Shock registered on everyone's faces and confusion flared on those who hadn't known what Tamlin had done to betray Hybern. This would technically be everyone other than me and Rhys.
They caught him.
They didn't say that exactly. But yes, Feyre, I'm sure Hybern being the temporary ruler of the Spring Court means exactly that.
Even through his sarcasm, I sensed cautiousness at what Hybern had done. He now had a lot more power in his hands.
Are you upset about it?
No. Maybe I'm upset that the Spring Court has been taken over and Hybern has extra power but not at Tamlin being captured.
And if he dies?
I wanted to be the one to kill him, Rhys. Maybe I won't have the chance to do it myself but I won't mourn him.
I paused for a moment. Was that right of me to do?
Rhys sensed my hesitations and sent out a soothing brush against our bond.
To be honest, I want to be the one to tear him into pieces. But you deserve it more than anything. And even if neither of us gets the chance to do it ourselves,you'll never have to deal with him again. And if anyone has gone through the terrible ordeals of what he did most, it's you. You're right to feel the way you do.
I smiled to myself at that. Yes, Rhys was right.
Of course I am.
Casimir urged everyone to sit back down and commanded the servant to send a message to another one of his lower advisors to handle any Dawn Court refugees from the Spring Court. Some had escaped there, like Alis, or sent there, like Lucien.
"This changes things," Casimir said. "Our alliance with you- some policies have to change."
"What did they ship to you?" I asked.
"Nothing we can't do ourselves. No, I'm afraid Laylia is right. If Lord Tamlin is no longer ruling the Spring Court, then we no longer can make peaceful negotiations. I thought…" He ran a hand over his hair. "I thought we could do this without shedding any blood."
"Blood has already been spilled, Lord Casimir, even before Hybern took over the Spring Court," I said firmly.
"What do you plan to change now?" Rhys drawled.
Casimir paused and sighed. "This isn't ideal but I would rather our court be prepared than be overrun by Hybern. Our armies will be ready for war and for defence in other courts."
Herne gave an intake of breath and argued with Casimir. "My lord, our people will be slaughtered-"
"More will be if we don't do something to help bring Hybern down. We are in his way to break down the wall between us and the humans and he will cut us down. With added forces from our courts, we will stand a better chance in stopping that from happening. And anyway, I would rather want to be remembered in the history books as a court which took a stand with the night side and not a court that just stood at the side-lines."
Side-lines. Was that not what Tamlin had done? Stood at the side-lines while Amarantha tortured me and Lucien? And if a court was neutral, would it not mean the same thing? The mere thought brought slight anger to me. Being on the side-lines would not help anybody, only kill them and break them.
Castalia still frowned at her mate, which surprised me. Perhaps them being mates hadn't been ideal for them, or perhaps it was just in this context. The looks they shared did seem like their bond was strong within them, even though I could feel the disapproval radiating off her. Herne was still spluttering, wanting to change his High Lord's mind and Valemon just stand there, keeping his eyes between me and Rhys, noting our moves. Laylia was smiling brightly at Casimir, glad that he had followed what she had suggested. Or was she smiling at something more? Could the sister of the Lady of the Dawn Court be a spy for Hybern?
Perhaps you're a tad bit paranoid, darling.
Does the bond make everything I think even more obvious to you?
Like I said before, I can't help but listen when you shout down the bond, darling. And yes, the bond marking you as my mate and High Lady is stronger than the bargain bond we made.
I'm not being paranoid, I just- I just think we should keep an eye on everyone we don't know personally. You never know their true intentions or what they could do.
I was sure Rhys could hear coldness in my voice. I was reminded of Tamlin before the curse was broken. I myself never knew what he could truly do with his power or what he could do to me with it until it was too late.
What about Cassian?
The Dawn Court has to have something to help him.
I locked eyes with him, sensing his desperation.
My blood could have helped him.
But could it still?
I hesitated. The blood in my veins could only heal someone because of the Dawn Court magic.
Perhaps it would be better to get a cure from the true source.
"Lord Casimir… May I ask one other thing?" I asked tentatively.
"My lord has no time for your pathetic demands," Herne spat out.
Rhys growled and his shadowy talons extended from his hands, shadows spiralling around him and Herne.
"You will not speak so rudely to my mate, advisor," He snarled, the advisor sounding like a curse on his lips and made the shadows disappear.
Casimir was glaring daggers at his advisor. "Herne," Casimir said slowly, "The next time you decide to insult our guest, you will no longer be required to enter gatherings with other guests."
Turning his attention back to me, he asked, "What is it you require?"
"We understand you have healing powers in your court. We were wondering if you had any cures for someone whose wings have been… shall we say utterly destroyed. Only the roots of them remain."
"Our cures take time to make, but we will be able to make one for your friend's wings. As a sign of the start of our alliance and also as a symbol of apology from my advisor," Casimir said sharply, sneaking a glance in Herne's way.
Herne scowled at his High Lord's announcement but said nothing, smart enough to keep his mouth shut.
"We understand your blood has the dawn court magic in it. Could it heal someone?" Laylia asked.
Rhys and I shared a look and I was hit by both of our memories of the time he was shot by the idiot associates of Hybern. I remembered the ash arrows that I slowly extracted from his wings and then finding out I was his mate the day after when I hunted down the Suriel for information on healing him.
