A Court of Blood and Glory

Allies and Opponents

Rhysand

The nightmares hadn't plagued me in months, not since Feyre had become one of us, when she came to Velaris, but with the beautiful city destroyed, and the people I'd done everything to protect, the nightmares had returned, and they were worse than before.
"I'm sorry." I whispered, over and over again, as I took in the cuts on Feyre's shoulders. Cuts from my talons, which I stared at all night. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see clearly. I'd failed, I'd failed my people, and I'd failed my family.
We had all known that something wasn't right, that we had forgotten something, but none of us had thought of the city that had stood for thousands of years, the city whose location had been known by all but the Illyrians, who had been tasked with the protection of my court, my people.
Not one of us had thought of it, none of us had acted on that nagging feeling, we'd all just fought, and killed. We'd killed our people as much as we had killed Hybern, and I couldn't deal with the pain, couldn't stand the failure that I felt whenever I looked at my mate.
Feyre held me all night, but we didn't say anything beyond discussing my power, and eventually the sun rose, shining into the room, as if we deserved it, deserved to see the light after everything we'd lost. After everything I'd lost.

Xxx

I walked from my room, my mate besides me, determined to pretend that nothing had happened, that we were fine, even though I felt like I was being torn apart.
Mor, Cassian and Azriel were sat at the dining room table, Amren joining us as Feyre and I took our seats, but no one spoke for some time, until Mor broke the silence.
"Ok, I'm just going to say it. Rhys, what is wrong. You look like you've seen a ghost." Everyone turned to me, looking at the dark smudges under my bloodshot eyes. "I know that you had a nightmare, we all do, and we want to help you. Tell us what we can do." Is been able to hide the Nightmares when we were in Velaris, when I could stay in a different house to them, but that was not the case anymore, and they would have felt everything, would have felt the surge in power before I began to shift.
"I had a nightmare. Nothing else." I said, determined to change the subject.
"Then why do I smell Feyre's blood?" Amren added.
"I shifted slightly. Feyre got hurt when she helped me." I couldn't look any of them in the eye. I couldn't bear for them to look at me like I was a monster.
"You need to talk to us Rhys, you need to let us help you heal, the way you helped us." Mor said, and the others nodded, except Amren, who just looked at me. I felt a loving caress on my shields, and I took a shuddering breath.
"I failed them. I failed you. I failed everyone." I said, looking to my mate.
You did all that you could, and I don't see you as a failure.
"If you are a failure, Rhys, we all are. And you haven't failed us once. You have given more to keep us safe than any of us, so you have not failed." I had never heard such words from Amren, and I was touched to hear her say them. I nodded, and that seemed enough for her.
"So about Miryam and Drakon." Azriel said, changing the subject at last. "I can't find them on the islands, and I can't find any wards either. It could be that they have strong glamours and spells, but you will need to go to them with caution." I nodded, Mor and Feyre too.
"We will, don't worry." Feyre said, but I could tell that she would have preferred going in there with more information. I would have, too, but if we didn't get them I side with us we were ruined, we wouldn't have had any advantages over the beasts that Hybern was creating.

Xxx

I flew Feyre and Mor to Cretea, not wanting to set off any of their wards, landing on a small rocky outcropping to map out our surroundings, only to find ancient ruins where the people of the lands once resided.
"What happened here?" Mor asked, looking around for any signs of our old friends and their people. "Where are they?" Her eyes filled with tears, and Feyre walked over to her, her arm going around Mor's shoulders. I sent out my power, feeling for any sign of life, but found nothing.
No one.
"Maybe they left when they heard of the threat to the lands. Maybe they left because they thought there was a threat to them." Feyre said, talking to herself as much as Mor, needing the people to be alive.
"No, there wasn't a threat to them. No one knew they were alive, no one would have been able to find out that they were alive-" It wasn't just the threat on Velaris that had nagged at me, piece by piece, it was the fact that I'd forgotten Jurian, forgotten the one person that would hunt for Myriam until her body was found.
"What is it?" Feyre asked me.
"It is the fact that we lost sight of what the King wanted in the first place. The only person that would be of a threat to Myriam and Drakon."
"Jurian." Mor breathed. "But the King didn't raise him, we would have felt the cauldron's power, so we didn't think of it, didn't think to check. Azriel searched Hybern for signs that Jurian was alive, and for signs of the mortal queens, but he found nothing. None of them are there, and Jurian is not alive." She was rambling, talking faster and faster, trying to convince herself that she was correct, but I couldn't stop the thought from nestling in my mind.
"We need to get back to the others. Now." I said, and I picked up my mate and Mor, opting to winnow them back to the mountaintop palace, since there was nothing for us to set off.

Xxx

"They are gone." I said as we walked in on the others in the study. I didn't add on that I thought they were dead, knowing that everyone would take it as if it were a fatal blow. "There's no sign of where they went, or when they left. But they are not there, and neither are their armies." Everyone almost crumpled where they stood, as if a weight had been placed on their shoulders. Just another burden to bear.
"We still have a good number of troops, and we don't know for certain that Hybern has more troops." Cassian said, trying to lighten the mood.
"No, but we have a damn good idea that that is true." Azriel snapped back. If he was this stressed, then they were clearly all struggling.
"Why would they go, though? There is no threat against them." Cassian added, but he clearly also thought that they were dead, murdered.
"Because I think that Jurian is back." I said quietly, and even Amren looked slightly shocked by that.
"Impossible, we would have felt the cauldron, or my spies would have seen." Azriel said, shadows immediately coming to his command, and he fell back into his usual silence. We all looked to him, waiting for Azriel to say I was making it up, but he didn't do that at all. "I still can't see, and I don't know." He said, and Mor slumped into a nearby chair.
"Well let's not focus on what may or may not have happened, and start focusing on what we know." Cassian said, and he turned to me. "We have discovered that Hybern is keeping the cauldron in Prythian now, and he is probably preparing to attack. Letters have been coming in from the other courts all day, and they are beginning to move their armies south. The camp that they are keeping the cauldron in is just outside Tamlin's manor, and the King and his nobles, including Ianthe and Tamlin, are all living there, but no one enters the manor now. It has been completely ruined."
"I said that we should try to break in again, try to get information on what they are doing, now that we know where they are, but the Illyrians think that it is too dangerous." Amren said, rolling her eyes as she spoke.
"Start to winnow the Illyrian legions south, have them join the others in the Summer Court, and move Keir's Darkbringers with them. We can ward the Night Court for the war, but I agree with Amren, we need to get into that camp, and we have to find out their final numbers." I said, walking over to the table with the map covering it.
"And what about Eris? When are we meeting with him?" Feyre asked.
"Tomorrow, at midday." Azriel said, his shadows gone from sight. "He wants to meet here, and no weapons allowed." I nodded, pleased with the terms.
We may have lost one ally, but we were soon to gain another.