A court of ashes and ruins | A TOG x ACOTAR crossover

Chapter 6

Cassian

It was always fun watching someone's face while flying for the first time, and Celaena wasn't any exception. Even though she tried to hide it, I could feel the fear oozing from her before gradually turning into excitement.

When she adjusted to the feeling, I could see the awe glimmering in her eyes as she took in the landscape. The Night court was a truly beautiful place, and it did make me proud to see someone else appreciating my home.

The dinner had honestly gone better than expected. It had been a little awkward, since no one had really wanted to talk to her, but I had expected everything to go way worse. Her personality very much matched Amren's. Amren had a bad habit of always acting like a teen even though she were over 15 000 years old. And Celaena seemed to have the exact same attitude, always seeking out to annoy people for fun.

Flying besides me was Azriel carrying Mor, Rhys carrying Amren and Feyre flying by herself.

The flight took a little more than 5 minutes, but I could soon see the massive Illyrian mountains. We were on our way to one of Rhys' private residences far up in the mountains, far away from the closest Illyrian camp.

I could hear Celaena take in a sharp breath as the mansion came in sight. It was a glorious sight really. I had only seen it from afar before, so even I found it to be a beautiful sight.

It was a massive building made entirely out of stone. There were huge pillars and statues everywhere, and red roses were covering the walls even with the harsh, cold climate.

The construction of it was one of many mating gifts from Rhys to Feyre. The house was meant to work as a living space while they were visiting the Illyrian camps. even though it was meant for 2 people, there were a lot of extra bedrooms. Perfect for the group and our special little guest.

We landed on the rocky stone path. Celaena turned towards me, her face glimmering with happiness. "Well that was fucking amazing" she said with a huge grin.

It was nice seeing her warming up to us, or maybe just me a little bit. In all honesty Rhys didn't seem to like Celaena in the slightest. Feyre seemed to feel a bit of pity towards the girl, but they weren't exactly on good terms. Azriel and Mor seemed neutral towards her, though their actions seemed a little influenced by Rhys. And lastly there was Amren. She actually seemed kind of fond of the girl, and you could sense that she kind of enjoyed Celaena's company.

Rhys and Feyre walked towards the doors, and we all followed them. With a wave of his hand, Rhys opened the big, dark doors. The interior was simple, but yet so beautiful. There weren't many decorations, but like the exterior, the walls were covered by roses.

I had heard Feyre sarcastically call this place 'The rose haven'. The name seemed very fitting. There were two staircases both leading up to long corridors full of rooms. Rhys and Feyre took the staircase up to the left wing of the building. It was their private part of the building. Occupied with a big bedroom, massive bathing chambers and a big room for painting.

The rest of us took the other stair up to the guest rooms. Even though they were just made for guests, they were still massive and could probably house 4 people in each.

I followed Celaena to her room. This place had a lot of security, and she wouldn't come for in the snowy, cold mountains, so we didn't bother with chains. But I did give her an Ashwood bracelet, because we still didn't know if she possessed any kind of magic.

"You are free to walk around freely in this house. Just don't walk into people's bedrooms, alright?" she just nodded her head. I only now realized how late it was. I guess she was too tired to keep up her attitude after the flight here.

"It's getting pretty late, so maybe keep the exploring to a minimum today and get some sleep."

Feyre

It was nice to finally have big private bedrooms away from everyone else. Even though I loved living at The House Of Wind with all my friend, it did get a little tiring to have so little private time with my mate. But sadly this night was already occupied with other things than pleasure.

We needed to discuss about Celaena. She was strange, really strange. We hadn't really got as much information as expected from her at the dinner, but it was best not to push her too much. I had initially made the plan to befriend her myself, but our personalities kind of clashed, and it felt kind of wrong to just fake a relation with her like that.

She got along surprisingly well with Amren, considering how brutal she usually was towards strangers. And letting Cassian fly Celaena here seemed to have given them a good start on friendship too.

I knew that I could just make Cassian into a source of information from her, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

But something that had bugged me since she fell into our world was the aura around her. She kind of seemed to radiate small waves of magic, even though she was human. That's why I had used Ashwood chains on her. I didn't know if it was normal for humans in her world to have small traces of magic. I mean she could have lied about magic going extinct.

What are you thinking about darling? Rhys asked through the mating bond. I let him into my mind for a moment. I let him see all my worries about the girl.

He brushed his thumb against my palm.

I agree with you. This whole thing seems very...strange.

Yes I answered. Is it really a coincidence that she just happened to fall into our world just as we were walking by? And isn't it kind of weird that just she was the one to come here?

Rhys pressed his lips against my hand. Whatever it is, we will find out together, right? She talked about some kind of magic called 'Wyrdmarks', she could possibly have used those to travel here. After all she talked about it being used by ordinary humans without a drop of magic in their blood. Maybe we are feeling the traces of that magic still on her.

I felt kind of scared honestly, scared of not knowing what was happening. I had already dealt with battling all of Hybern and Amarantha's creatures. Could I really handle discovering that there were way more living things out there, that had a way of finding our world?

Well... I started. Do we really know if she is human though. I mean, in this world we are mostly familiar with faeries and humans, but should we really assume that it is the same way in her world. What if she is something else, some other kind of creature bearing magic.

I couldn't hide my worry with him. It felt really good to just open up to him, to share the burden of emotions together.

He traced my jaw with his finger, his violet eyes looking deep into my soul. I leaned in and kissed him. It was a kiss full of promises of peace and love. A kiss that filled me with the feeling of safety.

My mate would always be there to protect me, no matter what happened he would always be there for me, and I for him.

"Don't worry too much okay?" he whispered gently into my ear. "We will figure this out together, like we have always done."

I love you Rhys

I love you too Feyre

I had a really hard time think of a place for everyone to stay. The only places that were really mentioned (from what I can remember) in the books were The House Of Wind and the palace above Hewn city where Feyre lived while visiting the Night Court for the first time. So I kind of had to create my own place. It was quite a while ago that I read the books so just don't come at me if the house is very unrealistic to the standard in the books.