ETHERIA

Chapter one

My body shuddered, freezing, sweating, I couldn't tell. All I knew is that I was alive. I was living. I escaped and I was gone. I had no idea where I was, maybe I would die here. Maybe I would wither away into nothing because of the warm liquid—I think blood— that poured endlessly out of a wound in my head. Maybe that was why I couldn't see anything, maybe my brain was so injured that I was now blind.

It didn't take long before I heard flapping wings behind me. They were definitely Illyrian, like me. I wanted to see who was coming towards me. I wanted to know if I should run away, or let them take me.

No matter what I wanted, I was dragged into unconsciousness before I could make any decisions.

The next time I opened my eyes I could see a building around me. It wasn't large, only enough room for one bed. I couldn't discern where it was hurting because it was radiating everywhere. But the worst pain by far was my wings. The last time I saw them, they were shredded. Only the structure remained. But now, I didn't know how they were. Maybe they were completely gone.

The door to the small building opened to reveal a person... No, an Illyrian. Something about them was familiar, I probably knew them. I most likely did, but my memory was failing me, as I didn't even remember anyone that I had once known.

The world around me began to blur, but before I allowed myself to fall back into unconsciousness I had to hear them talking. I had to know if I really did know them.

"Etheria?" The voice asked. They knew my name, they said my name. I had given none of my captors my name, these people were safe, they knew me. Before I could reply the warmth of unconsciousness dragged me in.

The second time I woke up it was with someone touching my wing. I sat up as quickly as I could grabbing the persons hand. I did not care at all that my head was throbbing and I could hardly see. Using purely reflex, and nothing tactical at all, I pushed the person to the floor and held their arm behind their back. As my vision began to clear I could see that the person also had wings, Illyrian wings.

"Etheria, calm down, it's okay. They are here to help." A voice said calming, coaxing me to back down. I did just as the voice commanded and I let go of their hand. I didn't want to hurt anyone, I was protecting myself so I was working on pure reflex. As soon as I knew there was no threat I fell to the side, sturdy hands caught me stopping me from hitting the ground.

I wasn't unconscious, but I was so weak that I might as well have been. My eyes were closed, my body laid limp, I didn't even have enough energy to protect my wings which were the most precious part of me. I was lifted up and brought back over to the bed. I tried to remember where that voice was from. I recognized it, I just needed to know where it was from.

"Rhys..?" I asked. I forced my eyes open to see if I was correct. My eyes landed on High Lord Rhysand, my friend, and High Lord. He looked exactly the same as he looked the last time I saw him. I dared to look over at the person I had tackled to the floor. There was another Illyrian helping her up. As soon as she was standing the other Illyrian looked over at me.

"It's surprising that you can tackle our best female warrior while you are only half-conscious." Rhysand said as my eyes drifted closed.

"Once I get better I will have to train them better." I said smiling slightly. Before I went missing I was in charge of the female Illyrian training regiments. Cassian helped with everything else, but training the females needed extra attention.

"Hey, we've been trying but it has been hard without you here." A voice, I now recognize as Cassian, said. It was so nice to finally be back home and to be around my family.

"My wings," I mutter, I was barely able to keep conscious anymore and I needed to know how my wings were. "How bad are they?"

The hesitance was enough, "The parts that are there, they are nearly perfect."

The parts that are there

I didn't even want to ask what that meant. But at least I had some of my wings. I only needed a bit, I only needed part of my wings to make me feel whole.

"Please, I need my wings." I muttered, I hardly felt like I had enough energy to even breathe.

"We know, we are doing our best to heal them." Cassian said, I nodded and smiled a bit, the largest I could muster, which was at best a smirk.

"Amarantha, did she arrive yet?" I muttered. The room fell deadly quiet, so quiet that I thought I said something severely wrong. I opened my eyes, only Cassian and Rhys stood in the room, they both had grim expressions as they glanced at each other.

"We will speak about that later. Right now you need to get some rest. A healer will be here in an hour, try not to tackle this one to the floor." Rhys said, only willing to laugh a little at the end.

I nodded not wanting to question any further, "I'll try,"

"I'll make sure to come and visit you tomorrow," Cassian said as Rhys left. As soon as Rhys was gone Cassian walked up to the bed and sat down beside me. He just stared deep into my eyes. It felt so weird, it felt like they were lying to me. Pitying me. I wanted to ask what was happening, but before I could, I fell asleep.