𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝟏𝟐

Arya

     The next morning, I didn't want to get out of bed at all. Feyre and Alis helped clean me last night and for once I got a peaceful sleep, although waking up was a slap of reality. How have I been alive for half a millennia already? War, betrayal, loss, torture, love, family, enemies, there are so many things that can happen in the span of a mortal life, imagine an immortal life?

I'm not complaining, not really, to this day I don't know how I didn't die that night. I'm not sure why the Death God decided it wasn't my time to die yet, I'm certain it isn't to wallow in self-pity. I roll my eyes at my brain's persistence in getting out of bed, and with a frustrated sigh I follow anyway.

Just as I was walking out of the bathroom Feyre entered with a tray of food, "Hey you're up." She greets me with a soft smile. "Get dressed, we're going out."

"And where are we going?" I asked, grabbing a pair of pants and a tunic. "Tamlin said it was a surprise, but he did promise that it's supposed to be peaceful."

My movements falter slightly at the suggestion of spending time with Tamlin but I push forward and get dressed while popping a few fruits in my mouth in between.

In no time, Feyre and I were meeting Lucien and Tamlin at the front of the manor. Lucien was already climbing into the saddle of his horse and I eyed the three other horses waiting for us.

"So where to?" Tamlin only smiled in response.

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

My mouth open lightly looking at what lay before us, we sat atop a grassy knoll overlooking a wide vast of oaks, and dandelions around them, with snowdrops and bluebells carpeting the ground.

This wasn't the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen by any means, that title belonged to the Night Court alone, but I couldn't deny the beauty that it truly was. After the events of last night, this was exactly where we needed to be today.

I turn around to see Lucien, Tamlin, and Feyre sitting on a blanket. I walk over flopping myself beside Lucien, ignoring what Feyre and Tamlin were conversing about. I lay down, crossing my ankles, and I place a hand over my heart. I drown out the voices around me, focusing on the whispers of the wind and the singing of the birds instead.

I imagine the day I reunite with my brother, he'd bother me to bake some of our mother's special apple pie. He tried baking it once before, but we quickly realized that he did not belong in the kitchen at all.

I picture Mor dragging me to Rita's for a night out. I see myself wearing a dress that my brothers would be complaining about all night long, talking about how short it was and how they hated all the eyes on my body.

Cassian would be pushing me into the sparring ring the day after I'd arrived. He'll be taunting me, telling me how I'd lost my touch in all these years. But what he didn't know was, I training with fighters much more brutal than him. He'd then shove food down my throat non-stop, making sure I gained back the muscles I've lost.

Then my heart flutters as I see Amren, my second mother. The parent who stepped up to help my mother when my father chose not to. Amren, my confidant, my best friend, my mother in all ways. I watch as my brain creates an image of the ancient one scolding me for being gone for so long before hugging me so tightly and then scolding me again.

And then I breathed in, feeling the bond that glowed in my chest. I let out a quiet breath as I imagined breaking down in Azriel's arms, my mate. After hundreds of years, we'd be able to accept what we were for each other. After hundreds of years, we'd finally be free to be ourselves. I almost sob at the caresses of the bond from the other side, when did it snap for him? Did he always know we were mates? Did he hide it from me for the same reasons I did? Or did it snap for him way too late?