Thanks for reading my story as I play in Sarah Maas' wonderfully created world. I own nothing, but the characters I've created. This chapter contains some violence, and therefore I am putting a warning beforehand. That said, if you're enjoying the story so far, please let me know what you think...thanks again.
Chapter Four
Brieanna
Not a day went by when I didn't dream of the Fae Realm beyond the border. For my father's sake my mother kept silent about her beautiful ethereal family living across the Wall. Whenever she left our home, she'd glamoured herself to look human. No one but the two of us knew she was anything other than a perfectly flawed human. When she died, and my father remarried many, many years later, he made me swear to never tell anyone about the strange strength and speed she possessed. Every day while he was alive, he also reminded me to walk slower and with less grace, and to never share my secret with my sister. I'd done my best to act as a normal human did, but people figured it out nonetheless.
A Fae living amongst humans couldn't be kept hidden forever.
My human blood didn't matter to the men who'd burned our house down in the middle of the night. It burned hot and fast and I thanked whatever gods still listened that my father and stepmother likely died long before they felt fire char their bodies. I couldn't get to them – I tried, but made the terrible choice of saving Lilianna instead. No one should ever have to choose between the people they love as to whether one should live while the other died. I'd saved her, escaping through the tunnel beneath our small cottage then left her hidden in the woods to go back to our home to try to save my father and stepmother. I was close – so damn close to my father's bed. Part of the roof collapsed and my nightgown caught on fire. I swatted at the flames burning my arm, and by the grace of the gods, I somehow managed to put it out, but not before the damage was done. My parents bed burned up before my eyes and I stayed longer than I should have, crying and coughing and crying some more. Only the nagging thought of my little sister spurred me into motion, and I raced out of the tunnel to reach her. From within the shadowed recesses of the forest, I watched the last remnants of my home collapse and the men who clapped each other on the backs for a job well done. I memorized each face, vowing one day to see the light leave their eyes as it had my parents.
We walked for days and days on end, only resting long enough to care for the horrible burns on my arm. By the time we reached our Uncle Seth's home, a fever had set in, and from what my sister told me, I was delirious for more than a week, and she cried every night fearing I would leave her, too. Lost in my fevered dreams, I tethered myself to a golden haired man with beautiful green eyes. He begged me to stay – to wait for him. He promised to find me…to save me, and although he never came, he still kept me alive.
My rubber legs nearly gave out on me when I turned from the Wall to find my golden-haired savior astride a horse, and it took every last shred of willpower not to run into his arms the second he dismounted. If there truly was such a thing as mates, two souls bound to each other then he was the only man for me. Angry at himself and the world, he couldn't see it – he couldn't feel the undeniable bond forming between us as we traveled through his lands, but his aloofness didn't deter me one bit. I would save him from himself, and in turn he would save me.
On my way home I passed by one of the raunchier taverns where my Uncle Seth spent most of his days and nights, and peered in the large dusty window just to make certain he hadn't gone home. With my keen eyesight, I spied him in the far back of the smokey bar with a busty brunette sitting on his lap, kissing him as if she loved him and not the money he'd pay her for a few hours of her time. I breathed a thankful sigh of relief. If I hadn't seen him at the tavern before I left to go back to Tamlin, I wouldn't have returned to the Wall.
The kiss ended and as if he knew he was being watched, he narrowed his muddy brown eyes on the window. My breath lodged in my throat, a tight knot forming as a slow wicked smile spread across his hawkish face. I took off running, heartbeat pounding in my ears, mud splattering up my legs as I splashed through a puddle before rounding the corner at the only mercantile store in the village.
Approaching our small cottage nestled within a grove of apple trees; I noticed all the lanterns in the front had been gutted. Not surprising. Ever since the fire burned down our family home, she never left a lantern or candle burning if she wasn't in the room. Her fear of fire drove my uncle insane, and he punished her with an old leather belt over and over again for something she had no control over. Every time I tried to intervene, he'd threaten to tell everyone I was not quite human, and then he would hit me so hard – so damn hard, shooting stars filled my eyes followed by blissful darkness. Having nowhere else to go and no other family left, we were left to his cruel mercy.
Easing open the front door, I slipped inside, and having memorized the exact location of every piece of furniture, I sidestepped passed a rocking chair then wove around the well worn couch, making my way to the tiny bedroom Lilianna and I shared. One lit candle sat on the bedside table next to the bed we shared, shed a faint halo of light on her. Face buried in the pillows, her body quaked, but she didn't let out a sound as she cried, fearing our uncle would catch her.
"Let me see, Bug," I whispered, crossing the short expanse to take a seat beside her on the lumpy mattress. She shook her head against the pillows, and began to cry in earnest. "I promise I'll make it better." After several more moments of gentle coaxing, she finally sat up and faced me. I gasped. I couldn't help it. One of her golden brown eyes, so like my father's made me ache inside if I look into them too long, was terribly bruised and swollen shut, and a deep cut split her lower lip open. Shamed, she lowered her head. I cupped her jaw in my hand, and lifted her head. "I'll never leave you alone with him again. I swear it."
