Chapter 14

A/N: Sorry for the delay! After a long few months of work, I am back and I should get the last few chapters out relatively soon. Enjoy! :)

The instant the bracelet was removed from her arm, Nesta's vision twisted into a mess of images. The walls were pixelating, with portions of each individual tile swapping between the white-blue marble of the infirmary and the charcoal shade of stone. Tarquin and the healer, who she noticed had quickly stepped away from her, were so twisted into images of multiple people that their faces were impossible to decipher.

Not that she could concentrate well enough to be able to try. Her blood felt like it had knotted into hard rope, and sharp pain was shooting throughout her whole body, although she was largely unable to move. She felt her face bead with sweat as her muscles began to tremor against the table beneath her, and she clenched her eyes to try to block out the pain.

After what seemed like an eternity, the pain began to subside somewhat from her body, and she sighed, opening her eyes. Although there were still mild, disconcerting shifts in her vision, the room had mostly been restored, and the healer gave her an encouraging smile as Tarquin silently observed from against the wall across from her.

"Am I...almost done?" Nesta managed to spurt out a sentence before leaning her neck backwards to rest against the bed again.

"Unfortunately, no. You've still got over a half hour to go. But the good news is that you're past the hard part. At this point, your powers will continue to be eradicated by the serum–" Nesta's eyes shot back to the healer. "–and your body will then have to rebuild them from scratch, which won't hurt, but will be intense and tiring. When it gets to that point, you will probably feel an immense need to sleep. You'll be unconscious for the majority of the remainder of the healing process."

"What do you mean, 'eradicated?'" Nesta's tone was harsh, the relaxed muscles in her jaw allowing the words to come out easier.

"She didn't mean it in a literal sense." Tarquin spoke calmly from his position, not moving a muscle. "Think of it as your powers being stripped of energy to their purest base, before your body uses its energy core to rapidly re-fill your potential. If it makes you feel better, I've had to undergo it in the past as well, albeit for different reasons."

"What for?" Nesta turned her attention to Tarquin at his final statement, but a knock on the infirmary cut off his reply.

"It's open." Tarquin's booming voice filled the infirmary, and the door cracked open as Azriel slipped in.

"Your presence is needed, Tarquin. I'll take over watching her until I can safely take her to the Night Court."

Tarquin's face was inquisitive, but he nodded, leaving the room and motioning for the healer to stay. Nesta studied Azriel as he walked towards the bed.

"How's Cassian doing?" Azriel shot her a curious glance in response. "Tarquin told me," she hastily added, shielding Rhys's involvement while a Summer Court witness was present.

"He's fine. It was pretty obvious you had no idea what was actually going on around you. And considering your powers were corrupted as a result of healing him, I think he'll overlook it." Azriel's reply came by way of his typical monotone, strict manner of speech, and his expression remained motionless, outside the careful way his eyes shifted between her and the healer, silently studying.

"How did he originally get hurt anyw...whoa." Exhaustion washed over her body, and she slumped back against the bed.

"Okay, that should be the second stage." The healer spoke up, turning to Azriel. "You can take her back to the Night Court now, but she'll need to be watched until she wakes up. If there are any issues, bring her back here and we'll try some other methods. But considering her body rebuilt her entire power base from scratch, I find it unlikely any toxin could survive. We'll continue trying to figure out how it works, in the meantime."

Azriel's response to the healer muddled in Nesta's mind as she closed her eyes, finally unable to fight her body's wish to sleep.

Nesta groaned and shifted in bed as light shone on her eyes. She opened them to find she was back in her Velaris bedroom, the light from the descending sun streaming in, responsible for her rude awakening. She blinked. Had she really been gone that long? She supposed she had technically been forced to rest twice today. She decided that the issue wasn't all that important anyway, when she still had unanswered questions she hadn't been able to ask yet.

She tumbled out of bed, the sheets falling after her. She made to re-fix the bed, but her aching muscles and grumbling stomach led her to immediately abandon that plan for later. Still in her fighting clothes from that morning, she stumbled from her room, leaning against the rail as she descended down the townhome stairs to the dining room below. As she neared the base, she saw Azriel and Elain rush to meet her; Azriel a little too close at that, as she could see the analytical process in his mind working, studying her for any negative sign of health. Satisfied, he backed up, turning to Elain.

"Lucien knows where we are if something happens." Azriel immediately winnowed, to Nesta's frustration, and she turned to Elain instead.

"And where is that?"

Elain raised an eyebrow at her. "Do I look like a 'Lucien?'"

"No, but if you wanted to know something, he would tell you."

