The Shadows Have No Face || 𝐀𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐑

A Dream of the Future

The Night Court was just as cold and unforgiving as I remembered. Mountains towered above the horizon, their peaks lined with pine trees as straight as arrows. A layer of ice covered the snow, choppy and jagged.

The realization hit me as I came over the top of a hill, looking down at the valley below and the city that filled it. What was I doing? How could I be this stupid? Coming here unannounced, with no certainty that I would make it out alive.

I didn't even know where to go. There was the House of Wind, but I didn't think that would fit my visit. I had heard there was a townhouse—but did not know where it was. All I could think of was to go to the paint studio down on the Rainbow, a place the High Lady opened to teach classes.

It had been five years since I last walked the streets of Velaris. Before it was attacked. The place was still healing the last pieces, but the energetic life I held so close to my chest still echoed through the streets.

The Rainbow was more alive than ever. People crowded the streets and peaked in the windows at the dress shops and art galleries. Color decorated the alleys, lanterns strung from building to building. It was beautiful.

I stopped at the studio, only briefly looking in the window to see the place empty. The easels crowded together, some empty and some with unfinished pieces. Drawings and finished pieces hung grouped along the brightly colored walls. Giant sheets covered the wood floor to protect it from splatter.

A woman sat at her easel, flicking her brush across the canvas. She looked up to see who entered, and she dropped the paintbrush. Her eyes widened, and we looked at each other in complete silence and stillness as everything in the air settled.

I recognized her face from that dream. Those tattoos crawling up her arms. I remembered the mixing pot of power radiating from inside her. Seeds of the High Lords. All confined within the body of a High Lady.

"It's you," she said, standing from the stool. "I had a feeling you would come."

I sighed away the heaviness in the air and said, "I don't think I could live with myself if I did nothing."

She came up to me and analyzed what was in front of her. I focused all my attention on keeping my mind shut and my wards strong. I had heard rumors she was a Daemati, and wasn't going to take my chances.

"You must meet my sisters," she said finally. "They are very eager to meet you."

I opened my mouth and closed it again, following her to the back of the building. "My Lady, I don't—"

"Please, call me Feyre. No need to be so formal," she said, smiling wide.

"Feyre," I corrected myself. "I don't think it's a good idea to run in head first. We don't even know what we're dealing with here."

She stopped and nodded. "You're right. We don't. But when have we ever known when it comes to the Cauldron? How about this, I'll winnow you to the House of Wind so you can meet with my sisters—and I'll inform the others of your arrival, and we can plan a meeting. I know it's all very fast and sudden—but if you are telling the truth about your past, then you know better than most that time is most important when it comes to... that thing."

I couldn't argue with that. She had a way of talking that convinced me within seconds to agree. I knew just from that brief conversation that she and I would be quite alright working together.

She winnowed me to the House of Wind. It was an experience akin to whiplash. When we appeared in the entryway, it took a few moments for my body to catch up and reattach to my head. Immediately after came the vertigo. I fought it off as hard as I could, but still tripped on the rug and bumped into a doorway.