A Court of Shadow and Flames

Prologue

"Feyre." Rhys pleaded, and she shook her head, refusing to listen to what he had to say, to what any of them had to say.

The Bone Carver stood in the common room, a look of indifference on his face as he waited for them to decide their fates. The first time he found her mate in the Spring Court to discuss his proposal, Rhysand's feral response was on par with the entire inner court. There was also the fact that he had indeed lived through the battle against Hybern and chose to lay low until an opportunity presented itself.

There has to be another way. The words fell between their bond, but those words had no hope. That hope and determination had gone out over the last three months when every time Nesta scoured the library day and night, when Mor traveled throughout Prynthian to learn of birthing rituals, when Az listened in the shadows for magic powerful enough, and when Rhys reached out to Helion for advice. Everything came back the same. There were no alternate solutions outside the one the Death god offered.

Feyre sighed, and his eyes locked on her. At that moment, she understood that he knew they would eventually agree to this barbaric bargain, even if the thought of being away from her son for just a moment broke her in two.

"Splendid." He clasped his hands together. No longer did he wear the skin of the child growing inside her. Instead, he was handsomely plain. His brown hair was cut short, and his eyes matched it perfectly. There was a darkness to him that caught the attention of all that dared to look his way, but overall the Bone Carver appeared to be nothing more than high fae.

There was no spoken agreement, just silent understanding that passed between everyone in the room; then she saw the dragons take form on her exposed shoulder. There were two of them, circling one another as if in an endless cycle of balance. She knew without looking that the same marking would be on her mate - a fate sealed.

"To make this trade a bit more even.." he looked to Nesta, who was seated on the couch next to Cassian. The Illyrian warrior positioned her behind him, and the Bone Carver laughed, "your mate will now be capable of bearing your offspring."

"How does that even things?" Feyre demanded, understanding the cost but not understanding his pseudo-generosity.

"Feyre, darling. You are carrying twins. One boy. One girl."

He didn't give their court time to process that information before informing them he would return to collect on his end of the deal once the children were born. Children. His confession echoed in her mind as she stared numbly at the blanket folded neatly on the couch.

No one met Feyre's gaze as she walked out of the room to her chambers and let the door slam behind her before the tears started falling down her face. Despite the door being locked, Rhysand winnowed in their room, his lithe frame crushing her to him as sobs racked her body.

"Why didn't you tell me before time was against us?" It wasn't anyone's fault that her pregnancy was high risk, but she had not understood the weight of that risk until a month after the Bone Carver found her mate. Had Rhys discussed this with her, they could have worked together toward a better plan in the beginning. Her resentment towards him for keeping her in the dark after being open and honest with her felt like an ash arrow to the gut.

Did he think she was too weak to make this decision for herself? Feyre considered that for a moment before pushing the thought away.

His violet eyes looked more tired now than they had during the war. "I was trying to find a solution."

"You kept me in the dark when it came to my own body. I would have risked shifting back into an Illyrian before I would have chosen this." Feyre motioned to her exposed shoulder that held the mark of their failures.

"And now there's two. Our babies will spend two weeks with that monster. What will he do to them while we're not there to protect them?" Panic started to rise in her throat at the thought of him hurting her children to get back at their court. The expression on the Bone Carver's face when he set the proposal would forever be ingrained in her memories. He mirrored the deal Rhysand offered her under the mountain. The initial bargain was not something either of them would begin to entertain. Eventually, the Bone Carver offered to take their child for two weeks immediately following the birth, then return them. At the time, Feyre thought he was referring to their son, but with the bombshell he just dropped on them, she understood the vague terminology he used when crafting the agreement was intentional.