A VOW OF STARS ---- [ACOTAR]

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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

you don't know the half of the abuse

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There was very little things that truly ever managed to impress Elayla, but Feyre's stance as she walked them inside to meet her sisters was something that obliged her to respect her. The four of them walked behind her, and part of Elayla felt the gravity of the situation settle in.

Cassian and Azriel remained in their warrior leathers when Rhysand's glamour lifted, whereas the Hih Lord and his daughter let the darkness of their refined clothes. Elayla was almost thankful that Rhysand allowed her to at least get her closet back from home.

She wore a loose white shirt underneath her favourite dark red embroidered vest with leather pants, her hair gathered in a braid.

The disapproval of the sisters' stares settled on her almost immediately before shifting to her father and uncles. Elain visibly stiffened, While Nesta - The same Nesta Feyre flinched when mentioning - stepped directly in front of her younger sister.

Feyre closed the gap between her family and new friends swiftly. "My sisters, Nesta and Elain Archeron," she said. Everyone fell silent, waitig for someone to burst from the clear thick air.

"Cassian," The Cursebreaker introduced. "Azriel. And Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court and his-"

"Elayla." The young female was quick to cut her, ignore the way her father tightened his fist at her stopping Feyre from saying her title. "Just Elayla."

Rhysand stepped up and bowed slightly, making Elayla almost throw up. "Thank you for your hospitality - and generosity,"

"The cook left dinner on the table," Nesta said. "We should eat before it goes cold." And then she left. Without another look. Without another word. Without a hello or a goodbye or an anything.

Layla could feel the frustration rolling off Cassian at the was him and Azriel had been ignored but said nothing, as she was just discarded as well.

Elain, the softer looking one whom Elayla now clearly preferred muttered a quiet "Nice to meet you," before trailing behind her older sister like a fawn following its mother.

Feyre, despite her stiff stance, went and took the seat right beside Nesta, who naturally took up the head of the table. Rhysand sat beside her without even flinching. Azriel sat beside him and Cassian next to Elain, leavig Elayla the embarassment of sitting at the other end of the table, facing none-other than the most irritating Archeron daughter. 

The food was too much to say the least, as if it was more to make a show than anything else, Elayla supressed the urge of rolling her eyes as she felt Nesta's digust and disdain sep inside her bones.

She was not going to make a mess today, they were here today for peace.

They started eating in a flat silence. The sound of forks and knives clattering against the plates of ceramic was the only thing to be heard, well, that was before the dam broke.

"Is there something wrong with our food?" Nesta said staring down her youngest sister who took one carefully measured bite, chewed, then swallowed. 

"No," she said, and Elayla could feel her frustration rise at the bullying approach that the oldest had used.

"So you can't eat normal food anymore," Nesta said, imperial judgment now ringing off her tongue, "or are you too good for it?"

Elain let out a strangled noise while the two Illyrians refused to get involved. Feyre looked evenly at Nesta. "I can eat, drink, fuck, and fight just as well as I did before," Feyre said. "Better even."

Cassian made a choking sound as Nesta laughed, a hollow unimpressed sound that might be taken dismissively. Elayla knew that sound all too well, the laugh people emmitted whenever they saw her outside all these decades, pitying her for things she had no hands on.

Orphan...

Alone...

Bastard...

Discarded...

"I'm sure you'd appreciate Feyre's new acquired tastes once you discover ours." Elayla gave her her most sickly sweet smile as she tried not to stab the food too hard.

Gods, she wasnted to get the fuck out of there.

"I have little interest in ever setting foot in your land," the bitter wman answered, "so I'll have to take your word on it. Besides, I thought the dinner was reserved for adults?"

She did not just dare...

"I would bee very careful there, Archeron." Elayla raised a brow. "Because if the maths are correct, I am about thirty years older than you."

"Nesta, please," Elain said soft and low.

Nesta ignored Elain too - and turned straight to Cassian who was leaning as far as his seat would allow him towards Nesta and sizing her up like a new opponent to play with. Azriel looked politely away to mark Feyre and Elain.

"What are you looking at?" Nesta said, her lip curling in a snarl - at Cassian . Cassian, the male that raised Elayla when she had nothing and no one, Cassian, the lord of bloodshed who could destroy the roof beneath their heads if he ever wanted to.

"Someone who let her youngest sister risk her life every day in the woods while she did nothing," Cassian said to Nesta's unflinching face. "Someone who let a fourteen-year-old child go out into that forest, so close to the wall. Your sister died to save my people. She is willing to do so again to protect you from war. So don't expect me to sit here with my mouth shut while you sneer at her for a choice she did not get to make - and insult my people in the process. Insult the heiress to my court, nonetheless."

Elayla would've been somehow Impressed had it not been for feelig Cassian's contradicting emmotions. Rage, anger, and something even more dangerous. Attraction. She choked on the air under Rhysand's almost amused gaze. The bastard knew that it was happening too.

"It..." Elain said and cleared her throat. "It is very hard, you understand, to... accept it. We are raised this way," she said. "We hear stories of your kind crossing the wall to hurt us. Our own neighbor, Clare Beddor, was taken. Her family murdered."

The softness of her voice was enough to ease up the atmosphere, and Elayla's expression softened. "It must be very confusing," She slightly smiled. "Letting go of family only to barely recognize them later. I understand the feeling."

Rhysand's eyes shifted from Feyre to her, but Layla hadn't dropped Elain's gaze. It was all the encouragement Elain needed to turn finally to Cassian and confront his accusations.

"And as for Feyre's hunting during those years, it was not Nesta's neglect alone that is to blame. We were scared, and had received no training, and everything had been taken, and we failed her." Elain didn't look - couldn't look - at Feyre as she swallowed and said to Cassian, "Both of us."

Nesta stared distantly at her plate, Feyre reached her hand out and laid it on her older sister's arm. "Can we just... start over?" She asked.

"Fine." She spat out.