CARDIGAN, acotar ¹

chapter thirteen

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

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AUTUMN LEAVES CASCADED. maroon, burgundy, and gold flashed in light wisps around him, falling like pieces into place.

he was still in the spring court, and as for the autumn erupting wherever he roamed, he had no say in it. it was just a matter of controlling it, which was harder than usual because of his use of power to kill the faeries that had attacked carson.

he'd been meaning to hunt them down for weeks now, but amarantha had always requested his presence when he had the time. they had been trespassing across his and tamlin's borders, and getting dangerously close to the manor cottage he called home. lands he would protect for as long as he could.

crouched down, leaning on the heels of his riding boots, he glared at the four, fallen bodies. he'd glamoured them before cecelia could notice him — he didn't know, or want to know, what would happen if the lady of the night court found out carson had been responsible for one of them. he wouldn't gamble with a risk such as that.

carson was here for a reason. faerie-treaty bullshit — she had called it. eris knew from years of knowledge that the laws of the treaty were far too firm to brush away, so whatever she had done, whoever she had upset ... it had to have been bad.

killing a faerie was an example of this — which is why eris hid the bodies.

he knew cecelia wouldn't hurt her. she rarely killed without reason. no, she hated bloodshed and war. so different compared to whom she had married.

but it wasn't the sunshine faerie he was worried about. it was tamlin, and any other shadow that could have heard their conversation. he wouldn't put it past the high lord of the night court to be stalking the spring court's forest.

he'd caught rhysand more times than he could count in the spring court. merely standing at the wood line, staring into the distance. at the manor.

trying to find her. cecelia.

scowling at the mere thought of her, he rose from the earth beneath his boots and without another delaying moment, the bodies by his boots turned to ash. the ancient forest was once again brought to life, as if it had inhaled the souls of those faeries. a heartbeat later, the ash was far gone, fused into prythian's roots.

slightly drained from the use of power, eris half-heartedly stalked towards the forest line, as close as he could get to the border, and winnowed.

the floor of scattered leaves and sticks was unsteady beneath him, and eris let out a grunt as he landed roughly on his feet. once again in his home court.

he spotted his stallion he'd left, resting by the trees, and boarded. he was drained, and amarantha's control over his power wasn't helping.

it didn't take him long before he reached home.

the skies were painted with shades of gold and russet, and there, bathing in the richness of autumn, stood the manor cottage.