Chapter 327

Twisting her hands, Elain tugged at the binding around her wrists. This was ridiculous. She was in the Day Court, she was meant to be safe, and this wasn't meant to be happening. Movement caught her attention then and she looked up to see Ashk sitting beside her, back against the wall, a haughty expression on her elegant face.

"What is happening?" Elain asked. She had awoken barely minutes before, feeling groggy and unfocused and, other than finding her wrists bound, nothing else had caught her attention.

"Someone is attempting to play their hand in the political game of Courts." Ashk sounded bored and a little put out. Elain rubbed at her head, feeling a sore spot she was sure had been struck rather brutally.

"They…" Tisia shuffled closer to Elain, a look on her pretty face that Elain thought fell somewhere between confusion and fear, "They broke us into different rooms."

Glancing around the dimly lit space, Elain saw that she was with Ashk, Tisia, Kera, Noor and a handful of male Courtiers that Elain was unfamiliar with. "Oh?"

"Amala and Eria are in a room nearby." Tisia murmured, wrapping her arms around herself and rubbing her arms.

"How do you know that?" Elain asked her.

"They … didn't knock me unconscious." Tisia replied, eyeing Elain. "You were kicking and screaming and they smacked you…" her eyes flicked to the sore spot on Elain's head and Elain lifted a hand to touch it gingerly. "They carried you in here, and they marched Amala and Eria through another door with some of the others… They didn't say why they were splitting us up."

"Who are they?"

Tisia shifted uncomfortably. "I…"

"Do you know them?"

"Not the ones who grabbed us." She replied, "Those who came out of that street and picked you up like you weighed nothing…" Tisia visibly shuddered, "But when we got here…" She fiddled with her hands, her green eyes flicking from those hands up to Elain and then back down again, glinting in the dim light. "Several members of the Court…"

"Really? Elain asked, unable to hold the shock in. Helion's Court had seemed so loyal. They all loved him. She looked to Ashk who was paying close attention to what Tisia was saying, and she wondered if the older female had seen this coming at all.

"I can't believe it." Tisia breathed, and Elain thought that the dark-haired female might be rocking back and forth a little. "I don't understand why they would be doing this…"

"What are they doing?" Noor asked, shuffling toward them. "Are they ransoming us? Are they going to kill us?"

"Have they not said?" Ashk asked, and Elain looked at her. She frowned when she noticed the thin trail of blood going from her temple and down the side of her face. Evidently Ashk had been struck as well.

"Are you alright?" Elain asked, reaching out to her as best she could with her wrists bound. Ashk nodded, sitting a little straighter.

"I've been through worse."

Elain didn't want to imagine what that might have been. The Autumn Court had apparently been far more brutal than Elain had ever seen it, and she had seen Jesminda's execution. She did not want to know what Beron must have put his wife though.

"You've been taken like this before?" Noor sounded a little awed, and Ashk's russet eyes looked from one of them to the next.

"Many have tried to use me for their own ends." She said, voice calm. "It never ends well for them."

Elain bit her lip, rubbing gently at her head. As far as she could tell there was no split in her scalp, and she could feel no blood. "I want to know why they split us."