A Court of Fire and Starlight (ACOTAR Fan Fiction)

Extra Chapter - Astra the Terror

RHYSAND

When Feyre and he first learned of her second pregnancy, they'd been elated. Though he assured anyone who asked that he had no preference on gender, he'd been secretly hoping for a daughter.

The chance to raise a child that wouldn't inevitably turn into a knuckle-headed bat like him, Cassian and Azriel were what he wished for when he looked up at the stars in the sky each night.

The Mother listened to his prayers and blessed him with a small daughter that came into the world with little issues. That was the only mercy shown to Rhys and Feyre.

Astra was a terror.

Moments after her birth, the small babe discovered she had lungs and rarely ceased her wails, leaving her two parents exhausted. They adored her anyway and clung to each other in bed each night, both hoping she wouldn't wake them too soon. She always let them fall into a deep sleep before ripping it away with her cries.

When she began sleeping through the night, Rhys thought the problems were behind them, but then Starfall came.

Crying at the top of her lungs in his arms as shooting stars aimed for them, Rhys feared that all his bad deeds were finally catching up to him. When his reliable impenetrable shield was shredded, every nightmare he'd had since becoming a father nearly came to fruition. The small life he'd created with his mate would be taken from him, but as it turned out, she was blessed by those star-spirits rather than prematurely killed.

Blessed was perhaps too strong a word for what had been done to her. Amren hissed cursed under her breath over and over until Rhys forbid the fire-drake from ever uttering it in his presence again.

Whatever magic she'd been born with and had yet to discover was overridden. Gone. Burnt up like dry leaves blowing too close to a campfire.

Gods, he and Feyre tried to reverse it. Amren scoured all her ancient texts and Helion let Rhys browse his libraries, but there was no reversing it. The power she'd been given was hers now and would change the course of her life. He was certain it would put her in danger and the whole situation reeked of foreboding, but all he could do was continue to raise her with Feyre in the way they'd intended.

As they soon discovered, Astra was rambunctious, cared not for rules, and found every way to bend them to her will. If Feyre said she couldn't have an extra sweet treat, she located him and pleaded with tear-filled eyes and pouty lips. If he said no, she screamed at the top of her lungs and destroyed everything nearby with magic she couldn't control yet. As if that wasn't bad enough, she'd then slink away in mock defeat and find either Cassian or Azriel, both of whom she had wrapped around her little fingers.

Rhys considered himself a strong-willed male, but he was unable to refuse her in those early years so she got an extra story at bedtime, was allowed to sleep with her wooden practice sword under her pillow, was taken to visit Nyx in Illyria at least once a week, and was allowed to sit in his lap during meetings.

It wasn't until she got it in her little head that she absolutely needed to have a pet dragon, that Rhys failed his daughter for the first time. He could not produce what either no longer existed or never had. Feyre teased him for the lengths he went to make Astra's wish a reality.

First, he invited Helion over and offered him anything other than his mate in exchange for a pair of his Pegasi. As it turned out, Rhys wasn't cruel enough to let his friend spend a night with Cassian and Nesta as he wished for, fearing the Lord of Day might not survive the experience with Nesta involved. Helion was generous enough and curious enough about that daughter that had been blessed by the stars, that he allowed Rhys to bring her to the hills in Day they grazed in. At five, Astra had been impressed and wanted endless rides on the winged horses, but she knew full well they weren't the same species she'd demanded he gift her.