Chapter 6

Staring at him with disbelief, I went on, "You are Rhysand. High Lord of the Night Court."

The older version of the cutie smiled and purred, "Ah, you seem to know my name. That's wonderful. But it's not what I was waiting for, love."

How could it even have happened? He was a character from a book, not a real person. He was supposed to be just a figment of imagination, not a man made of flesh and blood who was standing in front of me and keeping his eyes on me. He was… He was there. Dark, beautiful, mysterious, and alive. And I was having a conversation with him.

"Are you even real?" I asked, still doubting everything I saw.

Rhysand smiled to me but said nothing.

"I'm sorry but I wasn't expecting this." Putting emphasis on the last word, I looked around and met the blonde woman's gaze. Feyre, I thought. She's beautiful. "I didn't know that you actually existed."

Because you don't. You cannot be real. It's impossible, I thought, shifting my eyes to those who were standing behind Rhysand, and taking in their strangely beautiful faces. I saw both men and women, young and relatively older ones, and fair, red and dark-haired people. There was even a little girl who was watching me intently from the back of the group.

I knew I was dreaming. I knew book characters couldn't be alive neither talk with people. I knew it had to be a hallucination I got from the ash tree. There was no other explanation for seeing them, for seeing sexy Rhysand and guys with dark wings. But would a hallucination seem so realistic?

"Well, now you know that we exist," Rhysand said. "And we don't mind guests, even those uninvited."

"Yeah, sorry for such a surprising visit but I wasn't planning it. I swear," I assured him, hoping to sound genuine. "I have no idea how I got here. So if you were so kind and sent me back home, I would be super grateful." I smiled.

Rhysand snorted and slid his hands into his pockets. "So the girl without a name wants me to send her back."

I nodded. "Exactly."

"I can't do such a thing."

Suddenly horrified at the thought of staying forever in a made-up world, I asked, "What do you mean you can't? You brought me to Prythian so you must bring me back."

"First and foremost, I did not bring you to Prythian," he said. "I don't know how and why you ended up here, but I wasn't the one who brought you to our court. Maybe you did it on your own."

"I didn't. I don't even have magic." Looking helplessly at him, I tried to comprehend the whole situation but nothing was adding up. I knew I woke up in the middle of night and saw some light in the garden. Following it, I approached our ash tree and later on was magically transported to another place. Well, it did happen in films, but there was one thing I couldn't figure out. How was it possible to be in a made-up land that existed in a book series and talk with one of the characters? The answer was simple. It wasn't. So what the hell was I doing there?!

"Then who did it?" Rhysand regarded me carefully.

"I did, Father." The little blonde-hair girl walked up to him and caught his hand, making him look down at her. "I brought this girl to our court," she said sweetly and gazed at me.

A bit perplexed, I observed her. I had no idea there were more children. I knew the two of them were supposed to have a dark-haired son who was leaning against the table but there was nothing else about others. So was she their second child? Well, who knew?

The fair-haired girl whom I had previously seen at the back of the group had a round beautiful face with a small nose and full mouth. She didn't look like Rhysand so I figured that the little one was more alike her mother. Her hair was long and left loose, giving the impression of being made of pure gold. Giving the circumstances, I wouldn't be surprised if that was true.

"I'm more like a woman than a girl but okay. I'm cool with that," I heard myself saying.

The girl beamed but when she looked at Rhysand, her smile faded. It seemed to me they were reading each other's thoughts because after a while Rhysand nodded and the girl fixed her gaze on me once again.

Suddenly, she disappeared and a second later was standing right in front of me. Taken aback, I moved back towards the wall behind me and gasped. What the hell?! They are really able to do such things?, I thought, peering at her with amazement.

Flashing me an apologetic smile, the girl extended her little hand and said, "Hello. My name is Meleri. What's your name?"

I shot a quick look at her hand but eventually took it, squeezing my cold fingers around hers. I didn't know they were that cold. But on the other hand, I was standing there dressed in my favourite skimpy pyjamas, so…

"Hello. I'm Alexandra," I replied, surprised at the familiarity I felt towards her. As if we'd met before and were friends since then. But that was not possible. I had never seen her in my life. "But call me Lexi."

