Hello! Sorry to end it the way I did and then make you wait a few days, I was going to do this yesterday I swear but I couldn't put down Rebel of the Sands and its sequel for a good 48 hours haha. Thanks again to all the lovely people leaving comments, it fuels me honestly and gives me more motivation to write. I love seeing what you have to say about the story so far as well and what you think should happen so thank you :) xx

Mor wasted no time in rushing to the hospital. She had argued with Amren over whether to wake Feyre or not but in the end both had decided she needed the sleep and it wasn't worth her feeling guilty over what happened until they could sort it out. Amren would stay with Feyre in case she woke or in case Tamlin showed up. Both girls knew Tamlin shouldn't know where she lived and Mor knew there was no way Rhys would have told Tamlin that Feyre was with his cousin.

Before Azriel had hung up the phone she was told that while there was a small electrical fire, that had now been put out. Cassian was with Rhys at the hospital, while Azriel dealt with the fire brigade. Tamlin had disappeared quickly after that with Lucien.

Arriving at the hospital, Mor was ushered through until she found Rhys sprawled on a bed, she spotted bandages layering his torso and blood covered his face as a nurse was setting his broken nose. Cassian hovered nearby with bandaged hands.

"What the hell happened?" Mor demanded.

The nurse set Rhys's nose with a crack as Rhys cursed.

"Damn it Mor, can you give me five seconds at least?" Rhys said nasally.

Mor held her hands up in surrender as Rhys glared at her. Cassian flexed his injured hands nervously until the nurses left, sweeping a pair of curtains closed behind them.

"Spill."

Rhys sighed, running his hands through his hair. "We'd been home for just a few hours before we heard banging on the door. Tamlin was shouting, asking for Feyre and like a fool I opened the door."

"Despite Az and I telling him to just call the cops." Cassian cut in.

Rhys rolled his eyes before continuing. "I told him that Feyre wasn't there but he wouldn't have any of it. Said Lucien had seen us take Feyre, like we'd kidnapped her basically. I invited him in to search the house. He started trashing it when he couldn't find her."

"Azriel tried to stop him and that was when Lucien rounded on Az. That's how I bruised my hands." Cassian said.

Mor looked between the two shaking her head. "Does Tamlin know Feyre's with me?"

Rhys's eyes locked with hers as he shook his head. The threat of violence still hung onto him like a bad smell as Mor knew he was considering what would happen if Tamlin found out his cousin was hiding Feyre.

"I told him she was staying with her boss until he could learn to control his temper. That was when he hit me."

"So how come Tamlin's not here in hospital too?" Mor glanced around wildly, almost expecting Tamlin to be on a neighbouring bed.

When Rhys was silent, Cassian answered for him, "Because Rhys didn't throw a single punch."

"What?" Mor knew her cousin could throw a mean punch, he had grown up with Cassian and gotten into more scuffles than she'd like to know about. She couldn't understand why he wouldn't fight back.

"I defended myself but…"

Mor could almost hear him wanting to finish his sentence, 'I didn't want to upset Feyre'. Her cousin was in too deep. Even worse was that Feyre seemed oblivious to Rhys's feelings. Although she had been preoccupied with dealing with an abusive asshole for a boyfriend for months.

"Rhys, you wanting to protect Feyre is going to get you hurt badly one day. Feyre's isn't going to stop talking to you because you stopped her ass of a boyfriend from burning your house down."

"The house is fine. Just a few scorch marks." Rhys said.

Mor raised an eyebrow at Cassian.

"They smashed the good tv." He groaned. "Caused a few sparks and set part of the wall on fire."

Mor sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Where is Feyre?" Rhys asked, peering around. Mor heard the hopeful note in his voice.

"She's back at home with Amren. She went straight to sleep when we got home and I didn't want to wake her."

Mor saw Rhy's face falter ever so slightly, but a lot of tension left his shoulders in relief. "Good. How is she?"

Mor nearly laughed. Rhys was lying in a hospital bed with a broken nose, and what Mor guessed were broken ribs, and he was asking about Feyre. Mor shared a knowing look with Cassian.

"She didn't eat dinner but I think she's mostly just exhausted. You on the other hand need to be worrying about yourself a little more." She said while prodding the bandage on Rhy's chest. He inhaled sharply at the pain. "Next time don't let that bastard go without at least a few scrapes."


When Feyre woke it was mid day. She felt no desire to get out of bed, or eat for that matter, but she knew it would be rude of her not to get up and at least say hello to Mor and Amren. What she got when walking down the stairs was Rhys. Feyre stopped midstride at the door.

"Good morning. Or should I say good afternoon?" Rhys smiled at her.

"Where's Mor and Amren?"

"They had work."

Feyre came closer to where he was lounging on the couch. He sounded different, like he had a blocked nose. As she approached, Rhys shifted so it was harder for her to see his face.

