If you made it this far into my story, wow. My extremely awesome beta autumnxwinds has been so helpful, especially during this chapter. :)
Gavriel watched Cicely tremble near the fire. They had stopped traveling for the day and she still looked shaken from her dream. Her breaths were long and deep, but her eyes remained wide and frantic.
"Go to sleep. I'm capable of protecting myself now," Cicely whispered, and glanced at the sleeping figures of Lorcan and Elide. "Sleep. I'll make sure nothing happens to you."
Gavriel nodded and lay down. He closed his eyes and heard soft footsteps. He opened his eyes a tiny bit, and saw Cicely scale a tree and sit on a branch. Her body barely cast a shadow, but was silhouetted by the moonlight. She made no move to become hidden.
She waved her hand over their camp and he saw a membrane of light fall on top of them. It faded, and she leaned on the trunk, one hand on her knife and the other by her side.
When Gavriel fell into unconsciousness he saw blood. Everywhere.
A jagged knife swept out toward his abdomen-no, Cicely's abdomen. It was clear of all her scars and her arm only had three slashes of blood oaths. He tried to move, but his hands-her hands-were held by someone. The knife cut her, but not deep enough to cause lasting damage. Just deep enough to scar, and really hurt.
A hand brought a bucket of water.
"Every year we add a pinch," a man said. "The day you returned, we added a special something."
He poured some of it on her cut and she screamed. It burned and she couldn't heal it. It burned so much, it stung and felt like someone was digging into her flesh.
"Do you know what that is?" the man asked, his face hidden in shadows. "It's salt and iron."
He poured a little more and the pain flared up again.
"Make it quick." Cicely said, her face was clear and smooth. Wherever she got the scar on her face from, it wasn't from this time.
"You chose this instead of lengthening your contract. I'm going to make it last." The man poured some more and she screamed again. The same scream that Gavriel had heard earlier in the day.
The man dumped the rest of the mixture on her stomach and she screamed one last time-
Gavriel felt something break through the memory; it shattered the image into shards.
His eyes opened to a silhouette with long hair. Dark eyes were looking at him curiously.
"Do you want me to take it away?" Cicely asked. She hovered over him, her hands still and her eyes watching his face.
"What?" His mind was still fuzzy from the experience.
"The memory, I can take it away." She frowned and looked like she was beginning to regret waking him. "That is what you were dreaming about, right?"
"How can you take away a memory?" Gavriel asked.
"It's one of my gifts-"
"Funny you should call it that," Gavriel scoffed. "Anything else we should know about, other than your brainwashing and mind tricks?"
"That's not the point." Cicely waved a dismissive hand. "Do you want to stop thinking about that? It will haunt you forever."
"Yes, I do want to stop thinking about that, but what are you going to do?" Gavriel forced his eyes open.
"Lock it up in a box inside your head." Cicely began to walk away, "But if you don't want my help, I don't have to give it to you."
"Don't take it away, just make it so I don't remember it that clearly." Gavriel shivered, but not from the cold.
"I can do that." Her mouth twisted into a feral smile and her dark eyes bore into his.
Gavriel felt Cicely in his mind, like soft feathers brushing against his memories, and then they turned solid and the memory seemed to fall out of his reach. When he reached for it, she pushed it down and far, far away from him.
He opened his eyes and she nodded. He watched her walk away and reclaim her spot on the tree without another sound.
OoOoO
When he woke up, Cicely was by the fire making breakfast. Most of it was already cooked, and Elide was eating and chatting quietly with her. He strolled up to them and sat down across from Cicely.
"How was your sleep?" she asked, looking at him expectantly. Her hair was brushed to one side in a bun with stray hairs flying from it.
"Better after you helped me." He heard a cough and a choked sound come from behind him. He turned and saw Lorcan and Rowan behind him.
"She helped you with what?" Lorcan coughed out at the same time Rowan growled, "Don't get too attached."
Cicely rolled her eyes. "It wasn't like that." She crossed her arms and returned her focus to the fire.
She pushed food toward them and commanded them to eat. She picked at the food in front of her as she shifted anxiously from side to side. She kept glancing at them and opened her mouth as if to tell them something.
"If you need my help with Aelin, I'm going to have to sever my ties with my House." She studied the fire. "I only need to stay for two more weeks."
"That wasn't the deal," Rowan growled and placed his fist onto the log he was sitting on, he was holding back from smashing it to pieces. A cold gust of wind swept over them and Cicely clicked her tongue, her gaze unrelenting as she had spent the whole night thinking about what she was going to say next.
