"Rhys," she whispered, trying to wake him with a minimum of noise. He groaned and buried his face in her hair. "Rhys!"

"What?" He asked in a muffled voice.

"I think someone's in the house."

That woke him up. In a split second, he was sitting on the bed, unmoving as he listened intently. There was another noise, quieter than the ones that had woken her, and he looked at her.

"Put some clothes on. Quickly, and quietly."

She obeyed and reached for Rhys' t-shirt and her underwear from the floor, putting them on and watching from the corner of her eyes as Rhys put on a pair of sweatpants, and grabbed his gun from the nightstand.

She'd known it was here, but watching Rhys check the chamber for bullets and take off the safety made her heart skip a bit.

He gestured for her to get behind him, and slowly walked towards the door. But he didn't have time to reach it before someone on the other side opened it.

Two men were standing there. One of them, whom Feyre didn't know, had a gun pointed at them. Tamlin was the other, smirking at her in the dim light of the night.


Everyone stayed silent for a moment, a moment that lasted an eternity in Feyre's mind as she took in the two guns raised around the room. Finally, Tamlin talked.

"You almost had me, the other day. I really believed you when you told me you had nothing to do with me getting arrested, or with him disappearing," he nodded towards Rhysand but didn't even look at him. "But then, I thought back on your groceries. You had a lot for just one person. I know what you like to buy for yourself, and some of those things, well… they just didn't make sense." He took a step inside the room, and Rhys angled his gun towards him, but Tamlin ignored him, eyes still fixed on Feyre. "So then I started thinking about this house. So big for just one person, it wouldn't have made sense for you to rent it, especially with how little money you have. So I looked into the owner. 'Rhysand Knight.' Not that common a name, 'Rhysand', you know. So it got me wondering, and that's when I called Hybern.

"He has better PIs than I do, and they made quick work of it all. When he hired you," he finally looked at Rhysand when he said this, "he looked you up through your prison record. All of the info seemed good. But with the house, we had another way into your life. And imagine his surprise when he realized that the man he'd let in on all his business, the man he had trusted for two years… was a pig." She took a deep breath, but he wasn't done. He turned back to Feyre. "You know, I could have forgiven you for leaving me. Even if you'd talked to the police about Sandy, I'd have understood. I know how weak you can be, Doll. But when Hybern found out about him, oh, you don't want to know how angry he was. It was all I could do to make him agree not to kill you both right away."

She let out a small sigh of relief, but noticed Rhysand hadn't moved.

"What do you want, Tamlin?"

"Smart man," Tamlin smiled. "I want you to destroy the case against Hybern. And I want you to have the charges against Hart and me dropped. Destroy evidence, discredit yourself, I don't care how you do it. Just get it done."

"That's not gonna happen. I'm not dirty."

Tamlin chuckled. "I thought you might say that. But see, it's not like I'm giving you a choice. Do it, or she dies."

A long silence followed his words. Feyre couldn't take her eyes away from him, this man she'd once thought to be the love of her life, now directly threatening her.

"You wouldn't," she whispered, unwilling to believe it. Tamlin looked back at her, his expression angrier than she'd ever seen it.

"Oh, I would. You betrayed me, in every way imaginable. Not only did you leave me, you turned me in? And then you let yourself get fucked by the pig working against me?!"

"You say another word and I shoot you on the spot." Rhys said in a voice that seemed calm, but Feyre could hear the anger and fear hiding in it.

"Feel free to try. Aside from Mark here, I have two other men waiting for me in the corridor, eager to take you down. Old colleagues of yours, who don't appreciate being taken for fools by the likes of you. They're holding off right now because Hybern asked them to, but I wouldn't try anything rash if I were you."

Feyre could feel the panic take over, her eyes filling with tears of fear and her breathing shallow. But Tamlin didn't seem aware of that, his eyes turned to Rhys.

"Don't try anything rash, and don't think you can get out of this. You screwed me over, you stole my future wife, and you tried to ruin my business. I'm giving you a respite. Take it."

He turned, his back to them, as if daring Rhys to shoot him.

"Don't try to get the people in your department involved, you might be surprised how well information travels when you have good sources. We'll know before they have a chance to do anything, and you'll be dead before you know it. We'll be waiting. You have three days."

And with that, he was gone.


"How did he get past the agents?"

