Elain pants hard and looks around, this realm or plane of existence is very blue and green-hued. A giant, watery figure looms in front of her from an expanse of water that lies in front of her feet. Something within her seems to feed off of her magic, a steady pulsing in her chest.

"Ooh, you are my pretty little soldier, aren't you? Such a pretty face." The figure purrs at her as it moves to her side, its face and body still a blurry blob, moving fluidly as she shivers in fear at the chilling voice.

"I am not your anything", she snaps.

The figure laughs—a deep, bone-quivering thing. "You will quickly learn that it is foolish to deny it. You will do as you are told, or you may find that your witty mate doesn't make it out of his next life-threatening encounter. Even the luckiest people find that their luck has an expiration date. Pity too, that he would perish before knowing the truth. Before realizing that his oh-so-sweet mate has lied to him this entire time."

Elain tears up. "Get out of my head!"

"Ah, but I don't need to be in your head to know all about you, little belle of the land. You are a part of me, which makes me inherently part of you. You can thank your father for that. A gift to me for lengthening the leash of the other pretty Queen, my spicy firebird."

Tears fall down Elain's face "I won't help you."

"You have no choice but to help me, sweetheart."

Suddenly the thumping in her chest gets louder—it presses at her skin as a glow illuminates her from the inside. She groans and clutches her chest. "No!"

"Here is what you will do. You will go to the Lord of Bloodshed and tell him that if he does not go to Illyria, I will make sure his children are never born."

Elain shakes and sobs. "What will happen to him?"

The figure grins broadly, a disgusting, evil grin of stark white teeth, his face hidden in shadows. "He will pledge himself to fight on my side. If he does not, there are ways to make sure he complies."

The voice pauses. "Much like his shadowed brother."

"No! I won't! You can't make me! No!"

"Have no fear, pretty. You will be in your rightful place, ruling alongside me when the Dawn of the new Prythian comes to light. Once all those pesky people holding you back are taken care of."

"Y-You already hurt Azriel? Who else?"

"Hurt him? No, my Cauldron-blessed friends simply made him much more subservient. And that mate of his...well, let's just say my rusty ally would be extremely interested in knowing he has a bastard lesser fae in his bloodline. Or that his traitorous eldest isn't quite as...indisposed as he believes."

Another feral grin.

"Please...everyone has been through enough. Please. Leave them alone. Leave me alone."

"I don't think so, darling. But I promise the new age will be much more promising once we wipe out this cesspool."

"We will find a way to kill you!", she screams at him. "We will all find a way. You won't win!"

"Ohhh but Elain, my sweet Queen, the only way to kill me is to be rid of my soul. Now, we all know I am not foolish enough to leave it laying around whole. I have scattered the pieces. In fact, the most important part of my soul has been feeding back to me the most pertinent information from the biggest defensive weapon the Night Court has."

Her eyes widen as she realizes, collapsing to her knees and bawling. "No!"

"We make an impressive team, you and I. I must applaud the Cauldron for gifting you with Seer powers. Just what I needed to gain the upper hand in this war. I will not fail like that weakling Hybern either. I'm much too clever."

Elain sobs and claws at her chest—at that glowing shard of his soul that had been buried within her chest during the last war. She thinks back to where she had stood, a sudden glimmering confirmation of a spell that she could not decipher at the time, and quickly chose to forget, especially when everyone else had much bigger things to deal with.

"My father would have never hurt me like this", she chokes out.

"He wanted you to live unchained. I agreed to your freedom as long as you carried that piece of my soul within you. I do collect pretty, pretty females. You should be grateful to me that I grant you autonomy as my prized one. It would have been easier for me to keep you at my lake. But in my long, long life, I have learned that sometimes deals need to be made that will come in handy in the long run. If I had not left you free, you would not have gathered all this information for me. I will tuck it away in my arsenal to use when needed. You see, Hybern's downfall was thinking violence was the only answer in war. When truthfully, it's information that makes you victorious or defeated. People have secrets. Use those secrets to get them to act and you are the puppet-master. I find people will do most anything to save their own life or simply their dignity. Give them the choice between their morals or their life, and you'll notice how quickly the tides can turn. I may not play dirty like daematis or necromancers or even despicable Queens, but that makes my victory all the more satisfying. People choose to defeat themselves in the end."

"Not everyone. I won't betray my family. Tell me—my father found out that you were going to enslave me, and he made a deal with you?"

