Dance of Fate

Chapter Twenty Seven

I woke up before the sun had begun to rise. I'd had the same nightmare again- and it was only more terrifying now that I identified almost everyone in it. 

Of course, with a nightmare, came a surge of power. So I'd snuck out and winnowed to the woods, far away, and let out as much of it as I could without beginning to feel weak. No one had yet woken when I snuck back into bed. Though Azriel's bed was still empty and undisturbed. 

I went back to sleep, and by the time I woke up again, everyone else had risen already. I didn't bother going to breakfast, but opted to dress first. After I had done so, I set off to find Cassian, or Rhys and Feyre.

Cassian was the only one I could find, seated at the breakfast table with a tense looking Elain. I muttered good morning to them both, then asked Cassian where the others were. 

"Rhys and Feyre encountered the Attor," Cassian said quietly enough that Elain's human ears wouldn't be able to pick up on it. "Az is questioning it." He added carefully. I was about to scold him for not waking me, but Feyre and Rhys appeared right then.

Feyre's cheeks were pink, her face the picture of irritation. Rhys beside her, was mainly expressionless aside from the anger in his eyes. 

"See you later, then." Cassian said to me. 

"No." I said too quickly. "I'll go with you." I breathed. Cassian turned to Rhys, surely looking for approval.

"That's a good idea. Have a look in his mind while you're there." He said to me. I nodded, eager to get out of here. 

I said a quick goodbye to Feyre, then to Elain, and walked to join Cassian. 

"I could winnow us, you know." I told him once we were outside. Cassian stretched his wings out. 

"You don't even know where we're going. Besides, flying gives me the perfect opportunity to question you." I rolled my eyes at his smirk, but braced my hands on his shoulders as he scooped me up into his arms. 

"So," Cassian began once we were airborne. "Anything happen last night?"

"You slept in the same room as I did." 

"I mean before you went to bed. Though I wouldn't put it past you two to sneak out while I was asleep to- ow!" I pinched his arm as hard as I could, despite him holding me hundreds of feet in the sky. 

"Nothing happened." I said. Too harshly, because Cassian glanced at me suspiciously. Luckily, he didn't ask me anything else for the rest of our journey. 

We eventually landed in the Court of Nightmares. Cassian told me to keep the both of us concealed as we walked down into the holding cells. I was more than content to, considering my last visit to this place. 

Azriel and the Attor were in the furthest cell, the latter latched to an iron chair by swirling shadows in the center of the room. 

I clenched my palms into fists as they began to tremble, already slick with sweat. Between the dim faelight, the stone walls, and the screams of the Attor, I might as well have been Under the Mountain. 

"Tell me how you tracked her." Azriel asked, his voice quiet. I had never heard him sound like that- so utterly cold and merciless. I didn't know why it shocked me, when I had been perfectly aware since the beginning of his occupation, and his past. But still, it didn't scare me. It didn't even bother me, not when I had done much worse to much better people.

Still, as Azriel's eyes briefly shifted to Cassian and I as we quietly leaned against the cell's walls, I could tell he didn't want me here. Whether it was because he believed me unqualified, or because he didn't want me to witness this, I didn't know. It didn't matter. Rhys had allowed me to come, and Rhysand was Azriel's High Lord.