They were sitting on the bed together, twenty minutes after Tamlin had left, and Rhys had just finished his tour of the house to make sure they were alone. Feyre had waited for him with more anguish in her heart than she'd thought possible, listening for every sound in fear that Rhys wouldn't appear again.

"I don't know," Rhys answered. "If what he said is true, they might have let them pass."

"What are we gonna do?" She could hear the shakiness in her voice and hated it.

"I'm not letting anything happen to you, Feyre."

"Then what? You can't sabotage your own case, Rhys, you can't!"

He was quiet for a long minute, looking her in the eyes as they held hands. She had the feeling he might be considering it, as he looked at her with fear and with love in his eyes. Finally, he sighed.

"I know. Of course I'm not gonna do it."

"Then we need to find a way out of this." She felt like an idiot, but she didn't have anything better to say. She was so shaken by what had just happened that she couldn't think ahead much.

"I need to talk to Amren."

"You want to call her? What about what Tamlin said about not involving the police or he'd know?"

"Even if they do have someone on the inside, Amren is not 'the police.' I trust her."

A minute later, Amren's face was on the screen, obviously cranky at having been woken up.

"I assume you're not calling me at one in the morning to chat about the weather." It wasn't a question.

"Tamlin Atwell was just at our home, with three of Hybern's men. I'm wondering how they got past your supposed security detail."

On the screen, Feyre saw Amren turn on a light beside her and push her short hair away from her face. It was strange seeing her out of her immaculate hairdo and luxurious jewelry, and yet she still exuded power.

"You asked me for discreet surveillance, Rhys. That means only two agents at a time, with reduced shift changes."

"Are you justifying them letting this slide?"

"I'm not. I'm explaining to you what might have happened. I'm gonna call them as soon as we're done and have a long chat about whether or not the police force is the right career path for them. What did they want from you?"

Straight to the point.

"They want me to sabotage the case against Hybern and his company. He threatened to kill Feyre if I didn't comply." Amren glanced at Feyre, who felt herself tense up a little, then back at Rhys, raising her eyebrow. "I'm not gonna do it, Amren."

"One could argue he used the right incentive."

"Do you think I would call you if I was planning on destroying evidence and tanking our case?"

She smirked.

"You've surprised me in the past. I'll find you two a safe house."

"No. We can't go through the normal channels. He'd know, Amren. He implied they had a mole in the force, someone high enough to know if the department got involved."

"That's impossible."

"Are you so sure that you're willing to risk our lives on it?"

Amren was silent for a minute, a silence that meant she was thinking, not to be disturbed. Trying to calm her anxiety, Feyre squeezed Rhys' hand, hard.

Finally, Amren spoke.

"Then there's only one solution. WITSEC."

Feyre frowned, but Rhys seemed to know what she was talking about. He looked resigned, as if he'd expected what she was going to say.

"There has to be another way, Amren."

"I can't think of one, and I think of everything."

"What's WITSEC?"

Rhys looked at her.

"The witness protection program. It's run by the marshals, not the police force, so the mole wouldn't know about it, hopefully."

"Doesn't that mean we'd disappear forever?" Images of her sisters popped into her head, hugging each other at Nesta's wedding. Immediately after, it was this house, and the quiet evenings spent gazing at the river. And then she thought of Rhys, and how peaceful he was now that he was back in his home, back with his family.

He must have been thinking about it too, because he turned back to Amren, shaking his head slightly.

"I just got back…" there was a silent plea in his voice, and it was breaking her heart.

"I know," Amren's voice was hard, but Feyre could see she felt for him. "And I am sorry, Rhys. But if you're in danger, I can't just do nothing. Going into WITSEC would allow the two of you to be protected while we look for the mole and move ahead with the case. As your commanding officer, you're way too valuable in the case against Hybern for me to let you make this decision." Her voice softened. "But as your friend, it's your decision. And I promise you we'd keep you two together, I'll make sure of it. I'll leave you two some time to think, but we have to be fast about this. Call me back tonight."

The room was quiet after Amren hung up, and Feyre was still trying to process what she'd just heard when Rhys got up and walked out.


She found him on the terrace, leaning against the railing as he looked at the river.

She didn't know if she should go see him, but he glanced at her and smiled slightly, letting her in. She went ahead and leaned on the railing beside him.

The Sidra was quietly running its course in front of them, same as ever. She could hear music coming from a little ways down the river, she could see the lights of Velaris all around her. In the past few hours, their lives had taken a turn she hadn't expected, but the city in front of her had stayed the same, leaving her with a feeling of quiet serenity. Some things wouldn't change, no matter how chaotic the world seemed.

