Court of Shadows (Indefinite Hiatus)

PART 6: FEYRE

Feyre's pastel green skirts swept gracefully across the floor as she took her seat across the room. Today the table was big enough to fit about six, though she'd seen it extend to fit more than fifty. Lucien was already seated, but Tamlin was always the last to arrive; whether it was due to having to pull himself away from work, or a love for being dramatic, she didn't know, so she took the few minutes before dinner started to compose herself and erase any conflicted emotions off her face.

When she arrived to her chambers, her team of servants was standing at the ready to get her prepared for dinner. Knowing she couldn't hide the little stone from them while they dressed her, she pleaded ambition and dismissed all of them at once, but not without a few suspicious glances.

She took a moment to check that her rooms were clear, before turning across the room and approaching a tapestry hanging on the wall. It was a garden scene that featured every flower Feyre had ever seen, and some that she hadn't. She felt a slight a pang as she wondered if Elain would be able to identify all of them. Feyre shook her head slightly-- now was not the time to get all nostalgic. Besides, it wasn't the tapestry that interested her, it was what's underneath. She lifted the fabric away from the wall. At first glance, nothing looked out of place-- it was just a wall. But when Feyre lifted her glamour, the slight indents of a wall panel became just distinguishable. She curled her nails under the hinges and swung open a large door. It didn't quite lead to another room, but an alcove of sorts. The space was just big enough to squeeze maybe two people-- not comfortably though, and Feyre imagined that the door would be difficult to close from the inside. It was currently being used to house all of Feyre's painting of the Night Court. She couldn't very well hang a picture of Rhysand in the manor's gallery, though the idea made her smile.

No, the gallery was for all of her mediocre paintings of rose gardens and sunny skies, of which her sole purpose in painting was to ward off suspicion. She spent so much time painting, that it wouldn't take long for people to begin wondering where they all went. Feyre stepped into the tiny room and carefully set the stone on the floor, behind a painting of wolves running through the streets of Velaris. She closed the door and pulled the tapestry back into place; reinforcing her glamour. She briefly worried about someone sensing the stone's otherworldly presence and entering her room to search for it, but she hoped that common sense and her glamour would be enough.

Feyre had strengthened her magic by practicing whenever she could and learning to maintain her glamours twenty-four hours a day, so she had no doubt that the door would remain hidden from sight, even if they bothered to check behind the tapestry. However, the stone's magic appealed to her so strongly, that she thought it might very well be possible for a determined person to find it.

And that was why she now sat at the table, taking deep breaths and clenching her hands to keep her nerves at bay; thanking the cauldron mercilessly that no one in the room could read her mind.

She felt like she finally had a grasp on her emotions when the doors burst open and Tamlin strode in. Upon passing Feyre's seat, he bent down and quickly pressed his lips to her head before sliding into his chair across from her. Knowing that if he was really attracted to her in that moment, they would be doing a lot more than kissing, Feyre often thought that the whole peck-on-the-cheek before every meal was more a show of possession than affection.

Tamlin bowed his head slightly to Lucien, who was seated at his right, before turning back to the table and clapping his hands in the air. This small action filled the entire table with plates and plates of food-- way more than the three of them could possibly eat in one sitting. Feyre's stomach turned at the sight of all the food-- not from hunger, but from the knowledge that there were thousands of people just outside this manor who desperately needed it.