A Court of Secrets and Moonlight

19: Revelations

Leur

Standing clad in armor, about to pick a fight with Hybern, was all too familiar.

I yearned for the days that I could enjoy my home without a war raging. Honestly, I wished for the days when a war would not be raging everywhere I went. At this point, it felt like it was my destiny to fight until my luck ran out and I died on the battlefield. Were times of peace that difficult to obtain?

Azriel's hand was in mine as we stood outside a seemingly normal townhouse. However, he'd explained to me that this was actually where Rhys lived the majority of the time. It didn't surprise me, not entirely, that my brother would not want to live in our childhood home permanently. I hadn't wanted to live there even when our parents were alive, hence why I'd bought my secret little apartment. I never bothered to ask where Rhys spent the majority of his time, and clearly I had my answer.

When we walked inside, I couldn't help the smile on my face. It was cozy, beautiful, sophisticated but laid back at the same time. It was my brother in a house. He sat on the couch now with Feyre beside him as we all waited on Mor, Cassian sprawled in a chair opposite them. Azriel and I were leaning against the window frame. The shadows had a way of drawing you towards darkness, to a corner where you could overlook it all, but I never had an issue ignoring that instinct. Azriel seemed perfectly content to give into it, so I obliged him without a second thought.

"So, where shall I put my Archives, Rhys?" I asked him.

He squinted at me, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm going to bring my archives here, the whole thing, so I'm asking you- my gracious High Lord- where you'd like me to place the building?" I smiled at him.

"You're going to bring an entire building back here?" He shook his head at me.

"I have a lot of shit, and only two hands. Four if you count Az." I answered.

He scoffed, tilting his head at me, "How exactly do you plan to do this?"

"A spell." I picked at my nails as I spoke, "A pretty badass one I created, if I do say so myself."

My brother, in typical older brother fashion, only laughed, "Tell you what, if you manage to bring a whole entire building through that tiny little pond, and sneak past the Hybern patrols, you can put it wherever the hell you please."

He's an idiot, Az's shadows whispered in my ear.

"I'll be holding you to that." I smirked at him.

Perhaps I'll place them right in the middle of the city.

"Holding him to what?" Mor finally walked in, dressed in leathers with a Seraphim sword on her hip. My own hip felt empty with this nondescript Illyrian blade Cass had given me. I wondered if Mor was still pissed at me from our little spat at dinner.

"It's not happening. It doesn't matter." Rhys blew her off. Feyre was mostly asleep on his arm, having drank enough wine to kill a horse after Nesta's outburst. That girl was like a bomb waiting to go off, with a hell of a lot of power to back it up. I wondered if the other sister, Elain, was the same way. I could hear their heartbeats in the rooms above us, but nothing else.

"Let's go." Cassian stood up.

He'd spent the last few hours coming up with a battle plan with Lucien based off information from Az's spies. If we were lucky, we could get in and out undetected. The Ingysi was deep in the woods, far beyond where the patrols were likely to be. We'd approach from the west, where most of the villages were and the Hybern forces were lightest.

"Be careful." Rhys called after us. I didn't miss the look that he shared with Az, like a warning and a plea wrapped up in one.

I'll be okay, Rhys. I reassured him, tapping on those black shields of his, Don't be such an overprotective big brother.