Chapter Text
There he was.
Rhysand, my High Lord, now stood beside me, darkness leaking from him like ink in water.
He angled his head, his blue-black hair shifting with the movement. Those violet eyes sparkled in the golden faelight as they fixed on Tamlin, as he held up a hand to where Tamlin and Lucien and their sentries had their swords half-drawn, sizing up how to get me out of the way, how to bring him down—
But at the lift of that hand, they froze.
Ianthe, however, was backing away slowly, face drained of color.
“What a pretty little wedding,” Rhysand said, stuffing his hands into his pockets as those many swords remained in their sheaths. The remaining crowd was pressing back, some climbing over seats to get away.
Rhys looked me over slowly, and clicked his tongue at my silk gloves. Whatever had been building beneath my skin went still and relied flooded my senses.
“Get the hell out,” growled Tamlin, stalking toward us. Claws ripped from his knuckles.
Rhys clicked his tongue again. “Oh, I don’t think so. Not when I need to call in my bargain with darling Feyre.”
“You try to break the bargain, and you know what will happen,” Rhys went on, chuckling a bit at the crowd still falling over themselves to get away from him. He jerked his chin toward me. “I gave you three months of freedom. You could at least look happy to see me.”
He faced Tamlin again. “I’ll be taking her now.”
“Don’t you dare,” Tamlin snarled. Behind him, the dais was empty; Ianthe had vanished entirely. Along with most of those in attendance.
“Was I interrupting? I thought it was over.” Rhys gave me a smile dripping with venom. He knew—through that bond, through whatever magic was between us, he’d known I was about to say no. “At least, Feyre seemed to think so.”
Tamlin snarled, “Let us finish the ceremony—”
“Your High Priestess,” Rhys said, “seems to think it’s over, too.”
Tamlin stiffened as he looked over a shoulder to find the altar empty. When he faced us again, the claws had eased halfway back into his hands. “Rhysand—”
“I’m in no mood to bargain,” Rhys said, “even though I could work it to my advantage, I’m sure.” I jolted at the caress of his hand on my elbow. “Let’s go.”
I went to move with him but Tamlin took a single step toward me, his golden face turning sallow, but remained focused on Rhys. “Name your price.”
“Don’t bother,” Rhys crooned, linking elbows with me. Every spot of contact was wondrous, refreshing compared to the abhorrent touch of Tamlin.
He’d take me back to the Night Court, my home.
Home . It’d been forever since I set my eyes upon my home.
Tamlin didn’t move—and those claws were wholly replaced by smooth skin. He fixed his gaze on Rhys, his lips pulling back in a snarl. “If you hurt her—”
“I know, I know,” Rhysand drawled. “I’ll return her in a week.”
Tamlin couldn’t be making those kinds of threats, not when he was letting me be “ taken”. Lucien was gaping at Tamlin, his face white with fury and shock.
Rhys released my elbow only to slip a hand around my waist, pressing me into his side as he whispered in my ear, “Hold on.”
Then darkness roared, a wind tearing me this way and that, the ground falling away beneath me, the world gone around me. Only Rhys remained, and I clung to him, I loved him with my entire heart—
Then the darkness vanished.
I smelled jasmine first—then saw stars. A sea of stars flickering beyond glowing pillars of moonstone that framed the sweeping view of endless snow capped mountains.
“Welcome to the Night Court,” was all Rhys said.
It was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen, latex out just as I remembered. I had missed it dearly.
“This is my private residence,” Rhys said casually. His skin was darker than I’d remembered—golden now, rather than pale.
Pale, from being locked Under the Mountain for fifty years. I scanned him, searching for any sign of the massive, membranous wings—the ones he’d admitted he loved flying with. But there was none. Just the male, smirking at me.
And that too-familiar expression— I opened my mouth but he cut me off before I even spoke.
Rhys snorted. “I certainly missed that look on your face.” He stalked closer, his movements feline, those violet eyes turning subdued—lethal. “You’re welcome, you know.”
“For what?”
Rhys paused less than a foot away, sliding his hands into his pockets. The night didn’t ripple from him here—and he appeared, despite his perfection, normal. “For saving you when asked.”
“I didn’t ask for anything.”
His stare dipped to my left hand.
Rhys gave no warning as he gripped my arm, snarling softly, and tore off the glove. His touch was like a brand, and I flinched, yielding a step, but he held firm until he’d gotten both gloves off. “I heard you begging someone, anyone, to rescue you, to get you out. I heard you say no.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
He turned my bare hand over, his hold tightening as he examined the eye he’d tattooed. He tapped the pupil. Once. Twice. “I heard it loud and clear.”
I wrenched my hand away.
