summer Solstice celebrations." 

"Yes," he stated dismissively. 

"I was wondering if I might be allowed to go." There. She said it. "I would only stay for a little while, then I would come straight home. I'll even go along with whatever nonsense lessons Moira has planned for the rest of the week." 

Father let out a long breath. "Since your birthday, you've been throwing a long, never-ending tantrum, and you truly expect me to reward such behavior by letting you attend a party?"

In the hours she'd spent hyping herself up to ask this question, she'd told herself over and over that the very worst he could do was say no, and yet... Percy pushed back her tears. "I knew it was pointless asking you," she said softly. "If you had things your way, I'd never step foot outside the manor." 

"I do have things my way," he told her coldly. And he did. 

Percy was only ever allowed out on supervised walks with Moira. Her heart was slowly breaking into unhealable pieces and her father didn't seem to notice or care. The realization that she was truly living in a cage only made her feel more trapped. 

Percy barely made it to the stairs before the tears began to fall. 

That night, Percy curled up in her favorite chair by the window. That window didn't open all the way anymore - just a crack, but it was enough to let in the faint sound of music and laughter and life. 

In the nine years that she'd been in this court, she'd never once attended a party and this time last year... when they found out that the Spring Court would host Summer Solstice festivities, her father had promised her that she'd be allowed to stay as long as she wished. But so much could change in a year...