Chapter 25: Summer Court Visit

Mor:

Everyone heard Karly's scream. It was not sound I had ever heard from her before, but it was unmistakable. The only problem was everyone was still in the tent, discussing next steps.

Rhys could barely move, and Feyre had latched onto him. Cassian was injured, and Az was busy. Shit. That left me on comfort or protection duty. Whatever was wrong.

The scene was bloody nightmare. Eris and all of his brothers stood to one side, while Karlene was crouched over a body with Tarquin murmuring things to her, rubbing her back.

Bloody had been splattered all over Karlene as if she had bathed in. Tarquin who was out of his armor, was also painted quite red.

"What happened?" I demanded. An eyebrow raised at the Autumn hotheads. I fought to stay in the moment, for Karlene and for myself.

"Karlene refused to tend to Eris, and when I tried to bring her to him, that one got in the way." One the brothers said calmly.

"How dare you try to drag her to him. That's practically kidnapping." I shouted, maybe Feyre should have been here anyway. Honestly Rhys should have been here.

"If my elder brother, my heir, is injured he is my main concern."

"She is not in your court. She belongs in Night Court and you will not touch her." Venom dipped in every word, a threat sharp in my eyes as I looked at each of them.

I turned to Karlene who was sobbing harder than I had ever seen her, the other night when she had thought she sister and Tremaine was dead didn't compare to this. It was like reliving the last hour. Feyre thrown over Rhys. I had not heard much about Tremaine. She had shared some details, fucked him in the forest, but she wasn't obsessive like Elain with Grayson.

"Karlene," I crouched. My boots sank a bit in the pool of blood. "Tremaine is dead. Let's get you cleaned up. Then we can talk about it, then we can clean him up and send him on his way."

"Mor," Karly choked. "We have to bring him back to his mother. She-" then Karlene was sobbing again. Tarquin got her to brace on him instead of the dead body. Sobbing into the High Lord instead of her lovers unmoving chest.

"We can do that," I said quietly, "but we have to clean you up a bit first."

"Will you watch him until we can go?" She barely got the words out. Her breathing was shaking, and her tears interrupted her speech.

"I will set a guard on him." I offered. She nodded.

"Karlene, if he lived in the village you used to, his parents are likely in Summer Court." Tarquin reminded them both. Karlene started to crumple again. "I will send word to Cressida to find them if you'll tell me the names to look for."

"Renee and Tristan Evalar. He also has a little brother, only four. Tyler, he's very sick so it might be easier for to find them through healers." Her crying was stopping, all business now. Karly had fought for there to be medical care for the human population in Summer Court, perhaps it was all for Tyler and Tremaine.

When I had set the shaking Karly up with a warm bath, she stopped shaking. She was still crying, but her sobs didn't make her gasp for air. I went back to Tremaine, Tarquin had set him on a hospital bed and magically cleaned him.

"Who was he?" He asked me, when I appeared to move him to the Night Court section of the camp.

"They were in love, for years. They never got married mostly because there was no money, until Tamlin sent so much that her family no longer thought he was a good match for her." And now they never would. Another crime of Nesta's to add to ever growing list. She had taken what little happiness Karlene had found. Now Karlene would never get married to the boy she loved.

"I want to kill him, for hurting her, for touching her." Tarquin's voice was just as angry and cold as the day Summer Court had been attacked.

"I might join you, if we hadn't just gotten them to cooperate." I grumbled.

Karlene insisted on going to Summer Court, where Tremaine's parents had been located before her hair dried. Inconsolable, was a good word to use, I couldn't blame her.

The rest of her sisters were preoccupied with their own grief. Feyre had asked Karlene to help bury their father before we left, but she refused. Karlene had nothing to offer her father. Someone she had no memory of every being a father. Nesta had screamed at her telling Karlene how horrible a person she was and another round of insults, but Karlene ignored her. Whether it was the combined grief or the hate for her father finally bubbling up I didn't know. I hoped she wouldn't regret her the apathy towards her father years down the line. At the same I knew I would react similarly if it had been my father and lover were killed in the same day.

…

Summer Court had opened one of the palaces to the humans, only a thousand humans had been evacuated and the rooms they gave the families were larger than most of their homes.

The room Renee and Tristan Evalar shared with their child Tyler was large. Likely one of the largest rooms in the palace.

Tremaine was brought along and set in another room. Best not to winnow directly in with their dead son.

Karlene knocked on the door. From the way she did it, I wondered if the people inside would recognize the pattern, the weight to the movement.

An old man, with only one hand opened the door. From the way he angled himself, I knew he held a weapon just beyond.

"Karly?" His voice was gruff, but still disbelieving.

She couldn't respond, only let out a short sob before covering her mouth. Tristan opened the door wider, and reached for Karlene with his stump. He gave me a rough glare before letting me in too. The beautiful sword, he indeed had hidden behind the door, was not set down.

He led us into a dining room, that was completely separate from the rest of the living area. After we both sat, he retreated from the room and returned a full minute later with his wife, and child.

