𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚎(𝙰𝙲𝙾𝚃𝙰𝚁)

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖗**

     Being under the mountain made me miss my banishment. My cell was cold and dark, and Amarantha seemed to gain much amusement by torturing me. I knew why. It was just another way for her to hurt Rhys.

     I was currently on my knees beside her throne, my arms secured behind my back. My knees were digging into my ground painfully. My shirt was rubbing painfully against the welts on my stomach from the lashings I'd received the day before.

     Tamlin was on another throne on the other side of her. An assembled crowd took up most of the space before me, some of them dancing to strange, off-kilter music, some milling about chatting—a party of sorts.

     The Attor hurled a young girl forward, and she slammed into the floor. I gasped when I realized who it was, causing Amarantha to grab my hair in her fist and yank backwards. I winced.

"What's this?" Amarantha said, her voice lilting.

"Just a human thing I found downstairs," the Attor hissed, and a forked tongue darted out between its razor-sharp teeth.

"Obviously," Amarantha purred. "But why should I bother with her?"

     The Attor chuckled, the sound like sizzling water on a griddle, and a taloned foot jabbed Feyre's side.

"Tell Her Majesty why you were sneaking around the catacombs—why you came out of the old cave that leads to the Spring Court. Tell Her Majesty, you human filth."

     Feyre glanced up, gazing around the room until her eyes met Amarantha's, and she became focused.

"I came to claim the one I love," she said quietly. I almost wanted to laugh. If only she could've said that a few days ago.

"Oh?" Amarantha said, leaning forward.

"I've come to claim Tamlin, High Lord of the Spring Court."

     A gasp rippled through the assembled court. But Amarantha tipped back her head and laughed.

"You certainly were busy all those years. Developed a taste for human beasts, did you? It makes me wonder—if only one human girl could be taken once she killed your sentinel." Her eyes sparked. "Oh, you are delicious. You let me torture that innocent girl to keep this one safe? You lovely thing! You actually made a human worm love you. Marvelous."

"Let him go," Feyre said. Amarantha laughed again.

"Give me one reason why I shouldnt destroy you where you stand, human."

"You tricked him—he is bound unfairly."

     Amarantha clicked her tongue and looked at one of her slender white hands—at the ring on her index finger.

"You human beasts are so uncreative. We spent years teaching you poetry and fine speech, and that is all you can come up with? I should rip out your tongue for letting it go to waste. But Im curious: What eloquence will pour from your lips when you behold what you should have been?"

     Amarantha turned and pointed to the mangled corpse of a young girl that had been nailed to the wall.

"Perhaps I should have listened when she said she'd never seen Tamlin before," Amarantha mused. "Or when she insisted she'd never killed a faerie, never hunted a day in her life. Though her screaming was delightful. I haven't heard such lovely music in ages." Her next words were directed at Feyre. "I should thank you for giving Rhysand her name instead of yours."

     Feyre's face flashed with horror, her eyes wide. I could barely stomach looking at her.

"Come now, precious," Amarantha said. "What have you to say to that? Do you still wish to claim someone who would do that to an innocent?"