Feyre

Distress was written all over my face, I was sure of it. If anyone were to touch my mate, I would have to reveal the power that lay beneath my fingertips. There was no more hiding it. Just as I had escaped eternal imprisonment, my mate may have fallen captive to it.

I was vaguely aware of someone shaking my shoulders at a furious pace. "Feyre, what's happened?"

My words came out mumbled and inaudible. Azriel grabbed my cheek and scanned my eyes intently, "What. Happened?" He drew out every word, making sure his point had gotten across.

My eyes were glassy when I spoke. "I have to turn myself and the baby in. It's Rhys, they have him." Azriel released the death grip he had on my body and processed the new information. His troops were still awaiting another round of threats to insinuate death.

Azriel ran a hand through his hair and kicked a rock in frustration. "You're pregnant," he stated plainly with a tinge of questioning.

I nodded, my expression grim. "A girl."

He moved to touch the small bump on my abdomen. He huffed, and didn't meet my eyes. "No, Feyre. It's not what Rhys would want."

My brows furrowed in determination, "I have to."

"Feyre, do you have any clue how hard it is for Fae to conceive? This may be your only chance at a child! Rhys wouldn't want his daughter to die before birth, let alone his mate." At this point Azriel had tried to restrain me, but my powers proved to be stronger than his arms.

Escaping his grasp using an old mind trick, I moved from his reach out of breath. "If Mor was trapped somewhere like this you would go to the ends of the earth to save her. I'm just doing the same. I'm sorry." His eyes were pleading, but the comment of Mor seemed to strike him.

As I unfolded and stretched my wings, he laid a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry too… Please keep my niece safe." My smile was warm and radiant, my nod hopeful. I enveloped the large mass of man into my grasp and held him in a warm embrace.

My face only reached his chest and I mumbled against the musculature, "I will always be your High Lady, and Rhys your High Lord. No matter the outcome."

Although the normally blue skies of Velaris were free of attors, they were laden with foul smelling smoke. The smell resembled something laced with a mortal drug; hallucination and madness inducing.

The smoke rested heavily on my leathery wings, and made visibility of the ground below extremely difficult. I dove in and out of the thick smog any time my Fae ears picked up on the slightest reverberation below.

"Feyre darling, come out come wherever you are!" Hyberns gruff voice echoed throughout my mind, sending chills up my spine.

Don't you dare touch him, I warned.

A faint clicking sounded within my head, tapping incessantly. "Come on Feyre, you have five minutes to find your mate, or I launch my attack on Velaris and your mate loses a wing. Tick tock."

Five minutes. Five minutes. Five minutes.

I was distracted and my head wasn't clear enough to find Rhys, so much so I ran right into something hard. "What the hell?" I screamed in frustration.

"Well hello, to you too, High Lady."

My eyes shifted up to the masculine face in front of me. Blood dripped from the massive bat like wings, struggling to suspend him in air. "Cassian, your wings!"

He huffed and rolled his eyes. "Not now, Feyre. We need to go now."

My face dropped, "No, they have Rhys. I have to find him."

Cassian grabbed my hand and dragged me through the air, talking as we flew. "Mor and I, we found him."

I gasped, "How?"

I stared intently at the back of his awaiting a reply as we weaved through the thick fog. "Ever since you two mated, you have a very distinct scent. I can trace it for miles.."

We were approaching, from what I could tell, the outlying region of Velaris where the wards were maintained.

"Why here?" I whispered.

Cassian simply pointed to the spherical ward, and noticeable cracks ran down the sides. He nudged me slightly, out of breath, "We are close to very of edge of Rhys' defenses, and he is not as strong here."

Descending through the smoke, I picked up on voices bickering at one another. I could make out broken sentences containing the words, idiot, pregnant, night court slut, death, wall. None of the words were particularly appealing.

We cleared through the jaded sky and probably thirty feet below, figures paced. The outline of my mate was restrained to a post, his wings tacked to two other posts as well. The horrific figures of Jurian, Hybern, Tamlin, and Ianthe (her son now missing) paced each periodically checking their watches.

"Tick tock."

I turned to Cassian, and he nodded. The element of surprise would be my best friend. Bracing myself, I allowed the anger to boil beneath my skin, and smoke to seep from my fingertips.

I smiled vibrantly just as Hybern roiled throughout my head, "Times up darling."

Hybern moved toward Rhysand below and I threw all of the fire within my being in his direction. The fire was a horrific blue, signifying the intensity of its heat.

Hybern saw the fire a second too late and it singed seared his Fae skin, releasing a satisfying hiss. Hybern's screams came loudly and I enjoy the low bellows he was making.

Jurian, Ianthe and Tamlin seethed.

I lowered myself to the ground and allowed Hybern a moment of rest to recuperate. If he wanted a fight, a fight he shall have.

I squared my hips and lowered my eyes on the three remaining.

Tamlin's face had a stunned and betrayed look written all over. Ianthe's was cunning and manipulative, and Jurian appeared to not care.

Ianthe lunged for me first, and I met her advance with an outstretched claw that pierced her thin stomach with a sickening slick. She fell to the ground in a heap, still breathing.

Tamlin looked at me wide-eyed, hands in the air. "Feyre, what happened to us?"

I stepped closer and I saw his animal form starting to take shape throughout his body. Jurian was now examining his fingertips, and I knew Cassian was looking out for me from the skies.

I cocked my head to side in mock disbelief. "Well Tamlin, you and I were done whenever you locked me in that damned house. I was dying Tamlin." I stepped closer, his claws flexing. I dropped my voice to menacing whisper, "I was dying."

Fur began to patch onto his skin, his growl evident. "I loved you. I loved you with all my heart-"

I raised my hand, water from the Sidra swirling in my palm. "Love can be a poison." Without the slightest hesitation I knocked him on his backside with a backbreaking force. He was moaning in pain, grunting when he tried to move.

You all underestimated me. I am the High Lady of the Night Court and I shall be feared-

Blinding pain swept through my abdomen and settled in my uterus. Clutching at the delicate region, I winced in pain. I clutched for my powers, but they were useless.

Jurian and Hybern were now standing over me, smirking Hybern's skin was horrifically burned and was blistering into a gruesome mask. "Not so powerful now, Feyre Cursebreaker," sneered Jurian, hands on his hips.

The pain was getting stronger now, and I allowed myself a look at the baby. The bump on my abdomen was getting bigger, it was swelling to the size of a child who was full term.

I reached for my powers once again, but found only the sensation of blinding pain. "What," I huffed, "are you doing to me?"

Hybern snapped his fingers, and the bottoms to my Illyrian leathers disappeared. You may want to catch the baby, you're nearly ten centimeters."

"No-I'm only two months. That's-…no!"

Hybern patted my head in satisfaction and looked at me like a child, "It's an old secret of the Cauldron dear, I merely brought the child you are carrying to full term. And right about now, it seems as though you are ready to deliver. Oh, and please do name the child after me."

The pain was continuing to rip through my lower half and I screamed. And the pair chuckled as they winnowed away.