Here's chapter 25, the last chapter of this fic! First of all, I'm really sorry about the delay, if you follow me on Tumblr, you might have seen that I had some personal stuff going on that delayed me editing this one. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this last chapter! And we still have the epilogue to look forward to ^^

Plus, I'll make some announcement about future writing on my tumblr in a few days ;)

Enjoy! :)

"So, I heard my cousin is taking you away this weekend?" Morrigan said as she put their drinks on the table and took a seat beside her. Feyre smiled and took a sip before answering.

"Of course you would know, even if it's a surprise and he told me about it only yesterday."

"Well, obviously," Mor laughed. "What's the occasion? Is it because you won't be together for Christmas and you're celebrating in advance?"

Feyre sighed. Sure, the Christmas thing seemed credible enough, seeing as she was going to Springfield with her sisters, and he was traveling to Hewn to spend the day with his family. She hadn't planned on going back to Springfield so soon, but Elain had unexpectedly - well, for their mother anyway - ended her engagement with Graysen, claiming too big differences of opinion, and Nesta had called Feyre and begged her to come home. So now she would be spending the next week there, and Rhys would go with his family. But that didn't mean they couldn't have a few days to themselves first.

She hadn't wanted to tell Mor about her birthday, but what was the point in trying to hide it, when she was certain Rhys would tell everyone when they came back?

"It's my birthday on Friday, so we took the afternoon off and we'll go wherever he's planning to take me."

"It's your birthday?! Oh that's great, we need to celebrate!"

"Oh no. No no no. You are not throwing a party for me, Mor."

"Oh come on, it could be fun! I'd finally get to meet Alis and Clare and you would get a lot of presents. It's a win-win deal."

"I don't care about getting presents, Mor. I don't like celebrating my birthday, ok?"

"Ugh just be honest and tell me you want to spend the weekend alone having sex with Rhys. No need to lie, everybody loves celebrating birthdays."

"Please, can we not talk about me having sex with someone who, may I remind you, is your cousin? And no, I don't like birthdays. But I do want to spend the weekend alone with Rhys, so yeah, I really don't want a birthday party."

"Alright, no birthday party. But it's only because I know where you're going and I would hate to ruin your first impression of the place by doing something you don't want."

"You know where we're going? Rhys wouldn't tell me."

"Oh he didn't tell me either, but I know where he would want to take you for a whole weekend, and trust me, you'll love it," Mor finished before drinking half of her cocktail in one go.

Feyre followed, albeit less eager to drink her own cocktail in two gulps, seeing as she didn't plan to get drunk and wanted to stay reasonable. They had planned on going out together because everytime they had seen each other before, Rhys, or Cassian and Azriel, or the three of them, had been there. And Mor had called her that morning saying it was inacceptable for them to have never spent one evening alone. So here they were now, having cocktails. But that didn't mean she needed to get drunk on a Tuesday night.

"I was thinking, when are you going back to New York?"

"After New Year. I'm working on the first design sketches right now and we scheduled a week-long encounter around the 10th. Why?"

"Because I was thinking that maybe I could come with you, and we'd go shopping."

"Don't you have to work?"

"I do but I can get Rhys to give me a day off and join you for a long weekend."

"Well, okay then, if you want to, it'd be fun. But I must warn you, Mor, I don't have the money to shop in the same places you do."

"Oh don't worry, I love New York because it has the best thrift shops! Plus, with your big project starting, soon you'll be wealthier than me!"

Feyre actually laughed out loud at that. "Oh yes that's likely. My work as an illustrator will get me more money than one of the biggest shareholders of the Night Court Company."

"Well, maybe not as much as me per se, that true! But you need to practice for when you marry my cousin and you get to waste away all his money on shoes."

Feyre felt herself blushing at the idea. "Mor, stop saying things like that."

"What? That you two will get married?"

"Yes. We've been dating for three months, so no, we don't know about the future, and no, I don't want you to plan our future for us, okay?"

"Sorry."

They fell silent, and Feyre started to be afraid that she'd made things awkward between them, but Mor smiled at her and said:

"So, I don't want to go home alone tonight, let's find me someone pretty to spend the night with, shall we?"

They'd been driving for a few hours, and were now leaving the main road to follow a track into the forest.

"I'm starting to think you're going to murder me and leave my body out here."

Rhys snorted but didn't take his eyes off the track he was following.

"It seems like you discovered my evil plan, Archeron. I've been dating you for three months so that you'd trust me, and now I'm leading you into the woods to kill you and add you to my list of victims."

"Oh shut up."

He laughed and moved a hand to hold hers.

"We're just going to a family home. And I don't want to spoil it so I won't say more. We're almost there anyway."

And indeed, about ten minutes later, they took a sharp turn, and behind the line of trees, a wooden cabin appeared. Except it wasn't a simple cabin. It was much larger, big enough to have two floors, and the deep brown color of the wood contrasted with the light of the large bay window on what seemed to be part of a second floor.

Feyre was still looking at the cabin when Rhys parked at the front, got out and circled the car to open her door. He smiled at her expectantly and she got out, her shoes scratching on the light layer of snow that was covering the ground. They picked up their bags from the trunk and headed to the front door. The inside of the cabin was more than Feyre had expected. They were greeted by an large living room with an adjointed kitchen, separated only by a counter. The living room was furnished with what looked like the most comfortable assortment of couches, armchairs and rugs she'd ever laid eyes on. She was already imagining herself lounging on the largest armchair in front of the fireplace, reading a book and enjoying the warmth of the fire they would light up with the stack of wood beside it.