"He needed my permission to allow Vassa to help in the war against Hybern. My stipulation was to possess his most beautiful daughter for my trove. He countered by letting you remain free and allowing Vassa to have a half-life. I agreed as long as I could bury a third of my soul within your own. I took into account the possibilities and how Hybern being defeated would work in my favor, not to mention having a Seer as a weapon for my own plans and Cauldron-blessed Queens under my thumb. So for those two things, I granted two. I believe he saw the tragic outcome of that war if he did not agree to the terms."

She shivers, cold and numb. "What did you tell him?"

"Tell him? Ohh, you don't know", he tsks, teasingly. "See? Secrets. So, so many secrets." He twines his long spindly finger around her hair as she cringes away. He drags it down the plush of her cheek and she turns away from his touch. "Make sure the Lord of Bloodshed wanders into Illyria soon. My subordinates have plans of their own I am more than willing to allow them since it serves me."

"I won't do it."

"Oh, but you will, darling. Is the autonomy of one life really worth the loss of multiple others' lives? Your father didn't think so."

She trembles. "He died f-for us...you said he saw the tragic outcome if he didn't agree to your terms. How? And four lives for Cassian's? Who's?"

Another cryptic smirk. "Knowledge is power, Seer. You'll realize that soon enough."

In a flash she is seemingly plucked from that realm and thrust back through a swarming tunnel, a strangled intake of breath sounding as she blinks, back in her and Lucien's room, Lucien shouting her name.

"No. Nonononono!" No, I have to go back! I need answers! Bastard!", she screams, breaking down into Lucien's arms.

Lucien holds her tightly, smoothing her hair and rocking her quietly, allowing her to reel from whatever she saw.

"I have to get to Nesta. I have—I have to go to them", she rambles, trying to scramble off the bed.

"Woah, woah, Elain. Hey, talk to me. Talk to me", he murmurs, firmly but gently grasping her face. "Talk to me."

Tears rush down her face and she sobs. "We can't kill him."

Lucien's brow furrows. "What are you talking about?"

"K-Koschei."

"What about him", he asks, stiffening a bit.

"That's who I was...seeing...but—talking to."

"You astral projected again?"

"Yes. I-I think so. It was like he yanked me into it. But w-we can't kill him...not without killing me."

Lucien stares into her eyes, frozen for a moment. "What do you mean?"

Her eyes tear up again. "I have a small orb of his soul. I-inside my chest. It was either that or he enslaved me, and my father had to choose. He chose my freedom."

His eyes widen, his metal one whirring. "We'll find a way around it."

"Luc—"

"We'll find a way", he growls.

Her eyes soften and she sniffles, cupping his face and pressing her forehead against hers. "Fate doesn't always work how we want. We both learned that."

"I won't let anything happen to you."

"And if my death is the only way to defeat him? To save Prythian?"

"Then fuck Prythian!", he growls again, tears hot against his natural eye.

"I know you don't mean that", she chokes out.

"I would do anything to keep you. I refuse to lose anyone else. I can't. I won't. I would rather fall at your side than live one fucking heartbeat without you. I won't lose you, Elain. I won't—I-I cannot go through that again. I will find a way. I'll work with Helion day and night. We will find a fucking way to get it out of you."

"And if it was a faerie bargain? Or worse? Some sort of Cauldron magic that he can sway?"

"I don't care what it is, I will fix it. Do you hear me?"

Elain kisses him deeply and he pulls her close, clinging to her desperately.

"He told me I had to get Cassian to go to Illyria against orders or else you and Azriel and the baby won't be safe."

"Why...why would he want Cassian?"

"Apparently, he already has Azriel, whatever that means. I don't know. There are more questions than answers right now and I'm freaking out. I can't send him into danger, Nesta would never forgive me. But if I don't, that could mean harm to not only the baby and possibly Nesta, but you too as my mate...I don't know what to do", she says weakly, tears welling up in her eyes.

"He can't honestly believe that Cassian would work as his general, does he?"

"Not willingly", she mumbles. "And I think he's counting on that. Whatever the Queens are doing to Illyria..."

Lucien sucks in a breath. "The Illyrian males. I didn't get the whole story but I overheard Feyre and Rhys talking about some situation in Illyria the other day. We popped over for breakfast before I went to Spring. Something about them being turned into puppets. Admittedly, it's hard to think of any more daematis running around. Rhys is bad enough."

Elain elbows him in the ribs and he grunts a bit. "Well, it's true."

