A Court Of Shadow and Blood

☆ Back From the Dead ☆

She remembered each and every thud of claw and blade through wood, every hiss of fabric and flooring as she'd slowly brought herself to the still-screaming attor. It was a pain that she could faintly register in the back of her mind, as her legs had limply followed after her.

"The King of Hybern himself strode in, clapping of all things," she whispered aloud, a few moments of silence having passed. "He killed the already half-dead attor with a sword before he simply stood and surveyed the blood everywhere. I remember him saying, 'You fought harder than I thought you would.' And he looked at me. Hard." Eblis pinched her lips together to prevent a sob. "I think that was the moment he decided I would live.

"He picked me up and dragged me on deck, but by that point, I was barely conscious. He showed me the bodies littering the river, and brandished me like a prize. He had someone bring Mother's body up too, and made me watch as they sawed her wings off, which they gave to Tamlin's family." She struggled through something lodged in her throat before glancing up. "They were there, standing on the bank where the attors moored us during the attack. They'd taken the wings with blank eyes and disappeared into the forest again without a single word of acknowledgement. I had no doubt they had sold us out to them, though I don't know why.

"After they left, Mother's head was put into a box, along with the head of a random Illyrian soldier who the King of Hybern glamoured to look like me, and sent them on their way down the river. The King winnowed him and his soldiers back to Hybern, grinning like a fiend the whole time."

She loosed a long breath, looking up to the Inner Circle who were rapt in their attention. Not a single one of them had interrupted, moved, or so much as breathed too loud during the entire story, as if they were scared that if they did, she would stop speaking and clam up. And sometimes, she had come close to just falling silent, drowning in her memory. Sometimes she had wanted to stop, had started choking on her words as tears silently fell down her face.

Her brother, despite having heard it already, was still dark-eyed and quiet, that great power rumbling around him. Feyre had merely nodded to Eblis whenever she'd slowed down, urging her to keep talking as gently as possible. Cassian, on the other hand, remained distant and leaned back in his chair, contemplating it with a general's mind.

"You understand you're suggesting the King has glamoured two High Lords for over five centuries? To make Tamlin's father and then Tamlin himself believe they had killed you, and then Rhysand to believe that what he buried was the head of his sister and not the head of some random Illyrian soldier?" Eblis considered for a moment, trying not to notice a slight wince from Rhysand.

"You only had to convince them once, for them to think it was truth for the rest of their lives," Eblis murmured. But she continued: "I understand my accusations are outrageous-poor quality even. But I am here today, aren't I?"

Feyre, after a beat of silence, asked, "Why did they attack you, though? What was the purpose of killing and glamouring everyone?"

"The King of Hybern wanted to cause...unrest in Prythian by blaming it on the Spring Court," Eblis answered, no inch of hesitation visible. She kept her gaze carefully averted though, nervousness making her blood pound unevenly.

"Why you and your mother of all people? Compared to Rhys and any of the High Lords he could've killed, you were as insignificant as a fly." Feyre hissed at Cassian, and he quickly added, "No offense, of course."

Eblis only nodded, biting the inside of her cheek. "I've had centuries to debate this, and I still haven't figured it out. I was in no position to ask questions of the King. Or the Queen for that matter. Though Princess Madalyn offered good company," she said, remembering the shy yet fierce princess.