A Court of Blood and Glory

Lighting up the darkness

Feyre

"How much of my information did you get?" I asked Rhys when we all sat at the kitchen table.
"All of it, and we've prepared accordingly. We need a lot of allies, though, if we are going to have enough people to fight Hybern." He said, and I knew that that was our next step. "We need to attend the meeting and lay everything bear, tell the other High Lords what Hybern plans, and I also think we need to tell them who we really are." Rhys looked to his metal wings, knowing that once he saw the other High Lords they would think differently of him, think of him as a half-breed that wasn't worth their attention.
"Then we'd best plan what we are going to do. We can't go into that meeting without an idea of what to expect." Cassian said, shifting in his seat.
"All of the High Lords plan on attending, including Tamlin, and they all want to bring their wives and some of them want to bring their close advisors." Azriel said. I'd known that Tamlin wanted to attend, but I had hoped that he'd change his mind. I didn't feel like facing him again.
"That's fine, I expected nothing less." Rhys said, nodding along to Azriel's words.
"The question we need to answer, though, is are all of us going to go?" Mor asked, looking at each of us in turn. "Feyre and Rhys should definitely attend, but what of the rest of us? We need to decide whether we leave Velaris. It would be the perfect time to attack us, because we would be unable to get back here in time." Mor said, and I could see Rhys mulling over her words, trying to figure out what to do.
"Well I don't want to attend. What could be worse than being surrounded by lots of pricks and arseholes?" Amren said.
"Well that settles that problem, then." Rhys said, a faint smile on his face from Amren's words.
We continued to go over plans and information for hours, long enough to make my head hurt, before we chose to continue the next day.

Xxx

Rhys followed me to our room as our friends left for the night, giving us a lot of time to ourselves.
"I don't want to waste tonight on sleep." I said, and Rhys's eyes sparkled at my words.
"Neither do I." He said, pushing me against the wall outside our room, his hands reaching to remove my leathers as I reached a hand down his pants. I heard him growl as he pressed his lips against mine, demanding more and more. I happily obliged.
My leathers came off, and were thrown onto the floor with his pants, followed by his top. He lifted me up, using his body to keep me pinned to the wall, and began to kiss my neck, my shoulders, before licking my breasts, biting the nipple so gently, making me arch my body into his touch.
I returned the favour, running my fingers over the cool metal of his wings, making him purr when I reached the sensitive spot.
He moved so carefully, ensuring that he didn't hurt me as he moved his hips, moving so that we were one, our bodies connected, and our scents began to entwine once more, Tamlin's scent washed away by my mate's.
He pulled away for a moment, his eyes on mine. "I couldn't stand having his scent all over you." He said, his voice barely a whisper. "Are you ok with all of this, being with me right now?" He knew what it was like, and he knew how I felt about my time in Tamlin's bedroom.
"So long as I'm with you everything is perfect." I replied, and a great thrust of his hips sent me toppling over the edge, and Rhys fell with me.
I was his, and he was mine, and we would never be apart.

Rhysand

I had missed her so much. I had missed her so much that it hurt every part of my body. But she was back, and she was in my arms.
My mate. My mate that I loved so much, who had endured so much, but who was with me all the same.
"I love you, more than anything." I said, and I meant it. Nothing mattered more than her.
Eventually we left the wall, opting to move into the bedroom, and we remained there for hours, our bodies wrapped up in each other. I licked every inch of her, and she returned the favour whole heartedly. Weeks apart disappeared in those moments, every horror she'd endured was wiped away in those moments, were forgotten as we lay together.
Dawn broke, sunlight streaming through the curtains, illuminating my mate, making her glow, but even in the shadows her skin lit up. "Day's gift." She said, and I recognised the power, having seen it used by Helion Under the Mountain, when he'd tried to light up the darkness just a bit, just enough to give others hope.
"I can make my mate glow, and I love it." I said, and I let my power pour out of me, but instead of the darkness that had spread from me the past weeks, a darkness that devoured everything, this darkness was like the night sky, a darkness that was full of stars. A sky full of stars that were dull in comparison to the female before me.
"I think it's time to get up." Feyre said, but I could tell that she wanted nothing more than to stay in bed with me. "But I would like a bath first. A hot, steamy bath."
"Then a hot steamy bath you will have, Feyre darling. Is there going to be room for two in this bath?" I asked, stroking her thighs, making goose bumps run along her skin.
"I think it will be a bit of a squeeze, but we can make it work." She said, and she stood up, walking towards the bath, taking her time as she crossed her room, allowing me to take in every curve of her naked body. "Are you coming or not?" She asked, closing the door on me, knowing that I would run after her.
I didn't want to disappoint her.
I threw the door open to find my mate sitting in a steaming bath, the water up to her neck, a huge grin on her face. I climbed into the bath, the water spilling onto the floor, and I pulled her onto my lap, wrapping my wings around her, and kissing her all over once more.
"I want to try something." She said, and her newly healed Illyrian wings took shape behind her, pushing more water from the bath. "I want to know what it feels like to have someone run their hands over my wings." I reached up behind her, and stroked the thin membrane, membrane that I missed the feel of, and I made my mate purr at my touch, sending shudders along her thin body. She was thin, too thin, but she would heal. She would heal slowly, and I would heal with her. We all would.
I could have stayed that way all day, stayed wrapped up in her body, but we were interrupted by an unwelcome Illyrian.
"If you two are done with your cuddling we want to see you downstairs." Cassian yelled through the door. "If you don't come out soon then we are coming in, and you won't want that." All I heard in response were a series of muffled curses and some loud bangs that gradually got quieter.
"Oops." Feyre said. "I think that Cassian may have fallen down the stairs." She said, and I burst out laughing.
"Such a shame. It probably hurt him much more than he would have if he'd been fully healed. Such a shame." I said, and I gave Feyre an over exaggerated sigh, followed by a fit of laughter. "We should get up, though. We can't remain locked away in here forever." I stood up, water running off my skin and wings, and Feyre stood too. We dressed quickly and walked downstairs, where we found a very grumpy Cassian waiting for us, Mor, Amren and Azriel behind him. But they were soon smiling, and it took me a moment to realise why.
"You look good with wings, Feyre." Azriel said. Feyre hadn't put her wings away, but I had to admit that she looked good with them.
"Yeah I may keep them." Feyre said. "I have a bigger wingspan than all of you now, and that seems to win all of your arguments, so maybe this will help me convince you to do as I say." Mor and Amren began to crack up, needing to clutch the table to stop themselves from falling over, and Cassian, Azriel and I stared at Feyre, lost for words, before we all joined in with the laughter. In the midst of the war, we needed to find some light, and Feyre was going to light up the world.