She sighs. "I feel like it's more than that. Worse than that."

"That's...great."

She tears up. "I don't know what to do Lucien. I can't risk losing you or my sister, or the baby. But to protect you, I have to give up Cassian? How would Nesta or Rhys for that matter ever forgive me? Then we have the fact that he said Azriel is already in his thrall, and I haven't heard a word about anything going on because they rarely tell me anything", she rants, frustration overwhelming her as she glows softly.

"Ellie", he says firmly, cupping her face.

She halts her tongue and stares into his eyes, panicked.

"We...we go to Feyre and Rhys. See what they think we should do. Ultimately...this decision should not rest on your shoulders alone, and you know I am willing to take the brunt of whatever comes my way to keep you safe. It only gets tricky when you think of everything Nesta has also gone through to get here and if her family is torn apart...either way this decision is impossible, but you can't make it alone. I won't let you carry that burden or guilt alone if what that awful bastard alluded to is correct."

"And what if he keeps doing this? Keeps asking for people and testing me?", her eyes water. "Maybe I should just give myself over to him and make a bargain that stipulates, if I do there will never be a war..."

"Are you fucking nuts?", he growls. "You will do no such thing!"

"Lucien—"

"No, Elain! You are not giving your life to him to be his slave, and you are not dying. End of."

"Lucien", she growls. "I will not be spoken down to like some soft subservient female.

"That's not—"

"I have a chance to save my family here."

"And I have a chance to save you! Don't you realize that Koschei will find a way to not stick to his word or any godsdamned bargain? Hybern found a way around Tamlin's bargain. Koschei is fifteen thousand years old. Fifteen thousand, Elain. He is a million steps ahead of us! And I will not lose you in the throes of this. I don't give a flying fuck. I won't!"

Elain tears up and crawls into his lap, clinging to him. Lucien hugs her tightly and peppers her in kisses. "Please", he begs, his voice cracking. "Please. Don't do this. Don't be foolish. I need you. I need you, El."

Elain sniffles and nods weakly. "But what if he tries to use me to hurt you or someone else...I can't handle that."

"How do we know he isn't lying, Elain? What if it's something else? He is a tricky bastard."

"I-I don't know. All I know is that I have to tell everyone, and we need to figure out what to do."

"I agree."

.

.

.

Eris paces on his balcony of the Dawn Court palace, his nerves sparking like a live wire within him as he looks up at the sky for the millionth time.

Nuan comes up behind him and hugs him. "She'll be here, Eris."

"What if she decided not to come? What if she realized how awful I am? What if that mate of hers turned her against me? He hates me, and I hate him. Of course she would take his words over mine. Of course she would—"

Nuan kisses him and he leans into her. "Shut up", she grins. "She will be here."

Eris glances at her lips and pulls her close, kissing her deeply, a claiming sort of kiss. She melts into it and curls her fingers into his cropped hair. "Mhh..."

He groans lightly into her mouth before pulling away, a boyish grin on his face. "Now I am conflicted."

Nuan slaps his chest and laughs softly. "Oh, hush."

Eris smiles at her and looks back up to the sky hesitantly. "I hate that he is going to be dropping her off."

"Play nice, Eris. You may be her father, but he is her mate. She will be as protective of him as he is of her. You have to at least be civil if you want her in your life, which I know you do. You've lost enough time with her already."

A drawn-out sigh. "Fine", he grumbles. "But why did the Mother have to do that to me? It's not like I wasn't dealt a shitty hand already."

Nuan kisses his cheek. "I have to believe that there is a reason."

"Yeah, to get in another jab at the firstborn son of that monster."

Nuan cups his face and levels him with a steely stare. "You are not your father, Eris. You are your own person. And you will make Autumn so amazing; you will liberate them from his horrific rule."

He leans forward and places his forehead on hers. "I hope so", he murmurs. "But we don't know when that will be. I don't know how long I can keep my mother in the dark about my being alive. Even if I wasn't her favorite son, I like to think she carried some sort of care for me. I don't want to keep her in the dark, and I certainly don't want to leave her there alone with nobody looking out for her. I was it, Nuan. And I—gods only know what he is doing to her now that I can't be there."

She rubs his chest lightly. "You Mother has been a strong female for a long time. I have to believe that anyone who can survive Beron, has an iron will. But we will figure it out, hm?"

