A Court of Fire and Starlight (ACOTAR Fan Fiction)

That's the Tea

ERIS

Getting Astra back into bed was more difficult than fighting against Hybern's army.

Her body was still weak and needed to repair itself or she'd injure herself further, potentially causing another outburst of her power. He could see she was in pain by the way her shoulders hunched and the tight-lipped wince that appeared on her face each time she moved.

Pleading with her to rest had done little. Bribing her with whatever she wanted hadn't made her budge. Proposing that Reed could come to serve her on his hands and knees with his mouth sewn shut had made her smile at least. Offering a bargain to give her anything if she just rested a while longer, had intrigued her but she didn't accept.

Eris was surely going to pay for what had finally gotten her back under the pelts with her head on a pillow.

It wasn't entirely his fault. Reed had sauntered back in while they were bickering with a cup of steaming tea. "A brew the healer left to ensure a quick recovery," he had preached.

Astra was evidently dreaming up some plan that she wanted to put into motion quickly because she had taken the hot porcelain mug from Reed's outstretched and didn't bother to sniff the aroma or let it cool before she gulped it down, sputtering from the hot liquid running down her throat.

After seeing Reed try to hide his smug, immoral grin, Eris knew what he'd done – or rather what he'd failed to mention.

Astra was muttering something to herself while crossing the room to get to the staircase. Her steps swayed and her words broke off the mid-nonsensical sentence as the mug dropped from her hand, shattering. Reed and Eris nearly butted heads rushing to catch her before her head smacked against the wood floor.

Wisely, Reed had relinquished the half of her he held to Eris.

"Tea to ensure a quick recovery... Really Reed, did you make a bet to see if you could get her to attack you?" Eris snapped while cradling her in his arms and placing her back in bed.

Reed chuckled quietly. "Oh, it was left by the healer for that purpose. I just neglected to mention it works while the patient sleeps."

She was so deeply unconscious; she didn't even curl on her side. He sighed and resisted the urge to throttle Reed, who was lucky Eris thought she desperately needed more rest.

Stepping around the bed, Eris plucked the knife she'd been holding off the floor and examined it closely. It wasn't one of her preferred twin daggers she often strapped to her hips, but he recognized it as the knife she'd been twirling in Dawn. It had given her parents pause when they'd seen her with it so he guessed it should not have ended up buried in her chest.

Eris snapped his fingers and every hound in the room hopped off the bed and sat at attention around him. The weapon was presented to each wet nose, allowing them to sniff the scent that lay beyond Astra's blood.

"Alive," Eris firmly commanded before they barreled past Reed down the curved stairs to begin their hunt.

---

It took his smokehounds four hours to locate their prey.

Rikoh and Kane had shown up at his private house as the sun was directly overhead. Lucien had presumably gone back to his pregnant mate. If he were smart, he was hiding deep within Spring from both Rhysand and Eris.

When Eris winnowed Kane and Rikoh to where the smokehounds were pulling him, he had half a mind to send them after his youngest brother next for informing Amren and Rhysand of what had happened to Astra.