A Court of Scars and Steel (Completed)

Chapter 7 - Feyre

My mind is still reeling from that single snippet of memory. The one where the woman with the pale moon face and apple lips had that man whip her, over and over.

And in that same sequence, the female locking her in darkness for days and implanting false memories to try to get the poor woman before her to crack.

It reminded me so much of what Amarantha had done, I immediately pulled my mind away to tell Rhys what I had seen.

He agrees with me that that must have been only a single snippet of what this poor woman before us had endured.

It seems slightly strange to call her a woman, given she looks only 19 or 20, but, like me, after the horrors of our past, no one has the right to call us kids anymore, not even Amren.

"What's your story?" Rhys asks quietly, jolting me back to the blond female curled up before me.

Celaena opens her mouth, then closes it, looking hesitant. She finally says, "I fight against another oppressor in our world named Erawan." I don't know why, but that name sounds familiar. "My Aunt Maeve is against him too, but she dislikes my power over fire because she is darkness, and it challenges her, so she had me locked up in tortured." Somehow, I know that most of the story has been left out, that being the barest details just to explain the nightmares, PTSD, and condition of her body.

Rhys swallows tightly, and I rub my hand comfortingly over his back. This reminds us both of my story.

"Would you like to join us for dinner?" I ask, if only to clear the awkwardness from the air.

Celaena looks up, "Will there be chocolate cake?"

Rhys laughs. "Yes, but I must warn you my cousin Mor is quite addicted to it."

Celaena asks, "Will there be other people then?"

We're going to bring her to Velaris, aren't we? I ask Rhys, I don't think she'll hurt the city and the entire Inner Circle will be there.

Rhys responds to both Celaena and I, "Yes. My Inner Circle, whom you can meet later."

She nods, looking down quietly at her lap. I notice pain and sorrow hiding in her eyes, and I go over what we just said, but nothing seems amiss.

"Where am I?" Celaena asks, and with a jolt I remember the one question we forgot.

"Night Court in Prythian. And how did you get from your world to ours?"

Celaena cocks her head, studying us, and I have the uncomfortable feeling that she's gauging how much detail to reveal. "There's a language that works. And before you ask, no I'm not going to teach you because the less people that know the better."

I sense the undercurrent there: I've seen it used for terrible deeds.

I force a grin to my face. "Clothing is in that closet," I say waving a hand towards the closet. "There's no dress code, and we'll see you in an hour."

A/N Sorry for the short chapter and late update.  I promise I'm trying!