Starlight

20

The loose black dress hangs from my shoulders, it's bell sleeves lying limp around the blue chains that connect my wrists. The fabric flows over my stomach and billows at my bare feet, my hair hangs loose at my back. A glowing blue collar wraps around my neck, one chain attaches it to my wrists while the other remains in the hand of Hybern. A purple bruise sits on my cheekbone below the cut beside my eye.

Vossan remains a step behind me, monitoring my every move as I follow behind Hybern. Hybern pulls me into his war-tent, I settle in behind him with hollow eyes. Vossan stands inches from me, I feel his gaze settle on my slumped shoulders. The words of the King and his commanders are muddled, magic keeping it from reaching my ears. I look up to meet my mate's eyes, his hard ones find mine. My hands instinctively reach for him, he strikes my face before they can rise past my waist. Tears well in my eyes as I look away from him and back to Hybern.

I let them slip down my face as the loss of my mate for the second time settles in. This man, this mind that has taken the shell of the man I once loved, it is not my mate. Not while Hybern's magic has its claws sunk into him, keeping hold of the mind I love so dearly. Powerful magic that I cannot break even now. Hybern tosses the chain to Vossan, he pulls me out of the tent and towards the one I remain locked within. He stands beside the flap as I collapse onto the pile of furs on the floor, the heartbeat within my womb the only thing keeping me from succumbing to nothingness.

My eyes settle upon Vossan once more, he does not move his own from my gaze. A fog has settled in over his irises, likely blocking him from truly seeing me. I lean back, my body aching from the bruises and cuts that litter my skin, and let out a breath. Without taking my eyes from his, I begin to hum the song he once did within the walls of our home, the same that rumbled between us as we danced beneath the stars. The song I hummed to our child in those field of cranberries before he saved me. He watches me carefully as the sound dances through the air to him.

I watch a small flash behind his eyes, one so fast that another might miss it. He blinks once at me, face unchanged, and I swear I imagine a look of realization pass over his face. He suddenly ducks out of the tent, not a word following his exit.

...

The next day consists of the same, Hybern dragging me behind his entourage as we make our way through the war-camp. His army watches me with hungry eyes, their gaze traveling down my exposed skin. He hands the chain to Vossan, and his touch is more gentle than I have seen it. More careful, each tug becoming softer, I stare at him in confusion as he leads me away from the war-tent. Darkness passes over the camp as Ianthe arrives, sweeping through with watchful eyes. Her gaze lingers on me before breaking away and heading to the tent housing the Cauldron.

Vossan pulls me into my tent, watching me carefully as I settle into the furs on the floor. I meet his gaze and I almost see pain flash across it, I look in confusion at him. In this lighting his eyes look clearer, I can practically see the color that once coated his iris.

"Wait here." He says, I furrow my eyebrows as he disappears from the tent. Moments pass before he arrives back with Ianthe. "She's in here." I look in pure shock and confusion as the priestess walks closer to me, dropping to her knees before me as her face shifts to reveal one I know all too well.

"Feyre." I say, my voice breaking. She pulls me into her arms before quickly taking my hands.

"We have to go now." She says when realization dawns on me. My eyes drift back to Vossan, understanding now why his eyes were so clear to me.

"Starlight." His voice like honey as it fills my ears, he walks to place a hand on my face.

"No time for reunion. Azriel is freeing Elaine now." Feyre says, pushing to her feet once more. By the sounds of the shouting outside, she's already been taken from her chains.

"I cannot run, I can hardly walk anymore." I say, my voice breaking as a tear falls down my face. My bare feet are full of cuts, blood oozing from them. Each step brings pain searing through my body.

"You don't have to." Vossan says, scooping me into his arms and holding me tight to his chest. Feyre runs from the tent first, Vossan following suit as we round to catch up to Azriel. He has taken to the air, Feyre struggling to follow behind him. Vossan closes his eyes and we disappear into a shadow, slinking across the ground toward the first hole Feyre rips through the wards.

Vossan does not stop, does not falter as he follows Feyre and Azriel to our own war camp. He stumbles to his feet just outside the camp, Rhysand waiting just steps away. He runs to me, looking deep into Vossan's mind to see a broken spell waiting within.

"We have to get these chains off her." Vossan says, not loosening his grip as he runs into the camp. I feel my eyes begin to flutter shut, the throbbing pain of my body slowing taking over. "Stay awake, starlight." I hold my eyelids up until the last of my strength is depleted and I succumb to the exhaustion overtaking me.

...

My eyes flutter open to the soft light of my tent, my body cleaned with only a dull, sore ache replacing the pain I once felt. The memories come rushing back, I look down to see only bruises remaining where my chains once sat.

"Celesta." I hear him breathe, I look up to see Vossan standing in the flap of our tent. He walks to me, dropping to his knees before me, and I slowly place a hand on his face. Shock fills my eyes, longing bathes my face in a slew of emotions.

"Is this real?" I whisper, he places his hands on the outside of my thighs and quickly nods.

"Yes, my starlight." He soaks in every inch of my face, his eyes racing around as if he's memorizing it. "I'm so sorry, my mate. For everything I did to you." I shake my head, taking his face in both my hands.

"It was not you, my love. He had control of your mind." Vossan does not move his eyes from my own, sending a tickle down our bond. I savior the feeling, never wanting to let it go again.

"When he pulled me back from... wherever you go after this, it was like I was trapped in a cage within my own mind. Forced to watch my life play out as if it were not my own. When I brought you to him, when the magic that had taken over my mind did, I ripped against that cage with everything I had. I did not stop, did not falter." His hold on me tightens, pulling me inches closer. "Then you sat before me in that tent, that beautiful growing life within you, and you began to hum the song we once danced to.

I felt the spell falter, as if the trap on my mind recognized it to, and I threw everything I had at that cage. And suddenly I was back in control. I had to figure out how to get you out, how to get us and that beautiful girl out." He moves one hand to my stomach, feeling the movement within. "I saw the priestess walk in and immediately recognized the magic, the power that another would miss. I knew it was Feyre, and I knew this was our chance." He presses his forehead to mine. "I'm so sorry, Celesta."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." I pull back and place a kiss on his brow. "The pain that I felt when I lost you is indescribable. There were times that I felt I could not go on, could not live knowing you would not be beside me." Tears well in my eyes, he wipes those that escape down my cheeks. "When that bond came back to life, even when that wall of magic came down to separate us, it gave me a spark of hope. The possibility of being with you again. Even if it was slim, I was willing to fight against my own brother to bring you home."

He stares deep in my eyes, that bond swelling within me, as he pulls me close to him and presses a kiss to my lips. That taste, his smell, everything that I have longed for consumes me in one breath. Even within this tent, trapped in the middle of this war-camp with danger lying ahead, it feels as though I am home.