"I know." Elain turned to walk towards the kitchen. "Which is why I didn't ask him. Now come and get something to eat. You look famished."

"Elain–"

"I'm not answering anything else you ask of me until you eat. You're overworking yourself lately out of some ill-sensed guilt, and I won't have it." Elain interrupted Nesta's sharp tone and turned her head slightly so Nesta could see the disapproval in her eyes, then shifted back as she disappeared into the kitchen. Nesta leaned her head back, audibly grousing as she followed her sister into the kitchen.

"Fine, I'll eat. But I do need your help." Nesta's comments elicited a muted glare from her sister, who shoved a bowl of hot stew towards her and nodded at it. Nesta rolled her eyes, but started eating anyway. Immediately, she could feel her body appreciate the nourishment.

"And why should I do that? I was specifically instructed not to aid you in any way in that regard, and I have to say I agree with my orders." Elain crossed her arms in unusual irritation. "As I said, you've been overworking yourself anyway, at least for your current skill set."

"Because I'm the only one who understands the danger of what we're facing!" Nesta looked to her sister with pleading eyes in between spoonfuls. "I'm not looking to go into combat, but if they could use me for other purposes, I feel fine enough to do so. And it's not like we have all the time in the world to be patient. Who knows what the King will do now that Alis has been rescued, especially if he thinks he's infiltrated some kind of evil...power inside our ranks?"

Elain nodded back to her bowl, and she sighed as she began eating again. "I find it unlikely you are the only one who could testify to your condition, Nesta. And–"

"I am the only one." Nesta about dropped her bowl as she quickly stepped forward and interrupted her sister, who stepped back in surprise before narrowing her eyes. "I'm serious, Elain!"

"I know for a fact you had multiple witnesses, a detailed report drawn up by a top healer from the Summer Court, and two separate High Lords observed you before you were brought back here. Don't tell me you're the only one who can describe the symptoms of this...power, as you call it."

"But I am. Most of the effects are...psychological, Elain."

"So I've heard. As was documented extensively by the Summer Court healers for us."

"That's not what..." Nesta sighed. "Listen, the only other person who has any idea what I'm talking about is Rhys." She observed a brief flicker in Elain's eyes at her mention of Rhys, but she pushed her curiosity aside for now. "Believe me, Rhys should not have to be the one to talk about this. If they're in a non-combat situation, I should be there, Elain."

Elain studied her for a long time, reluctance and wariness coloring her features. "You promise you'll leave this alone if they're in a combat situation?"

"Yes, 100%." She softened her eyes for her sister, trying to show her sincerity externally.

After another minute of Elain staring at her, she sighed. "Listen, I am making no promises, and I want you to eat and get back up to strength. But I will talk to Lucien. Try to concentrate on getting yourself well until I'm back." Nesta merely gave a soft nod back as Elain brushed past her, the front door sounding in the background a few seconds later. Nesta turned her eyes back to her bowl, her hunger returning now that her urgency was sated, and she finished her dinner.

It was another 30 minutes before Elain and Lucien returned, the front door opening to Nesta's relief, as she had spent the better amount of the time wearing a hole in the carpet, pacing. Her gut was digging into her, and she was getting nervous that it was trying to tell her something about the rest of the Court. She rushed to meet them at the entrance of the living room and widened her eyes. Both of them looked red-faced and exasperated.

"I take it...my request didn't go well?" Nesta's attempt at breaking the tension fell flat, as Elain immediately glared at her.

"Save it, Nesta." She motioned for Lucien to speak, and he did as he moved to sit down in one of the living room chairs.

"You need to understand how much I'd be risking taking you anywhere, Nesta. There's a reason I was chosen for this task, instead of joining them."

"I know that, Lucien." Her interruption was met by a sigh and tired frown of his, so she rolled her eyes and motioned for him to continue.

"I will tell you where they are, but please do not ask me to winnow you there, unless you feel it is completely necessary." He looked up at her, but she merely returned an expectant stare, so he continued. "There's a scheduled emergency meeting tonight between all the Courts – well, besides the Dawn and Spring Courts for obvious reasons – to discuss the current political situation in light of the...events tonight." He scrutinized her carefully as he spoke. "Rhys and Feyre clearly did not consider your presence necessary, so I fail to see why you feel you need to be brought there."

"The power that corrupted my magic is...intense, Lucien. It's something that needs to be described by someone who's experienced it. It could win a war by itself if there was a way to easily spread it. And there's only..." She trailed off in calculation of how she wanted to approach Lucien. "I'm the only one who's experienced it." She exchanged glances with Elain in a silent plea not to bring up Rhys, but Elain merely sent her a hardened stare back. She turned back to Lucien. "I need to be there."

