Gone were the beautiful scenery of Velaris. The once smooth cobblestones were now slick and slippery with the blood of the innocent and bodies were scattered throughout the city.

I turned to the other side and the same view greeted me- except now there was someone lying at my feet. I stifled my gasp and kneeled down, gently pushing the corpse onto its back.

The body had been mangled from the neck down but I would still recognise those eyes everywhere. The stark blue-green of my eyes stared back at me, lifeless and glassed over. I cried out and stumbled backwards, tripping over and knocking into another corpse.

I turned and was faced with a mountain of bodies. It was filled with the local people I had met in Velaris, I recognised the woman I had saved in the Rainbow, the shopkeeper that had served us food and even the two faeries I had murdered Under the Mountain. And- right on top- not only my body but also Rhys's and the others of the Inner Circle, my sisters, my family, even poor Lucien.

Amarantha once more appeared in front of me and I stilled at the sight of the ash knife in her hand. I snarled at her and attempted to use my powers against her but they were once again blocked. She grinned at me with a wicked gleam in her eyes and in a flash, she held the ash knife against my throat, drawing blood and pain and pure agony.

"You will join them soon enough. Seems fitting that you die in the same way, share the same fate as those other innocent faeries you killed during my rule," She said, laughing wickedly at me and dug the knife even deeper.

I tried to escape from her grasp but she held me close, her powers willing my arms and legs to still. I felt the blade enter my throat and cutting through veins and arteries and the blood filling up my throat. I felt her hot breath mingling with mines as she whispered to me, "I'll see you in hell." I felt the blood rising up and spluttering out of my throat as I tried to scream, tried to cry out, I felt it, felt the pain and the torture and the wrongness of it all-

xXx

"Feyre, Feyre, Feyre," A familiar voice shouted through the darkness I was enveloped in.

I gasped and shot upwards, tears streaking down my face.

"It was just a nightmare," He said, soothing me as he pulled me in close and tucked me into his arms, rocking me back and forth.

Oh gods, I thought I could have hid the nightmares from him but of course it wouldn't. He was my mate, we wouldn't hide anything from each other. Which didn't do anything to calm me down it only increased my guilt and nausea. He cared so much, he had done so much for me, did I actually deserve him? For all the love he had shown me, for how he had saved me from even myself.

I grew even sicker and pushed Rhys off, darting off to the bathroom, spilling my guts into the toilet bowl. I felt his hands pull back my hair gently and his hands rubbing circles on my back, soothing me as I vomited the previous night's dinner out.

I shuddered after every breath I took, trying to calm myself down.

"When did it start?" Rhys asked quietly.

I stilled, mentally preparing for what he was going to say to me after I told him the truth.

"About five days ago," I murmured.

The hands drawing circles on my back came abruptly to a halt.

"When you started shielding your mind against me," He said softly, more of a statement than a question.

I nodded slowly. He didn't say anything and I could tell he was thinking. I stood up, his arm still around me, guiding me and washed my face in the sink, rinsing my mouth.

"Rhys?" I asked softly.

I had been prepared for anything, any snarky remarks he could have given me, but not this silence. I wasn't ready for this silence from him and could only feel a slight tinge of disappointment through the bond.

"Rhys, please. Say something," I pleaded.

"What am I supposed to say?" He snapped, running his hand through his hair. "I know you get to make your own decisions and everything but you're still my mate, the person I trust the most."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want you to be even more worried about me than you already were," I tried to explain, "I didn't want to make myself even more of a burden than I already was-"

"Feyre. You're never a burden. Don't ever think that," He said, hooking my loose hair behind my ear. "Just- why didn't you tell me?"

I hesitated only for a mere second but I'm pretty sure Rhys noticed that, as I sensed the concern and once more sadness through the bond.

"The nightmares- they were different this time. They were mostly of the people I loved dying now and Amarantha was still there. I-" my voice broke for a while.

I steadied myself again before continuing. "I saw your corpse, Rhys. And mines next to yours although I wasn't in that body. And the rest of the Inner Circle was dead there too, including my family, everyone I ever cared about were dead! And I kept hearing these things that it was all my fault, everyone was dead because of me and I myself was dying. I could feel the knife and blood as she stabbed me, I-" I was once more a sobbing wreck.

"Hey, hey," Rhys murmured, pulling me close to him and holding me against him, "It's not your fault. Nothing is. But like I said before, you'll feel that way for the rest of your life. But I'm not dead, you are not dead and the people you care about aren't dead too. Amarantha is dead, however, and she's gone and will never do anything to harm you ever again. I wouldn't let her."

