The Prophecy - ACOTAR

Chapter 49

It had been two and a half days since Feyre had asked Mor to take her somewhere to get space from Rhys, and Astrid and Az had a nasty habit of randomly disappearing for a couple of hours at a time, but never together. It was something Rhys couldn't help but notice, even with his mind fixated on finding Feyre.

Rhys had been waiting for one or both of them to try and fight someone, but so far it had been just a few looks and snarls directed at fae around the camp. He couldn't decide whether no one had reported someone going missing, no one had noticed someone missing yet, or the Illyrians were smart enough to watch themselves around this couple. He knew he should probably start asking around, it was easy enough to see that his sister and one of his best friends were up to something, and if the Illyrians were to afraid of them to come tell him something was happening, he would need to go to them. But even then, he had a feeling they wouldn't say anything, not unless he could offer then protection from Astrid and Az. That wasn't something he could offer either. He didn't need to try to tell Astrid what to do to know she'd only listen if she wanted to.

Rhys might be the High Lord of the Night Court and Astrid may be his sister, below him in ranking to anyone that cared about that, but she was far from that. They didn't hear how the Bone Carver talked to her; they didn't see him bow to her. No one had been there to see how the Weaver welcomed Astrid into her home and called her Queen. He had no doubt these wouldn't be the last powerful creatures that would react in strange ways to his sister, and he found no spot in his heart for jealousy about it.

He only found pride.

Rhys had even noticed how Amren was different around Astrid before they left for the camp. There was something different in the way she looked at Astrid, something he would almost call fear. A glimmer of fear sprinkled in undying respect.

Az was another story all together. Rhys had sensed it from the moment Astrid had crashed onto the balcony of the House of Wind. Azriel's loyalty was splitting. He was still Rhys's spymaster, and he would still do what he needed for the Night Court, but something was different.

Rhys suspected that, like him, Az would only bow to one creature in the world now. He would bow to his Queen; he would bow to Astrid. And if it came down to him having to pick between Astrid and Rhys, Az would pick Astrid without thought.

Rhys wanted to be angry and upset about this knowledge, but he couldn't. Because he would pick Feyre before anything else, he would give up anything to be with her. And he was happy knowing that after everything she had gone through, Astrid had someone like that.

If it came down to it, Rhys would let Az leave. But he didn't think it would. Astrid had found a family in the Night Court, she had found a home, and she would never take Az away from his family. She loved him to much to do that.

His thought process was shattered as he saw movement from the trees surrounding the camp, a movement he had become used to with Az being in his life for so long, but there was something different about it now. It was a feeling that settled in his bones as Astrid appeared from the shadows of the forest. He couldn't help but study the scene, noticing how the shadows seemed darker around her until she moved far enough from the forest, then the darker shadows melded into the regular ones until they almost felt like a dream.

Rhys inwardly groaned at the smirk that was plastered proudly on Astrid's face, she had definitely been up to something in those woods.

Rhys reached his magic out to find Mor, I need your help with something.

What can I help with? Mor responded.

Astrid and Az are up to something, I don't know if it's together or not, but there's something going on in the woods.