A court of ashes and ruins | A TOG x ACOTAR crossover

Chapter 9

Cassian

My sparring match with Feyre had gone good. We had kept it pretty light, taking turns to attack and defend. Half way through out our training session the sword sounds got louder. I looked to my left and saw Celaena and Rhys furiously fighting each other. I had known when she was about to pick training partner that it would be Rhys up against her. She obviously liked showing off and battling (and winning) over Rhys would be the perfect way to do that.

Celaena was probably really good with a sword, but Rhys was the most powerful High lord in Prythian after all, no one had ever beat him in a fight when he had full access to his powers.

I hoped losing wouldn't hurt Celaena's pride too much. If she kept fighting even when the odds of her winning were at 0, things could get bloody. Rhys loved winning, and he also loved battling people. He had probably also wanted to spar with her, just to see her face when she couldn't win against him.

Mor and Azriel had also stopped to watch the battle unfolding.

"Yield!" Rhys had a sword against her throat. Like expected, he won the fight pretty easily. I just hoped Celaena would actually give up, and not keep fighting.

She did the most unexpected thing. She kicked at his legs, which forced him to move slightly, which gave Celaena the perfect timing to grab her sword and run away a few meters. It was actually really impressive how she managed to get out of that situation. She must have had a really good mentor while learning how to fight.

Celaena's sword started burning, heavy flames surrounded the blade. 

"How did she do that?" Feyre asked, clear surprise in her voice. I couldn't feel any special magic in the air.

"I don't know" I breathed.

The fight went on, none of them seemed to get a bigger advantage on the other. But Rhys' wounds healed quickly because of his fae blood while Celaena's stayed. Some light wounds that would heal up in seconds on a fae stayed on her body.

Celaena dropped her sword and began using punches and kicks. She managed to get a good hit in on Rhys, whose nose started to bleed.

He was clearly done playing. He summoned weapons made out of darkness. I just got time to see a whip hitting Celaena's face before a thick mist of darkness spread around them. Using darkness to your advantage was a pretty smart move, but I wished we got to see them fighting.

I was honestly a bit worried for Celaena. I didn't want her to get too hurt. But on the other hand, she had brought this upon herself, I couldn't waste my happiness by feeling sorry for her.

"Yield!" I could hear Rhys shouting. A lot of coughing could be heard, and Celaena said something, but I couldn't hear what. The magic levels in the air were rising. Like an explosion, a new kind of power could be felt. What was happening?

Maybe I just imagined it, but I could see light coming from inside the darkness. Last time I checked Rhys wasn't able to produce light, could it be-?

"Feyre! You need to stop the match, now!" I was of course not supposed to give orders to my High lady, but someone needed to stop the match quickly.

I could feel Feyre putting her shields up as she entered the black mist. In just a blink she was gone. 

I waited anxiously for a few minutes. Suddenly I noticed the darkness slowly clearing. When it was light enough for me to see through it, Feyre let out a piercing scream.

Laying on the ground were Rhys and Celaena. I rushed as quickly as I could to them. Feyre was already attending Rhys, healing his wounds. His shirt had been completely burned off, and nasty bruises could be seen on his knees.