I sat before the canvas, my paintbrush dangling from my fingers. The room, silent around me, nearly swallowed me whole with its emptiness. Cans of paint and unfinished paintings sat about the room, taking up an entire quarter of the drawing room I commandeered to paint in. I inhaled, glancing at the seemingly endless array of paint colors about me.

What am I supposed to paint? My mind seemed as empty as our manor felt. Think, Feyre. Think. I closed my eyes, releasing the breath I'd been holding. Many different thoughts floated around in my mind, so many memories that I could let go in paint. I couldn't help but think of all that went between Tamlin and I that blissful night several weeks prior when I still lived in the Spring Court. When I last felt happy and safe.

An idea occurred to me when I reopened my eyes and my entire body seemed to quiver with excitement at the new thought. I grabbed every shade of green paint that was in the room and piled them close around me. I dipped my brush in the deepest shade and began to paint.


"Feyre?" I turned and saw Nesta standing in the doorway of the room. "It's time to eat." I nodded to her and set the white-tipped brush down on the top of the white can and glanced back at my painting. A pair of radiant green and gold eyes stared back at me, seeming to hold so many secrets that I had yet to decipher. The only time I had ever seen Tamlin's true form was several weeks before he let me go, and he had used glamour to show me how he truly looked as a High Lord. I had tried to capture that moment in paint, and I believed that I did it justice. His hair, which I had used layers of gold to capture, hung perfectly on either side of his face, and his eyes, wide and ringed with lashes, captured my attention still, even after I had worked on them for the past few hours. "Who is that?" I jumped, realizing that Nesta was still standing in the doorway.

"No one." I mumbled, covering the painting with a tarp and stood up to leave. As I walked out of the room, I couldn't help but glance back at the canvas.

If only he were real.