𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝟎𝟐

     The Autumn Court forest was truly beautiful, even with the light chill along the wind, the colourful trees and piles of leaves on the ground outweighed it all. The nature of the Autumn Court is no doubt the only good thing about this court, along with the wife of the High Lord and a few members.

A huff brings the princess out of her thoughts, she glances to her left to see red siphons glowing, "Does Mor knows of this arrangement yet?" he says with a huff, clear disdain on his face.

Arya sighs, "I haven't talked to her about it yet since she's been busy lately but with this news? I won't be surprised if she already knew."

"Why is your father not dead yet? Rhysand is more than ready to take the throne anyways," the brute huffs with a flap of his wings for about the hundredth time since they've crossed the border to Autumn.

"Cassian!" the slap to his Illyrian leathers echoes through the forest, "my father has eyes and ears everywhere! You can not just say things like that," the princess warrior hisses quietly with a light glow of violet in her eyes.

Cassian furrows his eyebrows as he lightly massages the area he was hit on, "Fine."

After a few minutes, the Illyrian princess halts her steps as the palace comes into view. She may despise almost every fae who inhabits the Autumn Palace but she can't deny a beauty when she sees one. The palace with its intricate designs on the outside only promises high-quality interior designs. Arya wasn't one for extravegents, the same can not be said about the silver-eyed made fae, but Arya does know how to appreciate it when presented.

Truth be told, she'd rather stay in the townhouse or a cozy cabin than a palace that needs a map for navigation and hallways echoing your every move with the lack of people and furniture.

"I'm trained by the strongest Illyrian warriors together with Valkyries and their units, not to mention my people naming me as an Illyrian princess who can without a doubt complete the blood rite and join the Valkyries. Not to mention, training with my powers with an ancient made fae that every person in Prythian is afraid of. Yet here I am today, made out to be some damsel in distress, about to meet up with a male my father sold me off to who I can kill in the blink of an eye."

Cassian eyes his chosen little sister, even with glamour carefully placed upon her, he can remember exactly where her scars and calluses hide. The scars and calluses she wears proudly in Velaris are from training not only with himself, Azriel, and Rhysand but as well as the Valkyries and their unit. Those are the scars that she only ever has to glamour whenever she leaves Velaris, that was one of the agreed-upon rules her father has set as a compromise to her wanting to train. No one outside of Velaris can know that the Princess of the Night Court was allowed to not only hold weapons but was also one of the strongest Valkyrie-to-be warriors who could wield them.

"If our prediction is right about when the war will begin then you still have months of just talking to this autumn male and who knows who will die in this war, could be your father, could be Beron and all his sons, you never know. I know deep within me that you won't marry one of those buffoons, I'm not sure how, but my gut is always right."

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

Today was one of the rare days where Amren was actually in Windhaven, taking residence on an armchair parallel to Vera. Azriel, Rhysand, and Mor all sat on the couch across from them, each waiting on the arrival of Cassian and Arya from the Autumn Court.

No one was into small talk but the group participated in it as most of their attention was in their head, thinking of the situation at hand.

Vera stood up quickly at the first sign of the front door being opened, they all watched the pair of that night strode in. Arya sports a look of disgust, relief, and disbelief while the Illyrian brute has the emotion of anger and annoyance on his face.