𝐄𝐋𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐍 ━━━ ✧ ⋆ （ acotar ）

✧ ˚ 𝐱𝐱𝐯𝐢𝐢. 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮

✧ ˚ 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐍, 𝐂𝐔𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 soft padding of her otherwise careful footsteps as Asteria made her way through the manor's halls. The dead of night's waning moon slipped through the glass of each window she passed, illuminating her features briefly before darkness eclipsed her once more.

Four days of little to no sleep had only deepened the dark circles under her eyes, even affecting her appetite so much that she had thinned considerably. She could hardly tell the difference between Starsight dreams and nightmares anymore, the devastation, suffering, and death they both seemed to promise haunting even her waking eyes, until it reached the point that she could barely register the sound of someone talking to her, until it was a struggle to even fake a smile. And now, there was nothing she could do to calm her racing heart except await the rising sun.

And so, awake Asteria remained, even as the moon passed its peak and began to descend in the night sky.

Tamlin's study was utterly silent as she entered quietly, slipping past the doorway and closing it gently behind her. Subtle moonlight floated through the window above his wooden desk, casting lengthy shadows upon the floor beneath the rows of bookshelves that lined the room.

Asteria recalled how often she'd once spent roaming those rows, searching the shelves for her next romantic book to read with innocence brimming her soul. Now, that innocence had dimmed, and a fairytale romance was not what she was there for.

According to Polaria, Hybern was planning to use some sort of mythical object to carry out his plans, to breach the barrier between the mortal realms and Prythian, and then, soon after, the Celestial Realm. She had told her to stay with Rhys, who likely already knew what this powerful object was, but considering that she had not heard from him in the three months that had passed, matters had to be taken into her own hands. Polaria had not pressed on it since that day in the garden with Feyre, anyway.

She was grateful that whichever of Tamlin's ancestors had possessed the mind to merge this study with a library of sorts had also decided to organize its bookshelves by genre. Nonfiction was not something she often reached for in the months following their initial arrival in Prythian, but she found her way around well enough. It was evident they were ordered alphabetically as well.

But as Asteria stared up at the wall of books before her, she quickly grew overwhelmed.

"Where am I even supposed to start?" she murmured quietly, afraid of alerting someone that she was roaming around at night.

The object would have to be something ancient and powerful enough to be wielded to great effect, Polaria answered, thoughtful and deliberate. She was silent for a moment, contemplating. Thereㅡtry the one four to the left on the third shelf from the bottom.