Previously on "A Court of Fear and Ice"

Lexi travels to Prythian and meets Feyre and Rhysand. She finds out they have four children: Rian, the heir to the Night Court, twins Cerys and Ciaran, and Meleri - who is responsible for bringing her to their world. Sadly, things between Lexi and Rian aren't going well, though she finds him super attractive...

Chapter 12

"What have you done, arsehole?" I exclaimed, frantically looking at my hands, forearms and arms in search of a hideous tattoo. "Tell me!"

"I suppose it runs in the family," Ciaran observed, shaking his head and laughing under his breath.

Rian slang his arm across the back of Cerys's chair and said, "Don't worry. The tattoo is not that visible."

I stopped gazing at my hands. "So you did put a tattoo on me."

"I did. Check your beating heart, honey."

Frowning, I lifted slightly my top and there it was – a short black writing in a language I didn't recognise, proudly presenting itself above my left breast. Above my beating heart. My pulse immediately started to race so fast that I was afraid I would get a freaking heart attack.

I looked at Rian with a murderous look in my eyes and asked through my gritted teeth, "What. Is. This?"

"Let me see." Cerys smiled happily and approached me. Having reluctantly showed her the tattoo, she laughed. "Mother save us. You've put your own name on her heart? Rian! That's insane." Cerys burst out laughing.

"He did what?" I gasped.

Wiping tears from her eyes, Cerys answered, "He put his name on you. Oh, girl. It will finally cause a sensation in our court." She sat on her chair again.

Rian shrugged. "No, not a sensation. I just wanted to see if I were able to give her a Night Court tattoo since I couldn't read her mind. And I did it."

"Yeah, you did. So now blank it out, m–" I said, suddenly unable to pronounce the word 'mate.' I tried once again but to no avail. "M–"

"See? It's working." Rian giggled. "Be grateful, lovely Alexandra, it's not a lower-back tattoo with my nude picture." Rian moved his eyebrows up and down several times.

I wasn't grateful at all. I was furious at that handsome muppet for tricking me and doing something without my permission. Again.

I glanced at the tattoo. "Bloody hell."

Rhysand was serious when he said, "Rian, remove it."

"No, Father, I won't." He flashed him a feisty look. "This was the only way I could have stopped her from calling me 'mate.' Call it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She'll never say that word again."

"Son, please. Remove the tattoo," Feyre said, seeming very worried. "She didn't know what she was doing–"

Rian's face tensed as he said a quiet, "No."

After that, he disappeared.

Feyre covered her eyes with a hand and murmured, "I don't know what's going on with him. This is not the Rian we raised."

"Oh, but it is." Ciaran drank his wine. "And I know exactly why he's behaving like that."

"Do shed light, brother" Cerys said, turning her head towards him. "Don't keep it all to yourself." But Ciaran just smiled mysteriously and said nothing.

Rhysand shook his head and then flashed me a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Alexandra, but I can't remove it. Rian must do it himself. Willingly."

Lowering my head, I sighed. "I understand."

"We'll talk with him tomorrow," Feyre said. "Sometimes you have to sleep through your bad feelings and everything seems better the next day." Smiling, she added, "So don't worry. He'll come around in the morning and eventually remove the tattoo."

"I hope so."

"You're lucky it's not a promise that you can't follow through on," Meleri said with seriousness and I fixed my eyes on her. I'd almost forgotten she was sitting next to me. "I thought you'd be wiser and wouldn't take the bait. But you nosedived into that promise faster than an arrow released from a bow." She lowered her eyes and went on, "After all, Rian is our father's son and was taught everything Father knows. Including lying, making bargains and tricking others into sly promises." My little kidnapper looked at me. "I'm really sorry it had to be you, Lexi," she added sympathetically.

"Yeah," I whispered, still feeling the tattoo on my skin. "Me too."

Angry, embarrassed and shocked, I knew I had to treat it as one in the eye for me. As Meleri said, I took the bait and let him get to me, without even thinking about the consequences. I forgot I wasn't home anymore, where people made and broke promises just like that; now, I was in a weird land where every word and every promise were of value and absolutely anyone could make use of them. To their own advantage, of course.

I had to promise myself one thing – to never do that mistake again. I had to be more careful around Rian and stop irritating him on purpose. Though he was the son of Feyre and Rhysand – so the two people who were described as righteous and goodhearted – he was a one-hundred-year-old fairy brought up to stand up to the whole fairy world and rule an enormous court one day. He was raised to be the next High Lord.

Sipping my wine and gaping at the mountains in front of me, it occurred to me that I had to somehow win him over to have the tattoo removed. That I had to apologise to him for calling him 'mate,' which was in itself just ridiculous.

"Any news about the whereabouts of Bryaxis?" Rhysand asked, making me come back to earth. Well, to Prythian.

"No, we're still searching for it." Ciaran was playing with his food. "We thought me had something tonight but it was a wild goose chase."

"The information was provided by our dear silver-haired Eirwen," Cerys ground out and glared at him.

