"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?" Kendryek shouted at us, though the majority of his anger was aimed at Lysander. Kendryek was nearly shaking with rage. I could see embers in his eyes. Flames occasionally flickered across his shoulders; the heat pouring off of his body made me break out into a sweat. I was perfectly content to cower off to the side and let him take the majority of the abuse.

It was just Erin, Kendryek, Lysander, and I. Despite the gaping hole in his shoulder, he was quite conscious and showed no signs of pain. No healing had been done yet, much to the vexation of Erin.

"I was asking a Suriel some questions. Little did I know, the Suriel turned out to be one of Samanthia's projections."

"And you decided that that Suriel was more important than doing your job and maintaining peace with the Spring Court?"

"Peace was thrown away when Terrin strolled in here and essentially assaulted Allyn. All Terrin is doing by waiting is buying time so he can try to get his court in order. There is no negotiating that can happen. We either give him Allyn or we don't," Lysander carefully explained.

"How do you know for sure?" Lysander's jaw dropped slightly.

"Ken. Kenny Ken Ken…" Lysander said. "I lived in the Spring Court under his rule. I know their history better than anyone else here, but even you should know what caused Gaius to go insane - not having his mate. It is quite reasonable to assume that Terrin wants to prevent that at all costs. Samanthia, dressed up as a Suriel, told me directly. But if that is not enough, I ripped a bunch Samanthia's memories out." So that's what he was doing to that woman. "It is extremely clear this is what his goal is, not love, not following The Mother's plan, just avoiding falling to the same problem that plagued his father. He cannot do that while we have Allyn here."

I was getting a little tired of being treated like a pawn and not a real person.

"I trust Lysander on this one," I said. "I don't want to join the Spring Court." Though, at this rate, it'd be worth joining just to avoid the headache of these arguments.

Kendryek growled.

"You've started this war too early. We need time to prepare." Lysander threw a hand up in exasperation and nearly leapt to his feet. Erin moved to restrain him.

"Take it easy!" she ordered him.

"They're in a far worse position!" He exclaimed. "We don't need time to prepare! The Spring Court is in complete chaos! We could storm the Mansion tomorrow and kill Terrin with just the five of us, six if you want to bring Allyn!" He was extremely fired up. "We have some of the most powerful fae Prythian has seen as a part of our court and you have them doing errands and your mail!"

"What we have is stability, Lysander!" Kendryek shouted back. "A war threaten to put an end to that!"

"Terrin has already done that! We have to respond accordingly!" This time, Kendryek did not reply. They stared at each other, magic crackling in the air. The room was on the edge of going up in flames. After seeing what Lysander did to those fae in the forest, I was no longer sure who the victor of a fight would be. Not for the first time, it was Kendryek who backed down.

"Allyn, come with me," he barked at me as he wheeled around and quickly strode out of the room. My stomach grew more uneasy. I followed out of fear of what would happen if I didn't.

I had to half-jog in order to keep up with his pace as he blazed down the hallway. He lead me to his room, where I followed him inside and shut the door.

He was a lot calmer now, but he was still extremely upset. He leaned up against the bedframe, stared at me, and shook his head. I crossed my arms against my chest and squeezed myself.

My heart hadn't stopped racing since we first warped through the portal. I was still shaking from the magic I had cast - it was even worse now that the adrenaline had worn off. My head hurt from all the yelling. I was at the end of my nerve.

"Allyn…" he said, trailing off. There was no anger in his voice, just disappointment and sadness. I did not want to hear it. "Where do I even start?"

I shrugged and grit my teeth in preparation for what he was about to say.

"You could have gotten injured, or worse, captured."

"I'm well aware." He pressed his lips into a fine line. "But I didn't."

"That doesn't matter! The point is that you put yourself at risk!" I scowled. I hated being talked down to.

"Oh don't start acting like you care about my safety now!" I huffed. "Hadrian beats the shit out of me every day, but you don't do so much as apologize for it!" Now that I'd started, I couldn't stop. "You rarely talk to me! You don't even say 'goodbye Allyn, I'll be back tomorrow night,' when you leave!" He winced. "You, Lysander, and Erin are my only three friends on this god forsaken world!" I was beyond furious. I my face burned with anger and emotion, my eyes felt damp.

