A Court so Cruel and Lovely

Chapter Five

My father escorted me back to the Night Court. He told me it was so he and the remaining army could search through the fallen. He didn't want me to have to see it. So I didn't push him for answers. My mother, he continued, would be coming to visit once the dead had been identified. She would bring me with her when she did.

A sense of foreboding pricked my skin at that. Something told me that it was a bad idea to go to the campgrounds. The feeling stayed with me all throughout the day and long into the night.

***

I spent most of the day painting. I painted whatever came to mind. My little artist, my mother called me.

I painted dragons, wyverns, and battlefields during the fighting. I painted myself as a child with Rhys, Cassian, and Azriel beside me. I painted a portrait of me and my mother side by side. I painted a portrait of my family – Cassian, Rhys, Azriel, my mother, and I – where my mother was sewing a dress while me and the boys ran around chasing each other. I painted until my mother came in to grab me for lunch.

"You've been painting for a while, my moon. Come take a break," her soothing voice came from the doorway.

"Let me clean off first, Mama," I said.

"Very well, my darling," she responded. She walked away.

I quickly bathed, washing off all the paint. Somehow it got behind my ears and up my neck. As soon as it was all washed away, I got out and changed into clean clothes. I let my wings out because I had hidden them while painting so that paint would not get all over them. I dried my hair off and went to join my mother for lunch.

***

We had a normal lunch of turkey, green beans, macaroni and cheese, rice cakes, fish, and ham. I took a couple rice cakes and some cheese to eat for later, in case I get hungry while working. I went back to painting to add finishing touches to the portrait of me and my mother.

I decided I would give it to Rhys. The painting of me and Azriel together would go to Azriel, obviously. The one of all four of us together would probably go to Rhys as well. Cassian couldn't be trusted with one of my paintings. He might destroy it. Still, I chose to give him the painting of the dragons and wyverns.

After adding finishing touches, I went to the library.
I picked out a couple books, rang for some tea, and sat in one of the chairs that looked out towards the city. Soon I would go back to the city. Soon I would feel the hum of city life in Velaris. Soon, I had to remind myself because otherwise I would forget.

***

Three days later, my mother and I received word from Rhys that he would be picking us up near an oak tree in the Spring Court. My mother and I left the next day. We had flown down to the city first. My father winnowed us to the Spring Court border.
We found the oak tree not too long after. We waited there for Rhys. I heard footsteps approaching. The gait was far too heavy to be Rhys'. My mother realized it at the same time.

"Run, Selene," she said. The fact she called my 'Selene' instead of 'my moon' threw me off. That sense of foreboding intensified. I made to run too late.

Two blonde males grabbed me, forced me onto my knees.

"Well, look what we found," the male, who I quickly recognized as the High Lord of the Spring Court, drawled.

"Please," I whispered.

One of the males holding me wrenched my head back, using my hair to do it.

"Shut it."

"Where is my son?" my mother asked.

"That shouldn't concern you. You're trespassing," the High Lord said. "Your punishment is up to me."

I whimpered and his son's grip on my hair tightened. A blade was pressed against my throat.

"Give me a reason I shouldn't kill you," the male drawled.

"You'd be starting an internal war," I snapped.

"I wasn't talking to you girl," he barked back.

I growled then winced as the blade pressed deeper into my neck. My mother said nothing. The High Lord drew his sword.

"If you are not going to answer me, I suppose I shall have to take your life," he said.

It was over before I could process it. Her head hit the ground with a dull thud. I screamed right before they slit my throat and my wrists.

Darkness filled my vision. I remembered feeling a sharp pain in my wrist and throat and then feeling nothing.