"I can't believe it's raining."

Elain's disappointment was justified. Lucien and her had scheduled a whole day of activities for their guests. Outdoor activities. And during the night, an enormous storm had risen all around them, rendering impossible any of the things they'd organized. So now, all fifty early guests were confined to the reception room, forced to take their breakfast inside instead of by the pool, as planned.

Again wearing Rhysand's hoodie from the night before, Feyre gave her sister a sad smile over her mug of coffee. For all that the day seemed lost, she couldn't seem to see her morale go down this morning. She'd fallen asleep holding him, the scent of citrus that emanated from his body mixing deliciously with the fragrance coming from the ocean and had woken up with one of his arms draped around her waist, and his head buried in her hair. Now, they were sitting side by side across the table from the future married couple, and she could feel his knee brush against hers when he moved. It made her chest fluster every time.

"Did you have a backup plan in case it rained?" Feyre asked, seeing that her sister was waiting for an answer.

"Not really, no… I mean, it's the middle of summer. I have to take care of some urgent matters regarding the wedding, but not much for everybody else to do."

"We could help you with your things if you want, Elain," Rhys said from beside her, and her sister grinned at him.

"Thank you so much, you're really sweet! Actually, it's more bridesmaids stuff I have to go over with Nesta and Feyre, but maybe Lucien will need your help with something?" she said with a nudge to him. Before he could answer, Tamlin and Ianthe entered the room. Immediately, as if out of instinct, Rhys leaned back and laid his arm on the back of her chair, his hand resting on her shoulder. Tamlin tensed at the gesture, and as they sat down at the table, Feyre imagined what Rhys and her looked like to him. The day before, they had been dressed with more formal clothes, and even with the kiss they'd shared, the setting was still very different. This morning was much more intimate. Her hair undone, without makeup on and wearing what was clearly his clothes, they probably looked much more like a couple than before. Feyre found that she liked that idea, somehow. She rested her hand on Rhysand's leg and asked him if he wanted more coffee. He nodded and she leaned on the table to grab the pot of coffee and fill in his mug. He thanked her with a peck on the cheek, and she didn't fake the blush that creeped onto her face.

All the while, Tamlin was watching them, apparently oblivious to Ianthe's attempts to get his attention. But Feyre didn't really care. She kept talking to Elain with her hand on his leg, tracing lazy circles on his thigh without realizing what she was doing.

Rhys thought back about his coffee with Feyre on Monday. He'd thought it was the most awkward situation ever. He'd been wrong. This was the most awkward situation he'd ever found himself in. Leaving breakfast for Lucien's suite to play a game of cards and drink with his close friends and family had been fine at first, but now he found himself listening to one of Lucien's brother, Eris, a despicable man to say the least, talking loudly about the woman he brought with him in all but respectful terms. And then he called out to Tamlin.

"How about you, Tam? Brought your girl, did you? The foxy one from the Christmas party?"

Tamlin shifted in his seat and muttered a "no" under his breath, and Eris laughed.

"Oh yeah, I heard all about some blond babe business at a work party or something," he said with a nudge to Lucien, who seemed extremely uncomfortable. "Good riddance, that one was always a bit stiff. You didn't come alone though, did you?"

"No," Tamlin answered, "I didn't."

"Good man, moving on from her. Hey, a man has needs, if she wasn't ready to accept that, you did good dumping her."

"Actually he's the one who got dumped," Rhys interrupted, with a smirk to Tamlin, hoping his anger wasn't showing. "Yeah, Feyre found out about him cheating and she left him. But not before he begged and pleaded, if I recall the details correctly."

Tamlin clenched his jaws, but Rhys kept smiling at him, and Eris turned to him:

"And how do you know so many things about her?"

"I'm her boyfriend."

He laughed. "She came with a boyfriend?! Oh that must be driving you crazy, Tam!" Tamlin mumbled under his breath, and Eris barked a laugh. "It does! Hey but I get that, she's a hot piece of ass, and -"

"Don't talk about her that way," Rhys interrupted.

