The Prophecy - ACOTAR

Chapter 28

~ 6 months Later

Rhys had spent 49 years Under the Mountain as Amarantha's slave, that time had felt like the longest part of his life, but that was before he found them. Astrid and Feyre. His sister and his mate. He struggled with leaving Feyre in the Spring Court, but he wanted her to be happy, and she had agreed to marry that green eyed moron. He struggled more with the lack of information they had about Astrid's whereabouts.

Wrenica had been uneasy about Feyre's thoughts on the matter, something Rhys himself was questioning. Astrid had seemed so excited to come to Velaris, and she worked and schemed to get everyone out from under Amarantha to an extent he had never seen before. There had been a few times he had started to believe the charade Astrid put on, but later he would find her sitting in a dak corridor writing down the same three sentences over and over.

I am not the General.

I am Astrid Archeron.

I care for my friends and family.

Whenever he would question her about it, she would always tell him it was to help her remember who she was. To remind herself that she wasn't this cruel Heiress and General. To remind herself why she was playing this part. That she needed to take her time to make sure everyone came out the other side whole again.

It was in these moments that Rhysand could see the fae his sister was molded into, because he knew the words she left unsaid. Everyone but her. She would sacrifice herself if it meant that the people she cared for and loved would be safe and happy.

This was part of the reason he hadn't gone to collect on his deal with Feyre. He was more focused on finding Astrid, on bringing her home so he could share everything with her. So he could show her where their mother had come from, he also couldn't help but enjoy the thought of Astrid showing the Illyrians what a female could do. He had wanted to show her all of Velaris and introduce her to the inner court. He had a strong feeling she would get along fantastically with everyone.

Astrid and Amren both shared a love of bejeweled things. Astrid and Cassian would be a duo of pure chaos, the worst kind, the calculated kind. Rhysand had witnessed a few times the kind of calculated chaos Astrid was capable of. Even Under the Mountain, she had managed to stalk a few people to the point they thought they were insane. She had also managed to render the Vanserra brothers sterile for a time frame only she knew, she wouldn't even share the amount of time with Wren, she would just smile and chuckle before skipping away.

Astrid and Mor would have fun gossiping about anyone and everything, Astrid would probably even introduce Mor to the Suriel. Rhys still couldn't wrap his mind around that relationship. He knew Astrid and Azriel would get along, but he was too far into brother mode at this point to admit to himself why he thought this.

Since he had gotten back, his inner court had been acting strange, but he hadn't cared enough to ask why. He figured it was because he had been gone so long and they had heard some stories or rumors somewhere about what he did during that time. But there was something that had been poking at his brain, they didn't seem all that surprised to find out about Astrid. Azriel had been the quietest about it, which to anyone else wouldn't have seemed weird, he was a mildly quiet male. But Rhys knew him better than most, he had expected questions about how Rhys knew Astrid was his sister.

Instead, they all just stepped right up to help him find her, which wasn't out of character for his group. It was the lack of questions that threw him. But it was something that he would have to worry about after they found Astrid, a female who seemed like she didn't want to be found or a female someone didn't want them finding.

About three months into their search, Feyre had begged for someone to save her, on the day of her wedding. Rhys couldn't ignore that, no matter how upset he was with the female. She was meant to be his mate, but he couldn't just ignore how she had acted towards her former twin. He couldn't ignore how she just waved off Astrid's disappearance. But he also couldn't ignore her distress, and in a fashion Astrid would have been proud of, he decided to begin fulfilling their bargain.