His eyes drift close for a moment until they hear the flapping of large wings. Eris bristles and Nuan squeezes his arm soothingly.

Azriel gently lands, Gwyn in his arms. He tightens his hold on her even as he puts her down and she cups his face. "It's fine. Pick me up later, hm?"

He looks into her eyes and nods slowly, leaning down to kiss her thoroughly. Eris growls.

Az smirks on her lips and Gwyn narrows her eyes at him, pulling back. "Gooo", she chuckles.

He glares at Eris, then shoots back into the sky. Gwyn shakes her head and turns to Eris, smiling softly and folding her hands in front of her awkwardly.

"Hi..."

"Hi...I...I'm glad you decided to come."

"Of course. You're family now."

Eris nods slowly and takes a breath. "It's odd because I am not in my home Court. I'm quite...confined at the moment, so I am afraid I can't do much of anything."

"Oh, I don't think that. I am hoping you can still show me how to wield fire...I-...it has come to my attention that it decided to show its strength and I have been having the worst mood swings. More like rage blackouts a-and I don't want to hurt anyone. It's freaking me out."

His bright russet-amber eyes soften and he places a hand on her shoulder. "I understand. I quite remember the difficulty to control it. We can certainly practice."

"I don't like feeling that fury", she whispers. "It feels wrong...bad."

"I know", he says quietly. "But it is all in how and when you wield it. You are a good person, Gwyn. It all depends on the person using the power. Remember, you are in charge of it, not the other way around. That's the first key. Realizing you are the one in control."

Gwyn nods. "Right. Yeah...but sometimes it just happens, and I don't know what's going on or how to put a leash on it."

"Let's go down to the patio, near stone. I can try to guide you."

"Alright", she smiles softly, following him down the stairs. Nuan grins and lets them be for the time being.

Eris waves his hand and a pile of wood appears between them.

"Now, focus. Reach inside of yourself, and feel it burning, summon that heat forward and see it, feel it entering your hands", he says softly as she focuses hard.

"When you're starting out, anger helps it along. Willpower. Strength. Find that inner fire and make it physical on the outside."

She closes her eyes and tries for a few moments, before peeking. Opening her eyes, she groans and runs her hands through her copper hair, rubbing her face. "I can't. I can't do this. It's not working."

Eris walks over and gently pulls her hands from her face. "Gwyn. Look at me."

She looks at him defeatedly and sighs. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not usually like this, not even in Valkyrie training. I never get this agitated."

Eris nods slowly. "It's not you. It comes with the powers, unfortunately. As they grow, they will make you irritated, I'm sorry. Why do you think Autumn Court is known for fiery tempers?"

Gwyn tears up a bit and takes a shaky breath. "I don't want to hurt anyone. I almost hurt Azriel the other day...and Cauldron forbid I accidentally set books on fire at work. I-I could get fired, or worse, I could burn the library down! Merrill is going to be furious—"

Eris swallows hard and hugs her. Gwyn breathes heavily and sniffles, hugging back slowly.

"You won't, Gwyneth."

"You don't know that. You said I'll get angrier and that it runs on anger and that they'll grow."

"I did. But that does not mean you will cause a catastrophe. You are still a brilliant and levelheaded female. You are strong. Stronger than any power within you. You are a force all on your own."

"How would you know?", she says weakly, immediately feeling guilty.

Eris strokes her hair soothingly. "Because you're my daughter. But you're also Marina's daughter. Which means you're better than me. Better than this entire side of your family. You're like your mother. I see her spirit and her clear, determined eyes every time I look at you. And it makes me feel something that I haven't felt in a very long time. Joy."

Tears fall down her face and she hugs him tighter. "I-I wish...I hope she knows. That we're okay now."

He chokes back the lump in his throat and nods slowly. "Me too", he whispers.

"I love you, y'know."

Eris looks up at the overcast sky, fighting back tears, his chest caving in. "I love you, too."

Gwyn pulls away gently and looks at him, smiling sadly before reaching over and tracing a few of his freckles. "I never knew where mine came from. It made me different from Mom and Catrin", she sniffles as her hand drops. "But now I'm proud that I can wear features from both of my amazing parents on my face. I don't look in the mirror and hate myself quite as much anymore. I don't look in the mirror and see a broken victim anymore. In its place, I see the willpower and mischievousness of my mom, and I see the strength and the resilience of my dad. It reminds me that on my worst days, I'm not the only one who's been through the worst. And that despite them or between them, true happiness and love can still endure. I became a Valkyrie not just to make myself proud, but to make anyone who has ever been a victim see that it doesn't have to be forever. That you can heal, you can get better, and you can learn to see a different reflection looking back at you one day. I did it to make Mom proud, and to make Catrin proud", she chokes up. "And to make you proud."

