Of High Lords and Heirs

Epilogue

It was a shock for the Inner Circle to return to Velaris to discover Saraiyu's betrayal. Azriel was cold and hard when he told them. It was as though he didn't know how he was meant to react, how he was meant to deal with the information he was giving them.

It didn't matter that none of it was Azriel's fault, didn't matter that he had incidentally foiled the plans of the Hewn City Council. Plans that were undoubtedly nefarious. Azriel still blamed himself for not figuring it out sooner, despite there not being anything to figure out. Saraiyu had played them all, and had played them well.

The only thing left to do was question her. Rhys attempted to take it easy on her, for Azriel's sake at least. Azriel, though, didn't seem to care about what had happened, why she had done what she did. He said outright that he no longer cared about her. That, as far as he was concerned, Saraiyu no longer existed. Azriel was not present for Saraiyu's questioning. The betrayal of his mate had hit him too hard.

Saraiyu was surprisingly honest with them. Frank, even. A case of being forced to do something against her own will due to fear of her own safety. A fear of her own life.

"My father found out that I was passing information on to you," Saraiyu said simply. "His anger was beyond belief. He was already attemlting to force me into marrying him, this was the fait acompli he used to make me. When my father mated Nesta, I believed that it rended my marriage to him invalid. Wanting a new life for myself, I made my way here."

"What happened then?" Rhys asked coldly. "No one made you sell us out to the Hewn City. No own made you help them. You made that choice yourself. You made it of your own free will. You willingly chose to betray us."

"I received a letter from my father a few days after I arrived here," Saraiyu replied. "He was furious about my betrayal of him, my betrayal of the Hewn City. My father said that if I did not give him what he wanted, then he would track me down and kill me. Slowly. Viciously. I was too scared of him to say no."

Despite being inclined to believe her, Saraiyu's last words to Rhys haunted him. "Do you really think that monster down here has any affect on me?" she had said quietly. "I have suffered more horrors at my father's hadns than you could possibly imagine. If you mean to terrorize me into submission the way that Keir has been, you will have to try a hell of a lot harder. Perhaps find a different monster altogether."

Even days later, Rhys could not get the words out of his head. What had she meant? The residents of the Hewn City were notoriously evil, Thanatos being among the worst of the lot. What had he done to her, what had made her so desensitised that even Bryaxis had no real affect on her?

The only comfort to him on that level was that the plans that had been made by the Hewn City had foundered without her. They were no longer talking of invading Velaris, no longer talking about creating their own Court. Had Saraiyu ever known just how destructive their plans would have been if they were carried out? Rhys could not help but wonder if Saraiyu had ever truly known what they had been planning. If she had known exactly what she was helping her father with, when she had agreed to spy on them. These were questions that none of them would ever learn the answers to, for Saraiyu would never divulge them as long as she lived.

Helping Azriel face what had happened that day – the betrayal of his mate – was the toughest thing that they had to face in the following months. Years even. Azriel's pain had been made worse with the knowledge that Saraiyu had known that the two of them were mates, but refused to acknolwedge it because she did notwant the 'trouble' or the 'inconvenience' of a mate.

After that had come out, Azriel had become even more cut off from everyone than normal. He remained more than content to let Saraiyu suffer the effects of Bryaxis. Nothing anyone said had any effect on him whatsoever.

Saraiyu's imprisonment did have one rather unexpected side effect. The uprising planned by the lords of the Hewn City completely petered out. No one in the Hewn City was happy about it, but were forced into submission due to the single fact that none of their plans had any chance of success.

Their plans to create their own Court had failed without Keir to back them up, not that it would have worked anyway. Their plans to invade Velaris failed without Saraiyu providing them with information.

Surprisingly, Thanatos never truly seemed to care about his daughter's imprisonment. As far as he was concerned, as soon as she allowed herself to be caught she was no longer his daughter. Thanatos disinherited her almost as soon as the news of his daughter's captured reached the Hewn City.

Nesta was never happy in the Hewn City, never fully content with her life. Nesta had never been a happy person in the first place, but in the years since, her discontent and despondency had only grown worse. In all fairness, being mated to Thanatos likely did not help Nesta grow into a better person. Nesta hated Thanatos, and hated her children by him just as much. She hated her lack of freedom, her every movement being watched. She hated that her sisters would not help her gain the fame and notoriety that she so dearly wanted.

In a way, it was as though Nesta's mind was unable to compute what the decisions she had made and she was now stuck in a rut, unable to move on. Not that Thanatos would have let her move on, or away, from him.

Tamlin, much like Nesta, remained a sad, bitter male, unable to comprehend that he had brought his fate upon himself. To Tamlin's utter fury, he was never able to undo the hold that Rhysand had on the mind of his darling Feyre. Never able to understand that Feyre no longer loved him and had fallen in love with wth Rhysand instead.

He resented the idea of the children that he belived to be 'his' growing up believing that their father was his eternal enemy instead. He would always remember the two and a half months in which the children lived with love and joy. At the same, Tamlin wished that he had been able to get that final memory of living with Feyre in his manor.

Or rather, former manor. To Tamlin's eternal anger and rage, he was never able to regain his former status. Was never again able to become High Lord of the Spring Court. It was the loss of his titles and powers that rankled the most, though. He had always enjoyed the power and prestige the title had brought him. For the rest of his miserable life Tamlin resented Feyre, Ianthe and Lucien for not pressuring the other High Lords for reinstating him.

Not that he could really blame Ianthe. After that summit, Ianthe vanished off the face of the earth, never to be seen or heard from again. Tamlin always worried about what might have happened to her.

Despite Tamlin's words during the summit, however, he never showed an interest in Alis again. Never showed an interest in the child he'd sired on her. To Alis' anger, Tamlin never provided their child any financial support. Tamlin was still angry about his reduced status and if the child was not going to be High Lord after him, then he did not want anything to do with it.

As far as Tamlin was concerned, Alis and the child were a part of his past. He may once have wanted Alis when he was actively trying to get Feyre to return to the Spring Court, but that was all in the past. Now, if Tamlin couldn't have Feyre, then he didn't want any female at all. Tamlin had not only destroyed his own life, but the life of Alis as well.