A Court of Wind and Song

3: Spare

Leur

"It was over 500 gold marks, Leur." Rhys sighed, exasperated with me.

"What are you? Broke?" I shot back.

"If she keeps it up, I will be." He rolled his eyes, "I'm not funding her destruction of herself."

"So, you gave her the option of being locked up and doing your bidding or being exiled to the human realms." I hissed, "How exactly do you think that will help?"

"At least she'll do something other than drinking herself stupid." He shrugged.

"You know, I can remember seeing bills on our father's desk for triple that amount after the first war. From your sorry ass, buying enough top shelf liquor to kill a horse." I rolled my eyes.

He shot me a look, shadows in his eyes, "Yeah, and I wish someone would have done for me what we're doing for Nesta now."

"Don't act like you're some kind of saint doing her a service." I spat, "As if this doesn't benefit you too."

"I'm doing something, which is a hell of a lot more than anyone else is." He spat back with the same venom.

"Well in that case, I guess I'll go have a medal of valor prepared for you." I scoffed, "Shall we have a ceremony in your honor? Ever so gracious High Lord that thinks locking a 25-year-old, traumatized girl up in a house and forcing her to train and work will magically cure her depression! Perhaps I'll call the fucking press!"

"Don't patronize me, Leur." He growled.

"Don't act like a fucking asshole, and I won't have to." I hissed, "She is younger than we were when the first war even started. Not to mention, she got thrown into the Cauldron and had her humanity, her identity, every single thing that she was ripped away from her. And then she went through a war right alongside the rest of us. Who the hell even knows what her life was like before all of that?"

"Living in comfort while Feyre worked her ass off to provide for her, that's what she was doing." Rhys snarled.

"Is that what this is? Some kind of fucked up punishment for that?" I blinked at him, "Would you say the same about Elain?"

He paused then, as if he knew I had called a checkmate, his brows furrowing.

"No, you wouldn't. You don't hold them to the same standard and you never have." I said, "Just because Nesta's pain manifests differently than Elain's doesn't mean it isn't there. Have you truly never considered that maybe, just maybe, she expresses it through anger?"

He opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off, "No, you're done."

"It was my idea." A small voice said from the doorway.

Feyre was standing in my brother's office, her face still red from tears.

"Well great, now I have to fix a mess the both of you made." I scoffed.

"Nesta is a citizen of the Night Court. She is under our jurisdiction." Rhys spoke up.

"You wanna bring politics into this?" I whirled on him, "Fine, show me her papers then."

He frowned at me, "What?"

"Show me the official document that declares Nesta as a Night Court citizen, and don't pull one out of thin air."

He didn't do anything, only stared at me, "She is the High Lady's sister-"

"Show me the official document." I repeated.

He said nothing, did nothing, only pursed his lips. I magicked the Nesta's file to my hand.

"You don't have them, because you didn't think you needed it." I hissed at him, slamming the folder down on the desk, "But I have one."