A Court of Lies and Liars

Chapter 3

Alyssia's P.O.V

Alyssia groaned as she slowly pushed herself up, wincing as pain flared through her ribs. Almost at once, she felt dizzy and woozy. Blinking once, twice, she slowly managed to make sense of her surroundings. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment before she forced them to open them again. Once she did, bright red flooded her vision. Blood, she realised after a moment. She was sitting in a pool of blood.

In her dizzy state, it took her a moment to realise that the blood was her own. Alyssia swallowed again. Once. Twice. For a moment, she just stared at the slowly growing pool of blood. Resisting the urge to close her eyes, she slowly reached across, hissing at the pain and tore off a strip of cloth.

Closing her eyes for a brief moment, Alyssia bit down on her lip before slowly pulling up the hem of her shirt, revealing the gaping wound in her side. She swallowed for a moment, feeling light-headed as she slowly, so slowly wrapped the piece of cloth around the room. She hissed slightly as she tied it off tightly, her body slowly relaxing when she saw that the blood slowly stopped bleeding.

Forcing her eyes to keep from fluttering closed once more, Alyssia managed to take a better look at surroundings. Glancing around the clearing, she saw that pine tree's surrounded her. She quickly looked away, memories of being locked in cells washing over her, the trees too high, blocking out the light of the sun.

Sucking in deep breath's, Alyssia closed her eyes for a moment, only opening them when her heart rate calmed down a little. Glancing around the area, she saw that there was a large lake to her left, glistening under the bright sunlight. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, Alyssia steadied herself before opening them again.

Sucking in a deep breath, she slowly made her way over to the shore of the lake, which was probably only a few feet away from her. Biting down on her lip, she hissed a little as she cupped some of the water into her hands, raising it up to her lips to drink. She winced a little as the movement sent a wave of pain through her side. Biting down on her lip against the pain as she slowly drank some more of the water. The icy coldness of it soothed her throat a little, but soon the throbbing heat in her side became too painful to ignore.

Pulling back from the water, the female fae's eyes fluttered closed again for a moment, exhausted by the combined effort of moving over to the water and leaning down against the pain to actually drink it. Soon, however, Alyssia forced herself to open her eyes, scanning around the area.

A sigh escaped her lips when she seemed to be alone and she glanced back into the pine forest for a moment, dark eyes scanning beneath the trees before she turned back to the lake again. She glanced across the water, soon looking away against the blinding glare. Blinking rapidly, her head jerked up as she heard something.

Sensitive ears straining to listen, Alyssia went absolutely still. Not that it would help at all, she reflected in hindsight, wondering if it had been worth it to expose herself like this. She would have been better hidden in the cover of the trees. But here, dark hair a beacon against the sparkling blue of the lake, she was a sitting duck.

Resisting the urge to swear under her breath, she finally managed to hear enough the recognise the sound that she had heard. Footsteps. It took all of her willpower to keep from stiffening, to remain still as the realisation sunk in. Found. She had been found and if she didn't keep what she was really planning to do secret, she would be dead within the hour.

Rhysand's P.O.V

Rhysand walked slowly through the pine forest, his black suit immaculate despite being in the middle of no-where. His wings were hidden, and his hands were tucked into his pockets as he slowly made his way through the towering pines.

He was almost silent as he picked his way through the trees, his head jerking up as he caught the scent of blood on the air. He stiffened a little as he slowly made his way through the trees again, wondering where the scent was coming from. Slowly making his way through the forest, he soon came into sight of the lake, frowning as he saw a figure sitting on the shoreline.

Surprise soon disappearing, Rhysand drew shadows around himself, putting on the mask of the High Lord. Becoming the person that the everyone outside of Velaris believed him to be as he made his way over to the female, not bothering to stay silent. She would know he was there, either way, he thought to himself as he winnowed the last few feet, landing directly in front of her.

A smirk found it's way onto the High Lord's lips as he looked down at the girl, crossing his arms across his chest, his smirk only widening as he saw the girl cringe away from him. "Well, what do we have here?" he purred as he looked down at the girl, his shadows curling menacingly around him.

He looked down at her, sneering as she tried to crawl away. Not that she would be able to get very far, he reflected when his gaze fell on the patch of blood that was seeping through her shirt, slowly but surely growing. He drew his gaze away as he looked back up at her face, looked at the dark eyes and dark hair.

Frowning a little, he pushed away the thought that threatened to rise when he looked at her. Though he couldn't be sure, he was almost certain that she had the same colour eyes and hair as the King. He quickly shoved the thought away however as he studied her again. "I'm waiting for an answer?' he snapped, taking a step towards her. If she didn't speak, he could just find out for himself, he thought. Not that he particularly liked going into other people's minds. But for his home, for his friends and family, he would do it. He looked up as he heard the girl shift slightly, and he prepared himself for whatever lies she would likely spin. But nothing could have prepared him for the words that came out of her mouth.

"I-I'm Alyssia." A pause. "The daughter of the King"