He looks at her and tears up again, despite fighting it.

"Because even when I didn't know you, I had always hoped that if my father was alive, that somehow or someway, if he ever knew me, that my dad would be proud to call me his daughter." Tears trail down her cheeks as she looks at him and sniffles. "I never knew that secret I carried with me would ever come true. And now it has, and...I know that you've made your own mistakes, and you have things you aren't proud of and you have flaws and many frenemies", she chokes out a short laugh. "But I never needed you to be perfect. I just needed you to want to know me. And you're doing everything right so far."

A stray tear falls down Eris's face and he quickly wipes it away. "Gwyn..."

"I don't care what anyone else has to say about you because I know everyone gets a different version of you. You have to be careful and sometimes you have to wear masks. But I know the real you. This you. That...that drops everything when I need help even when you have important things to do."

"Gwyn you are the most important thing in my life. You have been since the very second I knew you were my child."

"And that's why I will always be proud to call you Dad. No matter who's around. No matter what they have to say about you, and no matter what happens. Anyone could be a father. But it takes a really special male to be a dad. Especially to a grown female that you never got to raise. I am so honored and glad I get to be your daughter, Eris."

Eris gives up trying to hold back his tears as he sniffles, hugging her tightly. Gwyn hugs him back as an image of her smiling mother and sister floats through her mind.

"I am ridiculously proud to call you my daughter. Not because of all your achievements and titles, but because of your heart. A heart of gold."

Gwyn smiles and wipes her tears away, looking absently at the pile of unburned wood. "Passed down from mom."

"I'm sorry..."

She shakes her head. "No. neither of us can do that anymore. We can't let the guilt control us for things we had no hand in perpetuating and things we could not prevent." Turning to him she holds her palms out and summons the anger she always feels at Hybern for their deaths, large flickering flames erupt from them, holding as she watches. "We need to control it, not the other way around."

A proud grin spreads across his face as he beholds her, those aqua-blue eyes of the ocean now lit with the fires of her paternal side.

Sucking in a sharp gasp, she holds them out towards the wood, and they shoot from her hands, the heat retreating back into her veins so quickly it makes sharp tingles along her skin.

"That part...sucks for a while. Like small burns. But it gets lesser and lesser the more you practice controlling it. When you learn how to reign it in naturally, it stops hurting."

Nodding, she stares at the bonfire she created, slightly in awe for a moment before speaking again. "You stayed away to save her. You stayed away to protect her. From Amarantha and her monsters, and from Beron...especially after what he did to Lucien's love. You couldn't have known that Hybern would decide to attack the temples. Plus, you were still Under the Mountain at that time. But I know that if you did know, you would've done anything to save her, even if it put yourself at risk. I heard about how you tried to fight the Queens for Prythian. For the Night Court and for the Autumn Court, giving it a small chance against Beron...and how you nearly got killed in the process. And afterward", she whispers.

Eris looks down and stretches his shoulders out of habit, as if those old scars truly ache when he remembers them. "Sometimes it's good to have "frenemies", for the friend side of them. Even if they only are so, for political reasons."

"I think...", she pauses for a moment, looking at him. "I think we were both meant to survive. Because we were both meant to know each other. I had Catrin, and now I have Nesta and Emerie...my sisters. You finally have Lucien back in some ways.

"I like to believe that, too."

"I'm hoping you will both find your way to being brothers again", she says softly. "I would give anything to have Catrin back. And I can't imagine knowing she is alive and not being able to see or speak to her out of fear that it would cause her harm. You did that for Lucien. I-I can't imagine how hard it was to pretend you hated him...and to make him hate you."

Eris looses a shaky breath. "With Beron sometimes even your choices are not a choice. But this is why nobody can know yet. About me being alive, about you being my daughter. This has to stay in the Night Court and between the Dawn royals."

"I know, Dad", she says quietly. "I understand. I'm just glad that you are here and I can visit you. I'm glad that you are healing, too. I think...it would be nice to heal together sometimes."

"I agree, sweetheart."

Gwyn nods and stands up straight as the bonfire flickers out. "Okay...let's do this again."

Eris grins. "That's my girl."