Thousands of years before Feyre Cursebreaker was so much as a whisper of thought on the breeze, there was another girl in another forest - Carbhan, a half fae girl eking out a living in the largest and most vicious court in Prythian, the Dusk Court...
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My hands shot up to grasp at the stranger's wrist. How had he gotten this close to me before I woke up?
It didn't matter. I had to get free. I jerked my body to the side and kicked him in the stomach. He stumbled away with an almost silent oof as the air burst out of his lungs. I half rolled, half leapt out of the bed after him, trying to knock him over before he could regain his balance. However, he recovered quickly and grabbed my arms, trying to pin them to my sides. I went limp, slipping to the floor. I swung my leg at his ankles and he went down. My assailant rolled into a crouch before I could pin him, so I slammed my foot straight toward his face. He grabbed it and tried to pull me closer, but I twisted away from his grip. Now we were both standing again. Somehow he was right in front of me and we had gotten into a standard hold, my hand gripping the arm whose hand was tight at my side, and his hand around my arm whose fingers clenched his shirt. He tried to get his leg behind mine but I side stepped, slipping mine between his instead so we were calf to calf and sweeping his legs out from under him. The attacker didn't let go though, managing to pull me down flat on top of him.
The way he fought was oddly familiar, like rolling with a mirror. As I thought this, he heaved, rolling us over until his body pinned mine to the floor. I squirmed, unable to break free, and was seriously considering screaming even though he might have come with allies waiting to hear a call for help.
That's when I noticed the slight vibrations running through him. He was... laughing?
"Damn Car. That's some greeting for an old friend."
I froze. I recognized that voice. I strained to see his face through the gloom. A faint outline of sharp features cut with an impish smile. It was the smile that did it.
"Ashe?" I asked in disbelief.
His teeth glinted as the smile widened. "Who else?"
I had grown up with Ashe. He was a scabhta, not a garda, but most of his early training had been done alongside ours. Scabhta literally means 'scout.' The scabhta were a complementary group to the garda. Where we patrol in groups of three and watch to ensure no one comes close, the scabhtas are essentially lone spies. They're sent to various places to listen for word of us. Sometimes their missions mean a couple of days in a small town of lesser fae or renting a hotel in a city. Other times they're long term immersion missions, in which the scabhta goes someplace and infiltrates it, usually as a servant or a maid. Ashe got sent away on one of these missions just over a year ago. I hadn't been surprised. Ashe was a fantastic actor and an easy liar. He was made for immersion missions. It was only a matter of time before he got sent away for a long one. It also explained how he had managed to sneak up on me—like a garda, a scabhta is trained in how to move with total silence, and unlike an assailant, he had no bloodlust to give him away. If anything, I felt safer with him than alone.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, half stunned.
"I'm a servant of the palace, obviously," he replied, his voice grinning. I hadn't been told where Ashe was being sent. I'd known it was an important mission, but to be Codlata Siorai's eyes in the palace of the High Lord... that was incredible. I would never tell him that though.
