Ice, steel and shadows -ACOMAF au

Amelia

"Why in Mother's ears do we have to climb all those stairs to have dinner?" I grumbled, as Feyre, Mor and I climbed the fifth staircase- Rhysand's orders, apparently. Mor softly shrugged, even that bare movement graceful and smooth. "Don't worry, all questions will be answered once we reach the w- the, um top of the stairs." I raised an eyebrow, about to ask more, but Feyre interrupted me.

"Will Lilith be there too? I haven't seen her all day long." She said, worry evident in her voice. "Lilith's perfectly fine, she has been training with Rhysand today. She will be there, yes." Mor quickly said, as we finally reached the top floor of Rhysand's castle.

There were windows everywhere, and the night sky looked so approachable- as if I could reach out and grab a star, braid it in my hair. The view was breathtaking.

At the end of the long corridor, there was one single room. Tall, dark, made of obsidian- Mor led us there, gently knocking before entering.

The room was perhaps the most wonderful part of the castle I'd seen yet- every wall had at least one wide and tall window, that overlooked the whole castle that looked like a very vibrant and expensive painting. The room itself was painted to look like the night sky looming outside- the only furniture was a large table and a few chairs in the middle of the room.

Lilith's head snapped up as she heard us enter, while Rhysand didn't acknowledge our presence- Lilith was staring at whatever was laid on the table, and Rhysand was staring at her. "Hey, are you ok?" Feyre quickly asked her sister, approaching her. Rhysand rolled his eyes, finally turning to look at Feyre, Mor and I.

"She's perfectly fine. I promised not to harm either of you, did I not?" Feyre ignored him, enveloping Lilith in a hug. "I'm ok, Feyre." Lilith soothingly reassured, patting her sister's back. "Ok." Feyre pulled back, biting her lower lip.

"Good, now that that's settled." Rhysand rolled his eyes again- I had noticed he tended to do that quite often. "Do you know why you're here?" Glancing around, one possible answer crossed my mind. War room- that was what Mor had almost said earlier. War.

My stomach turned and tossed- I suddenly felt nauseous. "Why is there a map showing the human and the Fae lands?" Lilith asked- her voice sounded calm, but her body language wasn't. She seemed almost defensive.

"Because they are separated. By the Wall. But I'm afraid they won't be- not for much longer, anyways." I cast a panicked glance around: everything seemed blurry. "Why?" Lilith's voice broke and Feyre took a seat. Rhysand opened his mouth but it was Mor's sombre voice that answered.

"Because war's coming, ladies."

It was as if Earth slipped under my feet- I had done everything, everything in my power, to prevent this very thing from happening and now-

"Why?" I rasped, unable to say anything else. Mor looked at Rhysand, a sad look in her eyes. "It would've been too easy. Did you think Amarantha was the end of it? She was just a commander, Amelia." A commander for the King Of Hybern. That had hundreds of commanders. My hands were trembling, and any thought of food had bile raising in my throat.

"A commander?" Feyre's voice sounded close to tears- Lilith was pale as a ghost. "You need to do some reading." Rhysand strictly said, his eyes on the Archeron sisters. "Are you familiar with Hybern and its king?" Feyre and Lilith exchanged panicked glances before the latter spoke. "Heard of him. I- Under the Mountain." Lilith mumbled, and Feyre nodded. "He's cruel, isn't he?" Feyre whispered, and she sounded so young, so vulnerable- "He is ." Rhysand said, his tone serious, dark.

"What is he planning, Rhysand?" Lilith said, as if having read my mind- Rhysand's eyes were lacking their usual mischief and humour and that scared me more than anything else. "He wants all the lands. Fae lands, human lands- and the population? Ideal for slaves. Amarantha was an experiment- he wanted to see how long would one of his commanders keep us all under control. Now, he's planning a full-on attack. Bring Prythian down, and then conquer the human lands- and slaughter the humans."