𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚎(𝙰𝙲𝙾𝚃𝙰𝚁)

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖎𝖝

     I stared at the door, waiting for it to open that night. I nursed my broken hand in the other. Broken by the Attor for not completing my household tasks in time. The burning pain had tears in my eyes, my jaw clenched to keep me from crying out. 

     I didn't even have the energy to look at the door as it opened, footsteps sounding as someone stepped inside. Rhys raised a brow as he closed the door behind him. 

"You look like shit," he informed me. I shot a glare at him.

"Fix my hand."

"Say please."

"No. Fix it."

      He chuckled, stepping over to me. He gently took my hand in his, his power engulfing my hand, and healing the bones. The pain went away almost immediately, and I could've cried from relief.

"She completed the second trial, you know," he told me. I stared at him, a smile actually forming on my lips for the first time in a long time.

"Just one more, then," I sighed. He nodded.

"She's illiterate," he mused. "Our fate rests in her hands, and she's illiterate."

"That amuses you?" I questioned. He nodded. "You could teach her to read like you taught me."

"I'm sure she can read better than you could," he teased. "You didn't even know what the alphabet was."

"That wasn't my fault," I grumbled, leaning against him.

     He wrapped an arm around me and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. While Rhys and I had fought--both verbally and physically--nearly everyday since we'd met each other, we would die for one another.

"We're going to get out of here," he assured me. "I promise. We're getting out of here and going home."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

     The final trial was today. I was on my knees, hands behind my back, in front of Amarantha's throne. I could not move an inch with the hold her power had over me. 

      Feyre strode up the path that the faeries cleared—straight for Amarantha. Tamlin was in his usual place beside her.

"Two trials lie behind you," Amarantha said, picking at a fleck of dust on her blood-red gown. "I wonder if it will be worse to fail now—when you are so close."

    Everyone else remained silent. Amarantha glared at them, but when her gaze fell upon Feyre, she smiled broadly, sweetly.

"Any words to say before you die?"

"I love you," Feyre said to Tamlin. "No matter what she says about it, no matter if its only with my insignificant human heart. Even when they burn my body, I'll love you." My heart wrenched at the words. At the tears streaming down her face.

"You'll be lucky, my darling, if we even have enough left of you to burn." Amarantha propped her chin on a hand. "You never figured out my riddle, did you?" She didn't respond. "Pity. The answer is so lovely."

"Get it over with," Feyre growled. Amarantha looked at Tamlin.

"No final words to her?" she said, quirking an eyebrow. When he didn't respond, she grinned at Feyre. "Very well, then." She clapped her hands twice.

       A door swung open, and three figures—two male and one female—with brown sacks tied over their heads were dragged in by the guards.

     With sharp jabs and blunt shoves, the red-skinned guards forced the three faeries to their knees at the foot of the dais, but facing Feyre.