“What better time to take you here? Maybe Tamlin didn’t notice you were about to reject him in front of his entire court—maybe you can now simply blame it on me.”
“You’re a bastard. You made it clear enough that I had… reservations. Don’t you know how hard it’ll be for me upon my return, I’ll have to build all the trust back up from the ground—not that there was hardly any anyways. He’ll have armed guards on me even more, he might even lock me up!”
“Such gratitude, as always.”
I struggled to get down a single, deep breath. “What do you want from me?”
“Want? I want you to say thank you, first of all. Then I want you to take off that hideous dress. You look… ” His mouth cut a cruel line. “You look exactly like the doe-eyed damsel he and that simpering priestess want you to be.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
Rhys gave me a knowing smile. “Does Tamlin? Does he ever ask you why you hurl your guts up every night, or why you can’t go into certain rooms or see certain colours?”
I froze. He might as well have stripped me naked. “Get the hell out of my head.”
“Likewise.” He stalked a few steps away. “You think I enjoy being awoken every night by visions of you puking? You send everything right down that bond, and I don’t appreciate having a front-row seat when I’m trying to sleep.”
“Prick.”
Another chuckle. “As for what else I want from you… ” He gestured to the house behind us. “I’ll tell you tomorrow at breakfast. For now, clean yourself up. Rest.” That rage flickered in his eyes again at the dress, the hair. “Take the stairs on the right, one level down. Your room is the first door.”
He laughed, finally sauntering toward the other end of the hall, which ended in a veranda open to the stars. “I’m willing to accept your thanks at any time, you know,” he called to me without looking back.
As much as I loved him, I forgot how much of an ass he was before he fully dropped his mask for me.
Red exploded in my vision, and I couldn’t breathe fast enough, couldn’t think above the roar in my head. One heartbeat, I was staring after him—the next, I had my shoe in my hand.
I hurled it at him with all my strength.
All my considerable, immortal strength.
I barely saw my silk slipper as it flew through the air, fast as a shooting star, so fast that even a High Lord couldn’t detect it as it neared—
And slammed into his head.
Rhys whirled, a hand rising to the back of his head, his eyes wide.
I already had the other shoe in my hand.
Rhys’s lip pulled back from his teeth. “I dare you.” Temper—he had to be in some mood today to let his temper show this much.
Good. That made two of us.
I flung my other shoe right at his head, as swift and hard as the first one.
His hand snatched up, grabbing the shoe mere inches from his face.
Rhys hissed and lowered the shoe, his eyes meeting mine as the silk dissolved to glittering black dust in his fist. His fingers unfurled, the last of the sparkling ashes blowing into oblivion, and he surveyed my hand, my body, my face.
“Interesting,” he murmured, and continued on his way.
I turned toward the doorway he’d indicated, heading for the dim stairwell beyond.
I’d nearly reached it, not daring to breathe too loudly, when a bright, amused female voice said behind me—far away, from wherever Rhys had gone to at the opposite end of the hall, “So, that went well.”
Mor. I missed my best friend dearly.
Rhys’s answering snarl sent my footsteps hurrying.
My room was also the same as I remembered it.
I surveyed the room, my wedding gown hissing on the warm marble floors.
I peered down at myself.
You look ridiculous.
Heat itched along my cheeks and neck.
It didn’t excuse what he’d done. Even if he’d… saved me from having to refuse Tamlin. Having to explain.
Slowly, I tugged the pins and baubles from my curled hair, piling them onto the dressing table. The sight was enough for me to grit my teeth, and I swept them into an empty drawer instead, slamming it shut so hard the mirror above the table rattled. I rubbed at my scalp, aching from the weight of the curls and prodding pins.
I swallowed against the burning in my throat.
My lower lip trembled, and I began unbuttoning my gown, then tugged it off my shoulders.
I let it slide to the ground in a sigh of silk and tulle and beading, a deflated soufflé on the marble floor, and took a large step out of it. Even my undergarments were ridiculous: frothy scraps of lace, intended solely for Tamlin to admire—and then tear into ribbons.
I snatched up the gown, storming to the armoire and shoving it inside. Then I stripped off the undergarments and chucked them in as well.
My tattoo was stark against the pile of white silk and lace. My breath came faster and faster. I didn’t realize I was weeping until I grabbed the first bit of fabric within the armoire I could find—a set of navy nightclothes—and shoved my feet into the ankle-length pants, then pulled the short-sleeved matching shirt over my head, the hem grazing the top of my navel.
I climbed into my big, fluffy bed, the sheets smooth and welcoming, and could barely draw a breath steady enough to blow out the lamps on either side.
But as soon as darkness enveloped the room, my sobs hit in full—great, gasping pants that shuddered through me, flowing out the open windows, and into the starry, snow-kissed night.