"They'll just send you back, Nesta. There's no way your sister will let you into that meeting."

"I have a plan for that." She gazed determinedly at Lucien, holding his torn eyes in lock. He looked over at Elain, who nodded and turned towards Nesta.

"I want you to understand something, Nesta, to ensure this is as important as you are claiming it to be. If you go..." Elain exchanged glances with Lucien again, then turned back to Nesta with hardened eyes. "If you go, and Lucien is punished as a result, I will follow him out of Velaris."

Nesta's eyes widened in shock as she drew in her breath. "Elain, you can't! I–"

"That is the deal, Nesta. I will not be torn from my mate over some crazy plan of yours. Take it or leave it." Elain tightly crossed her arms, pain lacing her gaze, even as she maintained her external resolve.

Nesta swallowed in turmoil. She felt an urgent, instinctual need in her gut to be with the rest of the Night Court that she couldn't explain, but this was the last situation she had wanted to cause. She felt like she was being asked to choose between her sisters. And the dire feeling tearing her from the inside was causing her to lean towards a situation she would have never thought thinkable. "Elain..." Elain narrowed her eyes in a silent request not to be pushed on the matter. Nesta dipped her head in pain, not able to meet Elain's eyes as she answered, knowing what her answer had to be. "Fine. Do what you want, Elain. I need to be there to help protect my family. I'll try to shield Lucien from the fallout as much as I can to try to keep you guys here."

She felt a few quick tears fall down her face as a pause filled the room, before Lucien broke it. "Very well. Make whatever preparations you need to, then come down when you're ready." She nodded and turned around, walking up the stairs with her head still bowed, unable to look her sister in the eyes.

"The meeting is in the Winter Court, who previous mediated the clandestine meeting between the Summer and Night Courts, if you recall. They're inviting the Day and Autumn Courts to take part in the meeting. I can't possibly give you the entire round of names that will be at the event, but you should at least know the High Lords. My father, Beron, runs the Autumn Court, Helion oversees the Day Court, and Kallias is High Lord of the Winter Court. And of course you already know Tarquin and Rhysand."

Lucien's words came out quickly as he tried to give Nesta as much information as possible before sending her in. She sighed shortly to indicate her impatience to go, and he nodded in agreement. She already had to waste precious time cleaning up and changing out of her fighting clothes into something believable for a castle, and she didn't need to be wasting more. Nesta finally dared a glance at her sister, who gave her a faint smile and hug, before whispering in her ear.

"I don't think it will come to that. I think Feyre will be reasonable to Lucien. But please, please be careful."

"I'll take the whole blame for it, I promise." Nesta squeezed her sister back. "I'll try to protect him for you." Elain let go and nodded, backing away. Nesta nodded back, before eying Lucien's outstretched hand. "Before I take that, know this. If the worst happens, and you are responsible for any harm befalling Elain, the amount of vengeance I will bring down on you will make Rhys's powers look like those of a child."

"Good." Lucien didn't so much as blink, although Nesta strongly held his gaze for a few moments longer for good measure. With one last look at her sister, she put her hand in Lucien's.

"Okay then. Let's go."

Instantly, the quaint decorations of the townhouse living room were replaced with quite possibly the most beautiful hallway Nesta had ever seen, surrounded by ornate light fixtures, grey, silver-veined marble floors, and large-paned windows showcasing a gorgeous, snowy exterior to the castle.

"Ahem." Nesta snapped back to attention at Lucien's clearing of his throat. "I just want to make sure you're positive about this. Once I leave, you can't turn back."

Nesta nodded. "I'm sure." He moved to pull his hand back, but she clenched it and moved closer, whispering to him. "If things do go south with Feyre and Rhys, please take care of my sister." She leaned back, eyes pleading for a short moment before filtering back to their usual steely resolve. He nodded, and she let go of his hand, watching as he disappeared into thin air in front of her, before striding down the hallway, boots clicking against the tile, to begin her plan.

"Urgh–"

Cramped in a small utility closet, Nesta was finding it difficult to execute the first stage of her plan. She knew there was no way she would be able to enter the meeting through typical means, as Feyre or Rhys would spot her and prevent her from doing so. Instead, she had planned to change into one of the servant's outfits in order to 'attend' to the meeting and slip in before her sister could stop her.

The first half of this stage of the plan had gone smoothly. She had trailed a servant, too busy preparing for the upcoming meeting to notice her far behind her, to the servants' quarters, before sneaking out with a uniform. However, she was having a much more difficult time changing into it in this confined space than she had thought.