I pulled away from him to see his face. "Or you. She won't ever abuse you ever again too. I wouldn't let her." I said, repeating his words back to him.

He nodded and leaned in to press a kiss on my forehead. The tightness in my chest eased off a little and I sighed as we parted. However, before we could return to the bedroom, I noticed these little smudges on my hands.

Frowning, I removed my hands from Rhys's neck- quite reluctantly, I add- and inspected the smudges much more closely.

"Are those words?" He asked, peering over my shoulder.

"I'm not sure, I can't exactly see-" I broke off as the smudges cleared and sharpened to clear words.

I looked up at Rhys and he smirked. "Even with your impeccable reading, I don't think you would even have been able to look at whatever that is."

"And by your mention of 'whatever that is', I'm assuming you didn't manage to grasp whatever those smudges were too," I retorted and returned to brooding over the message.

I heard Rhys stifle a chuckle and rolled my eyes.

"It's a message- from Tamlin," I noted and read it out loud.

Jurian and the King are on a rampage over losing you. The slight control they had over the mansion and the court has extended to full control although they tell me I still have full rights over everything. The Dawn and Autumn Court are confirmed to be on Hybern's side and the King is using their connections to persuade the Day and Winter Court to join their side. They are readying all the three courts' armies and are planning to infiltrate the Night and Summer Court. They are also planning something else involving you, although they aren't sharing it with me. My council has heard bits, something about control and leverage.

"What, do they mean to kidnap me?" I asked.

"They would be insane to try that. Your powers would protect you. And I'm pretty sure my own wingspan would protect you," He smirked.

"You sure that's all your wingspan can do?" I grinned.

"I can show you what you mean by that," He continued, prowling over to me.

I held out a hand and pressed it against his chest, stopping him from going any further. Leaning forward to be closer to his face, I whispered, "Maybe later." And smiled at the desire in his eyes.

"Anyway…" I drawled, leaning back from him, "Speaking of our powers. There's the problem of how the King can block our powers, especially if we're not in our court."

"Our court. I like how you say that," He purred. "And if you're that worried, we can go back tomorrow. I was supposed to anyway, before you had your beautiful dramatic entrance."

"And Amren?"

"I'm pretty sure Varian would be able to keep her company," Rhys smiled. "Maybe now you can take me up on the wingspan offer?"

I smiled and strode over to him. "Maybe now."

I leaned in to kiss him and started to wrap my hands around his neck, but was interrupted by a cough starting in my throat.

The cough increased to a horrible hack and I kneeled over, panting and gasping for breath between coughs. It was extremely painful to cough now and I felt like my lungs couldn't take anymore and needed air- I needed air so much.

I felt Rhys's darkness envelop me into a gentle and warming presence and it managed to soothe me and made me feel better. But it didn't last, I felt the cough surface again and would have collapsed on to the bathroom floor- we were still in the bathroom, for goodness sake- if it hadn't been for Rhys catching me.

"Feyre, my magic's not working," He said worriedly, and I could tell he was near to losing it and yelling.

"I can- tell-" I exploded into more coughs and turned over from his arms and coughed into the toilet bowl, coughing out blood and splattering the sides of the toilet bowl, which resulted in Rhys cursing in words that would have made even the worst fae blush.

I suddenly recalled the conversation I had in the dining room in breakfast yesterday morning (had it really just been yesterday morning?)

Lucien didn't come in after them, which left me suspicious. He followed Tamlin everywhere (not like a lap dog, more like a friend in the pretense of a bodyguard). But I didn't say anything about it. Yet. I merely ate my food in silence, noting a weird tang in the water. I stopped eating when I realised they were all watching me, not touching their food.

I turned over to Rhys. "Poison," I gasped out.

The blood splattered in the toilet bowl looked so similar to the blood I had spilled under the mountain and my nausea grew. Rhys was panicking now. He turned me away from the toilet bowl and heaved me up into his arms, bringing me out of the bathroom and then out into the hallways.

"Tarquin!" He yelled.

Guards thundered down the hallway. "Get Tarquin and a healer. Now," Rhys snarled.

The guards were clearly quaking in their boots. Half of them ran off while the other half fidgeted, unsure what to do.

"Don't just stand there," Rhys snapped. "Find someplace I can properly take care of my mate!"

The guards nodded and lead us to a room with beds lining the walls and various equipment in the middle.

"Th-This is the infirmary," one of the guards stammered.