And a child he was. I couldn't believe the age difference between in the siblings, human siblings. All the Archeron sisters were no more than three years younger than the next. Feyre and Karlene only a year. I wouldn't be surprised if Tyler was twenty years younger than Tremaine. Maybe the age of his mother was one of the reasons Tyler was so sick.

He didn't look sick now. He threw himself at Karlene. Without a blink of time, there he was wiggling in her lap. But the mother, Renee, started crying. Karlene pushed out of her chair, holding Tyler aloft, and hugged the older woman.

"There is much that has changed since we spoke." The woman smiled and patted Karlene's cheek.

Karlene nodded, and then sat. The parents followed suit, Tyler again took up his perch in her lap.

"This is Mor, she is a high-ranking official in the Night Court, and one of my best friends." Karlene started.

"They said our ties to Night Court are why we got such a room. Well," Tristan snorted, "rooms. Until they said it, I've never heard of a Night Court."

"My sister is now High Lady of Night Court. It is through her, and me that the connection was determined."

"Nesta is a High Lady?" Renee asked, clearly fearful.

"No, Feyre. When she went away to my aunts' she actually was taken to Prythian. There she was turned into a Fae after sacrificing herself to end a tyrannical reign. Later she fell in love with the High Lord of Night Court, Rhysand. Mor is Rhysand's cousin."

"And you, darling, how are you Fae too?" Renee asked, setting a hand on Karly's.

"The person that my sister worked against, was not the head of the evil. The King of Hybern sought to continue the war, and my sister and Rhys worked against him. That angered him, and so he had Nesta, Elain, and I brought to Hybern to demonstrate a new magic he had found. A magic to turn us into Fae. It was not our choice, nor was it without bloodshed." Karlene swallowed. "We lived in Night Court while preparing for the war."

"And Tremaine is off at the war too," The little boy chirped. Karlene shook her head. Tears she had done a miraculous job of keeping out until then lined her eyes. "Where is he then?"

"Some of the Fae are very rude to those they believe beneath them. A High Lords son came to fetch me to heal his older brother. I was very busy and refused him as the injury wasn't life threatening. Of course, I should have known better than to refuse a High Lord's spawn. Tremaine tried," Karlene closed her eyes as more and more tears leaked out. "He got in-between me and the High Lords son and was killed for it."

"But you healed him." Tyler furrowed his brow.

"His heart was pierced. He was dead before I even knew there was blade in him." Karlene shook with sobs. "He survived the fighting, it was me that killed him."

Renee slide out of her seat and knelt before Karlene. "Darling Karly, Tremaine would have stood between any girl and a bully. That Lord's son killed him. He would have been glad to protect you. Glad to help you. I'm only glad that you're alright. We knew the risks of him going to war. I am so thankful he was with you in his final moments." Renee held out her hands and Karlene crumpled herself into the older woman. Tyler, wisely slipping out of the embrace.

Over the next several hours the pair of them only cried on the floor. Sometimes Tyler would sit and offer words of comfort, sometimes Tristan would. When night was just about to fall, Renee asked where her son was.

I floated between the Evalar's rooms and the room where they were preparing the body. They had hostile feelings towards Fae, but they did not see Karlene as Fae. It did not take long, but when they were done Cressida appeared out of no-where. She greeted them and offered to have the body taken to their cemetery where they could mark his grave however they wished. She also offered to have the body sent out to sea, as was custom in Summer.

Tristan whispered something I couldn't hear into his wife's ear, who looked long in Karlene's direction before nodding.

"Princess Cressida, we would like to bury our son here. We would also like to inform you that we would like to stay in Summer Court permanently. We cannot go back to where we had two son's and we will not move further away from Karlene." Tristan spoke like a soldier giving a report. He knew the chain of command and how to speak to superiors without any disrespect.

Karlene opened her mouth, as if to offer living in Velaris, but closed it. Of course, if she offered, we would honor it, but it wasn't really her authority to start moving humans into Velaris. Also, here it was a different scene, beaches and constant warmth. In the Night Court the weather was almost as harsh as below the wall, and the city would be likely be too much for the old couple.

"I'm pleased you'll be staying, but I wish it were for a more pleasant reason." Cressida recited. After the plans were made, Karlene wanted to stay with the Evalars. I wasn't inclined to leave her alone, I also couldn't sit with them all day. Cressida spent time with them, and me. I wanted so badly to burst forth and offer friendship to Cressida, but I didn't want to scare her away. Karlene would likely spend a lot of time here, so I could convince Cressida to be my friend over time.

…

Karlene:

The inscription read:

Tremaine Evalar

The best son and brother

filled with hope and kindness.

A savior to all he loved.

I had written it. His mother wanted me to do it, since he would be buried in a Fae cemetery. The message in the stone was not something common amongst the poor so she had no clue how to memorialize him. Neither did I.

I hadn't cried that hard since the day he died. I made sure she liked it, and Tristan and Tyler. They all cried, even Tyler. I wasn't sure how much he would remember from this, or how much of Tremaine he would remember. That was what hurt the most. The stone and me would be the only ones to remember him longer than a hundred years