"W-we need t-to leave," she whispered hoarsely, more tears slipping unchecked down her cheeks.
"Soon," I promised yet again. I'd been saying we'd leave the cottage and Uncle Seth behind for years, but without someplace to go and food and money, we wouldn't survive. Lightly tracing my fingers across her face, over her swollen eye and down to the gash in her lip, I willed my healing light into her body. Slowly the bruises started to fade, and the cut on her lip sealed itself shut, leaving no trace of a scar. My gift of healing was nowhere near as powerful as Tamlin's but it was enough to heal cuts and bruises. "I'm afraid, Bug," I admitted, calling her by the nickname my father had given her. "It was reckless to try to find my mother's family. They might not even know I exist, and they could very easily hate me as much as Uncle Seth does. Even if I wasn't scarred, I'm not normal."
"Hush your mouth," she chastised, clasping hold of my hand. "You're perfect, but you aren't aging, Brie. How much longer do you think it'll take before someone starts to notice?"
"The Night Court is so far away." Recalling how she almost died from the thorns of the berry bush, I shook my head. "It's too dangerous. We'd never make it."
"Perhaps the pretty Fae could escort us to the Night Court."
"You don't call men pretty," I chuckled, giving her hand a light squeeze. "You call them handsome or breathtakingly beautiful."
"Okay, your breathtakingly beautiful Fae could escort us to your family's Court," she said undeterred. "We left our bundles of clothes at the Wall. We'll go back to in the morning, and travel to the High Lord's manor to ask him to take us to see your family."
"You've forgotten the Night Court and the Spring Court are not allies. The High Lord of either Court would never put aside their differences to help us."
"I won't stay in this place any longer, Brie." She tilted her chin in determination. "So we either travel through the Fae Realm or go somewhere else where he won't find us."
"You're much braver than I am," I whispered, brushing the pale blond hair out of her eyes. "I will speak to the High Lord's guard tomorrow." I purposely led her to believe Tamlin wasn't the Fae we met at the Wall. She'd heard every story about him, and although she'd suggested going to see him, she hated him as much as every human and Fae. Even though she had only seen fifteen winters, ten years younger than me, she had always been able to browbeat me into seeing things from her point of view. She wouldn't mean to, but she would tear my heart out if I had to choose between her and the man I couldn't stop thinking about. "We should get some sleep if we're going to walk to the Wall tomorrow."
XxXxXxX
My uncle hadn't returned before we packed up enough food for a few days and headed to of the cottage. Excited to start our journey to the Night Court, Lilianna skipped on ahead of me, humming a happy melody. It never once crossed her mind that Tamlin might not allow us to travel through his lands, much less accompany us to his enemy's Court. I didn't have the heart to crush her hope, but if I told Tamlin the truth about my family, he'd hate me, and even more so if he learned that the High Lord of the Night Court was my cousin. As I walked several paces behind Lilianna, I mulled over how to keep my true family a secret from Tamlin.
The Fates are cruel choosing a mate for me that will put me at odds with family. But what if he's not my mate? I shook my head. No, to my marrow I felt the bond pulling us together.
Lilianna circled round and raced to me, looping her arm through mine. "Do you think the High Lady of the Night Court will like me? She was human at one time which means we have a lot in common," she said excitedly, and I could feel my temples start to throb.
"My mother fled the Night Court to be with our father. It's more likely that we won't be allowed to stay." It was such a romantic story, and I loved to hear my mother tell it in her soft, lilting voice. She'd seen my father on the other side of the Wall while her father was visiting the Spring Court on business for the High Lord. They struck up a conversation, and after the first day, she snuck out every night to see him. When it was time for them to leave, she left a note for her father saying that she refused to marry the man he chose for her, and added that he should forget her as she planned to forget him. My parents were married the following day, and they lived happily even after my father started aging while she remained young and beautiful. "If her father made good on her words, we won't be welcomed into the Court with open arms."
"They can't possibly be any worse than Uncle Seth," she said as we approached the Wall. As we drew closer I felt the strong pull of the magic surrounding it, and recalled how it had been destroyed then after the war rebuilt and well fortified in some areas. It took me weeks to find an area in the Wall where the magic lapsed, allowing access into the Spring Court. "Do you think this is where the cruel High Lord of Spring dragged Feyre through the Wall?"
"You should be careful what you say about the High Lord," came an unfamiliar masculine voice from behind us, and I swung around, placing myself in front of Lilianna. Lilianna gasped at the sight of the russet-haired Fae with a strange golden eye that seemed to take in everything around him. Unfolding his arms, he casually pushed away from the tree he leaned against, and came to stand in front of me. "Where do you think you're going?"
