Starlight

12

The trees beyond the camp blow in the evening breeze, warm against the harsh, cold snow beneath my feet. I walk farther into it, the basket in my grasp intended to hold the berries from the patch of cranberries my mother so often brought me to while my brother trained. Their bright red color comes into view, I place a hand atop the bump forming on my stomach as I near them.

The style of dress I opt for has changed, the seems made to compliment the growing child within me. The deep red fabric flows over my stomach, the hem hanging loose of my shoulders, sleeves bell-shaped and flowing around my wrists. A black, fur-lined cloak hangs over my shoulders, the hood pulled up to hide my dark hair from the falling snow.

In the recent days of a growing belly, Rhys and Vossan have halted any physical preparation and instead shifted my focus to war planning. High Lords may be more inclined to help that of a pregnant princess, Rhysand tauntingly tells me. I reluctantly agreed, knowing the safety of this child should come first. And any relief for my back that has begun to ache will be a blessing. I approach the first bush and begin to pull the berries from the surrounding leaves, savoring these few moments of peace in this grove of trees. I begin to hum to myself, to the child weighing down my stomach.

"Pretty princess." A voice hisses from behind me, I quickly turn to see the face of a soldier dressed in leather armor. The sigil on his arm is one I have come to fear, Hybern's kingdom.

"How far from home you are." Another voice says, emerging from the trees. "Our commander has been searching for you." Searching for me, not Rhysand, I take that into account. Without a word, I drop my basket and make a break for the trees, pulling my dress above my feet as my cloak flows in the wind behind me.

"Run, little princess." The first soldier says, I hear him breaking through the trees behind me. I send a harsh feeling of utter terror down the bond, I feel it slam into Vossan's mind.

WHERE ARE YOU

I look around me, panic keeping me from remembering which way I ran.

Started at the cranberry patch, not sure which way after.

The words laced with panic are all I can muster as I focus all my attention into running from the beasts prowling behind me. Twigs snap against my arms, leaving scratches and splinters in their wake. A root catches my foot and my knee slams into a rock, pain shoots up my leg and into my teeth, but I do not allow the limp to slow me down. A flash of magic sends the second soldier in front of me, the other closing in behind. I back away from him, a sneer stretched across his lips as he smiles back at me with those too-white teeth.

"You cannot escape us, little princess." He says, a knife appearing in his right hand.

Darkness explodes around us, clouding the sky from view. I feel his rage before he appears out of his puff of smokey shadow, the icy fury seeping through these woods. Vossan sends the soldier in front of me flying into a tree, Rhys appearing beside me to rip his talons through the other. Azriel arrives next, looking between the High Lord and his second spymaster.

"Take her back." Rhysand growls, an order that Azriel does not question. The pain in my knee only grows, I limp to Azriel and he takes my hands, taking notice of the delay in my steps.

"Come on." He says, his voice gentle as he sweeps me into his arms and takes to the sky. We land outside my mother's home, Mor waiting on the doorstep with worry slick across her face. She wraps her arms around me and helps me inside, Feyre sits across from Cassian with the same panic-strewn look in her eyes. Mor lowers me onto the couch and Feyre rushes to her side.

"I'll heal it, don't lose the strength for it." Mor says, cupping her warm hands around my heavily bruised knee. I feel the warmth spindle through my body in swirls of golden magic, the pain dulls until it vanishes. She moves her mind's focus from the knee to the small cuts across my body until they too disappear from my skin.

"Thank you." I whisper, placing a hand on her face.

...

I sit in the quiet house, all the others having gone to sleep in the passing hours. Rhysand and Vossan must have ripped through the minds of the solider, I can only imagine what ensued after. My gaze remains through the window and at the stars, hoping they will soon guide my lover home to me.

The door gently opens and I feel him before he crosses the threshold. Vossan takes soft footsteps inside, I can still sense the rage swirling within him. Blood crusts over the entirety of his hands and splatters up his arms, where the sleeves of his tunic are rolled up. In his right hand sits the basket of cranberries I dropped before running. I slowly stand and walk to him, placing a hand on his face without a word. His eyes like ice soften only slightly when they meet mine. I carefully take the basket from his grasp and set it on the nearby table, taking his hand in my own and leading him to the washroom.

We do not speak a word as the tub fills with warm water, jasmine and eucalyptus wafting from the steam. I sit him on the edge of the porcelain tub and come to rest beside him, plunging an ivory washcloth into the water. I gently take his cold, unforgiving hands into my warm ones and begin to scrub blood from them.

"I wanted to feel the light leave their eyes." Vossan finally says, his rough, vengeful voice filling the silent space around us. I slowly nod, focusing my eyes on taking the blood away. I dip the washcloth back into the water, staining the liquid red, before returning to his skin.

"It's not your fault, Vossan." I say with a gentle voice, finally looking up to meet his fury filled eyes.

"They came here for you, they came here hunting for you." The anger in his voice rattles the room, I do not so much as flinch against it. "I swore I would never let them take you from me." I finish wiping the blood from his arm as his voice finally breaks, the hardened steel of his eyes finally showing a crack. I lift a warm hand to his face and tilt my head to the side.

"And I am right here, my moon. You protected us, we still sit here before you." He lifts his clean hand to my womb, his skin pressing against the night dress that covers my stomach, and touches his forehead to my own. I feel a tear slip down his face and I raise a hand to wipe it away.

"I don't know how they slipped in, how they made it so close, we should have known-" I pull back and shake my head, forcing him to look into my eyes.

"You could have never known, none of you, that they would make it here. That they slipped in through the borders. They track Rhysand's magic, they would have found us anywhere we went." I gently take his still bloodied hand and begin to clean it away.

He sits silent, watching my hand on his, as I wipe the horrors of today from his skin. When it's all gone, I take his callused hands into my soft ones and raise them to my face.

"I am right before you, and you are the reason I am." I tell him. He watches my eyes carefully, the rage in his slowly fading away with only immense guilt and pain to replace it.

"I cannot lose you, starlight." His voice is soft now, barely a whisper between us. I take his hands and slowly have him stand, leading him from the washroom and out of the front door of my mother's home. Gently closing it behind me, I turn to face Vossan with my bare feet on the cold grass. I move his hands to my hips and he instinctively wraps them tight around me. My arms drape around his neck and I bury my fingers into his hair as he tucks his face into my neck.

I begin to slowly rock back and forth, humming the same song I sang to our child in the field of cranberries. He lets out a breath and I feel his body finally relax into mine, our souls swaying together in the starlight.