Darkness crept in like a soft, caressing thing, chasing away her fears as she held her father's hand and tried her best not to tremble. She had never been frightened by the dark; as a Princess of the Night Court, she cherished it, and as the only child of the High Lord and Lady of their land, the darkness cherished her right back.
It called to her, a whispering song that liked to rouse her from sleep in the middle of the night and draw her to the bedroom window. Her parents would find her in the morning, curled beneath the glass and with her small face turned towards the sky. Sometimes, she was covered in paint, and sometimes, the shadows danced at her fingertips, scattering when her mother came to wake her.
Rhysand swept her into his arms, his magic knocking gently against the adamant barrier in her mind. It wavered, trembling just as her hands did, and he pressed a kiss to her temple. "It's all right," he whispered in her ear, stroking the back of her hair, midnight black and woven through the moon-shaped jewels of her crown. "There is no one here who will hurt you."
"Will Cassian and Azriel be there?" she asked, curling into her father's chest. His footsteps echoed down the glistening hallway of moonstone, faelight illuminating the walls and giving them an iridescent shine. Shadows flickered and sang to her, reaching towards her outstretched hand and twisting in tendrils against her palm. She smiled, her violet eyes brightening with mirth.
"Yes," her father said to her, manipulating the dark to twist and furl around her fingers. He knew of the comfort that it brought her. "Amren and Mor, too. You have nothing to fear, Celeste darling. It's only a ball."
She laid her head against his shoulder. "I have never met the other High Lords," Celeste reminded him, picking at the lapels of his jacket. Her fingernails scratched at the stars embroidered in silver thread near his collar. "Only Tarquin. Perhaps the others won't like me."
Rhys withheld his frown, the ache of an old pain settling like a stone inside his chest.
There was a time when the girl's mother had feared what the High Lords thought of her, damaged in every way by the time she'd spent with Tamlin in the Spring Court. He had watched her wither away, watched the light as it dimmed in her eyes, become nothing more than flesh stretched tightly over bone. Feyre had come a long way since, but he would never forget what had been done to her, how his mate had been wronged, tortured; a beautiful girl on the arm of the male who had broken her.
"What the others think of you doesn't matter," he said, casting a shield over her mind, a glamour to convince her that all was well. The tension began to seep out of her, but still she reached for the dark, her fingers grasping at the shadows. Rhys smiled and sent them curling into her palms. "They're here to celebrate your birthday, and the night is yours, my little love."
"Why should they care?" she questioned, her jeweled head quirked to look up at him. There was nothing human that burned in her amethyst eyes, flecks of silver glistening in their depths like starlight. "I'm not a Princess of their Courts, and Uncle Cassian said that they only came here for the wine. My birthday is nothing special."
Remind me to throttle Cassian, Rhys sent down the mating bond. Feyre's laugh flowed back to him as he placed Celeste on the ground, her feet hitting the brimstone with a gentle thud. Perhaps you'll help me, Feyre darling, as he's convinced our child that tonight is not worth celebrating.
Silence, and then, Mor just spilled her wine on him.
Rhys chuckled. Serves the bastard right.
Celeste took his hand again, her own hand small against his calloused fingers and palm. She gripped it tight as they neared the ballroom, her sparkling black dress adorned with diamonds cut to look like stars. Rhys held her close, and the shadows clung to her heels, a silent reminder that they were hers to beckon if she were in need.
"Father," she said, tucking a loose curl back behind the delicate point of her ear. Rhys looked down at her and smiled. "Will I be the High Lady of the Night Court someday?"
His smile faltered. "Perhaps," Rhys told her. "But that is not for me to decide. Should your mother and I have any more children, I suppose the Cauldron will choose who to honor."
He saw the flicker of fear that burned in her eyes, a flash and then it was gone. Rhys dropped to one knee, onto the dark tattoo of a mountain topped by three stars, the insignia of the Night Court and his people; a permanent reminder that he would bow to nothing and no one but his crown. And Feyre. And perhaps, now, his daughter.
He took her face between his hands, and Celeste leaned into the warmth of his palm. "So long as your mother and I still breathe," Rhys said to her, his voice a whisper in the shadows. "The Night Court is our burden to bear. The High Lords pose as no threat to you."
Celeste swallowed, black diamonds sparkling around her slender throat—a gift from Amren for her birthday. "I suppose I'm already in Tarquin's favor," she mused, twisting the pearl ring on her index finger, a gift from the High Lord of the Summer Court. "And mother says that the others are old, cranky males."
Rhys breathed a laugh, pressing a kiss to her brow. "I have no doubt that you will charm your way into their hearts. It's been a long time since a High Lord has been graced with a youngling. You're the first in many centuries," he fixed her crown as a tendril of darkness gently tapped her on the nose. She giggled. "You, my darling girl, were made of moon and starlight, and you have nothing to fear."
Authors Note: I haven't touched since early last year, and as you can see, I've wiped the board clean and am starting over with new fics. This story will follow Celeste and Amael, Feyre/Rhys and Azriel/OC's children. I finished the ACOTAR series a few weeks ago and have been obsessed ever since, and I couldn't stop myself from writing a fic with their fictitious children.
This story is 5 chapters deep on Ao3, so if you want to check it out there and be ahead of the game, by all means, please do so—same title and same username. That said, I'm gonna go ahead and mass post all 5 chapters here. In chapter 4, there's a 12 year time jump, so keep an eye out for that!
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