A Court of Starfall & Deception - An ACOMAF Rewrite

Chapter 20

Rhysand winnowed us into a wood that was older, more aware, than any place I'd been.

The gnarled beech trees were tightly woven together, splattered and draped so thoroughly with moss and lichen that it was nearly impossible to see the bark beneath.

"Where are we?" I breathed, hardly daring to whisper.

Rhys kept his hands within casual reach of his weapons. "In the heart of Prythian, there is a large, empty territory that divides the North and South. At the center of it is our sacred mountain."

My heart stumbled, and I focused on my steps through the ferns and moss and roots. "This forest," Rhys went on, "is on the eastern edge of that neutral territory. Here, there is no High Lord. Here, the law is made by who is strongest, meanest, most cunning. And the Weaver of the Wood is at the top of their food chain."

The trees groaned – though there was no breeze to shift them. No, the air here was tight and stale. "Amarantha didn't wipe them out?"

"Amarantha was no fool," Rhys said, his face dark. "She did not touch these creatures or disturb the wood. For years, I tried to find ways to manipulate her to make that foolish mistake, but she never bought it."

"And now we're disturbing her – for a mere test."

He chuckled, the sound bouncing off the gray stones strewn across the forest floor like scattered marbles. "Cassian tried to convince me last night not to take you. I thought he might even punch me."

"Why?" I barely knew him.

"Who knows? With Cassian, he's probably more interested in fucking you than protecting you."

"You're a pig."

"You could, you know," Rhys said, holding up the branch of a scrawny beech for me to slip under. "If you needed to move on in a physical sense, I'm sure Cassian would be more than happy to oblige."

It felt like a test in itself. And it pissed me off enough that I crooned, "Aw, how kind of him. Why not tell him to come to my room tonight."

"If you survive this test."

I paused atop a little lichen-crusted rock. "You seem pleased by the idea that I won't."

"Quite the opposite, Feyre." He prowled to where I stood on the stone. I was almost eye level with him. The forest went even quieter – the trees seeming to lean closer, as if to catch every word. "I'll let Cassian know you're... open to his advances."

I rolled my eyes at the same time I said "Good." A bit of hollowed-out air pushed against me, like a flicker of night. That power along my bones and blood stirred in answer.

I made to jump off the stone, but he gripped my chin, the movement too fast to detect. His words were a lethal caress as he said, "Did you enjoy the sight of my kneeling before you?"

I knew he could hear my heart as it ratcheted into a thunderous beat. I gave him a hateful little smirk, anyway, yanking my chin out of his touch and leaping off the stone. I might have aimed for his feet. And he might have shifted out of the way just enough to avoid it. "Isn't that all you males are good for, anyway?" But the words were tight, near-breathless.

His answering smile evoked silken sheets and jasmine-scented breezes at midnight.

A dangerous line – one Rhys was forcing me to walk to keep me from thinking about what I was about to face, about what a wreck I was inside, how I kept burying it deeper into that depthless pit.

Sarcasm, this... flirtation, annoyance... He knew those were my crutches.

What I was about to encounter, then, must be truly harrowing if he wanted me going in there mad – thinking about sex, about anything but the Weaver of the Wood.