DISCONTINUED A Court Of Blood And Night (Tog & ACOTAR crossover)

9 - Feyre

After the Fae collapsed, there was only silence. A few of us remained staring at him, but most turned back to their rivalries. Rhys stared openly at me, as did Amren and Mor, but the others were fixiated on Tamlin and Lucien, and them on the Inner Circle.

This was an utter mess.

I wasn't sure where to look, what to do. I'd never been put in a situation like this before, and it was overwhelming. After a moment of indecisiveness, I decided on what was probably the safest option: checking to see if that stranger was alive.

But I'd have to walk right past Rhys, Mor, Cassian, Amren, Az, and my sisters, and I wasn't sure I could handle being at their side, if only for a moment, without ripping off that mask I'd been wearing for so many months.

But I tightened my grip on my will and left Tamlin's side, shrugging off the hand on my shoulder. "Feyre," he said in warning, and I ignored him.

Walking past nearly everyone in the Inner Circle as well as my sisters with such disregard hurt more than I was willing to admit, but none of them said a word.

Tamlin said my name again, and now that I was facing away from him, I was safe to express my anger. I felt my mouth tighten into an angry, thin line, and I fought the urge to snap at him.

Nesta had begun to pay attention to the Fae around her again, and her eyes darted behind me as I approached and walked straight past her to crouch beside the unconscious Fae.

I heard a snarl before I had a chance to see if he was okay, and my head snapped around to see what was going on.

Lucien and Elain were still staring at each other, but Nesta stepped forward threateningly, shoving our sister behind her. Lucien's eye flicked up to her's and he glowered darkly, tensing up. Oh. That's who she'd been staring at. The air was suddenly thick with tension and fury, and I glanced at Rhys. We had to do something before a fight broke out. Understanding flashed across his face, and he looked away from me.

"Lucien," Rhys drawled with that smirk still fixed on his face, "even I would hope you'd have better manners than to think about brawling with your mate's sister." The tone of his voice was meant to infuriate. Lucien's nostrils flared in anger, but pride forced him to back off. The tension eased slightly.

Relieved, I turned back to the unconscious male. I couldn't tell how injured he was due to the black, stinking liquid covering most of him. I didn't know if he was here alone, or had allies, or anything.

"Who are you?" I whispered to him, wishing he could answer. But he was out cold, and until he woke up-- if he woke up-- I wouldn't be getting answers.

I frowned at the silver-haired Fae, holding a hand just above his mouth. The whispers of breath against my tattooed palm made me relax, and I said loudly enough for them to hear, "Whoever he is, he's alive." Only silence greeted me, but when I turned to look, many of their expressions held relief.

Then a voice called out, "That's good. We'd hate to lose him."

Everyone tensed. We all looked back toward the bushes surrounding us, where the ground was slightly elevated. Atop the mossy ground was a blonde male armed to the teeth with weapons. Beside him stood a dark-haired, green-eyed female. She had no weapons, but something about her told me she didn't need them.

The blonde came closer to our group until I could see his blue eyes had gold around his pupil. He paused just beside me, staring at the male with something like concern in his strange eyes.

"Who are you all?" He finally asked, and the hostility in his voice was unmistakable. Those eyes looked away from him to look at us. "And what have you done to him?"