A Court of Smoke and Shadow

Chapter Four: Azriel

"I need to talk to you."

My brother's voice echoed in the hall. Cassian and I paused.

"About what?" Cassian asked.

"Selene," Rhys responded, simply. "I'm worried about her."

"Why? What happened," I asked, my mind whirring with everything that might be off.

"She spent hours in her study last night. Didn't even bother to eat or anything," he said.

"That sounds like her," I muttered. "Always working."

"I don't know, Az," he said. "I feel like something's off with her. She looked completely rattled."

"By what?" I asked.

"That's the thing. I don't know," Rhys admitted. "But I did hear something whispering in her head before I went back to the town house."

"What did you hear?"

"It said 'Princess of Bastards, what will you do once the truth comes out?'," my brother sighed. "I have no idea what that means."

"She can't be a bastard, though," Cassian said. "She has your father's powers and your mothers Illyrian blood."

"That's true," Rhys said. "I've been reading up on the Greenbriar family. There's a belief that if you spill Greenbriar blood, it's as good as having been born with it in your veins."

"How does that correlate with Selene?" I asked.

"I don't know, which is why we're meeting with Amren. Hopefully she knows more," Rhys said.

***

Amren looked at Rhys after he recounted to her what he learned and told her about the voice he heard.

"I've not heard of such things before," Amren admitted. "It's possible that she gained it in Elfhame."

"But what is it, is the question," Cassian said.

"It's likely connected to the island itself," Amren said. "It still lingers because it's deeply rooted from all the time she spent there."

"My question is what did it mean by 'Princess of Bastards'," I sighed.

"From what you told me, Rhysand, your father never liked her much," Amren said. "It's possible that he knew she was a bastard but wouldn't say anything."

"He was there when she was born, though," Rhys pointed out. "And she has our father's violet eyes."

"True, but then again, maybe your mother didn't give birth to her. Maybe it was someone else," Amren stated.

"But what about the Illyrian wings?" Rhys asked.

"They could be like yours, summoned from magic," I pointed out.

Amren nodded in agreement. "It wouldn't be surprising. Honestly, I think whoever her real mother was or is, was someone who your father wasn't proud of knowing or even having a relationship with. That or he wasn't expecting anything to come out of their relationship and disliked her for that."

All of it was worryingly plausible. Rhysand looked like he didn't want to believe it but he couldn't deny the plausibility. Even Cassian seemed to realize it. I was more concerned about how Selene would react.

I knew she wouldn't be completely destroyed over the knowledge. I thought she might actually be a little relieved. But then I thought about how she always preferred her mother over her father. I realized she might actually be upset over the fact her mother wasn't actually her mother.

"Well, if we told her-," I started.

"Told who what?" Selene's voice cut me off.

Amren, Rhys, Cassian and I went dead silent. Selene waited, looking between all of us.

"What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing of importance," Rhys lied, smoothly.

"Bullshit," Selene snapped. "It must be important because Amren's here."

When none of us responded, she plunged on.
"If it's not important then it's probably related to me, given the fact none of you will tell me."

Rhys looked at her. "It is about you. I'm not telling you because I don't want to hurt you."

She looked at him as if he had grown two heads. "Are you joking? You can't hurt me. Not more than Amarantha did. Or Balekin, for that matter."

None of us ever talked about Under the Mountain. We certainly did not mention Amarantha. We danced around it but never stated it explicitly. Rhys winced at her use of Amarantha's name.

"You want the truth? Then I will tell you," Rhysand said.

"You're going to want to sit down for this," Cassian joked.