Vel, an Oracle older than Prythian itself, visits the Autumn Court at the request of its High Lord. While there she gets swept up in the court's political scheming, with Eris trying to win her favor using any means necessary. But all is not what it...
She is so close and yet I cannot escape this blasted mountain. Every waking moment and every sleepless night, she haunts my thoughts. No matter how many times I remind myself that she hates me, that she wants nothing to do with me, that she does not care to be shackled to me ...
It is as she wills it. If one night together is all she would give me then I will cherish that memory to my dying breath. And until then I will live off of dreams, as I always have.
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Eris was achingly beautiful. With the long hair, there was nothing to soften his handsome features. Amid the pink and white blossoms, her once mate looked truly faerie—as if he'd stepped out of the tree, and his one and only master was the earth itself.
"I want them gone," Vel finally said, arms crossed in front of her, nails painfully digging into her skin. He was enthralling. It was an effort to peel her face away from the window.
The High Lord of Spring only just growled in response from where he kept vigil in front of the empty fireplace. Vel couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him in his Fae form.
"I'm serious, Tamlin. You might not care that they are repeatedly trespassing through your lands. But I do. I came here to get away from the Night Court and their schemes. I don't want to see them." It was only half the truth, but it was all Tamlin needed to stalk out of the study.
Tamlin's snarl rattled the windows. The green hills in the distance seemed to quiver as the true power of the High Lord of the Spring Court swept over them. Vel couldn't hear the words they exchanged, and she didn't have the guts to open the window in case the movement would attract their attention. It would have been suicide for them to take their eyes off of Tamlin but Vel didn't want to risk it one way or another.
The conversation didn't matter because a song slithered over grass and flowers, through stone and glass. The same melody she'd heard that day on the battlefield, and afterwards as she sank into that endless void. Silver flames glowed in Nesta's eyes. The land roiled in response. Vel could have sworn she saw two red eyes at the edge of the forest.
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The Illyrian shot up into the sky, taking his mate with him. The Night Court treated the mating as if it were a secret but Eris didn't even need his nose to figure it out, the brute wore all of his emotions on his face. When he was sure they were out of earshot, the Heir of Autumn turned back to face Tamlin. If the High Lord of Spring decided to tell anyone what he saw – well, Eris was truly and royally fucked. But that was not the most significant matter at hand.
"Say, Tamlin, what an interesting scent you have about you." He sniffed once as if to confirm. "Pine and lavender? Doesn't really seem like you."
The beast growled. Eris took a step back as it prowled closer. This was a dangerous little dance he was doing. Tamlin was faster, stronger and would have no qualms about shredding him into ribbons. The blood in his veins blazed in warning.
Despite the screams of his instincts, Eris dared to tear his gaze away from Tamlin, casting it toward the mansion looming in the distance. A solitary window stood out, its curtains drawn open like an invitation. Something shifted in the shadows. The curtains swayed on a phantom wind.
Before he could fully discern the shifting shadows, Tamlin lunged with lightning speed. Eris's reflexes were a fraction too slow, his arm bearing the brunt of Tamlin's razor-sharp claws. Pain ignited like wildfire in his veins, but Eris knew better than to engage in a futile brawl with the High Lord, risking further animosity. With a swift dodge to evade Tamlin's next strike, Eris vanished in a whirl of magic, reappearing at the Forest House, bloodied and dazed.
He had to go back. He could bring Ruby. He could sneak around Tamlin. Vel was there, somewhere, in the Spring Court. He just had to—
The realization hit him like a bucket of ice water. If she had wanted to see him she would have come outside. She would have said something. All this time, she could have sent a letter.
What had happened? What did he do to make her hate him so? He had to finish reading the journal.
But first, Eris had to tend to his wound and go find the bodies of his soldiers. The Night Court had left them to rot in the Middle. And they'd waited days to tell him about the attack. He'd be lucky to find any remains, to even be able to tell if one of them was Darius. He had to bring Darius's bones back to his mother, give them all a proper Autumn Court funeral rather than let them fester in that horrid bog.
His hounds were all waiting patiently in their kennels. As he let them out, Ruby at the front, he debated for a moment whether he should bring an escort. With days since he'd last had the time to venture into the forest to release the magic, the chafing had been unbearably strong. He'd almost had it out with Tamlin – it would have been a very unwise decision. The monsters in the Middle were a different story.
