Dead Spring

Chapter 9 - Feyre

My mind was foggy, I couldn't remember what was going on so I tried to roll onto my side, but a blinding pain slashed through my middle.

"Stay still, it's ok," a soft female voice said as I flicked my eyes open.

"Aelin, what happened?" I asked, my voice a croak.

She helped me sit up and propped me against a pile of pillows before handing me a drink.

"Tamlin gate crashed our garden party, he hit you and send you flying, he went back to Prythian." She summed up.

"What did he do?" I asked, knowing just a hit wouldn't cause this much pain.

"One of his claws caught your middle, he might as well have gutted you," she said with a wince.

I couldn't come up with a response to that, so I just took another sip of the water Aelin had given me.

A piece of paper appeared in my lap.

'I saw what happened, are you ok, can I go and kill him?'

Rhys had written.

"No, you can't go and kill him, as for if I am ok, I'm not sure." I told the tattoo, the eye narrowed.

As I was talking Lysandra walked in and sat on a chair next to the bed.

"Why are you talking to your hand?" She asked.

"I'm talking to Rhys he inked the eye into my palm so he could spy on me." I told her.

'I did not make the eye to spy on you!'

He wrote and I rolled my eyes.

"Why give me the eye if you weren't going to spy on me?" I asked the eye before looking back up at Lys and Aelin.

"I gave you the eye Feyre darling, because I couldn't just come down to your cell every time, I wanted to make sure you were ok." His voice said before he appeared in front of us out of darkness.

"Do not talk about that place," I hissed at him then winced at the movement.

"This is the High Lord of Night?" Aelin asked, looking Rhys up and down.

"That I am, now why can't I kill Tamlin?" He asked as one of the chairs from the moonstone palace appeared at the foot of the bed and he sat.

"Because the people of the spring court have done nothing wrong and Tamlin has no heir, if he dies then so does the court." I told him.

"I'm surprised he told you so much about his court, I'm impressed." Rhys replied with a smirk.

"He didn't I read about it." I mumbled.

"Then I applaud your initiative, how is the magic going?" He asked.

"Why are you here Rhys?" I asked, a headache already blooming at my temples.

"I'm here because that bastard locked you in his house, I could feel your terror, your pain and there was nothing I could do about it. then you finally sleep through the night and I thank The Mother that you do because I hope it means you might stop wasting away then he shows up again and nearly kills you!" Rhys started off talking with a lethal quiet but by the end he was yelling.

I had no response to that, so I looked down, laying a gentle hand over the ache in my middle.

"Do you think you can get up?" Aelin asked and I nodded.

I pushed myself forwards, gritting my teeth. Aelin took my arm and I stood. I was glad that the night dress I was in wasn't revealing.

"Ok, Rhys you are getting kicked out," Aelin said over her shoulder.

"I guess I'll be in the hall then," he said as he stood.

Aelin gave me a loose-fitting simple dress that I needed her help changing into but once it was on, I felt better.

"Come on, let's go and eat something." Lysandra said with a grin and with a little help from Aelin we walked into the hall.

Rhys smiled when he saw us and offered me his arm. I hesitated for a second before taking it. Aelin led us to a small dining room, everyone else was already there.

"Who is the new dude Aelin?" Rowan asked.

"This is Rhys, High Lord of Night," I said as we stopped.

"So, this is the dude that gave you the darkness." Lorcan said, looking Rhys up and down.

"That I did, Lord Lorcan Lochan," he said as he tilted his head to the side, hair shifting.

"How do you know that?" Aelin asked, she hadn't told me.

"I'm a daementi, I know all of your names, Lorcan's is by far the best" He said simply.

"Is that what the mind talking thing is called?" I asked.

'Yes, Feyre darling.'

I couldn't stop my shiver.

"Don't do that," I hissed at him.

"Your shield is down," he said as we sat where Aelin had gestured.

I scowled as I snapped it back up. He chuckled.

"So how exactly did you get here?" Rowan asked Rhys.

"Amren told me to follow the tether I have with Feyre, so I did." He replied as we began eating.

"Who is Amren?" I questioned.

"She's my second, she would really like to meet you." He told me, I rolled my eyes.

"Ok, but how would Tamlin get here?" Rowan carried on.

"Tamlin went a little crazy when Feyre suddenly vanished. He came to my court and demanded that I give her back because I'm apparently the one who would have taken her, I told him that she was in another world and he went back to his court. In his madness he used a little of the rite's magic to find Feyre." He said, my blood went cold.

"He used the rites magic?" I asked with a small squeak.

"He wasn't fully under its influence, but he used enough to find you." Rhys told me, gaze darkening.

"What is the rite?" Aelin cut in.