A Court of Shadows and Pain

Fourty-four

The past few days had been peaceful. Too peaceful.

Yesterday morning she had trained with Rhys and Cassian, which had been much fun. She went shopping with Mor and Feyre in the afternoon and even had some tea with Amren in the evening.

And not to forget, she had spent a lot of time with Azriel.

They had mainly talked a lot, getting to know each other better. It was just the simple things like getting to know each other's favorite color and foods.

In a few minutes she would leave the River House, meeting up with Eris. No one knew about it, not even Azriel.

Maybe it was stupid to not tell anyone. The High Lord's son could very well attempt to kill her. Yet, she felt like this meeting was going to be safe.

She assumed Azriel would be mad at her if he found out. But again, if.

Even though Eris had betrayed her in her eyes, he deserved a chance to explain himself.

Valery walked out of the River House, having avoided Rhys and Feyre. She had told Azriel that she was going to gather some stuff from her old home tonight. He had believed her lie, even asking if he could come along. Valery had politely refused his offer. After he kissed her goodbye she felt even more guilty about lying to him.

She had finally been able to put on the leathers Rhys had gifted her for Solstice. A few weeks ago she couldn't stomach them, but she felt like it was time to move forward.

The leathers fitted her perfectly. It also allowed her to access her daggers more easily.

Even though this meeting with Eris was supposed to be civil, she had taken every last dagger she could find with her.

Valery let her shadows take her to their supposed meeting place, having to stop three times since they couldn't winnow her in one time.

It wasn't as cold as in Velaris over here, even though she could feel the cold breeze of the wind.

Her shadows pulled her towards trees. She trusted them with her life--most of the time, so she followed them.

He is near

Valery thanked the shadow and kept walking along. It wasn't much later when Eris came into view.

There was a hint of surprise on his face, but he masked it well by grinning at the sight of her.

"You actually came." he said to her.

Valery stopped a few feet in front of him. "I thought I could at least hear you out. You might have something useful to say after all."

Eris chuckled at her words. "Thank you for coming."

Did he just actually thank her? "Just get it over with. I won't have long until someone notices I am not where I'm meant to be." Valery spoke with urgency.

Eris's grin fell, being replaced by something much more serious. "First off, I would like to explain myself. For betraying you."

Valery crossed her arms, motioning for him to continue.

"I thought I did the right thing. The day before Arwyn was thrown into that pit, I overheard them talking about you." Eris started.

"They talked about me all the time. It was all they got to do. What was different that one time?" she asked.

"Amarantha had agreed on them killing you. Really killing you. No torture. No fighting pit. Just cutting your head off."

Valery flinched at his words. "It was no secret that they wanted to kill me."