A Court of Tears and Starlight

Secrets in the Night

"What could such monsters possibly be afraid of?" I whispered.

A flicker of fear crossed his face so quick I might have imagined it. Then Rhys' guard slammed back down and all that was left was that mocking half formed smirk I knew so well.

"Me" he scoffed.

I knew he lied.

"Come" he waved his hand dismissively as he walked back towards the doorway.

I followed but by the time I reached where he had stood there was only an empty corridor.

I had the peculiar sense that I was being watched, but as I looked back over my shoulder there was no one in sight. I looked down at the ink eye on my hand and cursed. So like Rhys to abandon me in a dark passageway in the middle of the night.

I lent back against the cool stone wall of the passage, realising that for the first time since arriving here I was finally alone. I slid down to the floor in relief. There were so many things I should be thinking of, processing, planning, and yet all I could do was sit with my arms hugging my drawn up knees. As I stared blankly at the wall across from me I noted a pair of twinkling black eyes gazing back at me. Then another pair. Then another, until the whole wall was filled with them.

I held utterly still, not daring to move or to even breathe. As the time drew on, the eyes did not move. I silently rose and walked over to the wall until my face was peering an inch away from the tiny black onyx stones woven seamlessly into the wall. I let out a shaky laugh, relieved that Rhys was not here to see me jumping at nothing. I shook my head in disbelief - I was in the Night Court and it felt ... good. A cool breeze trickled in from somewhere further down the corridor, carrying with it soft scents of rich warm blooms. I followed the scent and noted a high cut open window looking out into the night. I crouched low, then leapt, strong fingers grasping the edge with ease as I drew my lithe fae body up into the opening. The window was cut directly into the wall, leaving me a half meter slab of cool polished stone to perch upon.

I drew in a deep breath of free night air and was hit with a delightful bouquet of exotic flavours. Looking down below me was a small courtyard. All around wild orchids and other vibrant flowers bloomed. There were thick soft dark green velvet leaves creeping their way along the walls.  A polished pebbled path wove in and through the courtyard. Further down the path a gleam of gold caught my eye. I couldn't make out what it was from where I sat.

I looked around once more, noting there were no other apparent entrances to the courtyard, or if there were that they lay in concealed passageways I could not see. I took off my heels and without further thought I leapt carelessly from the wall and landed softly on a thick mossy lawn. I raised my hands to the moon above and spun carefree and barefoot up on the Faerie lawn. Time stood till in the garden. I don't know if I wandered for minutes or hours, softly touching petals, enjoying the starlight reflected in the dew upon the leaves, breathing deeply and contentedly. It appeared to me that all paths in the little garden led to the same sacred place. Deep within the courtyards the winding paths came to an end as they circled around a golden statue. My feet drew to a halt as I stared mesmerised at the figure before me. Long lithe legs stood straight and strong, her back ached and her breasts were peaked as if touched by the cool night air. Her head was held high and a small secret seductive smile graced her lips as she reached her arms forth in a beckoning invitation to an invisible other. Her very long hair billowed down her bare shoulders and spread out behind her as if caught in a phantom breeze. As my eyes took in the beauty and elegance of her body my throat tightened at the thin gauzy gown clothing her perfect form. Just two long shafts of gossamer, barely covering her breasts and were pinned by gold brooches as the shoulders. These sections flowed down into a jeweled belt that was slung low across her hips and joined my a single piece of fabric that hung between her legs. A cloud moved in the sky above, causing the beams of moonlight to fade and for the dappled light of the stars to be reflected instead upon the statue. I drew a series of sharp indrawn breaths as I realised her skin was covered in whorls and patterns identical to my tattoo. Identical to those makes, I now recalled, that I had first seen on Rhysand at Calanmai.

I shook my head in disbelief and looked back up into the face of the golden goddess before me. She was clearly not me, but her garb was identical to that in which Rhys had clothed me under the mountain.

As I turned to leave my shadow servants materialised beside me.

They startled as they saw the statue and then bowed before it in reverence.

"You should not be here" they said in unison. "This was her secret place".

"Who?" I whispered.

"The Lady of Night..." they said in hushed tones.

They rose slowly, gripping my forearms and blurring the gardening around me into a thick darkness. I closed my eyes as the world spun and when I opened them I was once again in my new rooms.

I unzipped and stepped out of my tight lacy dress and I slipped on a soft satin negligee that had been left out on my bed.

I lowered myself into the giant cloud like bed, its contours closing in and swallowing me up like a warm cocoon. I stared up at galaxies roving the enchanted ceiling above me. But I was no longer in my room. Part of my mind was back deep in the bowels of the mountains, as Rhysand leaned casually against the doorframe, taking in my white gauzy dress... "You look exactly as I hoped you would" he observed.

The vision changed and I was standing before Amarantha, paint indecently smudged and panting from the kiss Rhys had forced upon me. Her eyes burned me with hate and... jealousy? Later he had appeared in my cell, candid and disheveled after she had forced him to be with her.

My eyes went wide as I realised an impossible truth. Rhys had deliberately dressed me royally as the Lady of the Night realm. All the time I had thought I was being shamed and paraded around like a heathen plaything, when I was dressed like the golden goddess of the garden.

Amarantha had known. Tamlin had known. No wonder the whole of the court under the mountain had looked on in shock as Rhys guided me forth on that first night as his 'guest'.

What game was he playing? What did he want with me?...

I swallowed hard as a small ache blossomed in my chest.

"You are mine" he had said tonight as clutched me tightly to himself.

"It's only a game" I whispered out loud - refusing to let myself believe otherwise.

Yet if that was true then why was my last sleepy thought of Rhys. His pain-filled eyes, a beautiful bloodied face and an arm reached out to where I lay dying. As I drifted into oblivion I heard his voice call out my name. My name escaping from his lips like it was the only thing in this life that had ever mattered to him.