He took a deep breath and braced himself.

"You put too much faith and trust in Lysander. He is not a fae! You cannot trust him the way that you do," he told me. I felt a flash of anger.

"And why can't I?" I demanded.

"You saw what he did today! You know what he's capable of!" He threw a hand up in the air. "He does not care for authority, family, or friends! He does what he wants, takes what he wants, and harms whoever he wants!" He turned away from me and started to pace the room. "He is not a fae. He is something other, something terrible. I do not know what, but that creature is not like you or I." A certain kind of madness slipped into his voice. "I do not want you spending more time with him. Mark my words, he will bring harm upon you." His temper lulled. He took forced, measured breaths.

But I was not done. All of the pent up anger I'd felt over the last week was finally coming out.

"He's the only one who ever spends time with me!" I yelled. Kendryek whirled around to face me.

"I tried spending time with you, but you never want to!" I clenched my teeth and walked up to him, lowering my voice. I had thought I couldn't get any angrier. I was wrong.

"That's because you never want to do anything outside of this room or outside of that bed," I pointed. "I'm tired of pushing your hands off of me. I'm tired of whispering 'no' when you don't get the hint. I'm tired of how annoyed you get whenever I don't give you what you want, but you refuse to reciprocate! I'm tired of it!" I was nearly crying now. "I didn't come all this way to become a High Fae's fucktoy!" I snarled before immediately bursting into tears.

Somehow I preferred the yelling and screaming to the silence that followed.

I squeezed my eyes shut and held them that way. I hugged myself tightly and held in my sobs. My anger had ran out. I had no fight left in me. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and vanish.

The splitting headache that I had developed was not helping the situation.

Kendryek moved in to hug me. I stood still, keeping my hands tightly around myself. His skin burned.

He embraced me until I had calmed down. He had as well. There was no longer an aura of fire around him. Bags under his eyes had replaced the embers in them. Now, he was just as tired as I was.

"Tomorrow I am going to take you to The Forest House." His voice was hoarse. "There is something there that you need to see. I shrugged. At this point, it didn't matter to me. I just wanted to crawl in my bed and sleep.

He winnowed me directly to my room. I went straight to my bed and laid down, shutting my eyes. I felt his gaze on me for only a moment. I heard the whisper of a winnow, then he was gone.

Before me sat an old, bedraggled fae. He did not respond when we entered the room, nor when Kendryek introduced me.

This fae faced a handful fo dying embers, his eyes staring far off into the distance. They were my grandfather's eyes, completely devoid of any thought or feeling. His hair was grey and unkempt. His clothes were ragged and dirty. The fae's skin hung on thin bones, just like my grandfather's did when he began to refuse to eat.

There were signs of old damage to the room. Cracks and burn marks in the walls. A broken vase, left untouched for Mother knows how long. I could not imagine this broken, decrepit fae being capable of any display of force, but I knew better. I knew what my grandfather was like when we was in the worst of his sickness.

Before me sat High Lord Folius, the second to last of The Seven. He reminded me so much of my grandfather it was almost too painful to see.

"Lysander did this to him," Kendryek whispered. Before yesterday, I wouldn't have believed him. After yesterday…

I set aside my feelings. I needed to know Lysander's side of this.

"Then why do you keep him in the court?" I quietly asked. I was not looking for an argument - I had had enough of that yesterday - I just wanted to know why.

"He...is useful." I cringed. "In addition, I would rather have him close and somewhat under my control than not."

Folius turned his head towards us, watched us for a moment, blinked, then turned his eyes back to the embers. A log floated up from a pile and gently came to rest in the center of the pile.

"Hello father," Kendryek said with a forced brightness. He walked closer to Folius and gave him an awkward hug. "This is-"

"Allyn." Folius cut him off. His voice was barely a whisper.

"Yes," Kendryek replied.

"Hello Lord Folius," I said quietly, not exactly knowing what to do.

"How are you doing, father? Have you been enjoying your gifts?" Kendryek asked him.

"Kendryek Vanserra," Folius started. A fae's last name was rarely invoked. I figured a scolding was on its way and let my eyes drift towards the paintings on the walls. All of them were covered in thick layers of dust, but it was still possible to see what they portrayed.

