ACOTAR (Rhysand's POV)

Chapter 15

Tamlin's cry shattered the room and he clutched his chest, panting. But, the wound was already healing. I smiled. Feyre, still on her knees in front of Tamlin, dropped the dagger. She had done it. Shouts pealed out amongst the crowd, but the Spring Court masks remained intact. 

"I'll free them whenever I see fit. Feyre didn't specify when I had to free them-just that I had to. At some point. Perhaps," Amarantha's features turned serpentine, "when you're dead. You assumed that when I said instantaneous freedom regarding the riddle, it applied to the trials, too, didn't you? Foolish, stupid human." 

I could no longer hear Amarantha's words through the roaring in my ears. My blood pumping, my body preparing to fight. I looked to Tamlin who still crouched on the marble. 

Amarantha was moving closer to Feyre. "I'm going to make you pay for your insolence." A sharp scream cracked from somewhere in the room. My head spun. No, no no... The splintering and shattering of Feyre's bones pierced me. 

"Admit you don't really love him, and I'll spare you. Admit what a cowardly, lying, inconsistent bit of human garbage you are."

Feyre's muscles and tendons stretched til they began to tear. Her bones ruptured through her skin. I couldn't take it. I could not take the pain. "Feyre!" I cried out for her, but she couldn't move, couldn't respond. Amarantha still taunted her, cracking bones one by one. "Feyre!" I couldn't get into her mind. I couldn't take away her pain, my pain. In that moment, amidst the fear and pain that coursed between us, I knew what this was. I had known, continually denying it. The cruel humor of the Cauldron mocked me each night with this truth. A truth that was so clear now. My mate. 

I scanned the room. Tamlin was still kneeling against the floor, his wound healing too slowly. The ash dagger was discarded near him on the marble. I would not let her take Feyre like this. My mate. I would not let Amarantha live another damned day. I sprinted for the dagger as Amarantha began using her feet and fists, her magic not strong enough to soothe the hatred seeping from her every pore. My feet slammed into the floor as I lurched at Amarantha, tilting the dagger for her pale throat. 

My body hit an invisible barrier, and I was sent flying into the ground. The breath knocked out of me. But I was on my feet again with the dagger, preparing another attack. Talons ripped from my fingertips, I ran- but slammed into that invisible barrier again. 

Amarantha paused her assault on Feyre and turned to me. "You traitorous piece of filth. You're just as bad as these human beasts." She spit the words, boring into my soul, and shoved my talons back into the tips of my fingers. She inched closer. "You were planning this all along." She pointed a clawed finger at my hands and my talons drew back into my hands, forcefully. I winced at the searing pain. Amarantha hurled me into the wall, a crack resounding in my head. The marble splintered around me. I tried to scream out for Feyre to run, for Tamlin to attack. But only a weak groan escaped. It was only pain I felt. Mine and Feyre's mixed together, an impossible agony. 

"Stop! Please..." I wasn't sure if it was real. Was Feyre begging, crawling for me? I tried to lift myself to see, but my arms buckled and I collapsed. My chin rested against the floor and I lifted my eyes to hers. Her eyes were filled with tears, the snapped blood vessels filled the whites of her eyes with red. And I felt her. My mate.

Amarantha turned back to Feyre, but I couldn't hear. I didn't want to hear. I wanted to live here, where we could feel each other, for just a moment. Sobs buckled through her. Amarantha was now screaming, lifting Feyre with a single finger pointed at her spine. Feyre was bent at an unnatural angle, her back arched to the point of cracking. I screamed for her, "Feyre!"

"Say that you don't love him!" Amarantha was desperate, enraged. 

Tamlin was on his knees, crawling. This would be it. "Amarantha, stop this." Tamlin clutched his wound and begged, "Stop. I'm sorry-I'm sorry for what I said about Clythia all those years ago. Please." 

I could only watch from the floor. My arms useless as I struggled to upright myself. My breaths were ragged, and my head spun from the impact. I would die here. We were all going to die here. My mate, my mate... And if Feyre was going to die, I was going to die with her. 

"Love." Feyre barely mothed the words. A ghost of her voice spoke again, "The answer to the riddle...is...love." And then her spine snapped.

***

It was dark here, it was hollow. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think. This beautiful, wonderful thing was gone. My mate was gone. I stared at her crumpled, twisted body on the floor and slowly rose. My bones protested with every movement, until I was standing. 

My eyes went to Tamlin who's face was broken and angry. Fangs sprouted from his gums and a snarl echoed off the stone walls as he lunged for Amarantha. A clattering sounded throughout the throne room as gold and bronze masks hit the floor - Spring Court masks. His roars and Amarantha's shrieks pierced the air. Lucien sprang from the crowd to help, a whoosh of red hair blowing past me. But I was turned back to Feyre, my mate. My mate who destroyed herself to save him. 

I didn't care why. I didn't care for who. I didn't care about anything. This gift from the Cauldron, sprawled on the marble floor, was not breathing. I was not going to let her go. I felt our bond, the bond of mates, and I clung to it. I didn't care how selfish it was, or what would happen in the end. She had to live. My mate had to live. 

A flash of light and Tamlin was beside her, out of his beastly form. Tamlin cradled her head against his chest, his eyes filled with tears. Lucien stood close, whispering to himself. Amarantha must have been dead, I didn't turn around to check. I didn't care. I only grabbed onto that bond and did not let go. I could feel her on the other end, and I tugged. Stay with me. Please, Feyre. My mate, my mate, my mate. Without moving my eyes from hers, I was inside their minds - each of the High Lords of Prythian. With my power now returned, I took control of each of their minds, talons digging deep into their consciousness. They were going to save her. They were going to save my mate. 

Beron went first. I couldn't chance letting him think about it for even a second. The High Lord of Autumn approached and dropped his fleck of light. It flared and vanished within Feyre's chest. The remaining High Lords were less difficult to encourage, but I was not taking any risks. They were going to do this, they were going to save her. I pushed farther into their minds. Tarquin of the Summer Court and Kallias of the Winter Court all stepped forward to offer their glimmering light. Thesan of the Dawn Court and Helion of the Day Court were next, quickly stepping forward to extend their own seeds of light.

My own feet were moving closer, Feyre's body inches from the toe of my shoe. "For what she gave, we'll bestow what our predecessors have granted to few before." I stared down at my mate, speaking only to her, "This makes us even." I outstretched my hand, a strong bud of light formed and fell away onto her chest. Tamlin added his own last and leaned down to kiss Feyre's forehead.

I thought about leaving, returning to Velaris that instant. I couldn't stand to see Tamlin hold my mate. His lips brushed the top of her head and I seized. My breath was tight in my chest, but I clutched at the bond. I had to stay and make sure she lived. I had to make sure she was alright. And then I would leave.

We stood and waited. Myself, the other High Lords, and the gallery, stood in complete silence - watching. And then my mate breathed.