I swallowed and we turned back to Laylia.
"Yes, it happened once. And it did heal the wound remarkably quickly," I told her.
"Perhaps while you're waiting for us to send the cure to you, you could give your friend some of your blood to drink. It won't heal the wings completely but it will supress the pain and the membranes of the wings will be able to grow better," Laylia concluded.
Rhys stiffened at the thought of another male- be it Cas or anyone else- drinking my blood and I quickly replied with a 'We'll put that into mind." Cas was his brother but the mating bond was still going strong for Rhys. He wasn't insanely protective now but his instincts were still rather predatory.
We finished the breakfast- which was rather delicious- and Rhys and I were led out afterwards. We bid them farewell and left.
Back in our house in Velaris, I decided to take a shower and unbeknownst to me, Rhys joined me halfway through my shower, so we took a little bit more time before leaving for the House of Wind. We had a slightly heated discussion- just us speaking out our opinions, neither of us forcing the other to choose something- between us both about trying to get Cas to drink my blood for it to be more bearable for him until he got the full cure. He finally did manage to put aside his mate instincts and reluctantly agreed to give Cas some of my blood for his sake.
We winnowed to the House of Wind and were led in by a cheerful Elain. Cas, Mor, Nesta and Az were in the dining room, eating their breakfast. Rhys and I took our seat across from each other, barely touching our food. We were already full from our early breakfast in the Dawn Court, having woken up before sunrise to get there during sunrise.
"So how did breakfast with Casimir go?" Mor asked, spearing her bacon with her fork.
"It was quite successful. We got our alliance and armies from the Dawn Court, which came with surprising news. I'm sure Az told you about Tamlin?" Rhys cocked his head, swirling his glass.
They all nodded and you could see glee passing by their features for a split second. It brought a small smile to my lips.
"And," I added," We managed to ask them for a cure. A cure to heal wings."\
Cas stiffened, his face in shock. "You told them?"
"We merely asked for a cure. I wouldn't dare hurt your pride like that Cas, we all know how much that means to you," Rhys said in a serious tone. There a moment of silence and I started snickering while Mor started laughing out loud, causing Cas to scowl at us both.
I waited for them to finish their breakfast and pulled Cas aside as the rest left the dining room. Rhys caught my eye and I nodded at him. He would be near us if anything went wrong, was what he said. I suspected his mate instincts and he knew that too, given the smirk when I told him so.
"In the Dawn Court, Castalia's sister told me something." I began.
"Laylia?" He asked, his eyebrows raising upwards at the mention of her.
"Yes. You make it sound as though you know her," I noted.
"We had… our moments," He said carefully.
"And does Nesta know about those moments?" I asked casually, chuckling a bit when he got flustered afterwards.
"Anyway…" I drawled. "She told me that although the cure would be most effective and heal the wings the quickest, the time required to make it wouldn't be ideal. She proposed something else while waiting for this cure, something that could heal as good as Dawn Court magic."
I paused, wondering if he would figure it out. He did.
"Your blood," He said, his eyes widening.
I nodded. He ran a hand through his hair, clearly still not recovered from his shock. And when he regained his focus, he paused and said, "You know, I was just trying to work up the courage to ask you-"
"Please," I said, rolling my eyes. "We both know you would have taken at least three months to even speak of trying to heal your wings."
Illyrians. So proud and cocky and struggling to keep their pride. Cas grinned while removing the gauze from his wings. "Maybe I was just waiting for you to say it for me."
I sighed and made my left fingernails into the tips of talons, slicing down my right arm. It wasn't a deep gash but deep enough to grant a wince to me and a large amount of blood rose from the wound.
"Quickly. Three times, before the wound heals over," I said, trying not to cringe at the sight of the red liquid gushing out of it.
Cas slowly, carefully, lifted my arm to his lips and drank. Once, twice and then thrice. I let my arm drop back to my side when he was done and he wiped his mouth free of any blood that coated his mouth.
At first, nothing happened and disappointment filled me. I thought at least something would happen. And then Cas gasped out loud and arched his back. The tattered parts of his wings started to close over and the barest, torn parts of the ends extended and healed over. Cas's breaths now came in short pants and he relaxed as the last of his wings healed themselves. His wings weren't completely healed, it was just the beginning of them closest to the shoulder blades that had managed to grow completely. The cure would extend his wings, I assumed, so they would return back to their previous form.
His eyes widened as he took in his wings and he tried to flutter them a little. He managed to without any winces or grimaces.
"The pain is gone," He said softly and looked up at me, eyes glistening. "Thank you."
I smiled at him. "You're welcome."
Nesta chose that moment to walk in. "Cassian, you slow idiot, where have you-"
She stopped abruptly as she saw Cas and his wings out. "Cassian- your wings-" Her lips parted into an O.
Her eyes drifted to the cut on my arm and to remaining spots of red on Cas's lips, placing the pieces of the puzzle together and frowned. "Gross," She muttered and turned her back, pivoting on one heel and left.
I couldn't stop the grin spreading from one ear to the other. Cas noticed it and scowled at me. "You two are very similar," I said, laughing behind one hand.
"Don't ever compare me to… her," He grimaced.
"I'm not. I'm doing the opposite," I replied. "You both are too blind to see that you're falling for each other."
His response was stalking after Nesta, my laughter and words trailing behind him.
