Song of the chapter is:
Mad Woman - Taylor Swift
The sound of a door being flung open echoed down the hallway and the footsteps that followed it promptly triggered a headache in Amrens temples. Shouts of outrage echoed down the hall. Cassians cry of "Are you mad?" stuck out particularly so.
Swinging back on a heel, Amren met Rhysands worried gaze.
"Is that a problem? Am I irreplaceable?"
Rhys' face fell. "Yes, Amren, you are! I didn't expect you to stay with me- us forever, but..." He glanced down to her abdomen.
"But what? You never thought I would fall in love, move away, and start a family?" She walked up to him, leaving barely centimeters between their faces. "Forgotten that I got feelings when I became Fae?"
Facing the rest of the group, she shook her head. "You don't think I only came for you all, did you? I came back for Varian, and myself. Because the moment I fell in love, I knew I wanted more than this life!"
"So I will move to Adriata, I will be High Lady, I will have children and live in a palace because I am allowed to want that! Why is it okay for Elain, and Feyre, and Mor, and even Nesta to want that, but not for me?"
No one spoke. Every pair of eyes forced themselves away from hers, guilt paining all their faces.
"It's not fair. It's not fair on me. And I don't care what any of you think, because this is what I want for me."
She straightened. "I have to go back to my court now." And she swung back around.
The only sound in the hallway was the clicking of her boots, and a quiet pair of footsteps coming from around the corner, soon revealed to belong to Thesan.
The ever-calm smile faded of his face as he looked to her likely comical-looking family in the hallway.
"What the hell did you do to them?" He asked, no hint of humor to his voice.
Amren scowled. "Nothing. It would just appear that five hundred years isn't long enough for any of them to grow up."
Thesan grimaced slightly. "Do you think they will be able to hear me?"
She shrugged. "I would be surprised if they could. Good luck, 'cause some of their hearts may have stopped."
~
Amren had hurried away from gaping Thesan, desperate to get out of sight before anyone noticed her tears. Crying was an awful experience, and she had found it happened to her quite alot since she became able to cry. It was as if for all those fifteen thousand years, these emotions she couldn't feel had built up, and finally, they would all come out.
She had told Varian that she would ask Robin to fly her back, so she would have to wipe away any evidence of her breakdown (which was much easier said than done) before setting out to find him, all the while making sure she didn't run into any of the people whos' life she had just changed.
Robin came to her, much quicker than she had wished. Her only warning of his arrival was his swearing as his wings scraped against the wall of the thin passage she had hidden in.
"Hello, Amren." He gave no attempt at a smile.
Amren narrowed her eyes. "How and why did you find me? I suspect you weren't just wandering down an inconveniently thin hallway?"
Robin almost laughed. "Of course not, I hate these and I don't know why they still exist. Thesan says his healers use them to get around quicker, but I think he is just too lazy to fill them in. And her sent me to find you, so I followed you."
"Why did he ask you to find me?"
The Peregryn smiled sympathetically, much to her surprise. "Your friends told Thesan what happened. Actually, they told him everything. He wanted me to make sure you're okay."
She chuckled a little. "Why the hell would he send you for that?"
"Because we are more alike than you realize. Not in the flesh, but... neither of us were who we were meant to be, not for a long time. And now we are in the right place, with the right person, no one will ever be happy about it."
Amren hesitated for a moment as she processed what he said. "I didn't realize... that kind of stuff still happened."
He sighed. "Thesans father threatened to have me killed, before he died. And even if I was a woman, I'm still a Peregryn. I'll never be counted as High Fae, or pure blooded."
"That's awful."
"You aren't any better off, I'm afraid." Robin leaned back on the wall, breathing deeply.
Amren heaved a sigh. "Can you take me home?"
He smiled, really smiled. "Sure."
YOU ARE READING
A Court of Chaos and Coral (Amren x Varian)
FanficWhen her dark power begins to consume her, Amren finds comfort in the arms of the Prince of Adriata, her mate. Varian worries dearly for his lover, but when his home is destroyed, he must become more than he can, at the same time as caring for the o...
