The Princess & The Lord

Part 3

After winnowing back to the River House, Nyx looked around the house. His mother, his aunts, Mor, and Amren were waiting.

His mother examined the girl before them and he could see her heart break.  Who could do this to someone? Feyre said into their minds.

It was one of the worst things he'd ever seen. The female had a large iron mask covering her entire face, her golden blonde hair was matted, covered in dirt and blood. There were three small holes in the mask. Two for her eyes and and thin line cut for mouth, a small space for her to breathe through. Her clothes were dirty and burned up. Nyx could see the thin scars peppering the exposed skin on her hands.

How do we know she's not dangerous? Someone has gone to great lengths to kept her bound. Maybe she's a danger to us all. Amren said back.

She's scared. Nyx sent out. She didn't want to hurt us, she wanted away from us.

Though she did give Nyx quite the right hook. Cassian taunted with a smirk.

"We need to get these chains off." Rhys said aloud.

The girl stood there. She looked empty and defeated. Cassian, Azriel, and Rhys spent decent amount of time using various tools to unlock or break the chains, but nothing seemed to work.

"These are impossible to break. I don't know what else we can try," Cassian explained.

"Are they spelled?" Amren asked.

"I can't tell. Maybe we could send word to Helion," Rhys answered.

The girl began to trace her finger in swirls on the wooden table before them. She continued making the same pattern. Nyx took a step closer to her.

"What does it mean?" Nyx said looking at the girl.

She held out her arms to Nyx, exposing her wrists and the long thick nails sticking out. She looked at him as if pleading for him to take them out. Nyx grabbed the end of the nail and ripped them out one at a time as he fast as he could.

Pain laced her eyes, but she didn't make a noise. He felt sorry for the girl. He set the nails on the table in front of him, but the girl picked one up.

She took the end of the nail and sliced it across her other palm.

"My dear, please don't!" His mother moved towards the girl.

She dipped her finger in the blood pooled in her palm and began forming the same pattern on the wrist cuff. When she was done, the marking flashed a bright light and the chains around her wrists fell to the floor.

The inner circle looked at her in awe. Nyx had never seen any magic like this before.

"Can you show me again?" Nyx asked.

She repeated the pattern with the chains on her ankle. With the flash of light, the chains thudded to the ground.

Nyx dipped his finger in the pool of blood in her palm. The wound on her hand already seemed to be healing. Nyx traced the same pattern on the backside of the iron mask. The iron mask unlocked and the girl reached up with her hands and slowly removed the mask.

Nyx moved to the other side of the table. The inner circle kept quiet as the girl dropped the mask on the ground. She kept her head down. Looking at the ground. She examined her hands and her feet. She turned over her palms with their new found freedom.

And then she looked up. Nyx looked at that beautiful face and for a moment, he couldn't breathe. Even behind the dirt and the blood, the matted hair, she was devastatingly beautiful. He lost himself in those eyes- a deep turquoise with a ring of gold.  She pulled her hair back and tucked it behind her ear, revealing the pointed tip. She was fae.

"What's your name, girl?" Amren asked.

The girl opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She put her hands around her throat.

"Water, I'll go get you some water," his aunt Elain said and she moved toward the kitchen.

"Do you know where you are?" His father asked. The girl blinked twice.

The blinks. She did that earlier too. One blink for yes. Two blinks for no. Nyx sent the thought out.

"We are in the Night Court" She blinked twice again. As if she didn't understand.

"Are you from Prythian?" Cassian asked. Again the girl blinked twice.

"She's fae, she's most likely not from the mortal lands." The girl blinked twice again.

Elain returned from the kitchen with a large glass of water. She handed it to the girl and the girl nodded her appreciation. She drank the whole glass in a matter of seconds. "Madja is on her way to examine the girl."

"Are you from Hybern?" Azriel asked. The girl shook her head. She wasn't from Prythian, Hybern, or the mortal lands. Where had she come from?

The girl closed her eyes a moment before he felt it. He could feel the powering rising and the inner circle all took a step backward. The girl's breathing began to quicken. She opened her eyes and looked at them, as if pleading for help. She fell to her knees and the house began to rumble.

The words of concern began to fill the room "What's happening?" "Is it coming from her" "We need to stop it." "How?"

The girl reached up to the table and grabbed the 2 iron nails and stabbed them through her wrists again.

The rumbling stopped and the girl collapsed to the floor.