Wind Wielder

Chapter 11 - The Bargain

There was a swift poking in Zara's mind, like someone cutting through a dark room to flick on the lamp. Then suddenly her eyes were open and Zara was conscious and Rhys was carefully removing the talons from her mind.

But consciousness was a hard place to be in, and Zara sucked in a breath and clamped down on her bottom lip to stop the strangled cry of pain that was desperate to loosen.

Rhys was back in an instant, his talons pressing on that pain receptor part of her mind that blissfully numbed every part of Zara. It was then Zara realized perhaps this interaction would be the next interrogation, for the entire inner circle was present. Rhysand, Feyre, Cassian, Azriel, Amren, and Morrigan, some of whom looked excited at the prospect of tearing her apart.

"How nice of you to join us, Zara." Rhys purred, hands clasped behind his back.

"What of Beron and the others?" Zara asked, sitting up slowly. This wasn't how she wanted this conversation to go. Zara had pictured finally explaining herself to Rhys alone, healthy, and upright. Not half-dead, bedridden, and surrounded by his entire inner circle. But it had to happen one way or another Zara supposed, and she could only hope this would have a positive outcome. Zara pushed the hair out of her face, smoothing it down as best she could. She could do this. She could put on a brave face for another twenty minutes. Then she could fall apart later.

Don't feel. Don't fucking feel.

"Dealt with for now, an issue to be fully addressed later. He quit threatening to launch an inter court war once he realized four of whom would side with me. Only Kallias remained impassive, and Tamlins court is in too much of a shredded state to be of much help." Rhys responded breezily, though the dark glimmer of his eyes and tense stance suggested Beron actions were anything but breezy, and far from dealt with.

Zara's lips parted, "He threatened war over me?"

"It seems perhaps Eris did have some weight to his words after all." Rhys confirmed, tone grim.

Zara didn't care she was among tense company, didn't care this was yet another trial, merely with plushier seating. Those burned temple scrolls flashed in her mind, and she could not stop her eyes from rolling shut, wishing to block it all out.

She wished Eris had not kept her. She wished he had mistaken her for dead and dumped her corpse somewhere, where she might have been able to wake on her own and make a run for it. She imagined the way the world might have looked if she had ever been able to make it out of Pyrinthian. Smuggled onto a boat into the southern continent perhaps. She could've had a peaceful, new life in the southern continents. A new identity, with the world at her fingertips. Perhaps she could have become a musician in a local square. She could picture it now, the light music of the winds, the soft buttery light of a world far, far away. That would have been nice. Really, really, nice.

"Eris had words with you?" Cassian questioned, eyes hardening.

"Why don't you let everyone else aside from Feyre know what's going on, Rhys?" Mor inquired pointedly, frustration evident.

"You should know by now we do not enjoy being on the outside edge of your schemes, boy," Amren said, scowling.

"A last minute plan, brought on by dire need unfortunately. Eris summoned me in the middle of the court meeting. I denied it but he kept trying. So finally I went, and saw him with Zara." Rhys explained. "Beron wishes to dissect her and use her power for his own gain, even going as far as to have spies stationed within Dawn, waiting to extract her and bring her to him. Eris made it clear that the only way to avoid this is if we take her in. It's the only way to keep her away from Beron, and safe from being used as the next weapon in his arsenal. And as we all saw, no one wants that kind of power in Berons grasp."