After the fall

XIV

FEYRE POV

After Rhys made the threat to this invisible monster the whole court looked at each other. Glances of determination and fury going through us all. This girl, quite possibly gave more than Rhys and I for this court. We came back with a chance of becoming what we once were. She was wiped clean, she was given a living death. For 50 she was a blank slate who only remembers her torture and the face of an ash coffin. The other five she was out, various assassinations and tortures were done at her hand. After slipping into her mind it was made clear she was simply lost. I watched her memories only to make sure she wasn't a threat. But what I saw was... I didn't want to think about it.

I personally made a vow to make these men pay for what they'd done to her.

As we all left the redheads room, Rhys, Az and I all stayed behind for a few moments. We knew what Rhys was going to propose to Velaris. And I honestly just wanted to gage her reaction. Rhys cleared his throat to get her attention and her icy blue eyes instantly snapped to him.

"So" he glanced at Az and I nervously, "we were wondering if you'd like to come to our Starfall celebration later on this month. It's a night where many shooting stars dance across the sky and-"

"We remember them as spirits of those we've lost..." she finished, staring off into her own little world.

She remembers Starfall, holy rutting Mother.

After this revelation she looked at Rhys like she had just seen a ghost. Rhys visibly paled and mumbled an apology before knocking her out as she lurched to grab him. He then shot to the balcony and took to the skies. Azriel and I just watched him take off still as pale as can be. I looked to Azriel with concern for his friend. And it seemed he knew something I didn't, because he looked conflicted and... enraged?

I winnowed to the cabin, assuming I'd find Rhys there if he wanted to get away. Sure enough, there he was on the couch with a large glass of scotch. I walked up to him and sat down next to him.

"Care to share with the class?" I half joked. He looked at me and smirked.

"Feyre, do you remember when I told you I was a monster you didn't want to mess with?" I remembered our initial conversations well enough so I nodded in confirmation for him to continue. "What I did to... what I had to do to..." it was almost like he couldn't say her name.

"Rhys, I understand if you can't say it. But show me if not. Coming from someone else from... there, I deserve to know." So he did.

Rhys was under the mountain again. He was walking with Velaris down a hallway I knew all to well. And they were conversing about her mission to kill Beron and Eris. They were joking like normal friends, but Rhys knew she was walking into a trap. But he was forced to stay quiet.

I came out for a second, reeling with the new information I was just given. I looked at him in shock. He knew it was a trap and he said nothing. Not. A. Goddamn. Word. I had no idea what to feel. Or what to say. Then Rhys finally whispered "... there's more, Feyre Darling." Then I went back in.

Velaris is on the floor of a cell Rhys eyes glued on her as they discussed plans about how to deal with her new predicament. Then Rhys used his power to send her an idea. Planting it in her mind so she would think it was organic.

"If she tortures me, take my memories." Velaris spoke confidently.

At this Rhys tried to talk her out of it, to make it look organic. But he gave in quickly. His mission to protect the city of starlight was working perfectly.

I pulled out after that quickly. "I can't watch anymore." I muttered as I looked at Rhys in new eyes. And the way that Velaris looked at him in her room it was like she knew. Like she had a good idea that her thoughts that day were only half her own. "I need to hear you say it." I finally spoke to my mate. "I need you to admit what you did to her"

There was a long pause before he finally looked me in the eyes. Tears streaming out his own when he finally said "I sent her into a trap, so that she would get caught and I'd have a reason to wipe the city and everything connected to it out of her memory. I used her like a pawn and sent her to her death like a lamb for slaughter."

I just stared at my mate for a moment when I finally said. "I wouldn't be your wife and mate if I didn't say that I can still live with you for what you did." At this he seemed to slump in relief, "but anything that she decides to try to do to you, anything she says, remembers, or resents you for, is your problem. You fucked up Rhys. You didn't think about what would happen to her. You were selfish and untrusting. Whatever her next move is I won't blame her for, and neither can you. For now I'll deal with interacting with her. Until she... and I trust you around her again."

I started to the door. As I had my handle on the door Rhys stood and stared "Feyre I-"

"I trust you will never lay a hand on me, and I still love you. This changes nothing with us. But it changes everything with how we deal with her. You fucked up, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't pissed at you." I said with a tear in my eye. "... I'll talk to her and see you at dinner tonight." With that I winnowed back to the townhouse.

I went into the living room to find Azriel sitting in a ball of shadows and rage. All I tried to say was. "What does she remember?"

He just stared at me and muttered "where is Rhys?"

"I asked first Az..."

"Almost everything, apparently the word Starfall was the last thing she said so it was like an on-switch for her memory. She and I know what he did, now Where. Is. Rhys?"

Word count: 1,100