Rhys let out a long breath, and she waited for him to talk, but he never did.

"What do you think about all this?"

He passed his tongue over his lips and closed his eyes.

"I'm not sure. We'd have to leave right away if we want to make it to safety. That means no proper goodbyes. Again."

He'd told her once about going undercover, barely getting to talk to his brothers, or to Mor, before he did. She couldn't imagine how he was feeling right now.

"We could find another way."

"There isn't one. Tamlin may be a small fish, but now that Hybern knows, the power against us is too strong to fight head on. The truth is, I always knew WITSEC was a possible outcome for my mission. Being able to stay in Velaris… it was a dream. But that's all it was."

"We would be together, though, right?" She couldn't imagine never seeing him again, her heart hurting at the mere idea of losing him. He turned to her and smiled.

"They'd have to restrain me to prevent me from going with you."

She laughed, and looked back at the river, silence falling again. Rhys was waiting beside her, waiting for her to be ready to share her thoughts with him.

"I don't know how I feel. About leaving."

She could feel him move beside her, grown so accustomed to his presence that she didn't react when his arms gently circled her waist, and his head came to rest on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and let her head rest back against him, taking in the smell of his shampoo, letting herself be lost in his embrace for a minute. His voice resonated against her skin when he spoke.

"I know it's hard, Darling. Leaving your family, your life here."

She opened her eyes at that.

"That's not really the hard part for me."

"Oh?"

"My family… I'm not even sure I have a family. I don't have friends here, not really. I don't have much. But," she let her fingers caress his arm around her, "I don't want to leave this house." She stayed silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts. Rhys waited quietly, and she was once again grateful for him, for the way he understood her so clearly that he knew she wasn't done talking. "When you first brought me here, I didn't really know how to describe this feeling, but it was already here. This place feels like home. I've never felt at home before. Not really. Not before you."

She felt his embrace tighten around her, and she turned her head to him, their foreheads resting against each other. After a while, Rhys answered.

"I understand. I mean, when we first came here together, I felt… lost. I didn't think I could ever go back to my life before these last two years. I still don't think I can get back to this life anymore. Not after everything. But having you here… you brought me back to life, Feyre. You brought this house back to life. And I don't want to leave that, either."

She gave him a small smile, and let her fingers interlace with his. But he wasn't done talking.

"But maybe…" he seemed to stumble on his words and his eyes were searching hers, full of hope. "Maybe we can build a new home. Together. Because it's not about the house. Not for me, anyway. It's about you, Feyre." It was as if her heart was swelling in her chest, too small for the magnitude of feelings that washed over her like a tidal wave. "I think… I think we could go anywhere in the world, and I'd be happy because I was there with you."

She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to hold him against her and never let go. Instead, she asked:

"What about your family? Your brothers, Morrigan, your friends from work."

"I have to believe we won't have to stay out there forever. I have to believe I'll get to see them again. But…" he gave her a smile, "I'm sure that even if that happens in five, ten or fifteen years, I will be happy with you. I'm in love with you," the words brought tears to her eyes, and she felt ridiculous because it wasn't the first time he had said them. "I want to spend my life with you, and if part of it has to be away from them, well maybe it's a good thing."

"What do you mean?" She asked in a whisper.

"I mean… I'm not the man they knew anymore. I love them, and they will always be part of my family, but…" he swallowed before continuing. "I think I need time to heal, away from them. Time to get to know the new me. And I think I want to do that with you." She gave him a soft smile, and he kissed her lips slowly.

"I want to do that with you, too," she answered against his lips, and she felt his mouth twitch up.

They both looked back at the Sidra for a moment, and then Rhys spoke again, his voice lighter.

"Who knows, maybe we'll be good at hosting garden parties in the suburbs!"

A startled laugh escaped her. "Oh, I can already see you at charade night."

"You're laughing now, Darling, but you won't be when I beat your ass at it."

She laughed again and turned into his embrace to look at him. She locked her arms around his neck and watched his eyes, full of mischief and laughter.

"I love you," she whispered, and his grin turned softer. "And I want to heal with you, too."

They still needed to call Amren to give her their answer. Then, they'd have to gather their things, say quick goodbyes, and leave Velaris. But for now, they were content with sharing a kiss, full of promises for a future where they would be together, where they would build a home together.