Fanfic Lover 2959 asked me to write something where Tamlin went to the Summer Court to demand Feyre back when Feysand and Amren were going to steal the Book. Ask and you shall receive.
All characters and lines directly taken from ACOMAF belong to the queen, Sarah J. Maas.
There was something off about Cresseida, I just couldn't put my finger on it. She kept looking at Rhys as if he were a piece of meat and was asking too many questions about Tamlin. I wondered if the High Lord sitting across from me thought the same, a slight touch at the walls around my mind told me that he did.
"You are—were his bride. Swearing fealty to another High Lord does not change that. So it is a very good thing that he respects your decisions. Otherwise, all it would take would be one letter from him to Tarquin, requesting your return, and we could have to obey. Or risk war ourselves," the Princess of Adriata pointed out, a smile that seemed too wide to be real appearing on her face.
"You are always a joy, Cresseida," Rhys sighed taking attention away from the sour look that had appeared on my face. I did not like the princess, but thankfully Tarquin shut down her questions, telling her that if it weren't for Rhys, they would have been very, very dead.
Tarquin traded a few words with Rhys, something about a party on a pleasure barge, before turning towards me. "Cresseida made many sacrifices on behalf of her people. Do not take her caution personally," he said gently.
I nodded absently. Rhys jumped in saying that Cresseida was not the only one who had made sacrifices, I had made numerous as well he reminded the table. I sent a grateful touch down our bond. He made a promise on their lives if I were revealed to Tamlin and I swore that Cresseida fidgeted in her seat. I couldn't get over the uneasy feeling in my gut, but waited until we were alone.
The moment the door to my room within the suite clicked shut, Rhys looked at me and asked what was wrong. "I have this bad feeling about the princess."
"None of them are stupid enough to risk their lives to hand you over to Tamlin. They would be declaring war on the Night Court," he said with that insufferable smirk on his face. "It would not be a smart move. The same goes for Tamlin if he tries to take you back without consent."
I know what his words insinuated. Rhysand would risk the lives of his people for me. My thoughts were a mess. If Tamlin wasn't placated by my letter, he would tear apart the Night Court to save me even if I didn't need saving. Rhysand would go to war with the Summer Court if any of them betrayed us. The knowledge was too overwhelming and I staggered back to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Feyre darling," Rhys said quietly, approaching me as if I was a skittish animal, and maybe I was. "It's not going to come to that."
"I—I would go back. If it came to that, Rhysand. I'd go back, rather than make you fight." I spoke the truth. It tore at my soul to say those words, but if it meant that no lives would be lost, I would do it.
The High Lord before me slid his hands into his pocket and just stared at me for a few heartbeats. "Would you want to go back? Would going to war on your behalf make you love him again? Would that be a grand gesture to win you?"
I thought about his questions, but no, war would not be the gesture to win me back. I didn't even think that Tamlin could win me back. Trapping me in his mansion, putting me down, it wasn't something I could forgive that easily. And if he thought war was the answer to getting me back, he didn't understand me at all.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I'm tired of death. I don't want to see anyone else die—least of all for me."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"No. I wouldn't want to go back. But I would. Pain and killing wouldn't win me."
Rhys' violet gaze started at me, his face unreadable as he turned to leave.
"He locked you up because he knew—the bastard knew what a treasure you are. That you are worth more than land or gold or jewels. He knew, and wanted to keep you all to himself."
"He did—does love me, Rhysand."
"The issue isn't whether he loved you, it's how much. Too much. Love can be a poison."
He left my room, leaving me to ponder his words. There was so much truth to them. I knew Tamlin loved me, but it had been to a point where I was suffocating and that, that wasn't the type of love that I needed. Tamlin also only saw what he wanted to see, the fact that he had completely failed to realize what I had been going through after what had happened Under the Mountain was utter ignorance.
Locking the door to the bathing room attached to the bedroom, I sat in the tub thinking about Cresseida's behavior and Rhys' words while testing out Tarquin's power. My control over water was definitely stronger now that I was in the Summer Court. After an hour, the water cooling, I let the water butterflies I had flitting around the room fall back into the tub.
With a plush towel wrapped around my body, I walked back into the pale blue room that had been given me and started. I would have recognized Tamlin at any angle and he was here standing at the window in my Summer Court bedroom.
Rhys had been wrong. Someone had ratted me out and my bet was on Cresseida.
"Feyre," he let out, my name sounding like a prayer on his lips. He took a step towards me and I took a step back, his eyes widening at my response. "Feyre," he said more sharply like I was a dog to be summoned.
I willed myself to stay calm, not wanting to alert Rhys until absolutely necessary that something was amiss lest he obliterate the Summer Court at the betrayal that had occurred. I looked at Tamlin, who looked different, crazed even. He had dark circles under his eyes and seemed to be less held together than I had known him to be.
"We have to go, Cresseida's can only keep the wards down and Rhysand distracted for a little longer," he revealed to me. Some small part of me was very smug at the fact that I had correctly guessed that something was off about the princess, but that was shoved down as I understood the words Tamlin were saying.
