Rhys.

It was him, it was Rhys, he was here.

"Feyre," He breathed, placing a kiss on my forehead.

I reached out with my hand and traced his cheek. He frowned as he saw my breathlessness and felt my pain through the bond. "What happened?" He asked me gently.

When I couldn't answer him and only managed out wheezes, he turned to Lucien. "What happened?" He repeated.

Lucien shifted from foot to foot, looking like the wrong word he said about me would cause his head to be torn, or his mind to be crushed to bits. "Tamlin placed a spell on me which stripped away someone's powers if they touched me," He said, and quickly added, "And no, I didn't touch your mate by force I had to winnow her here."

I wheezed out again with another chuckle which soon turned into a coughing fit. Rhys's darkness enveloped me, soothing me and I immediately felt better.

"Let's move to somewhere much more suitable, shall we?" Tarquin said, stepping forward.

I smiled at him and he smiled back, although it didn't quite meet his eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you again, Feyre, although I wish it was under better circumstances."

I winced as I remembered our last ordeal here and wished I could speak at the moment. I was pretty sure only gargled words would come out and that wouldn't be the mask or face I should show here. I merely nodded at him and still with my arms around Rhys, peered over his shoulder to see who else was there.

To my surprise, Amren was right behind Rhys and she grinned at me. "It's nice to see you again. I kind of hate to admit this but I missed your company," She told me.

I grinned back.

"Cresseida? The main hall?" Tarquin asked.

She nodded and we went out of the room, Rhys still carrying me in his arms. Here, I could lower my shields and I sent my thoughts into his mind.

How are you here?

You don't like my company, darling?

I can't help it if you're a prick at times.

I felt his smile.

We made a deal to secure the alliance by returning the Book- in a way. Amren will be staying here with the Book and continuing her investigation here as she's the only one who can actually handle being around the Book, as you know, and will be supervised by Tarquin and his council.

And you're not worried about that? That Tarquin will know all the information that Amren finds out, including how to free Amren and get her back to where she belongs, if it even is in the book?

Amren can take care of herself and hide the facts pretty well. The only information Tarquin needs to know is about the Cauldron and how to defeat Hybern, not personal issues about Amren. And anyway, I'm more worried about you.

Me or the lack of me?

He purred into my mind.

Oh, both. And trust me, I'll make it up for the weeks we've lost. I've had many days, many hours, minutes and seconds to think of what I'm going to do.

Heat rose in me and I now only realised how badly I wanted Rhys. It had been far too long since I've had his mouth on mine, or between my legs.

A low chuckle resonated in my mind.

Don't tempt me to take you here now.

What if I said I wanted you to?

Then our hosts would most likely be mortified by the events after.

I laughed in his mind and we entered a lavish suite-like room. The walls of the main hall were adorned with beautiful paintings by artists I recognized and by artists who were new to me. The ceiling was made from a beautiful glass material which sparkled at every angle due to the Sun and there was a round table directly beneath the middle of the glass ceiling. Many plush cushions and couches were piled around the room, both to lay down on or simply kneel and lounge down on. Although the sunlight spread throughout the room, there was a light breeze which cooled the air.

Several doors lined the sides of the room which I suspected lead to meeting rooms or weapon rooms, or was a mere connective door to the many other rooms in the palace.

Rhys settled me down on one of the couches.

"At midday, when the sun is at its highest, it shines a sort of beacon on the round table, bathing it in a glow. That's the time when we normally have inner meetings here, the sunlight causes us to be more in our element and we like the representation of the court," Cresseida explained.

Tarquin called for a servant to bring us water and refreshments and a concoction from their healer for me that would help my healing process.

Lucien looked very awkward in our midst. "I promised Lucien I would break the spell on him," I murmured, pulling myself to a seating position from lying on the couch.

Rhys stopped me. "Let me," He said, looking into my eyes for confirmation.

I understood his worry for me and also understood how Rhys breaking the spell would be much more efficient than me doing it. I nodded and he went to Lucien who looked especially uncomfortable that Rhys was going to break the spell for him.

I could feel Rhys smirk and he said, "Calm down, Lucien, I'm not going to pry your mind open."

He waved his hand at Lucien and I could feel concentration rippling off in waves from him. There was a faint glow appearing from Lucien and I watched as it slowly dimmed, appearing to trace downwards to his feet and disappear into the ground.

Lucien shuddered as the magic left him and stumbled a few steps back.

"Is it gone?" I asked.

"Have a little faith in me, Feyre," Rhys purred, turning to face me. "It's gone."

"Nasty, nasty spell," Amren muttered.

I smiled as I remembered that those were the similar words she had spoken when I had unlocked the door to get the Book of Breathings.

"So, are you going to tell us what you did in the Spring Court? You were supposed to infiltrate it, I suppose. Correct me if I'm wrong but two weeks. Two weeks would have been far too little time to do something worthwhile there, I believe," Cresseida mused.

