So now I had to not only get myself out but also Lucien. And if I failed he would be sent back to the one place he hated the most. I wished for my mate's help, my family's help right now, but I couldn't risk it. Too much was at stake.
Would he be in the dungeon? Was I going to go down there and check now? Were Jurian and the King gone now or where they still here? So many questions flitted through my head, so little answers given to me. I had to do this on my own.
I tried winnowing to the dungeon, but found myself just on the outskirts from the entrance. So no one could winnow in- or out, I guessed. Once back inside the dungeon, I cloaked myself in darkness. I went around looking for Lucien but couldn't find him anywhere. Where else could they have taken him?
I heard voices around the corner-Tamlin's, and cursed in my head. Scent- by the Cauldron, he would be able to smell me. I released the darkness on me and put a glamour on myself so I would appear as one of the prisoners. They did smell of magic after all, although it was packed in their cells, the bars were probably made of some magic resistance material, although my powers surpassed that material. I winnowed into one of the empty cells, thankfully there were many. Not many of Tamlin's subjects went against his rule, which once more told me of his controlling and strict behaviour.
I now appeared as a male. The further from my physical traits the better, I thought. The clothing on me was torn and ragged, and like the other prisoners, I glamoured chains on myself and sat on the mattress, turning my back to Tamlin as he passed. He was with Jurian and the King, and they were talking about Lucien.
"You have an underground prison within your underground prison. And I don't suppose you've shared this information with your bride." The King said.
"I've never thought of it as a necessity, for her to know. She's been scarred by her own prison Under the Mountain, if she knew there was one below her home, I don't know how she'll react to it, to me," Tamlin said.
Just like him, to decide what I should know and not, keeping vital information from me. Their voices faded as they went further down, and there was the sound of another door clanging open and shut. So there was another prison in here. One
which kept the more dangerous prisoners, I assumed. I waited there until they left, which was a very long time.
I took a look at my surroundings as I waited. The cell was rather clean, save for dust on the floor. It hadn't been used in a very long time, I suppose. I cleared the dust to the side, thinking it would be suspicious if they saw it and thought that I was a new prisoner, when I so clearly wasn't. The floor was rocky but smooth so that it would be safe for the prisoners' feet as they were barefoot. The bed was hard, of course, and it was just a mattress on the floor with a long piece of cloth to use as a blanket. The toilet was to the left of the cell, and that was the least sanitary part of the cell.
I looked out and tried to look for the door to the prison. I saw it as Tamlin, Jurian and the King were coming out. It was a very cleverly hidden door in the wall, perfectly camouflaging inside. Tamlin's hand lingered on the door, and I realised it would be because the door could only be opened by the High Lord of the Spring Court.
I once more went back to the mattress, back facing Tamlin as he passed. Except this time he didn't. He paused outside the cell, and I could feel his eyes on me.
"Prisoner-turn around." He demanded.
I could only do as he pleased and turned, meeting his eyes. He cocked his head, most possibly going through his memories of where I had come from.
"What was your crime?" He asked.
I quickly thought of a suitable crime that could pass for imprisonment. "The Tithe, my Lord, my family could not pay it and you hunted my parents down for it. I was an only child, you imprisoned me instead of killing me," I mumbled, looking down from his stare.
He was still there, contemplating what I had said. Jurian and the King were in front, and I heard their footsteps growing fainter. They were not waiting for Tamlin. Therefore, I pushed into his mind slightly, planting only very slight changes in his mind.
His thoughts raced around me.
Only child? How young must he have been, when did I imprison a child? I don't remember. I don't remember seeing him here yesterday when Lucien was brought in, who is he?
My suggestions changed those thoughts.
You remember me. You chose not to see me and ignored me when you walked past me. My parents begged you to spare me, you did, for you couldn't kill a child.
Yes, I remember now. His parents made it their last wish for me to spare their child.
He then shook his head and nodded before making his way away from my cell.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding after he left. I wished I felt a slight bit of guilty about what I had done but felt nothing.
The chains clinked against each other as I walked to the front of the cell and I sent them away with a wave of my hand. Removing the glamour on myself, I winnowed out of the cell, making sure I was cloaked in darkness to hide from other prisoners before making my way over to the hidden door. This would be the hard part. To act like Tamlin, to be Tamlin, I would not be able to use the darkness from the Night Court to hide. If anyone went pass, I would be caught so this had to be quick.
I removed all of the powers on myself, preparing for the drainage of my powers once more like when I was retrieving the Book of Breathings in the Summer Court. Being the High Lady of the Night Court also meant that is would be much more difficult to pose as the High Lord of another court.
Placing my hand on the wall, I felt it question me, similar to the locks in the Summer Court.
I am Tamlin, I am spring, I am the flowers and waterfalls, I am the birds and butterflies and pollen and trees.
I didn't have to shift into Tamlin, but I still had to put every inch of him into pretending to be him. No- not pretend, I would be him. I was his every lie, every touch, every rustle of hair whenever he was frustrated about something, I was him.
I gasped as there was once more the drainage, but not as powerful as the one I had experienced in the Summer Court. It left me momentarily breathless as I felt the door give way and entered quickly.
