A Court of Smoke and Shadow

Chapter Nine

I stayed in Ravka for three weeks.

Then Rhysand told me that the Summer Court was under attack and I immediately winnowed to the city of Adriata. Blood rubies or no, I had friends in the Summer Court. I should help them. The city was overrun by Hybern's soldiers. The docks were full with Hybern's ships.

I ran to join the fray, pistol drawn. I made quick work of Hybern's soldiers. They were slow and no match for my pistol. Or my Heartrender powers for that matter. I forgot to bring extra ammunition so I had to put my gun away and use my power instead.
By the time I'd found Rhys, Tarquin, Rhysand, and Feyre were talking in the main hall. They immediately stopped when they saw me.

"Selene," Rhys breathed.

"Hello," I said, breathless.

"You came," he said, softly.

"You called," I responded, gently. "I wasn't going to leave you stranded."

Pride and love flickered in his eyes. "Well, I'm glad you did. However, I cannot say the same for Tarquin so, we should get going."

I nodded and let Rhys and Feyre lead me out of the room. I had forgotten Rhys and Feyre had blood rubies with their names on it here. It took a lot of balls for them to have come back despite that.

I did my best to help heal our injured soldiers using my Corporalki powers. It was better for me to use my Grisha abilities. I didn't have a limit like I did using my magic. Using my Grisha abilities made me stronger. Plus, it let my magic rest so I wouldn't go completely insane.

***

Once I finished, I went back to Ravka. The High Lords would be meeting in a little over a week. I was to join my family in the Night Court. The only thing I didn't want was to see Tamlin. I wasn't particularly fond of Beron either but I was doing this for a good reason.

I had a Healer remove the scars on my back so I could get the tattoos redone because my poor snakes looked so beat up. I went to the mortal world - to Maine specifically - and got my snake tattoo redone at the same tattoo shop I got them done at originally.
No one batted an eye since the original tattooist was long dead and the new ones didn't recognize me. I paid them the exact amount and left. I didn't need the others redone but I did buy my own tattoo gun and other tattoo supplies because I never got to tattoo Rhys.

I remembered that he asked me to give him the same tattoo on his back but I had never gotten the chance. I could tattoo him before the High Lords meeting.
I winnowed to the House of Wind, where my family was gathering for dinner. Rhys looked at me cloaked in my clean kefta, holding the tattoo gun and other supplies - sanitation wipes, containers for sharp objects, tattoo needles, light boxes, skin markers, stencils, etc. - and grinned.

"No way," he laughed. "Where the hell did you get a tattoo gun?"

"I bought it," I scoffed.

"Obviously."

"You said you wanted matching tattoos," I reminded him. "I'll give you it after dinner."

"Very well," Rhys said.

I magicked the tattoo supplies into my room and joined the others at dinner.

***

Rhys followed me to my room after dinner to get his tattoo.

Obviously it was going to be a back tattoo so I magicked a tattoo chair into my room and made him lie on his stomach, shirtless. I sketched out the design and then transferred it onto his skin.

"Stay still," I warned him. "Or your back will look like shit."

"Got it," he purred, giving me a thumbs up.

I fired up the tattoo gun and began tracing the sketch. I made sure it looked exactly like mine - shading and everything. And when I finished, I cleaned off the excess ink and wiped his back clean. I covered the tattoo in plastic wrap and told him it was done.

He sat up, and groaned.

"It hurts," he said.

"It's not like our tattoos, Rhys," I scowled. "They aren't drawn onto your skin. They're meant to be permanent."

He scowled. "You could've told me that."

"Just so you know, you shouldn't be having sex until this fully heals, which given that we're both Fae, it shouldn't be long," I said.

He nodded. "Feyre's going to kill me for this."

"Shouldn't have asked me to give you a tattoo, Rhysie," I snorted.

Rhys scowled again but said nothing.

"Thank you," he said, after a moment of silence.

"No problem," I smiled.

For once, I felt like I could be normal again. Like none of the events of the past four weeks actually happened. But I knew they did. I knew the events of the last few weeks did happen. I still hadn't fully grasped my bastardy. I knew it was true, but I hadn't quite grasped it fully.

I've been distracting myself with work at the Little Palace, which most of my training was really easy, especially since I knew how to use it. I was only attending lessons as a courtesy. It no longer mattered.

The High Lord's meeting was in a week which meant I would have to sit in a room with the male who caused my adoptive mother's death as well as the male who tortured my cousin. How I was supposed to sit there without lashing out, I had no idea. I supposed that it took a matter of strength. But I wasn't sure I could handle that.

I supposed we should just have to see.