A Court of Stars and Shadow

Chapter 53

I was aware of a warm stickiness in my hand first, the small burning sensation prickling up my arm before I even had enough energy to open my eyes. I felt my feet next, the wiggle of my toes as they brushed the soft wool blanked.

My eyes fluttered open, the warm orange glow of the tent meeting my gaze.

"Luna?"

I turned my head slowly and painfully to my left.

This was not how I imagined the after life to look like. Either that or something had gone very, very wrong because my family stood In front of me, some with tears flowing down their faces.

I blinked, then again because I wasn't sure if this was real or not; if I was dreaming.

"Am I dead?" my voice was rough and croaky, like I had swallowed a dozen knives.

Cassian was the closest to me, sitting next to my bed, the others standing on the far wall of the tent. He leaned forward slightly on the chair he occupied, his eyes were full of hope and color, but I didn't miss the purple smudges under his eyes.

"No. You're alive"

He brushed a strand of hair out of my face and I thought I stopped breathing for a second.

"What?"

He smiled slightly, his eyes roaming over my face like he couldn't quite believe I was talking, like he was trying it convince himself I wasn't a ghost.

"You aren't dead L"

"How?"

He brought up a hand, a piece of cloth wrapped around his palm. I looked down to my own hand, a thin slice was quickly healing but a small pool of blood remained in the base of my hand, my fingertips stained red.

"I don't understand" I said, looking around the room and meeting eyes that made my heart glow.

I met Feyre's eyes, tears streaming down her face but she it seemed, had seen better days. Her skin was as white as snow and her eyes, while filled with happiness seemed hollow around. In fact, her whole face seemed as if it had been sucked in a little, her cheek bones stark on her face; she looked.... Drained. I didn't doubt that the arm Rhysand casually held around her waist wasn't entirely for show.

Mor spoke however, the others at a loss for words.

"The day of the battle, I was fighting on the field when all of a sudden every Montesere soldier died." She wiped away a tear that escaped her eyes.

"Everyone was in shock because no one, no one had that much power, shouldn't have had that much power. And that's when I knew, when I remembered the prophecy, but it was too late. While everyone else was cheering I turned around to see you falling from the sky, tumbling off your bolder like it was the first day we met you. You were just a quick blur of black in the sky, falling too fast for me to do anything and I could only watch in horror as you plummeted to the ground, falling behind the line of soldiers. I winnowed as quickly as I could to where I saw you fall but when I got there, I saw you in Cassian's arms. He caught you, from the sky."

I looked to Cassian and his head was bowed, a thumb running over his bandaged hand. He saved me, but I used every drop of my power, I still shouldn't be alive.

I gulped as Mor continued.

"There was blood everywhere, I couldn't tell if it was Cassian's or yours but then I saw it. He had your hand clutched in his, both of your palms split open and together, your bloods mixing in a way I only saw that one time when you both tried it on the training field. And so, then I understood. You were dead Luna; you weren't breathing but Cassian transferred almost all of his energy to you then and we were both crying for a while but then your chest rose. It was small and shaky, but it rose, and it fell, and then it rose again, your breath becoming more even as your heart finally started again."