A Court of Secrets and Moonlight

84: Alone

Leur

I hadn't expected the relief to hit me straight away.

I thought it would take days for it to sink in that he was truly gone, thought that I'd at least have that moment of limbo where it did not feel real. But I watched him die, I lived the moment I had waited for all this time. I watched the life drain from the King of Hybern's eyes at Azriel's hand, watched as the world was finally rid of him.

And it hit me like a train.

Perhaps it was the drain on my power, or the way every bone in my body hurt. Perhaps it was the emotional drain, today's events had sucked everything I had out of me. Perhaps it was my soul finally being freed from the darkness the King had placed upon me. One moment, I was satisfied and the next I felt like I might collapse.

Azriel turned to us, bloodstained hands placing Truth-Teller back in the sheath at his side. And the horrors that had just occurred here did not matter, none of it mattered- because we were free.

I cut through the tense silence, "That was fun, we should do it again sometime guys."

And perhaps the most shocking event of the day was that Nesta simply laughed. Not in the sort of way that was a rarity, not in a mocking or bemused way- it was just simple relief and joy. As if it was normal for her, as if she'd do it every day for the rest of her life.

And maybe it was the adrenaline or the relief or the way we were all bone tired. Maybe we had just lost our minds- but then we were all laughing. Azriel came and joined us, his hand coming to rest around my shoulders as the four of us roared with laughter.

There was a moment there, just a brief second, where peace no longer felt like a dream. A moment where the four of us were joined together, having just defeated a great enemy as a family. A moment where we were all close together, arms placed around each other's shoulders, holding ourselves up only out of habit, finally able to take a deep breath after all this time. Just one singular moment where it all didn't feel so horrible, where the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel was so close that I could just reach out my hand and grab it.

And then it was gone.

Nesta went down first, her laughter dying in her throat as her eyes widened. My shadows started screaming at the same moment she did, barely intelligible warnings screeching over and over again.

"Get away from it, Feyre!" Nesta screeched, breaking off from us and sprinting through the woods, Cassian trailing close behind her, "Get away from it!"

I felt it then.

The Cauldron was roiling, something snapping inside of it as the ground started shaking. One glance at Azriel, one singular look into his hazel eyes that said everything we needed to say- and then we were both sprinting too.

I did not know that this kind of energy still existed in my body. Perhaps it was only panic that fueled me now, nothing but complete and utter terror.

It was like I could see it. A vision appearing in my head of Amren ripping Feyre's hands off the Cauldron as it began boiling. Thick white mist poured from it, lightning striking inside of it as the two females sprinted as far away as they could. It rose into the air like a hurricane, a storm of utter destruction brewing- and I could have sworn I had seen this before...

I had.

In Elain's mind when I cleared her thoughts, I had caught the slightest wind of this moment. Just a tiny glimpse of the Cauldron exploding with power, of the thick cloud of power that was currently blooming- swallowing us all whole. And as I careened through the woods, it all made sense.