A Court of Secrets and Moonlight

68: Fall

Leur

50 years ago

It was a normal day. I was in my office, my morning tea steaming next to me, Lunet curled up in a ray of sunlight at my back as I worked on some paperwork. It was the one part of being General I always fell behind on, the documentation of everything we did, the paperwork that came along with commands, the reports sent to the Golden Palace.

Just an average, normal day spent in exile.

It was always days like this when everything fell apart, always when I was least expecting it, always when I was just trying to enjoy my fucking tea.

I felt Tamlin pass through my wards mere seconds before he winnowed into the house. He was panting, either from running or whatever was wrong with him. I heard him opening doors, screaming my name as he called for me.

I only enjoyed one last moment of peace and quiet before whatever shitstorm he had brewed up hit. I took one last sip of my tea, sighing as I did so.

"Leur!" Tamlin burst into my study as he spoke.

He was wearing some kind of golden mask adorned with expensive emeralds, even if his clothes were dirty and ripped, his fingers still half-formed into talons.

"Take that thing off." I sighed, looking back down at the report I had been writing, "You look ridiculous."

"I can't." He answered quietly.

There was something in his voice, something I had not heard in a long time. Desperation, maybe- or fear.

I lifted my eyes to him, frozen in place, "You can't take it off?"

He didn't say a word, just stood there. I couldn't read his expression, not with the mask in the way. I could only see the fear in his eyes.

"What happened?" I asked, standing.

He opened his mouth, but words did not come out. As if he couldn't force himself to say it. He gave up, shaking his head as he whispered, "Look."

I hadn't looked in his mind in centuries, had not wanted to see Prythian when it was lost to me, certainly did not want to see anyone from my family for fear that I would break completely. But whatever this was, whatever had caused him to act like this- it was bad.

So, I looked.

It was a ball, held in the lower palace Under the Mountain. I had not seen that place since before the war, was shocked when I recognized the dark rock and the smell of my home. Little flashes of things, a conversation with a male who looked to be the new High Lord of Winter, Lucien dancing with a Spring Court female, a cup of wine in Tamlin's hand. And then Amarantha-

Amarantha standing on my brother's arm.

It had been so long since I had seen his face, so long since I saw him. He was dressed like our father, albeit a bit more fashionably, a crisp black suit, the crown that belonged to our great-grandfather on his head. Power swirled around him, our father's power, the High Lord's power- but I only saw Rhys. I only saw him below that perfected mask of cruelty. I only saw my brother.

He had come alone, I realized. Kier was there, a few members of the Hewn City on the other side of the room. But Mor had not come. Azriel was not there, not even Cassian. And I knew that he knew better, I knew that he would never go to an event without at least some form of protection. I watched through Tamlin's eye as Amarantha handed him a glass of wine, that devil looking at him as if he was dinner. She raised her own glass, making some bullshit toast to new alliances, to a new future for them all. Everyone took a drink.

And then the chaos erupted.

I felt what Tamlin felt, felt his power being ripped away from him. I watched as all of the High Lords gasped. Helion had even tried to spit it out, had tried and failed to escape it. I watched Rhys close his eyes in concentration, watched and knew that he had just done whatever he was able to shield our home. And then Amarantha was laughing, a cruel, twisted laugh.

"Bow before the High Queen of Prythian."

The memories shifted, and Lucien was riding away from the Spring Court manor on a horse. Tamlin was waiting for him to come back in the study when Lucien stumbled in, covered in blood. And in the spot where his eye should have been, there was nothing. Another shift, and Tamlin was standing in the Dawn Court palace, staring at Lucien's now golden, metal eye. The cut had healed, but there was a huge scar trailing down his chin like a bolt of lightning.

The final shift, and Tamlin was attending a masquerade ball Under the Mountain. Lucien stood next to him, fuming, wearing an orange fox mask. Amarantha was standing before him, a hand adorned with a ring shaped like an eye reaching for him. Tamlin had long since rejected the mating bond, and now felt nothing but disgust as he dodged her advances time and time again. And when he finally got fed up with it, when he finally snapped and told her that he would rather bed a human than her- she exploded.

And then I felt it. I felt every moment as the curse was placed on him, as his heart turned to stone in his chest, as he was given forty nine years to find a human that hated fae, but loved him, as that golden mask was forever bound to his face.

My teacup slipped from my hand, shattering at my feet.

"I need to go." He whispered, "I need to go, and I can't come back."

I was lost in something like shock at all I had seen, the absolute horrors I had witnessed. I knew Amarantha had come back, but I never thought-

"Leur, do you hear me?" His hands were on my shoulders now, "Do you understand what I am saying? I can't come back."

I was panting. No- hyperventilating. But I managed to nod, I managed to find enough mental strength to understand what he was saying.

"I won't let her find out about this place." His voice was firm, "Even this was a risk, but I needed to tell you. I needed you to know that I didn't leave you."

I was about one moment away from vomiting, but mustered the strength to whisper- "I understand."

"I'm going to find a way out of this, I promise." He breathed, his hands cupping my cheeks, "I'm going to get everyone out of this."

I let out a breath, forcing myself to hold my tears at bay, "I trust you. I believe in you."

I didn't have a moment to register any of it before he was kissing me, his lips familiar from all those years ago and yet different all at once. And it had been years since I had been kissed by someone who knew me, years since someone had seen my soul, seen who I was, and kissed me for it. 450 years of one night stands and stupid flings, but Tamlin was kissing me.

And for some reason, I returned it.

Maybe it was just instinct, maybe it was just in goodbye. Maybe I was trying to pour all the love I held for him into it, all the love I held that had never been enough.

And when he pulled back, his words were a warm breeze on a spring morning, "I had to do that, one last time."

And then it was over.

He disappeared right under my fingertips, crossing through my wards and vanishing into the warm light of morning. And for the first time since I remembered who I was- I was alone.

I was alone, and Prythian had slipped and fell right into Amarantha's hands. I was alone, and Lucien had been maimed. I was alone, and my brother had become that witch's personal toy. I was alone, and Tamlin was-

No.

I would not stand for this. I would not let this go.

Maybe I could not go home to Prythian, maybe I was stuck here- but I had an entire army who was not. I had a territory double the size of Pythian and Hybern combined, two other generals who could fight in my stead, a King who I had enough blackmail to bend him to my will.

And if he refused to send aid, I could always make him.

It was a dangerous game, but I would play it. I would become anything, do anything I had to in order to end this.

They'd never see me coming.