I Was Always There

Chapter 3

"Selene," Rhys said as she started for her room.

Turning around, the woman awnsered "Yeah?"

"I need you-and you alone to go and check out hybern's camping grounds and report back to me. Stay until you feel as though you've gathered enough information and then come back." Rhys said, assigning Selene a task for what felt like the first time in a couple months. Unbeknownst to Selene, her carelessness would be the trigger of her long absence from the night court. 

Little did Rhysand know that that was the last he would ever see of his long-time friend before the war was over.

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The scraping of a knife against a stone wall made Selene tremble with terror. they would bleed her out again and burn her, again. The heavy footsteps of two tramped through the corridor, and she knew that it would be the king or his guards coming to torture her for the secrets of the Night Court.

She had already started to accept it, really. the scars on her body and in her mind were never-ending, but this was her new reality, one she could not escape. Only years of being friends with Rhysand had kept her from spilling their secrets, even the most powerful daemati in the horrible castle could not enter that place in her mind. The place she had locked and thrown away the key early on in their torture methods.

Selene only dared to wish one more time, to see the sun again, to collapse in her own bed once more, for this was it. It would be the end of her and all she knew. If those guards stepped even a toe into the room, she would make them kill her. She had been planning for a while now, experimenting on the guards easiest to provoke and the stoniest ones, recalling all the possible triggers to boost their anger.

"Cassian...CASSIAN!," one of the guards roars, now standing directly in front of her cell, making her wince.

The name Cassian sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place how the name fit into her life as of now. As long as they don't step foot into this room, I will be fine. Selene attempted to calm her trembling by repeating the words over and over again.

"What did you find, Az?," the other guard says as he comes rushing down the corridor, "..oh."

His voice became small and broken at the sight of her wretched state and in that very moment, she decided that she hated hearing this tone of voice on this new person. Selene would do anything in her power to never hear that tone of voice ever again.

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Cassian POV:

I can't believe we've finally found her. Finally found Selene. It's unbelievable and I almost think the Mother is playing with my mind, that I'm seeing a hallucination until I glance at Az and realize that this is real. That he is also seeing the crumpled form on the ground in the farthest corner of her cell, a shadow of our friend and my mate. 

I had went nearly batshit crazy when I'd heard that she was captured. I'd flew into a rage, destroying the townhouse dining room and flying out the front door to the cabin but didn't turn back up until three weeks later. But now, we'd found her. Now, with her back, everything will feel right again.That is, up until Az spoke in a hushed tone as a last ditch attempt to keep the conversation secret.

"Cassian, my shadows report that she will kill herself if we walk into that room."

Cass felt the shock, disbelief and anger that whatever Hybern had done to her was so bad that she had a course of action to end her life. "What do you suggest we do then? Wait for Rhys?"

Cass replied, barely concealed anger in his words. He loathed himself when at his tone, Selene shrunk further back into the far corner of her cell, like he terrified her.

He loathed himself and the Mother when she began to cry, silent chocking sobs with tears running down her face as she looked, truly looked at him and promptly passed out.

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A/N

You all thought I was going to say passed away, right? Whoever does that is a psychopath for sure and you can't convince me otherwise.

Anyways...710 words! Making progress!