Chapter 36

I don't normally do this but I recommend listening to "Shadows" by Sabrina Carpenter while reading this chapter. Maybe start it after the 7th paragraph? Up to you guys I just thought it fit well.

https://youtu.be/6HIKvxRV3ls

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I woke up, mouth full of dirt and dried blood and I spat it on the ground as I laid my brow on the ground. The throbbing in my arm parallel to the throbbing in my head. I rubbed the spot but there was something else, something else that felt off. The living bond that used to flow from me was empty, and I jerked up, remembering what had happened, where we were.

The rest of my family laid in a line, shackled in faebane chain, emitting a low glowing blue light. But Az and Cassian, those were arrows in their body, and even as they doubled over in pain, I thanked the cauldron that their wings were safe. At least there was that, Mor was still sprawled on the ground, head on Cassian's lap, inches from a wicked arrow on his thigh. By the way his face withered in pain I could tell that it bothered him, but not enough to do anything about it. Amren had a nasty cut and bruise on her cheekbone but aside from that, she looked fine slumped in the corner of the cell, unconscious. It was flimsy at best, stones fresh enough that made me believe it was recently made.... This was a trap, and like fools we ran right into it. I went to move for Cassian and Azriel, if I could get them some of my blood, pull out the ash arrows before It caused permanent damage, we still might have a shot to escape. But in the shadows, hidden from the light, something stirred. Rhys face came into view and I choked on a sob as I crawled to him. I was the only one awake without chains, most likely because of the fae bane powder they blew on me. Rhys had chains around his wrists and ankles, not to mention the two ash arrows on either shoulder. As if to make sure that he wouldn't do anything, couldn't. And despite his shackles, despite the arrows, he still reached for me, face filled with pain and, and guilt. I put my palm to his cheek, and he leaned into it; our foreheads resting. Without him expecting it, I reached up and wrapped my hands against the arrow stick, snapping it in two and pulling it out of his shoulder. He grunted in pain. And before he could real in from the first arrow, I did the same thing to the other one. It only took his seconds to recover and he brushed a kiss to my lips. "Thank you" I nodded but began to say something else, in a hushed whisper in case anyone, or anything was listening. "I'm going to pull these chains off of you Rhys, and you are going to level this camp to the ground, you hear me. To hell with survivors or doing it the diplomatic way, kill them all." A smirk of a smile appeared on his lips "Just what I was thinking. You need to save us first though" I huffed a laugh and pulled back, peering into his face. "As always". I cut open my palm with a piece of metal attached to his chains and brought it to his mouth, speeding the recovery.

Next I crawled to Cassian and Az first. "Hey" I breathed. "So I was wondering if you heard what happened during the recent game." I stared into Cassian's eyes, then Azriel's, please understand me, please. Az understood first, Cassian following behind after a couple seconds, at first giving me a stare like he wanted to knock me on the side of my head. But he barely missed a beat when he did come around and started easy conversation. "I heard they thought it was going to be an easy win but got slaughtered during the first half, everyone was wondering what they were going to do for the second half to catch up." I smiled and snapped the arrow in his thigh in half, pulling it out. He grunted, but the conversation helped to distract him. "Well someone told me that they overheard the team in a huddle, said that the minute they got back on the field their strongest player was going to plow the field."

"And what did they say in the huddle about the other players" Azriel said, voice laced in pain. I took the opportunity to break and pull another arrow from Cassian's shoulder and he shook in pain, but I continued explaining. "The other team members were told to make the first move, breaking through the first line and allowing the strong one to make his move down the open path." And as I spoke the final words, I pulled the last arrow from his side, the bad one. I brought my palm to his mouth and he drank a sip of my blood; the cut which should have been heeled was still oozing blood, the fae bane powder still in full affect. I scooted over to Az and looked at him in confirmation to start. He nodded and I wrapped my hand against the hilt ready to break the shaft. Mor startled awake with a vicious jolt looking around at her surroundings. Cassian grabbed her pulling her close to him and what looked to be an intimate hug was actually him whispering the plan into her ear. There was no time to let our failure sink in, that we could do at home; right now, we just needed to get out of here and find our way home. Amren, Mor and I weren't in shackles I remembered as I pulled an arrow from Az. Male idiocy indeed if they didn't chain the high lady, the second, and the third in command to the night court. More male idiocy if they didn't bother to post a guard at the cell either. Or perhaps not idiots but intent on letting us see them that way, especially when they somehow managed to best all of us; the most powerful Illyrian's and high lord in history.