Eirwen?, I thought. I've already heard that name. Oh, yeah. She's Rian's bride-to-be.

Ciaran snorted. "It wasn't her fault we came upon a pack of the naga."

"Do I want to know how you defeated them?" Rhysand asked his two children.

"No, not really," Cerys shook her head. "It was just bloody… bloody difficult."

"But here we are." Ciaran smiled. "Safe and sound. As always."

"Stop pulling faces, Rhys," Feyre said and giggled. "We were the same in the past. Or even worse than our children." She appeared next to Rhysand and caressed his cheek. "Remember how you sent me to steal the ring form the Weaver?" she whispered. "Or how we attempted to destroy the Cauldron in Hybern? The prison? The cabin? Remember?" She got closer to him as if to kiss him.

But then I chimed in, ruining their moment, "Or when you found the book in the Summer Court with Amren in the underwater building and those aquatic things came to rescue you."

Feyre stopped halfway and opened her mouth, staring at me with disbelief in her eyes. Rhysand didn't seem surprised but gave me a curious look. I didn't look at the others as I was sure they were looking at me with huge surprise.

"I think I've said too much, haven't I?" I asked quietly, biting my lip and feeling my cheeks turning red.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder what else you know about us." Rhysand regarded me. "Or I should say… what else was in those stories."

"You'll be surprised, m–" Dammit. I exhaled slowly. "Bloke. Hope it's not an offensive word here."

Cerys smiled. "No, we simply don't have such a word."

"Wicked."

"You're stranger than I thought," Ciaran said and lifted his brows. "Way stranger."

"Thank you. That's very sweet of you." I flashed him an innocent smile.

He toasted me. "The pleasure is all mine."

The rest of the meal passed in silence as everyone seemed to be deep in thought. Except me. I was so exhausted that all I wanted to do was return to Meleri's bedroom and get into the bed. But I wasn't sure if there was one prepared for me. Well, to be honest, I wouldn't mind sleeping on the floor though.

"Melly," I said, "do you mind going back to your bedroom?"

"Are you tired?" she asked. When I nodded, she added, "Well, so am I. Let's go to my bedroom." She stood up and smiled broadly. "Thank you all for dinner. We're going to bed."

"Yeah, thanks." I got up and glanced at Rhysand. "Hopefully, tomorrow will be slightly better than tonight."

He gave me a reassuring smile. "I know it bothers you, Alexandra, but Rian will remove the tattoo. I'm sure of it."

"Wish I was so certain," I murmured and fixed my eyes on Feyre and Meleri.

The Lady of the Night Court was approached by my little kidnapper who hugged her mum and whispered something in her ear. Feyre smiled and pressed a kiss on her daughter's forehead, saying quietly, "Sleep well, my sweet baby."

Then, Meleri turned to Rhysand who kissed her forehead as well and caressed her cheek, smiling. He didn't say anything but I was sure they were talking in their minds.

"Goodnight," Meleri said and started walking towards the stairs. "Are you coming, Lexi?"

"Yeah. Goodnight and thank you." I flashed everyone a smile and left the hall with my little kidnapper.

###

When I woke up in the morning, I had no idea where I was. I knew I was lying in a very comfortable bed that smelt like jasmine and was absolutely enormous, yet it wasn't mine. I knew I was in a bright and spacious room with big windows, yet it wasn't mine as well. I also knew there was someone sleeping in the bed next to me, yet it wasn't anyone from my family. I needed a couple of second to remind myself that I travelled through a portal to a magical world and spent a whole night in it.

Surprisingly, I didn't sleep well. Tossing and turning throughout the night, I had weird dreams full of black tattoos, dark-haired men and beams of light. Now, lying on my back and watching the ceiling of Meleri's bedroom, I hoped Rian wasn't involved in creating my dreams. Hell, I really hoped he didn't star in any of them because that would be simply creepy.

Some time later, fresh and sweet, together with Meleri, we walked into the hall when rays of the morning sun were slowly illuminating the room. The stars were gone but everything else was as breathtaking as I remembered from the other night.

Cerys and Feyre had been already in the hall, eating fruit and quietly talking. They were wearing similar beige clothes, sleeveless tops and baggy harem trousers like me, and their hair was braided. When Meleri's sister noticed me, she waved at me with a grin on her face. "Good morning," she cheered, motioning to the chair next to her. "This time, you'll sit by my side."

"Hello." I flashed her a smile. "Thanks." Approaching her, I realised there was no sign of the handsome muppet. "Where's Rian?" I asked, sitting next to Cerys and pouring myself a glass of orange juice.

"He's gone," Feyre said, not even glancing at me. "But he'll be back soon."

Meleri seemed surprised when she asked, "He's gone so early?"

"He said that he had a matter of great urgency to attend to." Cerys rolled her eyes. "But if you asked me, he wanted to simply avoid Father."

I frowned, putting some pancakes on my plate. "Is that even possible?"

