A Court of Secrets and Moonlight

Part 1: Darkest Night

This wasn't her first battlefield.

Not by a long shot.

She'd seen enough bloodshed in the war to last a lifetime; knew the depravity that could be unleashed, all to familiar with the smells and sounds of death. Lives had ended at her hands, countless soldiers slain in her path, enough to haunt her in the night no matter what they had done to warrant her wrath. She'd played the perverted games of war before, the delicate, deadly chess of it all.

This was the first battle she had lost.

Blood.

There was so much blood.

The small clearing in the Illyrian steppes was marred with it, smeared on the trees, staining the ground, trailing up her hands- pooling around her.

They had left her there to die.

She wasn't entirely against the idea.

Something deep inside of her begged and pleaded to hold on, forced her to struggle to remove the poison laced dagger from her leg, gave her the strength to keep breathing even as her chest felt like a boulder rested on top of it. She coughed, blood leaking from her lips to join the growing pool around her.

How bad could it be to die?

What could be the point of living if she could never see anyone she loved again?

Her eyes found her arm, tracing the outlines of the invisible bargain there. A blood bargain, stronger than any other, unbreakable and outlasting for even the most powerful fae. Who knows what would happen to her if she went back on her word, and the devil she'd made the deal with would be free to do as he pleased.

Visions of her family flashed in her mind, those she had sworn to protect at all costs. Her life was the only thing keeping them safe, her sacrifice. She should have known he'd find a loophole. Revealing her location was a betrayal beyond what she thought even her father was capable of. His own flesh and blood, murdered at his hands.

His mate.

Her mother.

Lying dead a few yards away from where she writhed in pain.

She wouldn't dare to look again. They had made her watch as her mother was murdered, forced her eyes open to watch the torture. The crunch of bone as her mother's wings- those beautiful Illyrian wings she'd always been so proud of- ripped from the woman's back. The screams, begging to save her daughter's life turned into incoherent cries of pain.

Leuruna couldn't imagine that her father had expected his mate to be with her. Then again, she wasn't so sure she could put anything past him anymore. Her mother was supposed to have been waiting for her at the camp, preparing for her brother's visit. If only she had been more adamant that the woman go earlier, made up some lie- some excuse, anything. She'd known something was coming, felt it in her bones, shadows whispering in her ear. It was her final day before the bargain would take place. She'd planned a way to fake her death meticulously with her father a week ago. Today was to be her final day, spent in that cozy cabin she'd grown up in. Her family was all coming to visit, all together for one last time.

Even if they wouldn't have known it.

Some bitter part of her wasn't surprised that her father would not allow her even that one final moment.

She'd known better, and she had been selfish. Clinging to her mother in her final day, she conceded when the woman decided to come with her. Her mother had been so excited to see Rhysand.

Even thinking her brother's name was like a knife to the chest.

How she would miss him...

Her hero, she mused, her strength. She'd always known the Cauldron had blessed her to have him, always so loving.