A Court of Mortal Love (ACOTAR Fanfic)

Chapter 5

What I saw when my feet hit the ground made me thrash and scream until he let me go, and then I ran, away from the camp just a ways off, away from the Fae flitting about, dressed in polished armour. Then I saw that the tents were grey and dark purple, the flags that flew were Hybern—I recognised them from the books Father gave me as education. I began in the opposite direction, began to hear the shouts of the Fae in the camp as they spotted me.
    That awful, worm of a High Lord, and the evilness of Fae; he led me here, without the female servant, to meet the same fate those humans did when Hybern ruled. He led me far away from Father's home, from the sturdy, stone walls—
    There they were. My father's stone walls, the massive, ash-wood gates open wide, and Hybern's soldiers, filing in in a steady, nauseatingly neat stream. And past their heads, through the gates, I could see the figure of my father, dressed regally, a bow of ash-wood strung over his shoulder.
    The shouts and jeers of Hybern soldiers to my right grew louder. I could feel their footsteps on the earth, but all I could see was Father's home, the place I had been kept safe for twenty-four years, open wide to the Fae, open wide to all Father had warned me of.
    Father was with the Fae—talking to them—handing him his weapon—
    I had no one.
    I was hopeless. Yet, better hopeless than full of this disappointment, this stabbing pain from my hope slain.
    I was an animal, meant to be used, and I cursed my beauty, my femaleness, my humanness, this world—
    Arms grabbed me and I screamed, the memory of searing hot pain flashing through my mind as the jeering reached my ears. It vanished. The darkness, the void swallowed me whole, and spat me out on the other side of my Father's walls.
    Next to another camp.
    "Shit," Tamlin growled. "I can winnow inside, but I don't think—"
    "My Father wouldn't do this. He would keep me safe at all costs," I murmured, tears welling in my eyes as I watched Hybern Fae march across his walls and I thought, most of all, of my poor Father, and the lie of power he believed he always had over these Fae. So many of them, that his guards, and himself, would never be able to shoot enough ash-arrows at them before they were overwhelmed.
    What would have happened to me if I had been in that house when it was overrun by Hybern?
    A lot worse than those boys from the alleyways in town.
    A lot worse than Tamlin's sentry.
    I knew all that for certain.
    I began to sob, my cries heaving from me as the darkness of winnowing enfolded me once more, and I landed on a carpet, in front of the open window, the liquid gold duvet shimmering in the corner of my swimming vision.
    I wiped my eyes as I realised where we were, and looked around the room. My chest felt like it was splintering—I wanted refuge, a place of peace that didn't have the overwhelming, incessant scent of flowers.
    "One word and I'll take you back—" He began to growl and I whipped around, looking up into his face, the glowing, golden skin. The gentle eyes.
    "The Night Court," I gasped. "I want—I want—" I hiccuped. "I want to meet Feyre. I want to be safe."
    The sound of his teeth grinding, and the sight of his clenched jaw made me shiver. His eyes flashed with something alarming, then softened into something sombre. It looked like a storm cloud, passing and roiling over the features of his face.
    Then he stepped forward, and before I could even flinch from his touch, we winnowed away.
    We landed in snow, released by him, and I nearly stumbled into a tree. The silence was overpowering. There was not a sight of Fae, or human, or a building for miles.
    I whipped around, grabbing at my arms, ducking away from him. "Please no... please," I began to gasp for air.
    "Calm. I can't winnow directly into the Night Court's city. They have wards. We must wait for them to greet us. They know we're here."
    I gasped another breath, my eyes flickering over the snowy landscape.
    "What is your name?" He asked in the silence that followed, the only sound my attempts at breathing and his question, hanging in the air.
    "You don't get—to know," I hiccuped through my sobs.
    Then someone from the Night Court winnowed in front of us. A tall, terrifying Fae, his wings stretched wide, dark hair down to his shoulders, stepped forward. I knew him—this was Cassian, the great Ilyrian general, the one who had fought, and nearly died twice in the war, all to protect us mortals. The image of him was famous amongst school girls.
