A Court of Flame & Shadow - Eris x OC

The Autumn Court II

The council had stretched late into the afternoon, which was hardly unusual. His father's sycophants would be arguing with each other long into the night if allowed, fussing over their duties, the secrets they learned, the plots they schemed, vying for the favor of the High Lord. An endless drag that was finally interrupted by the evening meal being served.

Eris had been in a surly mood for most of the meeting, though he doubted any of the lordlings at the table had noticed. They were used to the easily irritable, cruel son of the High Lord. It was a role that he was more than happy to play if it meant keeping the snakes in his father's retinue at arm's length.

Eris had no doubts, however, that his father had noticed his irritation. If not during the meeting, then surely after, as he abandoned his dinner and slipped out into the hall. Whether his father knew that the source of his anger was the string of bruises he'd spied on his mother's neck, Eris wasn't sure. And he didn't care either way. There was no use in trying to hide the anger he felt at seeing his mother hurt; Beron already knew how it affected him. Eris would endure the abuse, and he hoped his mother and the rest of the court would as well until the day he could finally take the throne and purge this den of vipers from top to bottom.

His footsteps echoed on the polished stone of the hallway. He was planning to slip into his hunting gear, steal some food from the kitchen, and take off to the forest. Atop his horse, surrounded by his hounds, the only creatures that would not betray him in this damned court, it was the only time when Eris felt truly free. Darting through the trees, crossing the rushing rivers, seeing the towns and villages that peppered the countryside - all of it was a reminder of the beauty of the Autumn Court and of everything he was fighting to protect, what he would stand to lose if he failed.

Eris approached the double mahogany door that opened to his rooms. As he reached out to touch the handle, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the emptiness, the echoing footsteps, the lack of sentries. No servants were scurrying around, no sound from the hounds in his room. Everything was still. Something was off. A small voice whispered in the back of his mind that there was nothing to worry about.

A suspicious thought. His own or an idea planted by someone else? There was only one Daemati he knew that would be brazen enough to walk into the heart of the Autumn Court. He scrambled to remember his training. Thought by thought, he reinforced his mind's shield and put up a matching physical one around himself.

With a hand on the jeweled dagger at his belt and the other on the cold metal of the door handle, Eris slowly opened the door. The scent that greeted him was unfamiliar but pleasant: lavender and pine trees. "That will hardly be necessary." That voice he would have recognized anywhere.

Vel was sitting in his armchair by the window, staring at the sun setting over the forest. His five hounds lazily spread out around her legs. The sixth, Ruby, had her head on her thigh. As he entered, the female stopped petting the hound, who huffed and moved to poke her thigh with her nose, not even acknowledging her master. She turned towards him and lowered her hood, her emerald-green eyes piercing him. The same eyes that stirred his soul when she had looked down at him from her chains all those months ago. She seemed so different from back then. Her cheeks were not gaunt anymore, no scars marred her beautiful face, no blood on her high cheekbones. Back then, her hair had almost been red from all the blood soaking it. Eris wondered if the memory of her tortured body that still haunted his nightmares had all just been a dream.

With the way she was sitting there in her traveling clothes, her brown hair braided over one shoulder, her pale skin splattered with freckles instead of blood; she was beautiful, breathtaking even. A tinge of red spread over her cheeks and she gave him a half smile. Eris had to check his mind shields again. "Apologies for intruding in your mind earlier. I was simply worried you would raise the alarm and then we wouldn't be able to have this pleasant reunion."