ACOTAR One Shots

Loud Thoughts

Aggravation rolled off Feyre in waves. Typically, she wasn't the kind of person to get upset easily. In fact, she liked to think that she had a pretty decent tolerance and patience level. However, her annoying mate was seeming to test that theory to its breaking point. All she wanted to do was read in peace and quiet. That's all. Just a little bit of time away from all the madness of being High Lady of the Night Court. And a bit of quiet to lessen the headache she had woken up with that morning.

But her ever insistent mate decided to join her in her quiet adventures, taking up residence at a desk near the chair she currently occupied.

Normally, this wouldn't have bothered Feyre. In fact, she liked spending time with her mate and husband--even if that simply included quietly working on their own things in the same space. There were many times when they would both just sit by the fire in their room, simply enjoying each other's company.

But today, her mate was starting to drive her insane.

"Rhys," Feyre stated slowly, trying to bring her irritation under control. There was no need to get upset, she reasoned with herself. But her head was pounding and she couldn't get the deafening noises in her head to quiet down.

"Yes, Feyre Darling?" Rhys questioned, head not lifting from the document he was working on and unaware that his mate was seconds away from snapping.

Feyre took a deep breath. "Rhys," she tried again, closing her book with a snap to get his attention.

"Hmm?" He responded absently, still not looking up from the papers before him.

Feyre tried, she really did. She knew logically that it wasn't entirely his fault. In fact, he probably wasn't even aware of what he was doing. So she tried, really tried, not to snap at him. But the insistent pounding wasn't making it easy. "Rhysand for Cauldron's sake will you be quiet!?" she snapped, finally gaining his attention.

Rhys turned, his eyes wide and confused--and slightly hurt, if Feyre was honest. A twinge of regret pulsed through her, but the pounding continued, now to a slightly different tune, and so the feeling was quickly swept away.

Rhys raised an eyebrow at her, "I haven't said anything, Darling," he paused. "Are you okay?"

Feyre huffed, trying again to get her emotions under control and failing, "Stop thinking so loud. You're shouting everything you're thinking down the bond and it's making my headache worse than it already is."

The part of Rhys' mind that he usually left open for her snapped closed abruptly and the thoughts ceased from inside her head. The pounding in her head lessened marginally, but at least her thoughts were her own now and not jumbled with her mates. Rhys slowly stood up from his spot and moved to crouch before her. His hand strayed to her leg, before hesitantly resting it there.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know I was shouting everything down at you," he replied softly, rubbing gentle circles onto her leg. After years of being mated to Feyre, she knew Rhys was aptly attuned to her moods and could quickly tell when she was on edge. Now was no exception.

"I know," she sighed, bringing up a hand to rub at her temples. "I shouldn't have snapped at you either, I'm sorry. Normally, it wouldn't bother me. But I woke up with a headache and it hasn't gone away." She smirked down at him slightly, "Your thoughts weren't exactly helping the problem."

Rhys stood from where he crouched and gently removed Feyre's hand from her temples, replacing them with his own as he worked out the tense nerves. He placed a soft kiss on the tip of her nose, and Feyre's eyes slid closed as she allowed herself to be relaxed by her mate's ministrations.

"Better?" Rhys asked, smirk evident in his tone as he continued his massage on her temples.

She hummed contentedly, not wanting to open her eyes or break the relief she was beginning to feel.

"You know," Rhys started, "you could probably use your own healing powers to help with this. In fact, the healing powers in your blood should've already been working to combat this."

"Maybe because it's not an actual wound or something serious, it can't really do anything," she responded, still not opening her eyes. "Realistically, it's not all that different from tense or sore muscles, which I get frequently thanks to Cassian's brutal training." Despite working with her powers for years, Rhys and her still didn't quite understand all the inner workings of them yet.

Rhys laughed, which caused her to wince and Rhys to abruptly stop. "I'm sure he'd be glad to hear how much you enjoy his training sessions," Rhys replied, voice full of humor.

"I'm sure he would," she replied, finally opening her eyes to peer up at her mates' face.

His violet eyes were filled with amusement as he stared at her, and a slight smirk was plastered on his face. The dark waves of his hair just barely fell in front of his eyes as he stared down at her. But despite the clear amusement on his features, he also gazed at her with such love and softness that it made her warm inside and brought forth her own gentle smile.

At that, Rhys' smirk turned softer and his hands stalled their motions. One of his hands moved to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear and the other gently cupped her cheek.

"How's your head?" he asked softly, his breath fanning her face slightly.

She rested the weight of her head against Rhys' hand, "Better. Everything's always better with you." She paused and then added ruefully, "Unless you're shouting all your insane thoughts relentlessly down our bond while I have a splitting headache. Then I can do without you."

Rhys huffed a small laugh, then leaned down to nuzzle his nose into the bare skin of her neck, "Cruel, beautiful female."

Feyre laughed softly too and then paused, "What were you thinking about so intently? All your thoughts were so loud I could barely make out one from the other."

Rhys pulled back from her neck and stared at her softly, "Besides thinking about all the work we have piled up and missives that need answered, I was thinking about you."

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh? What about me."

That smirk appeared again, "About how much I love you."

She laughed, not feeling the pounding in her head for the first time that day, "You're such a terrible flirt."

The smirk only grew, "Only for you, Feyre Darling."

She rolled her eyes before looking back at her mate, "Sit with me?"

The smirk fell away again, replaced by that soft smile, "Of course. Anything you need."

Feyre slid over and Rhys sat down in the small space beside her, before pulling her fully into his arms. Mindlessly, she tucked her head under his chin and enjoyed the warmth of her mate's body--the comfort and safety it brought. And while his hands stroked her back and hair, Feyre gently allowed herself to relax into her mate's embrace.

And just as Feyre's eyes began to close and her body began to drag her to sleep, a voice--a loud, very obnoxious voice--pierced the calm air that the two had created.

"For Cauldron's sake, you two! Could you please take your lovey-dovey nonsense elsewhere!? Preferably where there are closed doors?"

Cassian almost didn't make it out of that room alive.