My eyes adjusted to the lighting of the room beyond the door. It was fairly dark, with only a few lanterns on the walls, a stairwell to my left and a hallway that stretched to the front in darkness. I heard voices coming from the hallway- guards- and attempted to once more cloak myself. However, something blocked my powers and it queerly reminded me of the wall that had blocked all of our powers that day at Hybern. Could this be his doing or Tamlin's own spell? If it was Tamlin's doing, it would mean that this hidden prison housed the more dangerous prisoners, the ones whose magic needed to be blocked for someone like Lucien.
I quickly went over to the stairwell and tried to use my powers there, but found out that nothing worked, except for the Spring Court's powers.
"-wonder what the High Lord will do about it, and him." I heard one of the guards say.
"And all for that newly born High Fae," the other guard scoffed.
"She did break the curse, Fanom, at least there's that. But I also heard that she's the mate of the High Lord of the Night Court, from the servants' quarters," the first guard said in a hushed tone.
The second guard-Fanom, laughed. "Well good luck to her! She'll need it, and whatever pity she gets."
I gripped the bottom of the railing of the stairwell tightly, fury resonating in me. Even the servants in the Spring Court were talking about me and Rhys. I could almost hear his words at that moment, if he had been in my head.
Breathe, Feyre. Breathe.
I did. But I had to hide the chuckle that threatened to come out of my throat at the irony of the situation, me getting angry at two guards' insults when it would normally be Rhys who would have torn them apart already.
After the guards left, I headed down the hallway they had come from. They had spoken about a him and so I assumed they had been talking about Lucien.
I found multiple doors down the corridor as I went further down. I checked every one of them and found that all but one was vacant. The lock was once more only to be unlocked by Tamlin, but this time, all it took was for me to imagine myself as spring and the door clicked open, revealing to me that Lucien, indeed, was inside.
The cell looked similar to the ones upstairs, except there was no hint of magic, nothing to give away that the cell was holding someone with fae heritage. He was seated on the floor, chains around his arms, head looking downwards.
"Lucien," I whispered.
He snapped his head up and recoiled when he saw me. "What are you doing here? Are you seriously this crazy, Feyre, you need to go," He hissed.
"I'm not leaving without you," I told him stubbornly.
"No, it's a trap, Feyre. They're luring you here and I'm the bloody bait," He said. "Once you touch me- it'll set off an alarm, alerting Tamlin and he will come down here and he will see you."
I shrugged. "Then I just have to make sure I don't touch you," I said, treading around him to where his chains were lodged in the wall.
"Are you sure you can-" He broke off as I ripped the chains away from the wall, assisted with the strength of a High Lady.
I smiled as I tossed the chains aside, nearly sending Lucien sprawling to the ground. He scowled at me as I came closer and broke the chains away from his hands. I carefully took my hands away from his and watched as he tugged them off.
"So, tell me. What would you say to a trip to the Summer Court?" I asked him casually.
He stumbled-actually stumbled and gaped at me. "What?" He asked.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious," I told him. "I need you to help me get to the Summer Court- and I was hoping you would stay. To meet Elain." I didn't mention also because it appeared that he was no longer welcome in the Spring Court. I feared it would hurt his feelings- he had considered the Spring Court as his home for decades. And now- just one misstep because of me- he was considered an enemy of this court. This did trigger guilt in me.
He didn't meet my eyes for a while, and when he did, they were full of such hope that I regretted ever second guessing him for Elain. "I-" He took a step towards me. "Thank you. I think… I think I would like that very much," He said, and smiled at me. It was so bright at the thought of meeting his mate that I took a step towards him and brushed my fingertips on his shoulder, prepared to tell him how much he would mean to Elain.
Both of us realised our mistake the moment my fingertips had barely left his skin. He moved back- but it was too late.
I cried out as something crackled from his arm, from his whole form, and flowed into me and something from me flowed out, and it hurt like hell. The magic that had caused that to happen weakened me and I realised it was also dampening my powers as the High Lady. I nearly collapsed and gasped for breath.
"By the Cauldron, Feyre, you never listen to anything I tell you," Lucien chastised, almost in a joking manner but his eyes were filled with worry and panic.
"Let's just… go," I gasped out, "Before he comes back down."
He nodded and looked me once up and down to make sure I was really okay, and when I nodded at him, we left the cell.
We went back the way I had come. "Tamlin," Lucien hissed, gesturing to the stairwell, and I hid there with him once more.
"How did anyone get in?" He stormed into the prison, yelling at the two guards who had been gossiping about me before.
"There was no one here, we swear," one of them- not Fanom- stuttered.
"Take me to him," Tamlin demanded and they obliged, both of them following him.
I gestured to Lucien to follow after they were gone and exited the underground prison to the one above it. I had already cloaked Lucien and me with my shadows, although it was weak enough that whoever was looking for me or Lucien and expected me there would be able to see through it- faintly. I turned to the hallway that would lead me and Lucien out as we couldn't winnow out.
I found myself staring at the King instead.
Hey guys! So sorry these last two chapters have been draggy, I'm preparing for the next chapter which will be good, I promise you. School just started for me and it's harder to find time to write but I promise to you guys I will at least update within two or three days, and will try my best to update everyday. Sorry that this chapter is also a little bit shorter I promise the next chapter will be longer :)