The wards of the Summer Court were down. When Rhys winnowed us in, it wasn't into the palace itself, which meant the wards prevented people from winnowing into the building. Now that the wards were down, it meant people could winnow in and out of the Summer Court residence.
It meant that once Tamlin reached me, he could winnow me away and Rhys wouldn't know until it was too late.
Shit. Shit. Shit, I chanted. Tamlin was slowly approaching me. Rhys! I mentally shouted down the bond, not caring at the repercussions to follow, as I backed towards the door into the lounge that connected the rooms. I may have told Rhys that I would have gone with Tamlin if war was the only other option, but this wasn't about war. Not yet at least. I need you!
On a normal day, Rhys would have probably purred something slightly sexual in response, but I knew he could sense my distress. I had somehow managed to make it to the center of the lounge, the plush couch between Tamlin and me.
There was a small shift in the atmosphere, darkness leeching its way into the room. Rhys had arrived. "Why hello, Tamlin." I turned to find him standing right beside me, a dark smile gracing his features. If I didn't know Rhys, I would have been terrified. He was very good at slipping into his High Lord mask, embodying death incarnate.
"Rhysand," Tamlin said, his temper slipping as his claws sprang from his hands. He took a step closer looking ready to spring over the couch to grab me. The High Lord of the Night Court stiffened beside me, ready to prevent him from doing so. "Give me Feyre, she's mine."
"Honestly, Tamlin, you're behaving like a child," Rhys drawled out. "Feyre darling belongs to no one, but herself, welcome to do as she pleases. Would you like to go with him, Feyre?"
I sent a grateful murmur down the bond. Rhys had always given me a choice, unlike Tamlin who had tried to shape me to his will. Turning back to face Tamlin, I said in a surprisingly steady voice, "No."
"Well, the lady has spoken," Rhys said with a smug smile. I swore that his shoulder relaxed a small fraction at my answer. Tamlin looked at me in shock and I watched as his gaze turned deadly.
His beast form exploded from him and landed on the couch, claws tearing apart the fabric with a growl that revealed deadly yellow fangs. There was a short pause before the wolfish face lunged towards Rhys. I let out a yelp as Rhysand shoved me behind him and darkness exploded around us.
Tamlin's beast form roared as it hit a solid wall of darkness. Almost instantaneously, Rhys sucked the darkness back into him and I watched as Tamlin shook his lupine head as if to clear it. The male in front of me took advantage of the distraction and lunged at Tamlin, claws out and an absolutely feral look on his face.
His black claws dug into the feline body, but the beast shook him off with enough force to toss Rhys across the room. I screamed out his name only to have him winnow before he hit the wall and reappear by the window. Tamlin lunged, not at Rhysand, but towards me at a staggering speed. The moment Tamlin got his hands on me, I would be stolen away back to the Spring Court, probably trapped for the rest of my life. The panic set in and distracted me from the fact that Rhys had moved.
"Rhysand!" I screamed as he blocked Tamlin's path to me with his body, sharp talons buried themselves into Rhys' flesh and they both went to crashing to the floor. Rhys shoved the beast off of his body as tendrils of darkness wrapped around it, rendering Tamlin immobile and roaring.
The High Lord of the Night Court shoved his hands into his pockets as he approached a struggling Tamlin. "You have two choices," he drawled. Rhys had that deadly calm look on his face, but I could feel through our bond that he was steaming with rage. "You can leave now, letting Feyre make her own decisions from here on out, or I can kill you right here. The Spring Court would make a nice winter getaway, don't you think?"
The beast roared, but it didn't surprise me that Tamlin had chosen to leave, winnowing away like a bat out of hell. If I were facing the most powerful High Lord in Prythian history, I would have left as well. I was too busy to notice that Rhys had gone pale and was using the edge of the couch to hold himself up. A small groan of pain drew my attention to him and I started in his direction, completely forgetting that I was wearing only a towel.
He must had been using his magic to hide the bleeding when Tamlin was in the room, but now I could see the blood that was coming from between the fingers that Rhys had pressed against the slash marks. I reached him just as he slid to the floor. My shaking hands reached for him on their own accord.
"If I would have known that this was how to get you to walk around practically naked, I would have gotten attacked earlier," he said in a breathy voice and a pained smile on his face.
"You're a prick, Rhys," I responded with a small smile, part of me relieved that he was making jokes. It meant his sense of humor hadn't been damaged too badly. "Why aren't you healing?"
"Wounds inflicted between High Lords are slower heal," he explained. "I think it was the Cauldron's way to prevent wars from being started."
"What do I do?" my voice shaking. Rhys seemed to be losing a lot of blood, his tanned skin being leeched of color.
"Find Amren, she should be able to heal me." I nodded at his words. Where had she gone anyways?
I stopped only to change into some clothes, not wanting to run around the Summer Court in only a towel, and to grab a second towel for Rhys to press over his wound. Shooting from the room, I didn't really know which direction I should have headed in. I ended up in the dining area where we had dinner and luckily Amren was there, Varian sitting across from her, and both pointedly ignoring each other. How odd.