"So what are you then? My babysitter?"

Rhys laughed but quickly stopped as if it hurt him. "No Feyre, I just thought you could use some company, so you wouldn't have to be alone."

Feyre almost flinched, Rhys always seemed to know what she was feeling even without her having to tell him.

"Who said I didn't want to be alone?"

Rhys looked at her sadly. "No one truly wants to be alone."

Now Feyre wasn't sure they were just talking about her. And Rhys still wasn't looking at her straight on. She moved to sit next to him on the couch and Rhys was immediately sitting upright, pulling his legs away so there was room for Feyre without her having to touch him. But he winced when he moved and Feyre thought there was a stiffness to him.

"Don't you have a job?" Feyre asked.

Rhys grinned back at her, "Right now my job is taking care of you."

"I don't need to be taken care of." Feyre huffed.

"I know, but I'm here all the same."

For a moment Rhys let his guard down and Feyre managed to get a clear look at his face. There was no mistaking the slight crookedness to his previously, near perfect nose.

"Rhys! What happened?" Feyre exclaimed.

Rhys had started to move away, started finding the words to quickly reassure her that it was nothing and he was fine, but Rhys stilled, completely unable to form a single coherent thought as Feyre reached for his face. Their thighs were touching, Feyre's hips next to his as she had moved closer to inspect his face.

Very carefully, Feyre gripped his jaw with one hand as she turned his face to look directly into hers. Her other hand reached out to touch his nose before deciding that wouldn't be a good idea.

Rhys couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. He was unabashedly staring at her face, studying it, as he'd never allowed himself to be this close before. He saw the tiny freckles that were near invisible compared to the ones on her shoulders and arms. Her long eyelashes that framed her beautiful eyes. Then it wasn't long before Rhys found himself staring at her lips, the way they pursed as she was inspecting his nose. Suddenly they tightened to form a thin line as a thought crossed her mind.

"Who did this to you?" She demanded.

Just like that the spell was broken and Rhys had to break away from Feyre. Had to get away from her, not only because he couldn't think when she was touching him, but because she was in love with someone else. An abusive and manipulative person for sure, but the heart couldn't always tell that, and Rhys could tell that at least when Feyre had first fallen for Tamlin, she had fallen hard.

His silence seemed to speak for itself.

"I'm going to kill him." Feyre muttered.

"Don't. You just need to let him know you're okay and need some space. Don't tell him where you are."

Feyre gave him a look that said she wasn't stupid, as she took in the way he was now standing on the other side of the room from her, clutching his side. Moving caused his broken rib a great deal of pain, and Rhys couldn't stop his heavy breathing from being so close to Feyre.

Feyre got up slowly and started slowly walking over to Rhys. He held up a hand as if he could hold her back. Feyre ignored it, coming to a stop just in front of him. She gently peeled his hand away from his side, then replaced it with her own, feeling the bandages underneath. Rhys was breathing shallowly again as Feyre's hand cautiously explored the side of his torso.

"Is it broken?" She asked, sounding on the verge of tears.

"Just the one." He tried light heartedly.

"Can I see?"

"Feyre darling if you wanted me to take my shirt off you should've just asked." He purred.

Feyre pulled back to glare at him with arms folded across her chest, but Rhys felt a small thrill run through him when he saw a faint blush creeping across her cheekbones.

He sighed before tugging his shirt up and over his head. Feyre let out a small gasp at the purple and black bruises peeking out from underneath the bandage.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Rhys tried, but Feyre only looked at him in horror.

"I'm so sorry Rhys, I should never have left-"

"Don't you dare think this is your fault Feyre."

Feyre only shook her head, tears flowing freely down her face as she realised that Rhys had been hurt because Tamlin had been looking for her. The thought of anyone else being hurt because of Tamlin nearly broke her. Her own pain she could handle, she had caused most of his outbursts anyway, but the thought of her friends being put in harms way made her feel sick.

Rhys saw her start to shake and he couldn't hold it back anymore, he reached for her, gently tugging her into the circle of his arms and pressing her face to his shoulder. Feyre froze for a horrible minute, where Rhys thought he was about to be refused, until he felt Feyre almost collapse into his arms. The weight of her leaning into his chest hurt his rib but Rhys didn't care. He stroked her hair soothingly as he murmured to her about how she was safe and that he was fine.

Eventually Feyre stopped crying, but she didn't leave Rhys's arms either. They stayed like that for a while, Rhys pressed up against the wall, hugging Feyre to him.

"I'll text him. Tell him I'm fine and not to come looking for me until I'm ready." Feyre mumbled against his shoulder.

"I know, I know." Rhys said soothingly.

That was when Amren came through the door. Rhys suddenly realised he still had no shirt on and was holding Feyre to him. Feyre froze as well as she heard the door open.

"For gods sake, at least put a shirt on Rhys." Amren drawled.