𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝟎𝟒

     Rhysand had been late before, it wasn't anything new but tonight his gut was churning at the thought of it. He could have left his duties in the camp alone and dealt with the tasks he was doing for the next day, he was sure retiring a little early in the night wouldn't cause him any trouble but he was on a role. He had the camp lords' attention and the thought of having to deal with them tomorrow morning when he can get it done that night pushed him to be late at meeting his sister and mother at the cabin.

Even Azriel's shadows were moving frantically, hissing at their master to hurry but never saying the reason why.

Rhysands watches Lord Filius as he walks away feeling the slight relief now that he and his brothers can finally make their way to their mother's cabin in Windhaven.

The three brothers shoot up the sky for their quick travel, the closer they get the more frantic and dark Azriel's shadows are which causes Cassian and Rhysand to send their shadowsinger worried glances.

"What's wrong?" the heir of night finally asks as his worries grow in the pit of his stomach.

The moment they had passed the borders to the camp, they immediately knew something was very wrong. On the surface, nothing was a miss. There seemed to be no problem from the looks of it but with the taste of metallic in the air, they knew not to trust that simple observation.

The last confirmation they needed to their suspicion was Amren and Morrigan winnowing a few spaces from the cabin, the former bellowing loudly as the three Ilyrians landed on the ground with a rumble.

"Where the hell is she?" the danger in the ancient's eyes promised a cruel death and one glance at the look, they knew who she was talking about.

"The cabin," the spymaster said, repeating what the shadows had hissed to him. It only took half a second after he uttered those words before they all into the cabin.

Amren's growl shook the cabin, threatening it to shatter.

Morrigan's body gave out the moment she stepped foot into the house, the warrior doing nothing to stop her knees from buckling.

Cassian immediately threw up in the hearth at the sight.

Rhysand's body trembled as he stared into their lifeless eyes.

And Azriel's body froze on the spot.

There, in front of them, laid the decapitated bodies of Arya and Vera. A sister and a mother. A few meters from their bodies were their heads, dried tear tracks down both their cheeks and their lifeless opened eyes showed nothing but fear, unblinking fear.

Blood was splattered everywhere, the walls, the hearth, the ceiling, and there was no surface around them that wasn't covered with the red liquid. The most apparent wound to them was to the neck and a couple of stab wounds and even lashings on their bodies but those injuries alone wouldn't produce the amount of blood the cabin was drowning in.

The observation only meant one thing.

Azriel's body moved without him acknowledging and he slowly turned Arya's body to her stomach, revealing two gaping holes on her back. No doubt Vera wore the same wounds on her body.

"No," Rhysand bellowed, scattering to his knees and gathering their lifeless bodies in his arms. "No."

Whoever did this butchered their wings.

Wings as trophies.

The spymaster sent his shadows to find out who the culprits were, grief pushed to the back of his mind as revenge took control of him.