A Court of Tears and Starlight

Throwing daggers

The dagger flew directly towards my face, the gem encrusted hilt glittering as the blade spun in perfect orbit. I waited but a second longer before shifting to the left. The dagger buried itself deeply in the tree with a loud thunk, exactly where my head had been just seconds before. I spun and pulled the dagger from the tree, as though withdrawing a knife from the butter dish. With a careful flick of my wrist it was cocked in my hand, ready for the toss.

"Now it's my turn" I yelled as I fixed Lucien with a steady stare.

"No!!! - Feyre I'm serious... don't you.." THUNK he couldn't even finish the sentence before the dagger found its mark, buried deep within the target  with impossible precision.

I jumped up and down and clapped my hands with childish delight. Lucien stood wide eyed as a small freshly cut lock of his hair fell onto his shoulder.

"Feyre" he glared at me. His eyes darted between the dagger, not a quarter inch from his face, and back at me in disbelief.

"You could have killed me with my own dagger"

I laughed with derision.

"It's not yours anymore."

"Besides, you only told me not to bury it in your back, you never said anything about your face."

He chuckled darkly.

"What have the High Lords done? created an immortal pain in my arse."

I fixed him with an unimpressed stare.

"Careful Luce, next time I might pierce your ear. That way you can hang a gem in it like the prissy little bitch you are."

This time I didn't wait for the warning as I turned, ready for the blade that came flying back towards me.

As I stared at the dagger time seemed to slow. I was literally counting the rotations of the blade. I knew instinctively that there would be precisely five and a half more rotations before it reached me. A perfect stillness came over me as I decided not to move this time. I heard Lucien scream my name in a panicked warning as the blade turned three more rotations. I waited just a fraction longer before snatching the blade out of the air when it was but half a rotation from my head.

I stood dazed as I came out of my trance, looking down at my hand clenched around the dagger's hilt. Lucien's swore. I sheathed the dagger and walked slowly back towards him. As I approached I noted that the colour had completely drained from his face.

He looked at me with an awe and a little... fear.

"By the Cauldron, did that really just happen?"

I shrugged, not knowing what to say. I was saved from coming up with an answer as a highly disapproving Alis stormed over to us.

"If you two are done trying to kill each other, dinner is ready in the main dining room."

She didn't wait for an answer as she spun on her heels and stormed back to the manor.

We had argued this morning over my desire to learn how to fight. Tamlin had point blank refused to teach me and I had asked Alis to champion my cause. She had point blank refused as well - telling me that she fully supported Tamlin's decision not to teach me. My last resort had been Lucien. He was sitting quietly looking over charts at his desk when I had knocked on his door.

I stood, twisting a dagger in my hands. His dagger. The same one that he had given to me to make amends for leaving me alone with the Suriel. His eyes narrowed on the dagger and he looked up at me suspiciously.