A Different Type of Ending

Chapter 10 - Feyre

Feyre

"Get used to it." I snapped at Kert and Alvar. "Jurian, go and find out where the hell everyone else has disappeared to." As we had continued with our conversation, the crowd had thinned into barely anything, and I was curious as to where they deigned to go without instruction. Jurian, still smirking like an idiot, nodded and walked off. 
"As you wish." He said as he disappeared around a corner. I turned my attention back to the two males in front of me. 
"Now, down to business, what have you two dimwits been doing here since you were in charge?" I barked at the males, both of whom seemed to flinch ever so slightly but still noticeably. 
"Mostly just going through the plan for tomorrow." Alvar, the blond one, said, sounding more confident than he looked. I rolled my eyes,
"No combat, no studying the other courts, no spies, no nothing?" He shook his head wearily, sensing my temper reaching a peak again. "It's a good thing I killed Az, or you would all be doomed by now." I realised my mistake, the name had slipped out before I could think about it, and both of the males looked at me with suspicion. 
"They are all in the sparring rings." Jurian said as he walked around the corner, hands in his pockets, looking easily similar to another male I knew. I had removed his name from my mind, but the shadows hadn't. They whispered his name, like a curse, like they were taunting me. Perhaps if I let them consume me it would all go away, or maybe they would follow me to death and remind me of who I had failed. Over and over again. And again. 

Neither of the males took their eyes off me as I stalked towards Jurian, and before he could do anything I kissed him. The shadows stopped whispering, the males stopped staring, but everything else felt wrong. Everything about what I was doing felt wrong within my very soul. I pulled away from Jurian, who acted as if the whole thing hadn't startled him.
"Say nothing." I whispered to him, as I turned and walked away, catching a glimpse of him smirking at Kert and Alvar as I rounded the corner. It felt wrong, everything about it, and something told me that Rhys had felt what I just did, and I hated it. He probably hated me, he wouldn't want me back now, or ever. I added his name to my accumulating list. 

I could hear the clashing of metal before I saw it. It rang in my ears, loud and crisp and rowning in memories. The were countless soldiers sparring with one another in various rings, despite how big it was, it was nothing in comparison to that Illyrian camp. Nothing could quite ever come close to that. 
"How many?" I asked, because the crowd of soldiers never seemed to end, and that scared me to my very bones.
"Over 15,000 at least." Kert stated, his voice monotone. I gulped invisibly, still showing no emotion on my face, and only now feeling the weight of those wings at my back. Though made of smoke and darkness, they held a weight that resembled that of the Illyrian's. They vanished as quickly as they had appeared. 
"Well, we can't do much with 15,000 at once." Jurian said from beside me, I nodded in agreement. 
"However, there is one way to test who is the best." I said, smirking, it was about time I showed them what the Night Court can do. Jurian smirked beside me,
"I know that look far too well." Jurian said, before turning to Kert and Alvar, "tell your men should they wish to keep their heads, to gather around the main sparring ring." As Jurian said that, I had already started walking down into the mass of soldier, letting them part like the sea in front of me. 

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By the time everyone had gathered around the sparring ring, I had chosen a sword from the array that lined the fences. It was long and relatively thin, not as beautiful as my one in the Night Court, but fine all the same. All of the men were silent, not one of them dared say a word as they watched myself and Jurian readying ourselves in the centre.
"Now," I boomed, my voice echoing through the crowd, "I am setting a challenge, whoever thinks they can beat me may try as they please. Should you succeed, you get Kert and Alvar's jobs. Of course, they may try as well if they please. If all of you fail, you deal with me from here on out." Still, no one spoke, no one stepped forward. I was starting to think I had failed, starting to think I wouldn't be able to kill their spirits before the war, when a thing stepped into the ring. I knew that face, I knew those wings, I knew that dreaded smile. I had only seen it in sleep, but now it was here, only blood-curdling rage filled be to the very brim, and death started swirling in my eyes.