When my shadows wake me up with their whispers, I'm on the verge of bathing the tent in light just to banish them away. "The High Lady of the Night Court moves to challenge the Ouroboros." My eyes snap open at that and despite the warmth of the bed and Azriel's arms, I slide away.
"Kaira." He murmurs, still asleep.
"I'll be back, love." I return softly before hurrying out of the tent towards Feyre and Rhysand's. My bare feet are silent as I speed across the grass and mud before I slide into their tent to find Rhys already asleep. Feyre's hand is gliding over his hair as she looks at him lovingly, at least until I walk in. "Wherever you're going, I am going." I barely whisper and her eyes widen.
"How did you-" She starts before seeing the shadows that leak over my shoulders. "I have to do this alone."
"You don't," I state firmly as her blue-grey eyes burn into my hazel. Precious moments pass before her eyes go back to Rhys, then she holds out her hand. I instantly take it before we've vanished into the folds of darkness.
We go far. All the way to the Night Court, I think, but a place inside that I haven't been to before. A winding stair seems to climb all the way up to the very peak of the mountain as I peer up with my breath puffing out visibly in front of us. Feyre kindles a ball of faelight over her head, then we both start climbing. Soft padding behind us has me turning, then eyes dropping to find Shadow diligently following behind us.
"How did you get here?" I whisper-shout and he looks up, then wags his tail.
"He wanted to come." My shadows answer sheepishly and I sigh even as Feyre giggles. I scoop him up into my arms before we move on.
"Does Azriel know you left?" Feyre asks in the quiet with eyes nearly silver in the moonlight.
"Does Rhys know you left?" I return and the corner of her mouth lifts even as she rolls her eyes.
"Listen to me, if...if things go wrong then I need you to bring my body back. No matter the condition I'm in." She tells me and I wobble slightly at the command.
"I'll bring us both back." The promise seems to be swallowed by the darkness and Feyre doesn't answer me as we continue up and up and up with only our soft footfalls for company. Perhaps that's a blessing.
When we reach the room, Feyre stops me with a hand on my chest over my tattoo. "Stay here and remember what I said." Steel shines in those bright eyes of hers as I nod. She walks into the room and I turn my back to the doorway to watch the stairs. Shadow is a solid warmth in my arms and I'm grateful for that. My ears are tuned into every move that Feyre makes as I think about the face that Rhysand would make if I came back with Feyre being...not Feyre. How it would break his heart. And mine. The scraping of shoes against stone has me turning back towards the doorway, but I see nothing. No Feyre, no blood, only a dagger shining in the snow.
When I enter the chamber, it's empty. A light dusting of snow covers the floor and gleams bright in the moonlight filtering in onto the rough rock. "Feyre?" I call, my shadows carefully creeping around the room as they look for her. I let down Shadow to join them, but they both pause at the same place in the room. They stop when they reach the mirror, the thing we came here to retrieve, and dance over the gray glass that reminds me of billowing smoke.
"Here." The shadows whisper and I pad closer to the glass through the snow. Feyre's footprints do indeed walk to the same spot, then vanish. "If she is within, then she may never return. Time is fluid, but flows differently within the mirror." My eyes burn into the bottom of the mirror where a snake seems to be eating its own tail. Shadow sniffs at the image, then looks at me with glimmering amber eyes.
YOU ARE READING
Shadowsinger
Fanfiction"Perhaps this is death and it's playing a game with me. Maybe that's all death is, reliving the moment it took those that you most loved." Kaira's life ends with her family in the cold snow on the edge of the wall dividing fae and human lands. She's...