With a last snap I pulled the last arrow from Az's back and brought my palm to his mouth, wrapping it in my shirt when he was finished. I quickly stood and walked to Amren, crouching at her side and shaking her until she woke up. I left the explaining to Az as I went back to Rhys.

"Now" I said, motioning to Mor and Amren. If we were going to do this, it would have to be now. We each grabbed hold of one of the chains and pulled on where it was mounted into the stone wall. I braced a leg on the wall for support and eventually was able to rip it out, even if the touch of the chains made my blood recoil. The others also seemed to get the first chain off, starting with the second. I had to hurry, Rhys had double the amount of chains. By the time I got the second chain off, my arms felt like spaghetti all I wanted was to lay in bed with my two boys. Two more I reminded myself. Fingers wrapping around the blue metal I grounded my teeth as I pulled, the stone cracking but not snapping off the wall. I let go of the chain, letting it rattle to the floor as I braced a hand on the wall, the other one cradling my head as I felt dizzy. "Feyre take your time." "No, I have to do this now" I grabbed the chains again, jaw clenching, pulling when a hand wrapped over mine, Mor. She was pulling with me and we got both chains from the floor. Az and Cassian were standing up, both of them limping but, but they were whole, they'd recover. "How are you feeling?" I asked Rhys. "Fine for now, powers should come back in a couple of minutes, let's go, I can already tell there are at least 20 guards coming now." "shit, can you guys run?" the question directed to the boys. They nodded and I glanced to their siphons dull and empty. "Does anyone have power in this room?" I said into the room. They all shook their heads, great, we'll have to deal with Rhys 10%, which is still more than most fae, and wait until the other boys got their powers back, and when the fae bane powder wore off of me, Mor, and Amren.... But that could be hours. This was not good at all.

Rhys walked over to the thick walls and placed his hand over it, closing his eyes and grounding his jaw in concentration. It took him a while, more than it should have but eventually the walls cracked under his fingers, spreading like a spiderweb until it all crumbled to the ground, leaving a gaping hole into the freezing night beyond. We stepped through it one by one and we didn't even take three steps before a group of 20 men stopped before us, all armed to the teeth, and could have any sort of power. We are only 6, three injured, only one with some sort of power. We were so so screwed. Mor, Amren and I took up the front lines seeing that we weren't injured, trying to get the brunt off the fighting. And yet, the boys still fought, and fought well. I spun and ducked, stabbing my knife into males' sides, feeling them drop beneath my touch. I had to have killed four or five in a matter of seconds, Mor and Amren the same leaving the boys to pick of the stranglers. When I sliced through the last body, looking around to make sure everyone was ok, I heard it. The stomping of feet, and a lot of them. In a matter of seconds, they formed a wide circle around us, trapping us. I spun in a circle, looking for any way out, the weakest side maybe, but there was no use, they were at least 100 strong. I let out a tiny whimper and backed up, meeting Rhys chest. He placed a hand on my hip, and I closed my eyes, this was not the way I wanted to go. "How's that power coming along?" He leaned into my ear, "not fast enough, I can maybe mist a few men or at the least create a separation in the crowd, maybe reinforced by Cassian and Azriel's power..." it was a shot, maybe the only shot we had at getting out of here. I took a step out of his reach, to somehow convey the idea to the others but a male stepped out of the crowd, chuckling, and clapping.

"Well, well, well. I have to say I am a bit disappointed. Sadly, I was expecting more from you lot."

"It'll take a lot more than some arrows and faebane to get rid of us unfortunately." Mor said, head held high. Time, she was giving us time to grow our power.

"It seems not"

My blood was boiling

"And who are you" I asked

He smirked, "I high lady, am the one who orchestrated the attempt on your life and the battle in your city" I snorted, "and look how well that worked out for you"

"On the contrary" he responded. "I think it worked perfectly"

My blood chilled, "What are you talking about" Amren spit at him.

"We may have gotten the monsters that lived in your forest under control, under the pretense of a promise of course, but what we didn't know was how to use them as a weapon, our weapon." Every part of my body froze. no, no, no. "You taught us exactly how to do just that, so thank you. As soon as we can carve up that power from your little body- "

His moth just stopped working, he stood there, gapping like a fish, mouth wrapping around his throat as he wondered what was happening. The guards around us shifted, getting into defensive positions. But I had seen this power before, I turned to Rhys, sweat dripped down his brow and I could tell he was using all of his power.