"You'd be surprised, girl." Cerys laughed and threw a blueberry at Meleri who opened her mouth and caught it. "Even that young one tried to get away from him and succeeded. The High Lord of the Night Court isn't as powerful as you may think, Lexi."

Feyre grunted, giving her a stern look.

"When it comes to his children, of course" Cerys added.

"I see." Busying myself with eating, I tried to hide my smile.

"Ready for the tour around the house?" Feyre asked and I nodded. "Meleri kept talking about it the moment you opened your eyes this morning."

"You knew when I opened my eyes?" I asked my little kidnapper, feeling a little scared. Good God, they are all creepy, I thought.

"Of course. I know everything," she said quietly. "Though I'm the smallest of us all."

"And the sweetest." Cerys blew a kiss at her. "Oh, she's growing so fast. Can you imagine she was so small when I held her for the first time?" She cupped her hands, demonstrating the size. "And now she's a beautiful grown-up female ready to find her mate."

Mate. I frowned. Since last night, I'd started to hate that word.

"When you'll have your own children, sweetie, you will experience it many times," Feyre said. "Especially with your eldest ones."

Her face grew serious as dark shadows started to form on the chair next to her. After a while, a dark-haired man was sitting there with his ankle crossed over a knee and leaning back in his chair. To my surprise, Rian was wearing a grey shirt and black trousers today, and his hair was a bit wet. "Good morning, everyone," he said cheerfully. "How's your breakfast?"

"It was delicious before you came here." Cerys flashed him a fake smile. "Did you sleep well, brother?"

Rian poured himself tea. "Well, yes. My bed was very soft and smelt really good."

Cerys made a wry face. "You're disgusting."

"Thank you, love. That's very sweet of you." He put sugar into his cup and waved his hand, making the liquid to stir. I watched him with fascination. I didn't know they were able to do such things. "So how's my favourite human girl?" Rian asked and our eyes met.

Smiling, I said, "Ready to get rid of her tattoo."

He laughed quietly. "Oh, no, not yet, honey."

"Then when?" I twisted my mouth.

"Soon."

Feyre studied him. "But Rhys was supposed to talk with you about the tattoo."

"Ah, then you sent our father to–"

I chuckled.

"What's so funny?" he asked with a serious face.

"Sorry. There's a prayer in my world that starts with these words."

"So you're praying to our father?" Cerys asked with surprise in her voice.

I frowned. "No. We've got a more powerful one on Earth. Well, in fact, He's not present on Earth, but leave it that way."

Cerys and Rian exchanged looks.

"Yesterday, you started telling us about your world," Feyre said. "But then we got distracted. Do continue. I'd like to hear more about it."

"I'm all ears, your highness," Rian whispered, keeping his eyes on me and flashing me a cocky smile.

Blushing, I came to realise those were the exact words I said to him in Rhysand's office. "Well," I started, staring at my last pancake, "there isn't any magic, as you know, and we have sophisticated technology, starting with electric devices, the Internet, cars, and ending with planes and space rockets." I looked at them.

"Doesn't ring any bells," Rian said, frowning and putting toasts on his plate. "What are space rockets anyway?"

"These are… big machines that can take you up there." I pointed at the sky. "You can see the whole world from above. And the stars."

Cerys clapped her hands in delight. "Oh, I like it. We should build a rocket ourselves."

"It's not that simple." I smiled. "I think you would need an engine to move it from earth. And some fuel."

"No worries," Rian said and winked at me. He winked at me?! "We'll make it. You just have to draw us a rocket and we'll do the rest."

I opened my mouth ready to say something rude to him, when suddenly I came up with an idea. A sly smile started to spread across my face. "In exchange for removing the tattoo."

Trying to hide his smile, Rian put his toast aside and leant back in his chair. Then, giving me a long stare, he said, "You're learning, honey. I'm impressed. Yet," he went back to eating his toast, "I will not remove the tattoo, lovely Alexandra. At least not yet. I hope it will teach you a lesson."

"You can't be serious, m–" I fumed, slamming my fist on the table. All glasses, plates and silverware clattered but I didn't give a damn. All I could see was Rian and his handsome smiling face. "I'm not going to parade around with your name above my breast like I'm your possession. I've been through this with another guy and I regret every freaking moment of it." My eyes started to sting at the memory of Henry but I blinked a couple of times. "I'm no one's possession, remember that," I whispered and stood up.

Avoiding eye contact, I started to walk towards the stairs. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to lie down on the bed and cry my heart out. I desperately wanted to forget about the whole world. About my past. About last New Year's Eve. But I couldn't. My thoughts were so focused on it that I wasn't able to think straight. Everything went back to me and was torturing me once again.

A single tear ran down my cheek but I wiped it out. As much as I wanted to, I just couldn't cry in front of them – in front of Rian. I knew it was a bad idea to show them I was weak and hurt as they could take advantage of it later. Last evening, Rian showed me that everything mattered here and could be used against you. I was a quick learner. I wasn't going to make the same mistake again.