A Court of Dreams and Promise

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Velaria

Velaria let out a small cry of pain when they landed, the impact rattling through her body.

Mor came over to her immediately, snaking a shaking arm around Velaria's shoulders. "Are you okay, Vela?" Mor asked.

Velaria nodded curtly. "I'm fine. Go to Feyre."

Mor glanced over her shoulder at her High Lady a second before she collapsed onto the grass, hyperventilating. Mor grabbed Feyre's shoulders and started murmuring things into her ear.

Velaria winnowed away, watching Mor rub her hands comfortingly up and down Feyre's back as she left. She winnowed straight into their meeting tent from earlier, the fae inside each focusing their gazes onto her the second she winnowed in.

Helion blinked, his hands clenched by his sides. He shook his head, a smile breaking out across his face.

Kallias's expression was emotionless as he said, "You may be the most powerful fae in all of Prythian, but that does not mean that you are allowed to waltz into any conversation you like."

Velaria shrugged, her mask slipping on so quickly she barely even noticed it. "Good thing I'm not looking for you, then."

Where are you, Velaria?

The message came through the bond swiftly, but Velaria could detect the love and emotion swirling behind it.

Not me. Feyre and Mor are on the hill.

A flicker of hesitation. Vel–

Rhysand was at the Autumn Court, Velaria said quickly, trying to curb his anxiety for her. He told us he left Nyx at the Night Court...it got ugly. Velaria sent the memory down the bond.

First, fury came rippling down the bond, then hurt.

Velaria turned her attention back to Kallias. "Did you say something?"

Kallias bared his teeth. "No. We have halted all conversation until you vacate the tent."

The frigid tone to his voice made Velaria stop. She waved a hand and winnowed her and Kallias onto the opposite hill overlooking their camp.

Kallias looked around desperately. "Send me back," he demanded, eyes flaring with rage. "You had no right."

Velaria set her attention on those frosty blue eyes, the ones currently swirling with rage. "You're right. I didn't have the right to winnow you out. You can leave any time you want," she said quietly. "But I will winnow you back here until you talk to me."

Kallias snorted. "What is there to talk about?"

"We were friends, Kal," Velaria said. She let out a deep breath. "Good friends. How did that change so quickly?"

Kallias eyed Velaria, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "I don't have to tell you anything."

"No, you don't," she said. "But I'm asking you anyway."

Kallias was quiet for a minute. "Viviane does not agree with me, but your quick reappearance to Prythian quite coincidentally coincided with Tamlin's takeover of it," he said, each word slow and cautious, his eyes darting back and forth between Velaria's eyes and her hands, as if her power was about to dart out any second.

"I was quite busy," Velaria said. "I was–"

"I know what you were doing."

"Enlighten me."

Kallias blinked, frowning. "What?"

"Enlighten me," Velaria repeated, slower this time. "Explain to me what I was doing while you all were Under the Mountain."