"If I'm going to help you rescue Aelin, it might be nice to have a place to eat real food and have a real roof over our heads before we trash Maeve's palace," she snapped. "If I sever my ties, I'm not under their control anymore. I will be well respected and have more freedom. You two," she pointed to Gavriel and Rowan, "will come with me. Lorcan will stay with Elide."
"Why do we need to come with you?" Rowan growled.
"If you manage to charm them with your amazing personality, you could have one of the strongest allies in all of this world." Cicely shrugged, doubt clouding her eyes. "Not that you are very charming people. I've met monsters that have more life than you do."
"What do you mean, an ally? Why can't you do it yourself?" Elide asked.
"As I am part of my house by blood, I'm only eligible for requesting potential allies until I am through with my services." She said this with a touch of hurt leaking into her voice.
"What makes you so powerful? And what made you stay hidden from the world all this time?" Rowan shifted a little farther from Cicely.
"A small group of fae can't be able to do much damage, much less help us win the war," Gavriel said.
"A small group of fae soldiers lead by ten fae warriors that are as strong as me. A small group group of about two million." She was mocking him now. "Five generations of fae, training in ways you have forgotten. All prepared for this war. We train every day, and your little group working for Maeve thought you were the strongest."
Cicely's tone shifted until it was softer, this was something she worked her whole life for. "We let you take the glory because we knew that one day, it would all pay off. That one day we would present ourselves to the world as an army, and ally to the strongest force in the world. We have been debating on whose side would be the most reasonable. If you give me a chance, I can get you an ally that can double your numbers."
"How do you even know our numbers?" Lorcan asked, and Rowan let loose a soft growl.
"What? You think I wouldn't know Aelin would contact Galan Ashryver? Or the Silent Assassins? Or Ansel, Queen of the Western Wastes? How about Rolf and his band of pirates?" Cicely listed their allies in one breath. "You know who else knows that? Maeve."
"How do you know this?" Rowan lept up with his sword in his hand, aiming for her neck.
"But do you know what she doesn't know?" Cicely ignored Rowan's question as she shifted to the side and grabbed the hilt from his hand, pulling the sword from his grasp. She pointed the blade to his vacant seat and flipped it so it impaled the ground next to it, a silent command to sit. "She doesn't know our numbers. She thinks it's only me and my immediate family. We are more than just a group, Gavriel. We are an army."
"How did you manage to stay hidden all these years? And this trail; I know Wendlyn like the back of my hand and I've never seen this," Gavriel asked.
"This trail was made from scratch." Cicely ran her fingers through the dirt and the grass. "As far as you've ever known, this was just a vast sea with waves that would spit you out a mile from where you entered it. My team built this, it's laced with our magic, and it can never betray us. We are hidden because only ten, only the leaders, me and the Elite teams, get to leave. Everyone else stays inside until they are through with their services to the house, and even then, some choose to stay. But those who leave are bound to their oath to never speak of this to anyone but the fae already in it."
"And what if we accept it?" Gavriel leaned closer. "How much will this delay us?"
"It's only a two days walk from here. I can get us there in one day if we run." She flashed them a smile. "Eat up. This is the last time before we get there. The road is rough if you don't know the way."
OoOoO
"It's just through these trees. There's a village not far from here. Lorcan, take Elide and go to the nearest inn. Put it on my tab. If you go anywhere, tell them Cicely sent you. They should be nicer." She pointed north and Lorcan and Elide started that way. She turned to the remaining fae and waved a hand over them and the same light fell as last night.
"You don't speak, you don't make a sound. If they find out that you're here before they're ready… you don't want to know what can happen," she said, her face hardening and becoming a cold mask that showed no emotion. Only her dark eyes showed the smallest bit of feeling, but even then they were stone cold. She spoke to them like a commander talked to their soldiers, precise and unrelenting, leaving no room for error. "They can't see you. Don't move anything, and whatever happens, do not help me. Stay hidden. Stay near the shadows. Stay near the wall and follow me. And don't get lost."
She turned away and stalked through the trees. They came upon a cave and she walked in. Her boots clicked loudly on the ground and the wind halted. Water dripped from the ceiling and she walked through puddles, not even minding when her shoes got wet.
There were two stone doors at the end of the tunnel. In the fae language, engraved and plated in gold, were the words: The House of Lilith.
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