Each and every one was a portrait of High Lord Folius at some point in his life. They started with a young, powerful, and serious-looking High Fae glaring out from the illustration. The date at the bottom was from not long before the Great War. In the next, he was a bit older and a lot more tired. This time he smiled radiantly, but if one looked close enough they could tell it was forced. The following paintings were much different than the ones before them; they contained his sons.

"Yes father?" Kendryek asked.

In the first family portrait, there was only one son: Aurelius. He was a young boy at the time of the painting's creation. He and his father were both happy and energetic. The tiredness had left Folius' eyes and was replaced with hope, a hope that the painter had captured beautifully. This hope filled the entire painting and spilled out of the frame.

"Quercus is dead, isn't he?" Kendryek nodded. Folius sighed. "How did he die?"

This happy appearance continued through all of the paintings as more children appeared in them and the fae aged. The first one to include Kendryek had him a baby (and a very cute baby at that). The existence of Kendryek was not the only thing that had changed. Folius was no longer looking out at the viewer, but at the tiny baby in his arms. In addition, Aurelius had changed. He stood further away from the others, he had that serious look that Folius once had, and the hilt of a weapon could be seen at his waist.

Only Kendryek and Folius were in the following two paintings. In the last, things had drastically changed. At a glance I did not notice, but when I inspected it further I saw the hint of madness in Folius' eyes and a fresh scar on Kendryek's face, one that had since faded. Kendryek no longer stood behind a seated Folius. Now, he sat in a separate, smaller throne a few feet away. I recognized it as the one in the mansion. The hope was gone now, only a solemn determination remained.

"There was a fight, on your birthday," Kendryek replied. Folius shook his head, raising his voice and snapping,

"I did not ask why he died, I asked how. Who did it? How was his life snuffed out?" Kendryek stayed silent. Folius stood and scowled at Kendryek. "Who did it?" he repeated. Kendryek bowed his head.

"I did…" he murmured, ashamed. My stomach twisted. Folius stared at Kendryek, his eyes boring holes into Kendryek's head. Folius nodded and walked closer to his son. It was impossible to determine what Folius was feeling or thinking through the fog of madness in his eyes.

"You are at war with the Spring Court," Folius said matter of factly, as though it was a description of the weather. Kendryek nodded.

"We are." Folius shook his head.

"No. You are," he pointed a shaky finger at Kendryek. Kendryek shook his head. Folius grunted angrily. "You blame Lysander for starting it." Kendryek's face flickered, but he said nothing. He glanced at me before a red-tinted ward split the room in half. All of the sounds coming from that side of the room became muffled. I could no longer hear what they were saying.

I watched Folius' mouth move, then Kendryek's. Folius straightened up, gaining a few inches in height and got closer to his son. This time, Kendryek did not lower his head. He stood his ground and faced his father.

Words were exchanged and Folius loosened his stance, then collapsed. The ward fell with him.

Kendryek did not hesitate. He lunged forward and caught Folius, preventing him from hitting his head on the ground. He gently lowered him to the floor before dashing out into the hallway and calling for help.

I ran to Folius' side - I had seen this happen tens of times before, I knew what was coming. I grabbed a folded blanket from a chair, rolled Folius on his side, and placed the blanket beneath his head. I then pushed a handful of haphazardly strewn objects away from the area, and waited.

It took the healers only a moment to respond. When they entered the room, I backed away to give them space. Kendryek came over to me and placed a hand on my waist as I watched.

"Thank you for responding so quickly," he whispered to me. I shrugged.

"It's instinct," I said.

"That doesn't make it any less impressive," he replied. I shrugged again. He gently rested his arm on my shoulder and led me out of the room. "I trust the healers to take care of him," he murmured.

I followed him, not really in the mood to speak, nor in the mood to be a burden and request to go back to the mansion.

"I did kill Quercus," he said, completely unprompted. "I killed him because he was speaking blasphemy about my father. He made a few threatening statements, and, when he stood from the table, a fight began." He took a deep breath. "You, my father, and my other two brothers are the only ones who know. I trust you will keep it that way." I would.

He walked me to the throne room, where fae from around the court used to come to consult Folius. The room was magnificent. It arched high into the sky, pointed arches and ribbed vaulting lifted the ceiling to a height beyond what I thought was possible. Multicolored light, filtered through thousands of panes of stained glass, filled the room.