"Oh come on, man, don't be so uptight. I'm just stating a fact."

"By talking about her like she's an object?"

Eris rolled his eyes and went back to sipping his drink and talking to Lucien about work. But Tamlin wasn't done. He leaned closer to Rhys and said:

"You don't know her very well if you think she would like some guy defending her as if she was just a prize to fight over."

Rhys took a second to calm his nerves, and looked away from Eris and Lucien to stare directly into Tamlin's eyes.

"I don't recall being the one treating her like a 'prize', that was more you and that jerk Eris."

Tamlin looked taken aback, but he answered: "I didn't disrespect her."

"Oh, because bringing the woman you cheated with is showing respect?!" Rhys couldn't help but answering in a louder voice, and all the men around the table looked at them. "You don't care about respecting her, you just want to hurt her. And I won't let you."

"Oh yeah? Well…" Tamlin started, but he trailed off, and seemed to be looking for a witty reply for a long time, before he scoffed and turned back to the table.

Rhys snorted and couldn't help but let out a small "great repartee" before continuing the game too.

After Rhys joined Lucien and his close friends to enjoy some card games, Feyre stayed in the restaurant to order some food and drinks, with the firm intention of spending the morning in Elain's room watching romantic comedies and drinking margaritas. Feyre ordered for them, and when she turned back to her sisters, she realized they weren't alone anymore. Clare and Sara, some of Elain's closest friends, had joined them at the table. She smiled at them and ordered more food to the bridal suite.

When she came back to their table however, she realized there was another person with them. Ianthe had joined them, and was talking without pause to her audience, oblivious to the uncomfortable silence around her. She stopped when she spotted Feyre, and, without missing a beat, gave her a large smile.

"Oh Honey, great of you to join us! Do you want something to drink?"

Feyre didn't answer her, instead she turned to Elain and said they could go back to the suite, that the food and drinks would be brought to them in a little while. They all got up to go upstairs but to her dismay, so did Ianthe.

Elain caught up with her in the stairs and talked in a quiet voice "Fey, I didn't want her to join but… well she sat down on her own and then I didn't know how to say no?"

"How about 'we don't hang out with cheating floozies'?" And seeing the shocked look on her sister's face she continued "I'm sorry, I know it's not your fault, don't worry. We'll watch a movie and drink, I'll just ignore her, don't worry about me."

"I'm truly sorry Feyre, I…"

"Elain it's your wedding. You have other things to think about than my love life. Don't worry."

They all settled in the room, and started a movie once their food and drinks were here. As the movie unfolded in front of them, Feyre restrained herself from looking at Ianthe. Annoying, self-absorbed, disdainful Ianthe. Beautiful Ianthe. So gorgeous and charming that Feyre had always had a tendency to like her despite her personality, back when she'd only been Tamlin's colleague, one she saw at cocktail parties once in a while. She'd never been wary of Ianthe, confident in the strength of her relationship with Tamlin, absolutely certain that nothing could ever have come between them.

What a fool she'd been.

It was almost laughable, how she'd trusted him with everything, despite the fact that he'd always treated her so badly. He was always angry at her, never satisfied with all the efforts she was doing for their relationship. Her actions were never enough, and she knew that if she'd stayed with him longer, it would never have been enough. Staring blankly at the screen in front of them, Feyre thought back of all the pleading that had followed her discovery. There had been crying, screaming, throwing objects around and calling her selfish, and a second later, dropping on his knees and promising it would never happen again. She had almost agreed to give them another chance. Almost. She'd left him anyway, and she didn't regret it.

But still, bringing Ianthe this weekend was a dick move. He hadn't known she was bringing someone, he hadn't known about Rhysand, and her supposed several weeks old relationship with him. To him, she was coming alone to this weekend, and he'd probably imagined her being miserable.

Had he invited Ianthe solely to spite her? To make her feel bad and to make her cry?

She felt anger build up inside of her. If he wanted to play, she was going to play. And she was going to win.