Her silver eyes shot towards me as I entered and when she saw the blood on my hands, she stood and sent the chair she was in tumbling back. Coming towards me, the summer prince at her heels, I saw her gaze looking over every inch of me.
"Feyre, what happened?"
"It's Rhys, he's hurt." She followed me back to our suite as I explained what had happened with Tamlin. Varian adamantly denying that his older sister had done anything against the Night Court. She would have never betrayed us. But she had, Tamlin had confirmed that.
Varian seemed absolutely surprised, but was still unwilling to believe. I doubt he had known what his sister had done. If Tarquin had known and played a role in my almost kidnapping, I had no doubt that Rhys would start a war with the Summer Court.
When we reached the suite, Amren rushed towards her High Lord while Varian gaped at the bloodied High Lord. I left him standing in the doorway as I kneeled across from Amren. Her hands were touching the slashes on his side, the wounds ever so slowly shrinking under her magic. I don't know what made me do it, but I reached for one of Rhys' bloodied hands and held it between both of mine. Violet eyes met my own and I swear there was a pleased look in his eyes.
It only took Amren a couple of minutes to heal the wounds that Tamlin had left and when I looked, all that was left were remnants of dried blood. Rhys stood, pulling me up with him, before he used his magic to remove the blood from himself, my hands, and the room, his shredded outfit replaced by a perfectly identical one.
"Where is Tarquin, Varian? He and I have some matters to discuss, mainly about your sister," Rhys stated with a look of distain on his face, dusting invisible lint from his clothing. Rhys had obviously connected the dots that Cresseida's distracting him was so that Tamlin had time to steal me away.
"My sister did not do this," the dark skinned, light haired male protested. "She wouldn't defy our High Lord, it'd be an act of treason."
"We can sort that out with Tarquin and Cresseida then," Rhys replied, his High Lord mask impenetrable. "Now take my court and me to them or I can promise you, my method of finding them will be a bit bloodier."
The captain of the guard paused to consider his options. "Follow me," he smartly said. Varian led us to what a portion of the building that we had not yet seen. He led, two guards seamlessly flanking his sides the moment we stepped out of the room. Amren walked behind Rhys and me with two more guards flanking her.
Warmth pressed into my lower back as Rhys gently set a hand there. It was oddly calming and reassuring. "Are you alright?" he asked me quietly.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You're the one who got hurt," I answered. "I didn't thank you for keeping Tamlin from taking me, so thank you."
"I'm fine, Feyre darling." The look on his face was unlike any I had seen before and disappeared as quickly as it had come. "And just so you know, I would do it again in a heartbeat."
Guards standing in front a set of double doors opened them to allow our group entrance. It had to have been Tarquin's office. The room was filled with blues and golds and figures of sea creatures placed throughout. The High Lord was sitting behind a large white desk and rose when the doors opened.
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded.
"My emissary to the mortal realm was almost taken by Tamlin not minutes ago with help from your princess," Rhysand stated and Tarquin blanched.
"That's not possible," he expressed.
"Then where is she, Tarquin?"
The Summer Court's High Lord sent his guards to locate her, but after twenty minutes, it had been determined that she was no longer on the grounds. She had disappeared and was nowhere to be found.
"I swear, Rhysand, I had no idea she would betray me, betray you," Tarquin stuttered out. There was no denying Cresseida's role in my almost capture.
Rhys had taken a seat in a chair, me besides him, with his feet propped up on the table before us. "I am aware, Tarquin, but I made a promise that if you or your court made a move against me and mine, that that life would be forfeit. And since Cresseida seems to be missing, I think I'll take a page out of the Summer Court's book and send a blood ruby back once we return to our own court."
"Please, Rhysand, I'll do anything," Tarquin begged. "We've all lost so much, I'm sure Cresseida had a good reason doing what she did. What can I do to remedy this?"
"There is one thing," Rhys purred out.
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Rhysand winnowed us back to the House of Wind, Amren going her own way with the half of the Book Tarquin had given us in hand. He had been smart and strategic, using the promise he had made on Cresseida's life to barter for the Book. Tarquin had readily agreed, probably not knowing what the Book could do. A loose alliance had also been formed in the process.
I sat in down on one of the plush chairs by the window, Rhys handing me a glass of amber liquid before sitting down opposite of me.
"I think you just proved that you may indeed be the most cunning High Lord," I offered him. I knew that he would never let me live down what I had just admitted, but after managing to save me and get the book, I threw him a bone.
His grinned. "One day, I'm going to get you to admit that I'm also the most handsome and delightful High Lord as well."
"You wish, prick."
"Oh, I do, Feyre darling," he answered, his grin turning into a soft smile.
"Well, then here's to the people who look at the stars and wish, Rhys," I told him, raising my glass. He raised his own glass, his gaze so piercing that I had to fight the urge to blush. Instead, I offered him a smile in return.
He gently touched his glass to my own. "To the stars who listen—and the dreams that are answered."
Hope you guys liked it! I'm really starting to enjoy this whole one-shot thing. As always, reviews, comments, and other love are always appreciated.
If you have any requests, let me know!
Until next time.