A Court of Dawn and Midnight

The Mist

Feyre awoke with the side of her head throbbing in pain. She snapped her eyes open.

She stood up and leaned against the stone wall for support, her head was spinning and she couldn't swallow correctly. Feyre lifted her hand gingerly to the side of head, wincing when she touched her temple, and brought her hand down to look at it. Her fingers were stained with blood. Her own blood.

"Dammit." Feyre muttered.

She sighed deeply and scanned her eyes around the room she was in. It was a cell, with stone walls and a stone floor. Everything was dreary and grey, the only light in the cell was coming from the wide open door across the room.

An open door? That was odd. Perhaps someone has been in here, or had tried to get her out. Feyre walked over the door, peering out.

She saw a large, cave like tunnel sprawling out before the door. It seemed to go on forever.

Suddenly, Feyre felt a stinging sensation on her palm. She looked down at the eye tattooed on her hand, it seemed to shimmer slightly.

Feyre watched in horror as mist began to rise off the eye, it swirled and brushed against her skin. The mist was freezing.

Feyre stared the mist as it rose up into the air, swirled, and then shot forward. It flung out of the cell door in a long, tendril of evaporating water.

Feyre stumbled out of the cell, trying to keep up with the mist. Her injured head made it hard for her to run after the mist, but Feyre managed to keep up with it as it wove its way down the winding tunnel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She ran for hours, following the mist. It only stopped when it reached a large, wooden door. Feyre watched as the mist sank into the wood, out of sight.

She hesitated before opening the door, unsure of what lay beyond.

Finally, Feyre pushed the door open and stepped through.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The stench of rotting flesh was quite overpowering. Feyre held her arm up to her mouth, covering her nose so she could not inhale the smell. Her eyes darted around the room, but she could barley see anything.

The freezing mist filled up the room, making it impossible to see where she was going.

Feyre was about to leave the room when a figure came barreling out of the mist toward her. She screamed as the figure landed on her, sending her body down to the stone floor.

She gasped as she realized that the figure was a creature. It growled and hissed in her face, showing its fangs off. Feyre struggled to move her legs, but the creature had not held down her arms.

Feyre brought her elbow up and smashed it against the side of the creature's head. The creature whined in a pain, but did not let her go.

Feyre brought her elbow up again. This time, she stabbed it into the creature's eyes, digging her elbow in.

The creature screamed and rolled off her. Feyre scrambled to her feet and looked down at the creature. It reached for her, but Feyre smashed her foot into its rib cage. The creature did not move again.

"Feyre!" A booming voice rose out of the mist and Feyre jumped back.

"Feyre!" The voice called again. It sounded like Rhysand.

"Rhysand?" Feyre called back. She searched through the mist for him.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and spun around to see Rhysand standing behind her. He was covered in blood and the rotting scent of the creatures clung to him.

"What's happening?" Feyre asked. But instead of answering, Rhysand's eyes widened as he looked over Feyre's shoulder.

She followed Rhysand's gaze to where he was looking.

Feyre screamed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She collapsed backward, Rhysand caught her around the waist before she could hit the ground.

Feyre kept screaming as Rhysand dragged her body away from the creature in front of her, the one that was causing her to scream.

But it wasn't just a creature. It was the child. The one that Feyre had met in the village, the one with the glowing blue eyes and the silver hair.

How did this happen? Feyre was so horrified, the beautiful Fae child was now one of those terrifying creatures. She screamed again as the child came toward her.

Feyre struggled against Rhysand's arms around her, she didn't want to be held now. He only held her tighter though. She screamed and sobbed as the child came closer and closer, an evil look in her blue eyes.

"Get off of me, Rhys! Get off!" Feyre twisted in his arms, gasping as his muscles flexed against her skin.

"Feyre, no. Stop. Feyre, stop!" He yelled roughly in her ear. She gulped down another scream and squeezed her eyes as more tears fell down her cheeks. She stopped struggling against Rhysand's arms and let herself fall back into his chest.

He scooted back toward the wooden door, pulling Feyre along with him. He got up and gently leaned Feyre's body against the door.

She curled up into herself, watching as Rhysand walked to the child.

Feyre whimpered as the child tried to attack Rhysand. It's eyes were no longer full of that beautiful glow, they were glazed over and full of hatred.

Rhysand caught the creature around its waist, holding the small figure to his chest. He lifted his eyes to Feyre, shaking his head.

Feyre turned her head away from him, she pressed her forehead into the wooden door and shut her eyes.

Tears streamed down her face as she heard the creature's neck snap.

A sound of pure agony ripped from Feyre's lips, scrapping her throat dry. She clutched her chest, feeling as if her heart might burst.

A child had been turned into one of those creatures. An innocent, beautiful child. Feyre could stop the pain rippling through her chest.

And then there were arms around her, lifting her off the ground and into a solid wall of muscle and warmth.

The mist cleared in the room, retracting back into a small pond in the middle of the room.

As the mist vanished, Feyre saw the bodies covering the floor of the room. So many of the creatures, dead.

"You killed them all, didn't you." Feyre whispered into Rhysand's chest.

"I had to." He said. Feyre looked at the child's body.

"I know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey guys! I just want to thank you all for reading this story. I know that there has not been a lot of Feyre/Rhysand action, but that will be changing in upcoming chapters. I hope you all liked this recent update. Stay tuned for the next one!