A Court of Death and Retribution

chapter 36

My eyes flew open as I breathed heavily. A thin layer of sweat covered me, so I threw the blanket off and strode into the bathroom. Nyx followed sleepily behind me.

"What happened? What's wrong?" He rubbed his eyes as I splashed my face with cold water.

"The Dark Mother paid me another visit." My voice came out depleted.

He rubbed a hand on my back, mindlessly brushing his fingers over my scars. I flinched, but then allowed him to pull me into a hug.

"What did she say?" Nyx's voice was still groggy, but concern laced his tone as his hand came up to rake through my hair.

I breathed once, opening my mouth to respond, but I shut it and pressed my cheek against his bare chest. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to form her words again, but I could only see those sage green eyes that mirrored mine. Her black hair that fell to her middle back. It didn't curl—that and her height were the only things that made the Dark Mother and I different. What haunted me the most was the confidence in her voice. She was so sure of the future, it made me question whether she had already seen it.

I opened my mouth again to respond, but all I could hear was the memory of her wicked laughter.

Nyx pulled away slightly to cup my face in his hands, pulling my gaze up to his blue eyes. "Show me." He whispered, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

With another breath, I let down my mental walls and allowed him to see what the Dark Mother said. His expression hardened as he pulled me back against him.

"What do I do?" I wanted to run and hide. I wanted to get as far away from the Dark Mother as possible, but I couldn't. She lives inside of my nightmares. She's the one thing I can't run from, but every instinct is telling me to run and never look back.

"If you run I'm running with you." Nyx said with conviction.

I grumbled and threw my mental walls up. "I just want her out of my head. I want her to die."

"Then we'll kill her... together." Nyx pulled me away by my arms and narrowed his eyes at me. "We'll all handle this together Bella. Every single one of us. You're not alone. Velaris is your home, we'll fight for it together."

If someone had told me I had a home a month ago, I probably would have freaked out and ran. But now, after everything... Nyx is right. Velaris, the entire Night Court even, is my home. Some bitch who looks like me won't take it from me or anyone that I love.

Gathering more confidence. I looked into Nyx's blue eyes and nodded slowly. "Okay. I won't run."

—

"Just try to reach out to us like you did with the witches. Form that tether between you and Cal." Amren picked at her nails as she instructed me.

"For the record, I'm not too thrilled about this." Cal laughed nervously, making me smile.

Nyx, Adira, and Rhysand chuckled from where they sat on a sofa in the study. I took a deep breath and tried for the fifth time to focus that dark magic to reach out to Cal, but I just couldn't do it.

With a sigh, I ran my hand through my hair and shot Amren a glare. "It's not working."

"Don't give me that look, girl. Try harder." Amren narrowed her eyes at me.

"I'm trying as hard as I can. It's not fucking working." I snapped.

"Language Bella." Rhysand sighed.

I shot him a well-earned glare, then turned to Cal. With my ungloved hand, I opened my palm and directed it at him. He winced in anticipation, but still nothing.

"Try something easier." Nyx suggested.

"Like what?" I crossed my arms.

He gestured to the balcony and we all walked out into the heat of the day. The sound of the rushing Sidra filled the air along with the calming sounds of trees rustling in the wind. From here, we had a perfect view of Elain's garden. I could see those white roses she planted for me looking healthier than ever.

Nyx held out his hand to me. "Just have some fun Bella." He gave me a smile as I took his hand, feeling the rush of air fill my lungs.

When I took back my hand, excitement coursed through me, but when I looked around, I didn't know what I wanted to do with his powers.

I could feel each of them inside of me, like they each had their own feelings associated with them. Water felt smooth and fresh, fire was quick and angry, ice was cold and sharp, light was happy and thrilling, dark was calm and alluring, and the Spring's powers... they were wild. The Spring's powers were the most erratic of the group, and something deep inside of me wanted to use that power. But for what?

My face paled after I realized just what I could do with the Spring's powers. I didn't hesitate a moment longer to use it to create a set of Illyrian wings sprouting from my back—identical to my old ones. A tear fell down my cheek as I felt the familiar weight of them on my back, but I didn't have much more of Nyx's power left.

A gentle hand came onto my shoulder. I turned to find Adira at my side, and she pulled me into a tight hug as my wings faded away with Nyx's power. I let my tears fall soundlessly down my face as she rubbed my back. When she pulled away, I sniffled once, then cleared my throat and looked to Amren. "I'm ready to try again."

She nodded once, then we all found ourselves back in the study.

We worked our way up to tethering. I killed plant after plant without breaking a sweat. Rhysand had mumbled a joke about how Elain would faint from all of the harm I'm doing to these plants, which sent us all into a fit of laughter.

Then, Amren once again pulled Cal in front of me and told me to reach out to him with my magic.

I focused on that darkness swirling inside of me. I thought about the Dark Mother and how she told me that my darkness is hers. She thinks that I am hers to use to kill the Mother. She knows that I will help her.

I can't wait to prove her wrong.

I latched onto that darkness and then focused on Cal—more specifically his energy. Amren had told me that it was likely that I felt the witches' magic and latched onto them that way. So, if I do the same with Cal, then I could control even more of my magic.

That was the difficult part—finding Cal's power. I could feel it like any normal Fae could, it hummed off of everyone in their own amounts. Cal's power seemed to seep from him normally. It was a power that I was used to, similar to my father's in a way that's similar to all Illyrians. I reached out with my senses and found his power, but it slipped through my metaphorical grasp. Reaching out again, I finally grabbed ahold of it, then formed a mental bridge between his power and my dark magic.

"Woah." Cal gasped with widened eyes and rubbed his chest.

"Focus, girl. Do you have the bridge?" Amren stood from her seat.

I nodded, only because I feared that if I spoke, I would lose concentration and kill Cal. But I could feel that bridge between us. It was a thick strand of invisible black, dripping and oozing with malice.

"Perfect, now pull it away carefully." Amren instructed with caution.

I took a few steadying breaths, then felt the tether and searched for his power. It was a mess of Illyrian power and dark magic, but I managed to untangle it carefully and draw mine back into myself. As soon as the tether was dropped, Cal and I both dropped to our knees breathing heavily.

Everyone huddled around us, making sure we were okay. Nyx was rubbing my back with a worried expression while Adira shot out curses. Rhysand shook Cal's shoulders and Amren just crossed her arms with a nervous expression.

My eyes met Cal's, then in unison, we exploded with laughter.