Meleri beamed again and her unusual violet eyes fixed on my wrist. "That's strange. I can't read your thoughts," she blurted and blushed, letting go of my hand.

"Excuse me?" I muttered.

Shooting me a frightened look, she stuttered, "I–"

Shocked and angry at her confession, I glared at her and seethed, "You tried to read my thoughts?" Meleri moved back but I didn't pay attention to that. Instead, I raised my eyes and looked around. "You all tried, didn't you?" I snorted. "Unbelievable."

Meleri did sound genuinely sorry when she said, "I apologise for that. I just tried to–"

"Enough of that," a female voice with a British accent commanded. Turning my head towards the rest of the people, I saw that the blonde-haired woman standing next to Rhysand approached us slightly and was glaring at both of us. So I was right. She was Feyre and Meleri was their younger one.

The High Lady of the Night Court was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Fair-haired and blue-eyed, she had sharp cheekbones and a soft mouth, yet her face was now serious. She was eyeing me suspiciously, just like before, but this time I noticed something else. As a mother, she was also worried about Meleri standing next to me – a strange girl who suddenly appeared at their court – but I couldn't blame her. Every mother would do the same. Mine as well.

"Meleri, send her back," Feyre said, addressing the little girl.

"I can't."

"Sweetheart, you have to do this." Keeping her gaze fixed on Meleri, Feyre took a step closer. "She doesn't belong here. And you know that."

"I do. But, Mother, I swear," Meleri said. "I don't know how to send her back."

Feyre's voice was calm but stern. "The same way you brought her to us."

"It's not… It's not that simple. I made a bargain with–"

"What have you done?" Rhysand demanded.

Now, I saw that Meleri was really scared. To be honest, I was too when I looked at him. Though his beautiful face was an oasis of calm, showing only serenity and self-control, his whole body was surrounded by dark shadows which were moving and swirling angrily around him. It seemed that Rhysand was about to explode, yet he wasn't sure if he should do this in front of his own daughter. Well, as for me, I preferred him not to.

"I made a bargain with Bryaxis, Father," Meleri whispered, avoiding his eyes. "To summon a female worthy my brother. Bryaxis called her 'the girl beyond the stars'. And Lexi has two tattoos on her wrists. I saw them. Three stars on each wrist. Three stars," she repeated. "Three."

Worthy her brother? What was he now? A damn Mjölnir?, I thought and opened my mouth, but they didn't let me speak.

"It doesn't mean anything," Feyre cut in, evidently annoyed. "It's just a tattoo. Anyone can have one. I have several. So does your father."

"Three stars on each wrist, Mother," Meleri repeated in a strangled voice and looked at my hand. "Rian has the same ones. Three on each wrist." She glanced at me. "It has to mean something." The girl turned around to face them and added loudly, "I just couldn't let him marry that female because of a duty. I couldn't let him marry without love. You have to understand."

But I didn't understand. Looking back and forth between Meleri and Feyre, I was trying to comprehend everything that was going on but, sadly, it was quite difficult. For starters, I couldn't get it why neither Rhysand nor Feyre was aware that their youngest child made a bargain with a shadowy being. And that it promised to bring a living creature to Prythian who turned out to be a person out of space. Well, literally.

Then, there was also the guy I was supposedly brought for. I knew they called him Ryan but I had never heard of or found him in the books. Maybe, I thought, glancing at the dark-haired cutie who was still folding his muscular arms across his chest and observing the group behind Rhysand, it was Rhys Jr. The younger and hotter version of the guy I once considered the sexiest of them all.

"So," I said aloud, drawing everyone's attention, "let me make this clear. The only reason I was brought to Prythian was because something called Bryaxis decided that a guy named Ryan needed a girl from the stars. Is that correct?" I asked with a smile that didn't reach my eyes and looked at Meleri.

But it wasn't her who answered my question. A male husky voice which was so sensual that made me, a twenty-three-year-old girl, shiver and feel turned on like hell said, "That's correct."

Pronunciation guide

Meleri = [me - le - ree] (meaning: connected with "my" and "greatly bitter")

Rian = [ree - yan] (meaning: king)