A throne - the one I saw in the paintings - sat in the center of this room. There was no dust that dulled the gold and yet it still seemed subdued. I supposed that it had been left untouched for some time.

Kendryek stared at it, a hint of fear in his eyes. His father wanted it to be his throne, but he was not ready yet. Anyone could have told you that.

Kendryek half pulled me through the room and to the other side, through a small doorway, and up a staircase. Somehow we went from ascending the staircase to descending deep into the stone.

The staircase went on seemingly forever, the air growing colder and colder and the faelight fading the deeper we went. I started to feel my chest tighten and my heartbeat pick up - not from the physical strain, but from the weight of the stone around me and the closeness of the walls.

This feeling grew and grew until I nearly ripped myself away from Kendryek and ran back the real world, but thankfully, we reached a door before I lost my wits.

A smokeless fire burned in the center of the room, though "burned" was a bit of an exaggeration. "Smoldered aggressively" might have been a better descriptor, as the flame only showed itself every few seconds.

"Here is the safest place in all of the Autumn Court and possibly Prythian itself," Kendryek explained to me, gesturing around him. "No one knows where this room is, only how to get to it. No one can winnow inside and only those allowed entry by a Vanserra." The room was simple and carved out of the bedrock. The walls were bare, the room devoid of any furnishings barring a table in the far corner and the firepit in the center of the room. There were only three things on the table. A broken piece of stone that pulsed with power, a wedding ring, and a strange box with holes in each of the faces.

Within this box something could be seen. What that writhing, squirming, throbbing thing was felt wrong, oh so wrong, to look at.

"What is that?" I asked, horrified.

"Lysander's power," Kendryek said, walking over to it and picking it up. He inspected it closely, bringing it near his face. "I would destroy it if I could, but one cannot destroy something that is not of this world, only trap it."

"What do you mean?" I pushed, looking away from Kendryek and towards the wall. There was nothing interesting there, but it was better than the thing in the box.

"Lysander is not a fae. He is something different. He does not experience pain like you or I do - you saw him after yesterday. Any fae, regardless of their power, would have been in shock from his wound, but not him. He will not stop fighting until he wins, which is made worse by his immunity to faebane. In addition, he is capable of controlling others. Not in the way that a daemati can, but more intensely. I have seen him do it before. His spirit dives into an opponent and overpowers it, invading their body, crushing their mind, and taking them for his own.

"Worse still, he can silently nudge those around him to do his bidding, unbeknownst to the person he is nudging. I fear it has happened to me in the past, but I am certain, now that he has been weakened, I am free of such attacks." He paused and set the box down.

"I have my suspicions as to what he is, but I cannot be completely sure. For now all I can do it stay vigilant and I urge you, please do the same," he told me. I made no indication that I had even heard him.

"I have something that I need to tell you." At this point I did not want to tell Kendryek. I would have preferred to have kept this information a secret, but I did not want to risk it. He came closer to me and looked at me with worry.

"What is it, Allyn?"

"I have a gift. Persuasion, as Lysander called it. I can tell people to do this and they will do them," I said shyly. "I have only used it a few times, only one of which was intentional," a mild lie, but one I was okay with making. Kendryek did not show any emotion on his face. "I am working on learning how to control it."

"What times have you used it?" he asked, somewhat demandingly. I understood his fear and complied, for the most part.

"The power first slipped into my voice when, after beating Vivianne in a fight, I convinced Erin to let me go into the forest," I said slowly, watching him intently. He revealed nothing. "Then, in the forest, I used it on the Spring Court guards to get them to leave us alone. I told them to drop their weapons and walk away. They did." His eyes widened slightly. I realized a moment too late that I may have told him too much. Only then did I begin to understand how powerful this magic was, how threatening it was to Kendryek's rule.

"Were these the only times?"

"Yes," I replied without hesitation, despite it being a bold-faced lie. He nodded.

"I want you to practice this power," he told me. "But I want you to swear to me, on the mother, on the keystones, on everything you hold dear to you, that you will not use it on anyone within the Autumn Court."

"I swear," I said, truly believing I was being serious. But, if one listened as closely as possible, they could have detected a faint hum to the words.