A Court of Heart and Fealty | Rhysand

Chapter 33: Amoise

Chapter 33: Amoise

The slap had nearly sent her to her knees. Galadriel gaped, a hand to her stinging cheeks. "Ow," she cried.

Amoise seethed at her, ears as red as her hair. "You stupid girl. After all that happened, you've come back here?"

Straightening, Galadriel let her hand drop away from her face, taking a steadying breath. "It's nice to see you too." The Lady of Autumn's chest moved in hard pants, as though she had been the one crawling her way through that pitch-black tunnel. "I had to come and see you."

The dull point in Amoise's throat bobbed. Affection and frustration warred on her face. "This is the most idiotic thing you've ever done," she hissed, though with noticeably less spit than before. "If you weren't already not working for me, I'd have you fired then put on fire until you learnt your lesson."

Calmly, Galadriel smiled. "Your threats don't work on me anymore."

"I suppose it isn't worth wasting my time on, then." That sternness broke, chip by chip until the expression became that of the adoring mother Galadriel knew. With a loosened breath, she whispered, "You're alive."

"I sent you letters."

"It is not the same as seeing you." A sheen of wetness covered her stunning eyes. Though she had come blazing in, Galadriel knew better than to be drawn into an embrace. Amoise was a hardened female, who saved that affection for only her sons. And only some of them. She wouldn't let that side of herself be exposed to anybody else. "I hadn't heard from Helion. My husband wouldn't let me see the body but said he had you slaughtered before you escaped the House. Then he put out the bounty. He had councillors blasting him for information for weeks. Nobody knew what was going through his head or what was really happening."

Galadriel let out a huff through her nostrils. "Your husband has control issues."

She hadn't put much thought into it before, but Beron had snapped like someone had lit a match inside of him the moment he saw that letter in her hands. Telling the court that she had been killed would have been a swift solution to the wave of concerns about a spy on the run, but Beron had double-backed on that, setting the bounty and the consequential hunt. He knew she was still alive and in the time he had to think, realised that he would be letting her get away with whatever information he thought she found. Information that was important enough that he risked putting himself out as a fool who claimed false victory over a court treachery.

Whatever it was, was likely long gone. What would Beron have thought when no doubt returned to his stashed letters and realised none were missing?

"You've been in the Night Court," said Amoise, a distinct aversion to the topic of her husband. Galadriel nodded affirmingly. "Is it as cruel as they say?"

"No more than this court," Galadriel answered as honestly as she could. Rhysand trusted her with Velaris. Even for her closest companion, Galadriel would not give those secrets up. "Helion set it up for me. I have everything thanks to him."

A bittersweet smile wrought her cheeks. "He's always been the saviour type."

To draw out that moment, Galadriel added, "Comes riding in with all his muscled glory. I think he oils his skin before he leaves to comes to save helpless maidens such as ourselves." She wrapped her arms around herself, bracing against the instinct to launch forward and attack the Lady of Autumn with her hug. "I know I shouldn't have come, but I left in such a rush that I didn't get the chance to say goodbye properly. Or even give you the letter that I did all this for." Tears shone in her eyes to match Amoise's.

Amoise looked close to slapping her again for the reminder. A pale hand reached between them, delicately curled. They lifted Galadriel's fallen chin, setting it high and firm. "I owe you. More than I can give you."