"Rhys" his eyes met mine and they softened, the anger in them vanishing and he dropped his hold on the man.

He took deep gasps of air but still managed to laugh.

"Oh, Rhysand, how I have plans for you" my blood boiled, it was one thing to threaten me, but my mate? I was going to say something, but he continued, "how about I strap you down while you watch your mate and son get tortured huh?" my whole family growled, I growled. I stepped forward, eyes focused on the male, oh I was going to kill him, my blood thrummed with the word. Kill him, kill him, kill him.

I took another step "Do not" I began "threaten my son". Another step. He was still smiling, that smirk on his face. Oh, I was going to take that smirk right off his ugly face.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" the monsters rose deep from within me. I tried to push them down, but they grew on the pure determination of the kill. I grounded my teeth, trying to get them back in line but, but what if I let them come up, what if I embraced them, let them become me? I slowly let them rise up, merging with them, not fighting them. These monsters, they weren't magic, no they were not affected by the fae bane because they were the night court itself. And I would splatter them all.

I took another step and felt my eyes turn black, felt the black fire form at my fingertips. The smirk on his face finally, finally fell, and the guards around him took a step back, horror coating their face. I had never let it get passed this point before I had turned into myself, scared of my own powers; but this was nothing to be scared for. Indeed, like he said, I was a weapon; a weapon to be feared.

My voice when I spoke was dark and raspy, a voice I had only used once before. This was the voice of the night court monsters. This was the voice of my monster, the one in the ouroboros, and these males, they were all dead.

Rhys pov.:

I could do nothing, nothing as I watched Feyre turn into the beast she hated. I wanted to reach for her, to tell her she was ok, that she could control it, but five guards held me, the first three who tried to stop me from going to her dead on the ground. With my power as much as gone I didn't have the strength to fight them. Men held the rest of our family, Cassian struggling against the six men that held him, even as blood oozed from his slow healing wounds he fought. He was only starring at Feyre, like he wanted to reach her, to help her. "Cassian" I said, to no avail. "Cassian" I said again, bite in my voice and he finally turned to me, rage across every feature. "Watch her" "She's going to hurt herself" not me, not him, her. It seemed the day on the training ring really scared the shit out of him, but not at what she could do to him, but to herself. "Cassian watch" because indeed, where she slowly prowled for the male leader she was in control. Fully in control and I smirked, my darling saving the day again. But I didn't expect when her feet lifted from the ground, didn't expect when black ink flowed from her body, snaking towards the crowd. And when that fog landed on a group of males with their sword's out, nothing could have prepared me for when the ink lifted and the males that were standing there were nothing but a pile of ash. Not misted, not dead from the mind, but burned from this inside out. The leaders face paled when he saw what she did, others started running but she threw out a hand and she trapped them in a ring of darkness, like they had done to us. My family just watched; amazement written on their faces.

Feyre rose until she was higher than trees. She turned towards the leader, sword drawn out as if he could fight this, fight what he said he 'created', and in a blink of an eye, he dropped to the ground, landing as a pile of ash. The bond began returning between Feyre and I but all I could feel was exhaustion, utter exhaustion; she couldn't hold out much longer. But yet, she dragged her hand over the crowd, her back now turning until she was facing us and turned her hand, fisting it in the air. Great jaws swept over the crowd, killing everyone it touched, not a scream even left their mouths fast enough. When the darkness came for us, it passed by with feline expertise, killing the guards who held us, and releasing us unharmed. But they didn't turn to ash like the others, instead they dropped to the ground, dead but, but she was really drained now. This extent of magic would be draining on anyone. Her dark eyes met mine and they flickered until her blue grey eyes pierced mine. She gave me a small smile before fainting, and I watched as she fell from the sky. I ran and winnowed to where she, magic strained I caught her in the air and then shot out my wings, gliding us to the floor where she rested peacefully in my arms, the darkness within her nowhere to be seen.

I looked up to my family where they checked for any survivors.... They didn't. And as their faces met mine, I spoke "Let's go home". It took all of my strength, and whatever power was slowly coming back to Mor, but we landed on the plush carpet of our home. We were home.

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So..... what do you think?

what you expected?

What you guys wanted?

lmk

xoxo,

-S