Of High Lords and Heirs

1

The years after the war had been so happy, so filled with love, that Feyre and Rhysand had trouble believing how it could have gone so wrong so quickly. Where had it gone so wrong, anyway? Of course, they had been busy with their young children, their son Gavriel who had just turned eight, and their little baby girl, Sophie, who was only six months old.

But all in all, despite the attention they paid their children, they had been a good High Lord and Lady of the Night Court. Their people, their lands were prospering. So where had the discontent come from, anyway? What had made finally made Keir snap and start spying on them for Tamlin and the Spring Court? Keir had always made it clear that he hated them, but what had finally made the arrogant, self-absorbed male do it?

But, all in all, it wasn't all that much of a surprise that Keir had sold them out. What was a surprise was that Keir had decided to sell his High Lord and Lady out to the Spring Court. If asked outright, Rhysand would have said that Keir would have been more likely to sell them out to the Autumn Court. But it was still next to impossible to understand his motives.

As far as Tamlin was concerned, it was a hell of a lot easier to understand. Because as far as Tamlin was concerned, Feyre still belonged to him. The fact that Feyre was mated to Rhysand and had two children with him was irrelevant to him. In Tamlin's eyes he'd had her first, so as far as he was concerned, that meant he owned her.

Despite the passage of time since Feyre had left him, before the war had even started, it seemed that Tamlin's jealousy and hatred still knew no bounds. He still wanted Feyre to be with him, and would stop at nothing to get her back.

Tamlin would stop at nothing to get what he perceived as his property back, not even kidnap. For three days ago, Tamlin himself had snuck into the mountaintop palace above the Hewn City and kidnapped the children who were staying there.

The kidnapping was not even noticed until almost two hours later when Rhys and Feyre had concluded a meeting with Keir. The meeting had felt peculiar to the both of them, almost as though Keir was attempting to keep them there as long as possible.

Despite the usual level of hostility between Keir and his High Lord and Lady, the hostility on Keir's side had been ramped up during this meeting. However, whenever Rhysand and Feyre had attempted to leave, Keir had brought up another point that had to be discussed, thus continuing to delay them.

Therefore, when Rhysand and Feyre had finally entered the mountaintop palace, noticed the absence of their children, and detected Tamlin's scent firmly in the nursery, they had known. They had known in that instant that their enemy had kidnapped their precious children.

The male, the High Lord of Spring that Feyre had once loved, that she had once destroyed herself and murdered innocents in order to save... He had stolen her children from her. Tamlin had kidnapped her children in revenge for her being with another, revenge for her loving another. How could he do this to her? She knew, had always known, that Tamlin had long since hated her mate, but to go this far? Had he really just kidnapped her children, her precious children, simply to spite her? To get back at Rhysand for her loving her? For her loving Rhysand and no longer loving Tamlin? How could Tamlin ever claim to love her, if he was willing to put her through something like this? How could Tamlin kidnap the children of the woman he supposedly loved? How could he not see that it was not love, but obsession?

Moments after they had discovered their children missing, Keir had suddenly appeared behind them. Keir was chuckling, a sadistic – almost gloating – smile on his face. It was as sure a sign as any that the Steward of the Hewn City had worked with Tamlin on the children's kidnapping. That Keir had provided Tamlin the information that he would have needed. It explained why Keir had been so self-important and condescending during that meeting moments before. Why he had been so rude and insulting, why it had seemed like he was delaying them. Because Keir had been delaying them, he had been giving Tamlin the time that he would have needed to snatch their children, what with Tamlin not being familiar with the palace.