A Court of Lightning and Shadows

Three

Briar awoke in a dark place.

Her head throbbed with pain and her wing felt bad. She tried sitting up, but her head was too heavy.

She started sobbing quietly.

She knew that her wings would be clipped. Maybe she would be dead before it happened. No one would come to safe her.

Hours went by. Maybe days. She didn't know.

Briar fell in and out of conscious over and over again until she finally heard the cell door open.

She could hardly see through her swollen eyes. From the look of it, it was her brother and their camp Lord, Horar.

They picked her up by the arms.

Briar didn't fight back. She couldn't walk or stand. The pain was unbearable and running away would be impossible.

Many Illyrians were standing around two wooden poles. Both of the poles had iron handcuffs on them. To hold her still.

The amount of Illyrians watching was shocking. Children, older Illyrians, warriors, females. Everyone wanted to see her get hurt.

Briar didn't try to do something. She wanted to die rather than having her wings clipped.

She was shoved between the poles, her body limp on the ground. Her brother and Horar moved her hands in the cuffs and went to stand in the crowd.

Her father would get the honor.

She managed to find Alita in the crowd. The woman was crying. Briar gave her a small smile.

Her father spoke, "This woman, has lied for decades years about her bleeding. How cowardly." she shut out the words inside her head.

"We should cut off your wings entirely for this..." she heard him laugh, "wouldn't that be entertaining." before she could react, he drove a knife through her wing. She screamed.

He tore it through her muscles. Then, he went to her other wing, doing the same thing.

Briar was screaming and sobbing until she couldn't breath.

Her father faced her. She was breathing heavily, tears rolling down her face.

"Please." she whispered. She hated to beg.

Her father punched her in the face again, walking behind her.

Before she could progress what he was doing, he tore his knife through the base of her wing, tearing it from her back.

She couldn't scream anymore, the pain was blinding.

She lost her wing. There was no doubt she would lose her other wing too.

The feeling of blacking out returned once more.

He did the same to her other wing, letting it fall to the ground with a thud. He hadn't only clipped her wings, but also cut them off.

She didn't know how the hell he had managed to get through her wings, but he had.

The world turned black again.

Azriel walked into the River house, the place he had been staying most of the time lately.

The House of Wind was the worst place to stay these days. He hated hearing Cassian and Nesta all night.

Azriel made his way into the living room, finding Feyre with Nyx. The small winged baby clapped his hands as Azriel entered the room. He looked exited to see him.

Feyre smiled at him.

A shadow flew over to Nyx, letting him play with it while Azriel sat down in a chair.

"Any special news?" his High Lady and friend asked.

He shook his head. "My shadows told me something about an Illyrian camp. Something happened there. Cassian and I are checking on it tomorrow." he said.

His shadows had told him things, but not specifying what was going on. They did sound panicked. Azriel thought it could wait.

The house was quiet, except for Nyx's baby noises. Rhysand wasn't here, otherwise he would've known about his brothers presence. Elain wasn't here either. She surprisingly had decided to visit Lucien. Good for her.

"Where's Rhys?" it wasn't common for Rhys to leave his child alone lately. He wanted to stay by his side all the time.

"He wanted to watch the Valkyrie training." that surprised him. Cassian had probably talked him into it. Mor had started training with them as well.

Azriel still helped with training in the mornings, but after that, he had to get back to his other duties.

Briar woke up again. She felt empty and full of pain at the same time.

She slowly moved her eyes around the space, seeing nothing in the black cell.

She reached for her back, feeling nothing but two clothed throbbing studs. She started sobbing.

They had taken her wings. What was the point of being an Illyrian when she didn't have wings?

Her mouth was dry, but she could still taste the blood in it.

She knew she looked like a mess. Briar was never going to get out of this cell, not with her father or brother alive.

If they would let her out, they certainly wouldn't let her live freely. And what would they do with Alita? Had they found out about her potions?

Briar tried to stand, holding the wall for support.

She fell face first on the ground. The weight on her back missing.

She lost all hope, she couldn't even walk. She couldn't run. She was stuck here, and she was never getting out.