It had been a long day. Feyre trudged up the stairs. As much as she knew that the court of nightmares had a specific function in their world, days spent there were always especially draining. She was looking forward to a nice long soak in the tub and then falling into bed, sleeping as much as she could until Rhys got back from the mainland in the morning.

The bath was long and luxurious, and though she missed Rhys, she was almost thankful for the opportunity to fall straight to sleep afterwards. She slipped under the blankets to find she could only get her feet about halfway down the bed.

"What the?" she pushed harder, and twisted, trying to see what was going on, but as she lifted the blanket, she lost her balance, and fell off the bed. She thought she heard Cassian's restrained laughter through the door as she rose, pulling the blankets back. The bastard had short-sheeted the bed!

"DAMMIT CASSIAN YOU ARE SO DEAD TOMORROW!" she called, too exhausted to retaliate tonight. His laughter only grew before fading down the hall as she stripped the bed with fast, jerky movements, quickly re-making it so she could go to sleep. As she lay there, eyes closed, waiting to fall asleep, she thought of a few dozen ways she could pay him back.

Rhys arrived while the inner circle was having breakfast the next morning. Feyre jumped up to meet him, wrapping her arms around him and greeting him with a sweet kiss.

"I missed you!"

"I missed you too!"

"How did you sleep last night?" Rhys asked, concerned. He hadn't felt any nightmares down the bond, but she was getting very good at shielding when he was away on business.

Cassian guffawed.

"Yes, how did you sleep last night Feyre?" he said her name in a sing song way, and her eyes narrowed. Rhys tensed, his arm tightening protectively around her as she turned.

Don't worry, harmless prank. Feyre let him see through her memories Cassian's prank. Rhys nodded and relaxed his arm a bit, but didn't release her as she faced him.

"You know, Cassian, I've heard it said that you should never start something you are not prepared to finish."

Cassian scoffed and took a bite out of a muffin. Feyre also returned to her breakfast, content to let him believe her incapable of pranking. It would just make the payback all the more sweet.

"Good night Cassian!" Feyre called sweetly that evening, drawing his attention momentarily as she discreetly sent her ice magic shooting towards his bed.

Cassian frowned in confusion. "Uh, goodnight Feyre," He inclined his head respectfully before retreating into his room. Feyre hovered near the door and listened to the sounds of him getting ready for bed. Mother, he was taking a long time about it! Finally, she grinned as she heard him sigh and flop onto his frozen-solid mattress.

"HEY!"

Feyre started snickering, sending another shot of her ice magic under the door, chilling the room.

"NO FAIR! MAGIC IS CHEATING!"

Feyre couldn't hold back her laugh as she skipped back down the hall to her own quarters, crawling into bed where Rhys already lay.

"I take it that went well?"

Feyre nodded happily, cuddling up to him as he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her nose.

"This won't be the end of it you know."

"I know."

"Cassian won't give up easily." Rhys warned

"Neither will I"

"Well this is going to be interesting."

It had been a few days and Feyre was starting to relax. Cassian hadn't pulled any more pranks, but she tried to keep her wits about her. He was likely waiting until she dropped her guard before he pulled his next one. She was trying to come up with ideas that she could retaliate with. Without magic if possible. She did like to play fair after all, and Cassian didn't have the same kind of magic she did. She was contemplating this while painting in her room when she heard Rhys curse from the washroom. A pause and he cursed again, and then water was running and he came out, stripped bare and dripping, a dark look on his face.

"Rhys? What is it?"

"Cassian," Rhys growled. He ripped his towel off the hook and retreated back into the washroom. Curious, Feyre followed him, and saw a yellow puddle suspended in plastic on the toilet, splashes of yellow everywhere and a rather wet pile of the clothes that Rhys had been wearing on the floor. Her eyes widened and she barely bit back a giggle as she realised Rhys had caught Cassian's next prank. He glowered at her and her restraint broke, and she was laughing. Rhys's grumpy look lasted a moment longer before he was laughing with her. He shook his head and cleaned up the mess with a wave of his hand. He glanced sideways at Feyre.

"It seems I now have a personal stake in this war, and I'm going to need your help with something."

Feyre perked up because as much as she had been trying, she had been coming up with a blank as to how to retaliate.

"I'm listening."

"Did you get it?"

Feyre nodded, passing the small vial to her mate, grinning as she did so. Rhys's eyes lit up and he quickly slipped it into his pocket. He disappeared a moment later and Feyre tried to look nonchalant as Cassian entered the lunch room, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Did you find my surprise?"

Feyre smirked. "Yeah, but someone beat me to it."

Her grin widened as Cassian's face went slightly paler, his eyebrows shooting up and his grin dipping a bit. "Oh."

Feyre waved away his concern, "Don't worry, he only splashed all his nice new clothes and half the bathroom."

A grin started on Cassian's face.

"Oh man, I wish I could have seen it!"

"It was pretty funny!" Feyre said, "Though now you've made an enemy out of both of us." She warned.

The grin was wide and confident now, "Bring it on my Lady!"

"Ooooh, you're going to wish you hadn't said that!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Cassian's voice could be heard down the hall. Feyre's eyes snapped to Rhys's and they grinned. Quickly schooling their features, they went to see the outcome of their prank.

Cassian stood in the laundry, holding up a pink shirt.

Feyre frowned. "What's wrong Cassian?" she tilted her head innocently.

Cassian leaned into the washbasin and pulled out another shirt – also pink. Feyre bit her lip to keep her smile from blooming. Rhys behind her coughed and she knew he was struggling to hold in his mirth also. Cassian threw the pink garments on the floor, rummaging through the rest of the clothes. Everything had a pink tinge. He looked up at his high lord and lady at first glowering, but soon relaxing into a smile.

