A court of Night and Fire

the night what?

Asterin POV

My head is throbbing. My whole body is aching. My ribs feel like they're on fire. So, nothing unusual. I'm a very impatient person and will often rush into things so injuries are not uncommon, particularly when I look after wyverns and have a passion for horses. Surprisingly, the horses cause more damage than the wyverns. 

I can scent people. Fae. It takes me a moment to realise that I don't recognise their scents. I bolt upright. Consequently my head starts spinning but I ignore it. What the hell happened? More importantly, where the fuck am I?

The room is large and spacious, with wooden flooring and floor to ceiling windows on one side with the curtains drawn across. I don't recognise the room, or anything in it. I'm sat on an enormous bed at the farthest end of the room. 

"Hello" I whip around to the source of the sound, flicking both wrists and feeling the familiar weight of my blades in my hands. Sat beside me is a young woman, fae, from the looks of her ears. She has dark gold hair and bright blue eyes. She looks me over and her gaze is drawn to the blades in my hands. She merely raises her eyebrows slightly smiling.

"Where the hell am I?" I ask, frowning. "The night court" the female replies, smiling gently. I feel inclined to trust her but I'm not entirely sure why. "The night what?" I ask, confused. The fae frowns slightly as well "the night court, in Prythian" Prythian? What the hell is Prythian? "And that's where?" I ask. Feyre considers for a moment "where are you from?" She asks "Terrasen" I reply. She doesn't seem to understand.

"What the hell happened?" I ask, running my fingers over my blades. The feel of the metal comforts me slightly. "I'm not entirely sure, for us there was a bright light and then you basically fell out of the sky" well, that would explain why it feels like a dozen horses ran me over. "What happened to you?" she asks "I don't know. I was training and then a Valg suddenly appeared and it somehow attacked my mind. I felt my power surge and suddenly the Valg was out of my mind and I was falling" 

We sat in silence for a moment. And then it dawned on me. "Oh shit" I whispered. The female beside me looked slightly confused. I turned to face her "I world walked. I managed to world walk" she looked at me for an explanation "there's a power that means you can walk between worlds, only in our world someone opened a gateway and basically let a bunch of demons in that my mother eventually killed. She managed to close the gateway to prevent them coming back through but a demon posing as a fae queen possessed the power to walk between worlds when she wished. When my mum closed the gateway, she fell between worlds. It wasn't intentional but she did. Somehow I managed to do it as well" the female looked thoughtful for a moment "was the Valg thing you spoke of one of those demons" "yes, but they are all supposed to be dead"

"Do you think you can use the power to walk worlds again?" she asks and I shake my head "no, I shouldn't be able to, and even if I could, I have no idea how. And even then, I could miss my world entirely. My mother only made it back to my world  because of the mating bond she has with my father. She wouldn't have made it even then, but as she fell through one world, she told me she saw two fae - one winged and one pregnant. Apparently, the Male slowed her down enough that she was able to get back to our world" the females eyes widened and she seemed to debate with herself for a moment. 

"Okay, so it looks like you'll be stuck here for a while until we can work out a way to get you back to your own world or until your people find you. In the meantime, you can stay here in the night court." I had no idea what to say. I was lost for words. Home. I can't go home. "My name is Feyre by the way. I'm the high lady of the night court" I frowned slightly "is that like being a queen then?" Feyre smiled slightly "sort of but not quite"
"in that case, I'm Asterin. Princess of Terrasen." She raised her eyebrows at me "Princess?"
"Yes" I sighed "please don't make a big deal out of it. I'm the least princessy person you're likely to meet"

Feyre laughed "you'll enjoy the others then"
"others?"
"Yes, the inner circle. Rhysand will probably want to talk with you as soon as I tell him this" "who's Rhysand?"
"The high lord of the night court as well as my husband and mate"
"oh, you have mates too?"
"Yes, we do" I thought for a moment and then slipped out of the bed and walked over to the window, retracting my blades back up so they were hidden by my sleeve once more. 

I pulled the curtain back and gasped as I took in the view. Far below us was a sprawling city surrounded by towering mountains. The city was stunning. It took my breath away. There were no words quite right to describe it. Dusk was just setting in so lights were  becoming visible across it. Feyre came to stand beside me "welcome to Velaris, the city of starlight" the name seemed to fit perfectly. Velaris. The city of starlight. 

I could have stood there for hours, taking in the view. A sound came from behind me and I whirled round, flicking my wrists to release my blades. Before me stood a fae Male. He was very tall, nearly the same height as my father, with dark hair and twinkling violet eyes. His very presence radiated power. He looked me over carefully, his eyes catching on the blades in my hands and the female next to me.

He growled at me, stalking forward like a predator, but Feyre stepped in front of him, laughing. "Calm down Rhys! Honestly, you Illyrian babies!" So this must be Rhysand. I retracted my blades and looked him up and down. He was huge and well muscled, most definitely due to centuries of training and fighting. It didn't scare me though. Rowan whitethorn was my father. I'd pay good money to see them go head to head. 

Rhysand looked to his mate questioningly. They seemed to have a silent conversation through their bond, Feyre probably filling him in on everything I had said. He turned to face me, smiling kindly. "I am Rhysand, high lord of the night court" I bowed slightly "Asterin, princess of Terrasen" he looked me up and down again. "You told Feyre what happened to your mother. Did your mother possess powers of fire"
"yeah she did - how did you know?"
"Your mother fell through this world a few years ago, covered in flame. I was the one who helped to slow her down"
"no offence but the Male who helped her had wings" I pointed out

Rhysand smiled and two magnificent wings appeared on his back. I almost gaped at the sight of them. "I'm half Illyrian and half high fae, it means I can call the wings when I want to" 
"in my world, fae have animal forms that we can shift to" Rhysand looked rather interested at that "what's your animal form?"
"Most fae only have one but for some reason I have two. We think its because of the combination of my mother and fathers powers. I can shift to a hawk or a wolf" 

"In our world, some fae have shape shifting powers that means they can change or alter their form" Feyre explained 
"we have them too. My aunt Lysandra is a shape shifter"
"do you have powers in your world?" Rhysand asked.
"yes, mine are fire, like my mother, as well as ice and wind like my father"
"do they still work in this world?" He asked curiously. I hadn't thought about that. I lifted my hand and fire wrapped around it. 

"Evidently yes" Feyre said and I extinguished the flame "we are about to have dinner, you can join us if you wish and meet some of the inner circle?" I nodded and she turned to Rhys "we'll be out in a minute, she can stay at the river house with us for now" Rhysand glanced to me and kissed his mate before disappearing into thin air. "Just like Fenrys" I muttered

"Who's Fenrys?" Asked Feyre, leading me over to a chest of drawers "he's a member of our court and blood sworn to my mother" "blood sworn?" Asked Feyre, digging around the drawers "yeah, we have a thing called the blood oath and it's like a magically binding deal. The person sworn cannot break the oath or it will cause them great pain and they will die. Some of our court including Fenrys were blood sworn to the fae queen who was in fact Valg. Fenrys managed to break the oath to protect my mother but he almost died so my mother gave him the blood oath to keep him alive"

Feyre passed me a bundle of clothes and pointed out the bathroom for me to change in. When I was done she led me to a balcony where I met Rhysand. He held out a hand each to me and Feyre and the next moment we were stood before a large house next to a river.