Battle Scars

Tamlin

Eve and Cassian made their way towards the manor. "How could he- I mean they are citizens of his court; they have done nothing wrong- how..." Eve tried making sense of all of it. The kid, after some reassurance and encouragement had gone to one of the few left communities in the Spring. Eve had escorted him while Cassian had stayed behind- due to obvious reasons. She had dropped him off to his relative's home- from whom she had understood that this was not the first such case. Two males had gone missing a week ago and had left no clues behind. It was only the Mother's luck that the kid had been saved.

Cassian did not reply, and simply stalked towards the manor doors; determined. "Wait," Eve called out to him. He stopped, turning around, "if you think I am letting you near him, you are mistaken." Eve let out a breath. "We go together, as one." Cassian hesitated but finally nodded. "Stay alert and any sign of danger, stay beside or behind me." This was the General talking and so, "understood."

The manor was eerily silent. Eve had to keep herself from reaching out her hand as the flashbacks came in. The silence- gosh this silence. She had lived in it for so long, still did sometimes when everything got too much.

They entered one of the offices, still not making a sound. The office was not as it was once, yet, it was. The glass was shattered still, the coloured pane was full of cracks. She let out a hiss as she stepped on a broken glass, her sandals in her hand so to not make any noise. "Careful," Cassian scolded her. "Let's check somewhere else," she muttered and left, not waiting for him to follow.

"You missed," she had told Tamlin when the glass had shattered. One missing her face by inches. Later, she would have found one stuck on her leg though. A small gash, already healing. His face had shown such fury, she would remember. Whenever she saw him, she would remember it a bit. He did not look handsome then, not one bit. His eyes bore into her and she felt like crying. His voice was near shouting, making her heart pound. She wondered if she would die due to his wrath or maybe she herself would..... but that was a long time ago. She had healed from that... mostly. Right? Yes, of course, she had to. She had to.

"Eve!" Cassian' voice cut through her thoughts. "Yeah?" she blinked. "Where did you go?" She gave him a confused smile, "I am right here." Lies.

"I never asked you..." Cassian said, still facing her, as they stood outside the office, in the corridor. "We all know what he did to Feyre. But, what about you? Were you spared or...?" That got her thinking. She had been the reason of his fury and the verbal punching bag due to his fury a few times. But... so were the guards that had once scattered this pretty palace. "I was .... Fine." Cassian's face furrowed. "Fine?" "Yes," Eve exhaled and started walking towards the kitchen, "fine."

Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Just fine.

Fine- what did that word mean anyway?

They found him in the room attached to the kitchen. He made no move to harm them and instead, sat and stared at the blood tainted floor. He himself was covered in blood- his once yellow suit now dirty red with mud and blood. His hair was all over the place and his beard had started to grow. There was no sign of the once mighty High Lord of Spring.

"Tamlin," Eve' voice echoed in the empty space. His eyes did not move from the floor but his shoulders seemed to sag a bit more. "Tamlin," Cassian grunted this time, "we need to talk." "Here to taunt me?" he finally replied, his voice hoarse and rough. "To inform you about a situation in your court," Eve replied. His eyes so very slowly moved and connected with hers. Eve had to keep herself from gulping under his gaze. "Two males, and one female have disappeared from a small community in your court. We found a boy who is claiming it was a beast who had done it." Tamlin' face slowly transformed into a cruel, bitter smile that had Cassian pushing Eve behind him.