The Spymaster's Assassin (An ACoTaR Fanfic)

Chapter 40

The room was still. The girl was looking around in fear, her blue eyes wide and hair a sopping mess.

"Well, Adrianna? Will you let me test this one, too?" Hybern asked, tauntingly, scathingly.

I glared at him and snarled, "Never." I tried to reach my my sword, but an invisible force seemed to be pulling my arm away, wrenching it back with every effort I made to draw it. Then, a gust of wind from a mere flick of the evil king's wrist sent me flying back into the wall and there was a loud crack as I felt one of my wings break and I cried out in pain.

Tears streamed down my face. "Stop it!" I yelled. "Stop it!" My heart hammering in my chest, I slowly got to my feet. "S-Stop!" I managed weakly. "P-Please. Stop this. You can have me. Just let them go. Send them away. Get them away from me."

"Adrianna, no!" Cassian yelled through the pain. Azriel's eyes were filled with tears as he looked at me silently.  The pain in his expression I knew was from not only the ash bolt, but what I had to do next. And it broke my heart.

I felt tears slide faster down my cheeks as I brought on my act. "I know now. There's no use in hiding it. I realized now that it's always been a trick. They've been tricking me, too. Confusing me about who my real parents were, and even convincing me that the Meridians deserved death. That I would kill whomever they pleased in the name of avenging someone who wasn't even dead! Why else would Rhysand have lied to me this whole time?" I turned to Hybern. "You are my real father. And because of that, let me go wherever Feyre goes. Break this bond on me- this lie- and I'll be a good servant. He put this on me when I was asleep, you understand, and then made me believe it was the mating bond!"

"Adrianna what are you doing?" Mor cried as her hands glowed as she tried to stop Az's bleeding. He was smiling faintly at me, a broken plea between us. Just stop this. All of this. But I couldn't. And he knew I couldn't. And he held my gaze steadily, preparing himself for the blows to come.

"How about this..." Hybern mused. "You let me put this one in the Cauldron, and then I'll destroy both of your bonds. You may both then go to Spring Court with this High Lord of Spring. How do you find that? Is that satisfactory?"

"Send the Night Court people back to where they came from." I snarled. Tears slid down my cheeks faster. "I never want to see them again. They ruined me."

I didn't look in their direction, knowing their faces would make any resolve I had on myself crack.

Hybern clapped his hands together and the second sister was thrown into the Cauldron. Feyre began to cry harder, straining against Tamlin's hold on her.

I began to stuff the mating bond deep within me, as Rhys had taught me to. To shut out and push down that glow and warmth until it was almost gone. And I stuffed it until it was in the deepest recess within me. Where no one would find it.

"A-Adrianna! Why are you doing this? I love you!" Azriel shouted, voice cracking as he felt me stuff back the bond. His voice was frantic and he actually tried to sit up. To stop this. To stop me from burying our bond. A tear slid down my cheek, my only reply as I kept my eyes riveted on the Cauldron and the enraged sister who came from it.

My voice came out hollow. It didn't sound like me
It didn't sound anything like me. "And I loved you, once. But it was a lie. A sham. You should have known better, Azriel. You should have known I would have broken the spell you put on me. You're just like the rest of them. How could you trap a woman and expect her to love you? I have had enough with lying males. You only wanted what I could give you. It's all you ever wanted."

I forced myself to look at him and instead of the brokenness I expected, all I met was a hard wall, an angry glare that I had seen him only direct at his enemies. A defense as he stuffed down his own pain and his connection to our bond.