"You've just provided me with an ally!" he eventually said, his face triumphant.

"What?"

Cassian grinned, gesturing to the basket of dripping clothes. "Half of this load was Azriel's!"

He trotted off to convince his brother to help him plan the next attack. Feyre looked up at Rhys.

"Maybe we could get Mor to join our side?"

Rhys thought about it for a moment, then shook his head, "If anything, she will team up with Az. Maybe you could speak to Amren?"

"Don't even think about it." The voice startled both of them and they whirled to see Amren standing in the doorway, eyebrow raised disdainfully.

"Not even an idea for what to do next?" Feyre asked hopefully. Amren sighed, shaking her head before disappearing without a word. Feyre frowned.

"OK, so it's just us then, what do you think they are going to do next?"

A life-size painting of the Naga appeared in the hallway the next evening, causing Rhys to pause momentarily, Feyre to flinch, and a few hours later, Mor to scream bloody murder. She showed up at their room the next morning, after Rhys had left, with a conspiratory grin.

"I have an idea," she said.

Feyre listened eagerly, until Mor had explained her plan.

"Rhys too?" she frowned.

Mor nodded, "If he had taken that stupid picture down after you two saw it, I wouldn't have seen it, and wouldn't have had a heart attack. Did he even flinch when he saw it?"

"No. I did though."

"You're not used to them yet. You might get there, or you might be like me, and hate them forever." Mor shivered. "Rhys deserves punishment same as Cassian, and Azriel."

Feyre thought for a moment before agreeing. This was going to be good.

The girls spent the next few hours in the kitchen, readying what they needed to, talking laughing, and generally having a great time.

"It's a good thing Nesta is visiting Elain this week,"

"oh, I don't know, she could have made things even more interesting!" "Or the house could have ended up a pile of rubble."

"You're being a bit dramatic."

"you didn't grow up with her!"

"You should have seen your face!"

"Oh, when Mor screamed at that Naga picture, I swear the patrons at Rita's heard her!"

"Oh yeah? How are you liking wearing pink socks my love?"

Azriel grumbled and they all laughed. As far as dinners went, this was one of the livelier ones in recent history. Feyre loved the camaraderie, and spirit of fun that had surrounded the inner circle this last week.

"What's wrong with pink?"

They all jumped to see Amren, an arm full of cushions standing in the doorway.

"Amren, where have you been?" Rhys asked.

She gestured to the cushions. "I thought you might like these. I'll drop them in your lounge room and then I'm off."

"Thank you Amren, are you sure you don't want to stay?"

Amren smiled gracefully, "Unfortunately there are things that require my attention tonight."

She disappeared into the lounge room and Mor, who had ducked out while Amren was speaking, re-entered with desert – caramel apples.

Cassian's eyes widened appreciatively and Azriel leaned forward eagerly. Even Rhys smiled.

"I haven't had one of these in years!"

"I know!" Mor handed one to Feyre and grabbed one for herself before passing the platter around. Everyone eagerly grabbed one. Mor raised her caramel apple.

"To us! Specifically to Feyre and myself, who are the victors in this prank war."

"Pfft"

"You wish!"

"I thought we were in this together?"

"Ahem!" Feyre interrupted. "To my dearest friends and family, whom I could not imagine life without. To the fun we've had this week, and the chaos we have wreaked. May the loser not be sore."

"Hear hear!" they all clinked the sticky apples together before taking a bite as one – well, except for Feyre and Mor, who watched with growing glee as their boys took large bites, only to spit them straight back out, revealing the raw onions that had been covered with the sticky caramel.

Mor had thrown her head back and was howling with laughter, Cassian was sputtering. Azriel had calmly swallowed the onion, then gotten up to get himself a drink. Rhys gagged, threw a look of betrayal at Feyre, then gagged again. Feyre was laughing almost as hysterically as Mor.

"Your… faces!" she got out between peals of laughter.

"Low blow guys! You know how much we like candy apples!" Cassian said "I'm never eating one of those again!" Azriel poked the offending desert.

Rhys shook his head, "I can't believe you desecrated the Candy apple."

Mor and Feyre could not respond for laughter. In fact, they were still laughing when they all made their way into the lounge room for coffee and maybe a few board games.

"Those new pillows look good!" Feyre noted.

"Amren has impeccable taste!"

murmurs of agreement from everyone in the room before everyone settled into their evening pursuits. Mor and Azriel settled into a chess game that had been going on for at least three weeks, Cassian started drafting new training programs for the Illyrian training camps, Feyre surveyed the bookshelves, and Rhys sat in his armchair, complete with new cushions, and started browsing some of the paperwork he would need to finalise by tomorrow. A calm settled over the group.

The peace was disturbed a few minutes later by a decidedly un-manly shriek from Rhys as he jumped out of the chair, snatching everyone's attention as he turned to face it.

"What's wrong?"

"The chair – it moved! It- it- it grabbed me!"

Feyre's eyebrow went up, she could feel he was telling the truth, but she still had trouble believing it.

"The… chair? Your armchair… grabbed you?" she clarified.

"Yes!" Rhys narrowed his eyes and surveyed the group suspiciously. "Ok, who pulled this one?"

A snicker sounded from the chair and everyone turned in amazement as the cushions on the chair stood up, the arms lifting, to pull down the blanket that had rested along the top, revealing Amren's face. She grinned wide before winking.

"Gotcha."

KC