Rhys laid me on one of the beds with such gentleness I nearly cried out. I could barely keep my eyes open and the cough had followed me all the way here, worsening with each breath I took.

"You're going to be okay, Feyre. Your blood- your blood will be able to help you, to heal you. I'll take the pain away for you. Okay?" He asked gently.

I gave a slight nod, opening a slight crack in my shields. I felt him enter and the pain flowed away until I felt nothing. The coughs were just a mere annoyance now. Amren burst through the door, Tarquin following close and a healer trailing behind them both.

"What the hell happened?" She yelled.

"She was poisoned- bloodbane. Through water," He told them.

So he had seen the memory I had thought of from yesterday morning. And he had identified the poison.

Of course I did, do you really think that low of me?

I only had enough strength to smile.

Tarquin nodded to the healer and she came to my side, hesitant to approach me.

"Please. Help her," Rhys pleaded.

The healer was startled that Rhys had asked her so nicely and nodded, waving her hands over my body, brow furrowed in concentration.

"Her body is conflicted. Her blood is rejecting the poison but the poison is pushing for acceptance in her blood. I'm guessing that the blood was also spelled to prevent you from doing anything to help her. I would have to conduct another spell to help her, and it'll be painful," She said.

"Do it," I rasped.

"Wait- I-" Rhys interrupted. "Let me put her to sleep first."

He looked at me for confirmation and my reply was an even more hazardous cough and fumbling for a napkin to hide the blood in.

I was immersed in the darkness for the second time that day and the soothing sense of it slowly lulled me to sleep- to nightmares or dreams I didn't know.

xXx

RHYS

I stayed with her for the entire day, clutching her hand. She still hadn't woken up, even after the healer's spell. It had helped in a way my magic hadn't- the effects had stayed, been permanent.

Amren sighed from where she was standing. "You should go and get something to eat," She said.

I looked up from gazing at Feyre's beautiful face- she looked extremely peaceful as she was sleeping.

"I'm not hungry."

"Please. You've been at her side since 6am in the morning. News flash, Rhys, it's 6 in the evening now."

I was still hesitant. She was right, I did need to eat something. I was famished.

"If Feyre wakes up-"

"I'll get you. Now go," She shooed.

I listened and went out to the dining room. I was too early for dinner and too late for lunch so I simply whipped out my own food in the room I shared with Feyre. But as soon as I finished the food, I raced back to the infirmary. Amren rolled her eyes at me as soon as she saw me.

"Seriously? It's only been 30 minutes," She groaned.

I ignored her and went back to Feyre's side, brushing my thumb on her hand. I stilled as she stirred, moving her head slightly to the left.

"Is she waking up?" Amren whispered to me.

I was about to answer her when Feyre whimpered.

My eyes narrowed and I brushed my tendrils against her shields, wanting, no needing, to know what was making her upset.

"Feyre. Feyre, wake up," I whispered, claws raking her walls for any cracks. Of course there wouldn't be any, she was very good in keeping her shields up. Swearing inwardly, I winced and pushed and broke and created a sliver in her shields, making sure the entrance was still open for me to exit. And that's when I managed to see through her eyes.

Feyre was in the dining room of the Spring Court. Tamlin, the King and Jurian were there, and I could see that Feyre was stuck to a chair.

"He's here. I can sense him," Jurian hissed.

The King grinned. "Hello, Rhysand. Enjoying the little present I left in your mate's circulatory system?"

Looking through Feyre's eyes meant that I was just a watcher, not someone who could speak out. I wanted to snarl at them at that remark and thankfully, Feyre was feeling similar.

"I'm going to cut the small chat, Rhys, and get straight to the point," The King drawled. "The poison in your mate's body will not cease. Of course, you could stall its effects but no matter what healing spell your healer uses, it will not work without the cure, which can only be attained from me. Of course, you would have to give Feyre back, with the Book of Breathings. Refuse and she dies."

Rhys- Rhys, can you hear me?

Feyre, darling, are you alright? Have they done anything else before I got here?

"It's quite simple, really," Jurian smiled. "Give us what we want and we will heal the girl."

No, nothing. Rhys- Get the cure through Tamlin. I told him that whatever I told him to do he would have to, together with sending those reports, remember?

"You can leave now. Send us a message, whichever fancy way you would like to seal our agreement," The King stated.

I will- I will save you, Feyre. I promise I will get that cure for you.

I had to do something for her, anything to get her out of this treacherous zone. It took a mass amount of concentration and powers as it wasn't my own body I was in. I destroyed the communication the King had over Feyre and we both left.