    Could I be safe here?
    "What's your business, Tamlin?" Cassian jeered, Tamlin's name sounding like a mock on his tongue.
    I glanced at the blond High Lord; he was trembling in the cold.
    "She requested the Night Court," Tamlin gestured at me, and I shivered. Two powerful, Fae males.
    I couldn't breath, I was so small, between both of them.
    "I didn't know you were back in the business of taking mortals to bed—"
    Tamlin snarled, a sound so vicious I shrieked, and Cassian's jaw snapped shut before drawing out his sword, slowly.
    "I would watch yourself," Cassian snarled.
    A sound, a darkness of the void opening up next to him, and a lady stepped forth, wings folded in at her sides, a braid trailing down her shoulder. She glanced at Tamlin, but her eyes fell on me, and I knew—I knew when I locked my sight with her gaze, that this was Feyre, High Lady of the Night Court. Where women were equals to men. A land that fought for Mortals. A land where no woman was used as I had been.
    "Who are you?" She spoke softly, stepping in front of Cassian.
    I didn't think twice as I looked up at her, three inches taller than myself. "Ellaena."
    Feyre's eyes flashed, and I wondered if I even needed to speak the next part, "Daughter of Graysen," I swallowed under her watchful look, so full of fire, and darkness, and suspicion. The pain in my chest was too much.
    "Why are you here?" She asked, but the tears had come back, my throat closing frighteningly fast.
    "Can you... can you..." I breathed, trying to calm my thundering heart-rate. I didn't think Feyre would be suspicious of me, but come to think of it, of course she would. Of course. I wish I had never been saved from the forest floor. I wish I had never gotten up. I would have happily had that spot as my final resting place.
    No safe place. I had no one. Hopeless.
    "You're telling me you show up here, with the Mortal daughter of the man who is plotting against all of us, and you're not going to tell us why she's here?" Cassian drawled, watching Tamlin closely. "I hope you haven't forgotten that my High Lady has a personal vendetta with this girl's father."
    I glanced at the High Lord, watching as his eyes scanned me cautiously. I didn't want the reason I was here spoken out loud. No one would ever speak of the incident again. It was on its way to being buried deep. I didn't want anyone to hear it. To know. To see that shame.
    Let them believe I was here as a spy.
    Let them believe the worst, instead.
    Feyre was stepping toward me, her suspicion gone. "I can see and know the truth, if you let me."
    I stepped back, and felt the warmth of the High Lord's body, felt how much he towered over me, behind me.
    "But I can't let you into my city unless I know why," She said, and slowly, I nodded.
    I knew the horrors she faced, all that she had seen. I had heard of everything the Fae put her through. This would be nothing new.
    "Will I have to see it?"
    Her eyes flashed wide for the briefest of moments, probably now just summarising for herself what had happened. "No," She all but whispered, and I nodded.
    "Then look," I said softly.
    She placed her hands on either side of my head. It took only a moment before I saw her shudder, and when I peered back at her face, to see her pity, I did not find it. Her eyes were brimmed with watery rage, focused wholly on Tamlin.
    She breathed through flared nostrils. "You bastard. What has Rhys taught you? What has he taught you?!" She screamed, stepping toward Tamlin. "You beast!"
    "Those are the sentries that I have worked on these years, to get them to follow me—"
    "Then you deserve no sentries!" She screamed, whirling away from him and pressing a hand to my back.
    When I glanced back, his brows were descending as he stared at the snow. "I tried, Feyre."
    "Do a favour and execute him for me. Or maybe I'll just come in there and tear apart your whole force again."
    "The other one that was with him told me about it. It was just the one sentry—"
    "STOP!" I swatted her hand away, and growled at Tamlin. "Stop talking about him. He doesn't exist. Shut. Up."
    "Leave, Tamlin," Feyre snarled. "Get off this land. Go back to your flowers."
    I turned, and vomited in the snow, heaving and heaving until there was nothing left. I saw red, and when I stood, looking around, he was gone.