She bit her lip to prevent a curse from coming out as she stubbed her toe pulling her dress over her head. She should have picked a less elaborate dress, or at least a bigger room for this. She looked around and frowned; the closet was also intensely dirty. She hadn't thought of that either. She winced as she folded her dress and placed it as carefully as she could on the edge of a shelf, dusting the shelf lightly with her hand before placing it down.

She froze in place as she heard murmurs getting louder. She knew those voices; with her Fae ears, she could easily recognize Cassian and Rhys, muffled as they were. She rushed to put her servant garb on. She hoped the noise of changing quickly wouldn't lead her to be discovered by Rhys this early, but she certainly preferred that to being discovered half-naked.

She held her breath as she finished lacing up the thin, silver-colored waistcoat over top of the plain, white-grey servant's dress, not exhaling until the voices faded into the distance. She frowned again towards her Velaris dress perched on the shelf, realizing too late that she would have no way of taking it with her. She would have to leave it for now and cover it with something else in here. She turned around and scanned the shelves behind her for something relatively clean that might do the job. She winced as her hands sifted through centuries of dust and dirty cleaning equipment; there had to be a tablecloth, or something paper here…

She nearly jumped into the ceiling when the door handle behind her jiggled, and she scattered against the side wall, thinking all kinds of obscenities at the realization that there was no space to hide in here, either. She grimaced as the door flung open and a man entered quickly, closing the door quickly behind him, but her wince morphed quickly into a scowl at the realization that said male was Cassian.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered harshly.

"I could ask you the same question." He met her with the same tone, eyes showing clear annoyance as he scanned her new clothes. "You realize that doing something like this could backfire on Rhys and your sister, right?"

"I'll take responsibility for it. Now please leave my closet." Nesta motioned with her hands rapidly towards the door.

"Oh? I guess you don't want my help then. In that case..."

"Wait!" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Why? You didn't even want me here in the first place."

"Well, that's not..." Cassian shifted uncomfortably in front of her, then crossed his arms. "We don't need to be talking about that. How are you planning on getting rid of that?" He nodded at her dress, still sitting on the shelf. "If they find that, they'll immediately investigate every servant in the entire castle for a Night Court infiltrator and suspect Rhys and Feyre of some kind of plot. So excuse me if I feel the need to butt in as their commander."

"Well, I was gonna hide it, but..." She smiled wickedly at Cassian as she took off her boots, handing them to him along with the dress. "Be a dear and winnow these home, please."

Cassian narrowed his eyes at her tone, but he grabbed the items nonetheless, disappearing into air as she slipped her feet into the servant's flats. In an instant, he was back in front of her, scowling.

"You know, I really should be taking you back, not your clothes."

"I know." Nesta whispered back. "But thank you for trusting me enough not to." She moved to move past him, but he grabbed her arm, his eyes suddenly closing. She withdrew back against the wall. "What?"

"I smell a Fae nearby...they would hear if you attempted to leave the closet at the moment. You'll need to wait them out."

She raised her eyebrow. "You smell them?"

He matched her eyebrow with his own. "That surprises you? How do you think I found you? However..." He smirked at her, and she thinned her gaze in response. "...I could follow your scent for miles. I knew where you were the moment you entered the castle."

Nesta rolled her eyes. "Am I supposed to be impressed?"

Cassian grinned as he leaned closer, putting a hand next to her head against the wall. Nesta suddenly became aware of their proximity in the small closet. "I feel like I could have built this castle with my bare hands, and you wouldn't be impressed, sweetheart."

"Last I heard, you mostly destroyed buildings, not built them." She leaned towards him for emphasis as she spoke, taunting him with her eyes as she tinged her hushed answer with a hint of acidity. His smile widened in response, a feral gleam in his eye matching hers.

"Rumors and vicious lies, I assure you. Although..." His eyes drifted downward, and her face heated as she realized the degree her cleavage was exposed from the low cut of the servant dress and the angle at which he stood over her. "...since we're stuck in this closet, alone together, perhaps we should try to bring this one down." His eyes returned to hers, and the heat in her cheeks roared further, as a heat further downward in her began to pool .

"You know..." Nesta swallowed and tried to distract herself from the mere inch that now separated their lips, trying to remember her actual reason for coming to the Winter Court. "...I'm beginning to think there's not really a Fae outside."

He opened his mouth to reply, but the door to the closet opened suddenly, revealing a tall, glowering man, dressed to the hilt in silver and a long, white robe, with a crown of ice adorning his head. Nesta sucked in her breath at the realization of who stood before her.

"H—H—High Lord."