"My sister wanted to have a picnic near the Wall," I lied, pointing over my shoulder at the bag of food we'd brought. "It's a beautiful day, m'lord. Or at least it was until you gave us a fright."
His good eye traveled downward to the scars on my arm, and then he looked up at me. "The High Lord of the Spring Court sent me to inform you that you are not to cross the Wall again. If you do, he will put you in his dungeons to rot."
Chest tightening, the smile slipped from my face. He said I wouldn't see him again, but he never once mentioned locking me away in a dungeon. After the day we spent together, I couldn't believe he would be so cruel. "I don't believe you," I uttered, giving up any pretense of having a picnic. "If the High Lord does not wish for me to cross the Wall, he'll have to come and tell me himself."
"Fiesty." The Fae grinned. "Nonetheless, you will return to wherever it is you came from."
"You heard my sister," Lilianna spoke up, scooting around me to face the gaunt Fae. "We're not leaving until the High Lord gets up off his butt, and comes to make us leave."
"Apparently, you haven't heard the stories about the High Lord," he said, folding his arms across his chest. "He is –"
"We have heard the stories," I cut in, glancing over my shoulder at the path we traveled to get to the Wall then looked back to him. "Please, m'lord. If we could just speak to the High Lord –"
"We're seeking sanctuary," Lilianna interrupted, and I cursed under my breath. "Our uncle is a very cruel man, and if he finds out we've run away…you must let us pass into your land."
"This is the last time I'm going to tell you to go home," he said, not the least bit compassionate to our plight. "Our lands are not safe for your kind, and I will not be held responsible for bringing you before the High Lord."
"May the Cauldron be as merciful to you as you have been to us," I hissed, losing my patience with him. "May you find yourself strung up by your ears over a vat of boiling oil. I would cheer for that – I would relish it for the lack of compassion you've shown us." I caught hold of Lilianna's arm, and yanked it harder than I intended to. "Come on, Bug."
"We can't go back, Brie," she pleaded, glancing back the Fae as I dragged her away. "Please, we have to keep going."
"I'll take the beating for you, and when uncle hits me, I'll only be seeing a russet-haired Fae," I snapped bitterly, close to tears. "I curse you, Fae! By whatever gods are listening, I curse you!"
"Then I guess it's a good thing I don't believe in your gods," he chuckled.
XxXxXx
Even though I vowed not to give up, Lilianna cried and dragged her feet the whole way home. I couldn't fault her for being upset as my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach when I heard Tamlin's guard say he forbid us from entering the Spring Court. My eyes stung, but I refused to shed any tears. I kept my back stiff and straight, head held high, scarcely noticing the jagged rocks and roots dig into my bare feet as we made the long walk home. If I didn't have to worry about Lilianna, I would've taken off running and not stop until the Wall and my uncle's home were far, far away.
I breathed a thankful sigh when walked through the front door of the cottage to find it empty. I hurried over to the rickety kitchen table, and thanking whatever gods were listening to my prayers, I crumpled up the note I'd left my uncle. I'd left him nearly the same message my mother left for her father, and at the time it felt like a victory. I stuffed the crumpled piece of paper into the pocket of my dress to burn later in the fireplace. If I lit a fire now and my uncle came home, he would suspect that we were up to something.
While Lilianna started making us sandwiches with the leftover chicken from the night before, I carried our bags into the bedroom to hide under the bed. Pushing open the door, I stepped over the threshold. Someone caught hold of my arm, swung me around, and slammed a beefy fist into my face, dazing me. White hot sparks danced before my eyes, and I could taste blood in my mouth from biting down hard on my lip. Blood leaked down my face from a deep gash left behind by the ring my uncle wore.
"Did you think you'd get away with stealing from me, half breed?" he slurred, his hot breath stinking of strong whiskey. I opened my mouth to deny the accusation, he cut me off with a fist to my stomach, lifting me off the ground with the force of the blow. I doubled over clutching at my stomach, and he gripped hold of my hair, jerking my head up to look him in the eye. "I should bring you out to the center of the village and tell everyone what you really are!"
Through blurred vision, I saw Lilianna frozen at the doorway, tears silently falling down her face. She'd learned long ago never to make a sound around our uncle when he was drunk. I wanted to scream to her to run, but it would only draw attention away from me to her.
"Tomorrow you will start earning your keep at the tavern," he went on to say, yanking on my hair. "I've already spoke to Jed, and he agreed to take you on as one of his whores."
"N-no," I whispered, my eyes beseeching Lilianna to run, but she stayed stock still staring at our uncle. "I-I won't do it – I won't!"
Oh, you wanna bet?" he said in a menacingly low tone, and the next solid punch sent me sprawling to the bed where blessed darkness washed over me.