Rhys got her out of her daydreaming with a soft kiss on the temple, and whispered into her ear:

"Do you want to see the rest of it?"

There were two bedrooms and a bathroom at the end of the corridor, as well as a closet filled with a variety of supplies that showed how many different peoples were using it to store things.

"Does your whole family come here a lot?"

"Yes, it was a wedding present from my grandparents to my parents, and they gave it to me a few years back. So Mor and the guys are used to coming here in the weekends. This weekend though, it's ours alone, Darling. Do you want to see our bedroom?"

"It's not one of these?"

"Oh no, I have much better in store for you," Rhys answered with an excited grin.

Indeed, she had never seen a lovelier room than the one waiting for them on the mezzanine, behind a clear wooden door. The room displayed the biggest, most welcoming bed of the cabin, and a small fireplace was also in the room. But it wasn't the beige comforter or the exquisite decoration that took Feyre's breath away, it was the view. The bay window she'd seen from outside took up the entire front side of the room, offering them a magnificent view of the snow-covered trees outside.

"Do you like it?"

She turned back to Rhys and found him leaning on the door frame, staring at her. "I love it. It's beautiful."

A wide smile spread across his face. "Good. Now come downstairs, birthday girl, I'll make you some dinner."

The living room was even more comfortable than what he remembered. Or maybe it was the exquisite company that made it better, he thought, looking at his girlfriend beside him. They were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, couches behind them for support as they drank wine and talked.

Rhysand couldn't take his eyes off her, her hair a bit messy from the car ride and her cheeks flushed after the wine. She was beautiful, her smile was beautiful, and each time she stopped laughing, he was left with an aching hole in his soul until she started again. She was beautiful.

"I love you," he said suddenly, changing the subject radically from the economic situation of Velaris. Feyre gave him a shy smile and he felt his heart shattering then coming back together at this gorgeous sight.

"I love you too."

"Can I give you your birthday present now?"

"You have a present for me?"

"Of course I do. It's not much, but I'm pretty sure you're going to like it."

"Modest as always, huh?" She joked while he went into his suitcase to retrieve two packages, and he came back to her.

"Do I open one before the other?"

"They're unrelated, so you can do however you want to." She smiled at him and reached for the bigger one. "No, open the other one first."

"Are you kidding, Rhys?! I just asked you and you said it didn't matter."

"It doesn't, I just want you to start with this one."

"Ugh, you're insufferable." But she did grab the small package instead. She made quick work of the paper and then she was opening it.

"Oh," she whispered as she held up the necklace, the white chain linked by three golden stars at the front, "It's beautiful."

"Do you like it? I had it made with stars because I thought about how much you liked looking at the sky when you were a kid." It was a stupid reason, really. He should have gone with the other idea, but somehow he kept returning to this one, and -

"I love it, Rhys." Her voice was still soft and full of emotions. "Would you put it on for me?"

He approached, delicately took the necklace from her hand and secured it around her neck. Then he didn't resist his desire and he trailed kisses on her neck and jawline until he found her mouth. They shared soft kisses for a minute, and then he let go of her.

"You still have another present to open."

"Right!"

She grabbed the bigger box and unwrapped it, revealing the blue leather cover of the notebook inside. He watched her pick it up and open it, knowing she'd find thick paper inside, apparently perfect for drawing and painting, according to the woman who'd sold it to him. She flipped through the pages, her fingers running on the leather cover absentmindedly.

"I saw it in a shop last week and thought of you immediately. I don't know if it's the right size or if the paper is any good, but I thought -"

Her was cut off by her lips on his. "It's perfect, Rhys. Thank you. Now all I need to do is break it down by drawing pictures of you naked." He roared with laughter at her kinky suggestion.

"Oh, Darling, I'd be more than happy to pose naked for you," he said in his most seductive voice, and she laughed too.

They made out for an eternity after that, and he would have been glad to keep up that particular activity for the rest of the evening, but Feyre let go of his lips after a while.

She kept her head close to him, and said: "I also have something for you."

"Oh?"

"Yes. It's supposed to be for Christmas, so I wanted to wait until Sunday, but I want you to have it now."

"Okay."

She got up from his lap with a smile and he watched her go upstairs, probably to her luggage, and coming back down with a package in hand. Sitting down in front of him, she handed him the present. Rhysand started to unwrap the paper. Seeing the rolled paper, he looked up at Feyre. He found her looking down at the box, fidgeting, twisting her fingers and biting her lip. She was obviously nervous about giving him this gift, so he tried to get the paper out as delicately as possible. Once it was all out, he started to unroll it.

And nothing could've prepared him for what he found there.

Strikes of midnight blue blended perfectly with pitch black paint to create a somber canvas on which hundreds of stars were lighting up. The mix of colors gave the result such an otherworldly look, he couldn't take his eyes away from it. Finally, he managed to whisper:

"You painted."

"I did. It's not any good, really, it's very simple, but…" He looked up at her and he could have fallen in love with her all over again just at the sight of her blush. "... I thought maybe you'd like it. It's the position of the stars the night we slept on the tent and you told me the Illyrian legend. I wanted you to have it because…you're the one who inspired the painting, and I don't think I would have done it without you. So, I hope you like it."

"It's perfect, Feyre."

He gently put the painting down on the floor beside him, and moved to capture her lips with his. She had painted again, she had painted for him.

"I love you."

"I love you too."