A Court of Lies and Terror

Chapter Sixteen

The dress that I had chosen for the meeting was a gorgeous dark, sparkling gown. It was covered in dark obsidian beads, so small they were barely visible apart from a slight twinkle when I moved, it fell to the floor and had obviously been made for Fae late in pregnancy. The shoulders had extraordinarily thin armoured plates on them, embossed with the Night Courts signature three mountains and stars and they led back into a thick, impossibly dark cloak. My hair fell loosely onto my shoulders, farther down my back than it had been the last time I'd properly dressed up, dark crystals were entwined through it and my crown sat there, gleaming in the early morning sun. Mor had dressed in an incredible floor length red gown with impossible amounts of tulle, gorgeous blood red embroidery crept up from the bottom of the dress and gathered at her corset. She looked incredible and I told her so but she just smiled and gestured towards Amren, Nesta and Elain. Elain was wearing a dark pink dress that had darker flowers mixed in and her hair had been spun up into a bun and decorated with flowers, Nesta was wearing a gorgeous dark blue jumpsuit, her shoulders were covered in sequins that rose up to her neck, her hair was plaited back and silvery stones had been mixed in, I couldn't help but smile, she looked every inch the warrior but it was Amren who caught my eye.
She was wearing the summery Night Court style, flowing trousers and shirts that matched her perfectly. She look beautiful but I decided against commenting considering the death glare she was giving me.
Rhys, Cassian and Azriel had all settled for clothes that looked suspiciously similar to what they had worn the last time. I rolled my eyes and snorted,
"What? It's not like we've had the time to get something fitted," Cassian protested, "Unlike you we do not have an endless wardrobe, I swear you wear something different everyday." Mor elbowed him and then took his arm preparing to winnow. I smiled at all of them, my family and one by one they disappeared. Azriel first with Elain and Amren, then Mor, Cassian and Nesta until it was just Rhys and me. He smiled down at me, "It will be fine, besides there are rumours that Viviane has convinced Kallias to make her his High Lady." I snorted and said,
"Took her long enough." Rhys laughed and kissed me before winnowing us to the palace.

Amren really had picked out the most incredible room for the meeting. An enormous window looked out over the Illyrian mountains, a view I could have spent an entire human lifetime painting and yet never get right. The ceiling was domed, a mix of dark and light stones and several dozen gorgeous seats where carved into the walls around the room and in the centre of the room lay an enormous carving of Prythian, etched into the floor, with mini mountains rising up and crevices dipping back into the stone. It was truly incredible.

Helion was the first to arrived along with his small escort, he came up and slapped Rhys on the back, murmuring something that made my mate smile, he saluted to the rest of our court and winked at Mor before making his way over to me and kissed me on the cheek saying as he did so, "Looks like you're about to pop." I gave him a friendly whack on the arm and pointed to a few seats, telling him to sit. Thesan and Kallias arrived together and Viviane and Mor fiercely embraced while her mate slightly awkwardly greeted Rhys. Thesan mentioned how beautiful the palace was and smiled to all of us, his lover keeping close to his side as they went to sit.

One by one the others, Tarquin's greeting was warm enough and when Varian walked through the door, for the first, and probably the last, time I saw Amren brush and he blew a kiss in her direction. Beron and his several sons filed through the door, Lucien was not among them but Eris was there and made sure to smirk in Mor's direction. Azriel and Cassian snarled slightly but stayed where they were and finally, after maybe two hours everyone was sat down, apart from Tamlin who, as per usual, felt the need to make a dramatic entrance.

Thanks to the considerably more powerful wards he was not able to winnow directly into the chamber as he had last time but he did, of course, kick the doors open, snarling and Lucien followed behind him, more subdued and he at least made sure to smile in Elain's direction. I pretended not to notice the slight colour creeping into her cheeks.

His eyes went straight to my belly and he snorted softly, "It seems you wasted no time getting yourself pregnant while your mate was... incapacitated." I didn't even have time to process the words before Cassian was out of his seat, pinning the High Lord of Spring against the wall. I stayed where I was for a moment before standing up and striding over to him. A light touch on Cassian's shoulder was all it took for him to back away to my side and Tamlin sneered at him. He tried to move forwards but my magic held him tightly against the war and I smiled at him, a sickly sweet smile laced with malice, "Might I remind you that this is my court, I have total control as to what happens to you here and in all honesty I don't give a shit whether or not you are a High Lord, if you ever imply something like that again I will make you wish it was Amarantha who was ripping you apart." I let him go then and turned my back on him then, possibly the stupidest thing I could do but I did it anyway.

I didn't sense his magic lashing out towards me until I was slammed back into the wall and he growled into my ear, "You do not tell me what to do you whore." The entire chamber was pitched into darkness. Rhysand losing control. There was just enough light to see his wings rip free, his clothes changing from the formal suit to his usual battle attire as he stalked towards Tamlin. I slid to the floor breathing hard but was forced to push myself up when I realised Rhys had no intention of stopping. I let out a swathe of soothing light to battle against the rising darkness of the room. After a few moments he let the darkness recede and we were all left there looking thoroughly shocked.

I took a deep breath and sent a punch of wind to knock Tamlin back into his chair and smiled. "Well now that the usual welcome is over I realise we have some congratulations in order, it seems I am no longer the only High Lady. Trust me Viviane, it's worse that it's sounds." We smiled at each other and she gave me a small nod of thanks. One of Beron's sons muttered something under his breath and I turned a sharp gaze towards him, "Have you got something to add?" He said nothing and after a second or two of awkward silence I let out a wry smile, "I thought so. Now onto the matter at hand, I hear you have all been having some trouble with unhappy citizens." Tarquin laughed and said,
"I would hardly call it 'trouble'. Several hundred of Fae have died because of it, whether with the cause or not they have been caught up in riots because of us."
"It is not because of us. Our subjects have no right to be rebelling, they owe everything to us." Beron shot back, and Tarquin let out a harsh laugh,
"So you believe they have no cause to be unhappy that a group of seven Fae have complete control over them and that some of those Fae are not the nicest of people." Helion was nodding as was Thesan but Kallias, Tamlin and Beron were glaring at the High Lord of Summer. It seemed the courts were already divided. Rhys opened his mouth to say something, probably sarcastic but a sharp pain suddenly lanced through me and I grunted slightly, my shields were obviously open because Rhys' head whipped to me and he'd obviously said something directly into the rest of the courts heads because Cassian abruptly stood up and clapped his hands, "As lovey as this has been there is a family issue that needs attending to. Rooms have been prepared for you, feel free to stay or go home, everywhere is open to you but I would suggest not going downstairs, the only people they respect down there are us so you may be ripped to pieces and try not to cause any trouble. This meeting will resume in a day or two." Beron opened his mouth to complain but Eris clasped his shoulder and murmured something in his which made him shut up. As Cassian was making his rather long speech Rhys and I were slowly walking out of the room with Mor, Azriel, Nesta, Amren and Elain closely following. We winnowed as soon as we got out of the room, Mor to get Maja and the rest of us to the Town House.

Giving birth is not a fun prospect.

I think this is our longest chapter yet, probably why it took so long to write so sorry about that.

Looks like Baby Feysand is about to be born, I know I've already asked for names but if you anymore suggestions they will be greatly appreciated Xx