Daughter of Winter

Chapter 14

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?" Kendryek shouted at us, though the majority of his anger was aimed at Lysander. Kendryek was nearly shaking with rage. I could see embers in his eyes. Flames occasionally flickered across his shoulders; the heat pouring off of his body made me break out into a sweat. I was perfectly content to cower off to the side and let him take the majority of the abuse.

It was just Erin, Kendryek, Lysander, and I. Despite the gaping hole in his shoulder, he was quite conscious and showed no signs of pain. No healing had been done yet, much to the vexation of Erin.

"I was asking a Suriel some questions. Little did I know, the Suriel turned out to be one of Samanthia's projections."

"And you decided that that Suriel was more important than doing your job and maintaining peace with the Spring Court?"

"Peace was thrown away when Terrin strolled in here and essentially assaulted Allyn. All Terrin is doing by waiting is buying time so he can try to get his court in order. There is no negotiating that can happen. We either give him Allyn or we don't," Lysander carefully explained.

"How do you know for sure?" Lysander's jaw dropped slightly.

"Ken. Kenny Ken Ken..." Lysander said. "I lived in the Spring Court under his rule. I know their history better than anyone else here, but even you should know what caused Gaius to go insane - not having his mate. It is quite reasonable to assume that Terrin wants to prevent that at all costs. Samanthia, dressed up as a Suriel, told me directly. But if that is not enough, I ripped a bunch Samanthia's memories out." So that's what he was doing to that woman. "It is extremely clear this is what his goal is, not love, not following The Mother's plan, just avoiding falling to the same problem that plagued his father. He cannot do that while we have Allyn here."

I was getting a little tired of being treated like a pawn and not a real person.

"I trust Lysander on this one," I said. "I don't want to join the Spring Court." Though, at this rate, it'd be worth joining just to avoid the headache of these arguments.

Kendryek growled.

"You've started this war too early. We need time to prepare." Lysander threw a hand up in exasperation and nearly leapt to his feet. Erin moved to restrain him.

"Take it easy!" she ordered him.

"They're in a far worse position!" He exclaimed. "We don't need time to prepare! The Spring Court is in complete chaos! We could storm the Mansion tomorrow and kill Terrin with just the five of us, six if you want to bring Allyn!" He was extremely fired up. "We have some of the most powerful fae Prythian has seen as a part of our court and you have them doing errands and your mail!"

"What we have is stability, Lysander!" Kendryek shouted back. "A war threaten to put an end to that!"

"Terrin has already done that! We have to respond accordingly!" This time, Kendryek did not reply. They stared at each other, magic crackling in the air. The room was on the edge of going up in flames. After seeing what Lysander did to those fae in the forest, I was no longer sure who the victor of a fight would be. Not for the first time, it was Kendryek who backed down.

"Allyn, come with me," he barked at me as he wheeled around and quickly strode out of the room. My stomach grew more uneasy. I followed out of fear of what would happen if I didn't.

I had to half-jog in order to keep up with his pace as he blazed down the hallway. He lead me to his room, where I followed him inside and shut the door.

He was a lot calmer now, but he was still extremely upset. He leaned up against the bedframe, stared at me, and shook his head. I crossed my arms against my chest and squeezed myself.