A Court of Witches and Curses

CHAPTER ONE

A/n hi!! When I made the first part, I wasn't sure if there was like an audience for my ACOTAR story but I'm so happy some people saw it :))

Also this takes place in like COMAF era and there are moments where I don't exactly follow the plot but that's for the sake of the story lol

I just want anyone to read this that as of now,, I haven't fully decided who Eden may or may not have a relationship with so if you at any point start shipping her with anyone maybe let me know in the comments and we'll see lol ;))

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EDEN'S POV

The second consciousness starts to return to me, everything in me wants to ease...wherever I am it's comfortable and warm and--a flood of memories takes over, and my entire body goes rigid. I snap upwards, body stiff and head aching. I am not safe--if I'm in a plush bed that probably means I'm back at the palace or at Aren's manor--and I cannot be there again. I can't--I can't ever go back--not after running away from the wedding.

I take a deep breath as my heartbeat rampaids, looking around the room. I'm still in that horrid wedding dress, my hair most likely matted, and the room I'm in is extremely...different from the palace and manor. The room is airy, a large, glassless window allows an unseasonably kind breeze into the room. That's good...that's--where the hell am I?

I fell off the horse. Like an idiot. Like a child who didn't learn horseback riding at the age of six--no, the horse jumped...it had been startled. And Aren's horses don't get startled easily, so it's extremely unlikely that horse just saw a snake or something else small.

Where am I? At least I can feel the breeze from here, it reminds me of nights on the docs...and it's extremely refreshing against my sweaty skin. A part of me wants to shed the awful dress to feel the wind against me fully, but that would be so incredibly ridiculous. I sit up a little more, fighting against the draw of the plush pillows and the exhausted ache in my bones...how long did I ride?

"You're awake."

The voice is familiar--that of a dream. I turn my head a little too sharply, sizing up the individual in the doorway. A female, tall and beautiful with dirty blonde hair braided out of her face in clearly expensive closing. She's so together a shy part of me is embarrassed of her seeing me like this. I squint, trying to make her out a little better as I find familiarity in the features--that sharp nose, those pale eyes--that voice.

"Feyra?" No--it--it can't be her. I'm delirious and lost and hopeful. Maybe I have a conscious--I reach for my head, feeling for any bump or injury but my proding leaves me with no reason to wince. "Sorry--you just um--you look so much like someone I used to know." I cringe slightly, giving her no time to speak. "A good thing, I promise--I really, really care about her and I probably lost blood or something and I'm in your house--I'm assuming--and I just..." I shake my head once, annoyed at my rambling, "You seem like her but there's some large difference I can't quite place a finger on--not that that's bad--just." I swallow once, resisting the urge to cringe, "You're not her."

She takes a tentative step forward, allowing the light from the window to touch her face and I swallow down another gush of uncertain words. Maybe I'm dead. Maybe Aren killed me and now I'm seeing some heavenly version of Feyra who's so clearly more ethereal--she'd always been pretty, but this version of her is so flawless it's practically frightening. Besides...that would be insane. Feyra left, she went to stay with some aunt according to Nesta.

"Eds." The nickname Feyra called me when we were children--this is most definitely a hallucination. "I am Feyra."

I sit up a little more, scooting forward just slightly, "Yeah, I'm definitely hallucinating."