I gritted my teeth and faced her, giving her a glare that would shake even the strongest of Prythian. She soon shied away from my face, guilt colouring her cheeks. "Two weeks was enough for me. I got what I wanted to do in those 14 days and I went through being there while I was at it. I lied and cheated and almost fucked my way out of it so I'm correcting you here, Cresseida, on that," I snarled, "And as for infiltration, Tamlin is now under my control. He will report to us every day on what occurs in the Spring Court and what Jurian and the King plan on doing. As for now, you can consider the Autumn Court and the Dawn Court your enemies. They're not on our side."

Everyone was staring at me with mixed expression on their faces. Most were of guilt and wariness, mostly from Tarquin and his council, and there were looks of delight and satisfaction on Rhys and Amren.

I sighed and tossed my head back. "Sorry, I'm just… really tired right now."

You don't have to apologise. What you went through- what you did- was enough. I'm pretty sure you've done everything you were able to.

I know, I know. But what Cresseida said was somewhat right. What if I came back not because I had finished doing what I had to but because I couldn't handle it anymore? What if I hadn't actually done much?

Please. You've taken control of Tamlin, darling. And although I already want to rip him to shreds for what he did to you, he'll know true violation this way.

His delight and triumph mirrored mines.

xXx

I was grilled on the incident at the Spring Court until it felt like second nature to explain the details, and had been fussed over by Rhys until even Amren was rolling her eyes at us.

The concoction from Tarquin had helped a lot but it still didn't stop the waves of exhaustion that hit me. Thankfully, we were done for the day and I didn't protest when Rhys gathered me in his arms again and winnowed us to our room in the palace.

He gently laid me on the bed and my heart melted at his gentleness, at the look of love and longing in his gorgeous violet eyes. He laid next to me on the bed and looped an arm around my waist, tucking his head into the crook near my shoulder. His other hand traced circles on my back and I sighed as he kneaded the tension away from my shoulders. Turning around so I faced him, he placed a hand on my cheek and softly caressed it with his thumb, and I leaned into his touch.

"I missed you- every single day- and I was so worried about you," He whispered, gazing into my eyes.

"I know," I whispered back, "I was missing you every day too. I wanted to come home every day to you- to my family."

"You're here now," He murmured, leaning in to press a kiss on my collarbone, resulting in a slight hitch in my breathing," And that's all that matters."

I lowered my forehead to meet his and saw the flickers of desire in his eyes. He started to trace my neck with his lips and tongue, leaving behind a trail of fire. I gasped and buried my hands in his hair. His lips moved upwards and found mines, slipping his tongue in. He tasted of starlight and darkness. I moaned against him and we pressed against each other more, stopping only once to catch our breath.

My hands fumbled at the bottom of his shirt and his lips- Cauldron, his lips- distracted me too much. I snarled against his mouth and ripped his shirt open. He paused and leaned back, a smirk highlighting his features. "I liked that shirt," He murmured, and I saw only a glint of his claws before my dress- the monstrosity I was still wearing- was torn and he pulled it, the dress wrenching away from my body, leaving me exposed to him.

He snarled at me and leaned back down, lips moving on my exposed nipple. I cried out and grabbed his back, most probably drawing blood from having clawed at it. His hand slowly moved down and he paused from pleasuring me to cup the bundle of nerves between my legs, hissing at the wetness he found.

"What do you want, Feyre?" He breathed, fingers lazily caressing the insides of my thigh and in between.

I gasped out as he pressed a finger down on the centre of my wetness.

"You," I managed out, "Please, Rhys, I-"

I didn't manage to finish my sentence before his finger went inside of me, pumping ever so slowly. I moaned and raised my hips up, wanting more, needing more. He added a finger and went faster, and I was nearing my climax, nearing the fall off the edge of the cliff- when he stopped and withdrew.

Panting, I gave out cries of protest before he hefted himself up, making me watch as he slowly, torturously slowly, unbuckled his belt and flung his pants to the other side of the room. I tried to rise, wanting to undress him myself but he snarled at me and pushed me back down onto the bed, leaving me filled with the need and agony of his taunts and little game.

He tossed aside his underwear next and my throat dried up at the sight of his hardness waiting for me. My eyes traced Rhys's body upwards until I was staring at his face. He grinned at me. "Like what you see?" He smirked.

"Why don't you show me more?" I asked, smirking back at him.

He growled and crawled up the bed to me, kissing me fully on the mouth again. I moaned and he stopped, leaving me gasping for him. Without even knowing, he plunged himself into me and I cried out, eyes rolling at the pleasure and pain at the same time. My hands fumbled at the sides of the bed, feeling for something, anything, to grip. Rhys's hands met mines and I clutched it, gripping it tightly.

"Feyre-" Rhys groaned as he went even faster.

I gasped out Rhys's name and he pummelled into me even further, even deeper and his other hand traced downwards and stroked the bundle of nerves between my legs.

That was my release. I cried out as my climax tore through me, shuddering at every second. Rhys came with me and he cried out my name, continuing to pump into me at my every shudder, gently guiding me through my aftershocks.

Afterwards, he held me in his arms and stroked my hair as we went to sleep.

"I love you," He whispered, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

I tilt my head upwards, smiling at him. "I love you too," I whispered back.