𝐄𝐋𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐍 ━━━ ✧ ⋆ （ acotar ）

✧ ˚ 𝐱𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝐚𝐮𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬

✧ ˚ 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑, and Feyre immediately pulled Asteria into her arms as soon as they were behind closed doors.

"Are you okay?" Feyre asked, brushing a single hand through her pale hair.

She pulled away from the embrace, her eyebrows laced together firmly. "Me? You're the one he forced his will on."

Feyre shuddered at the reminder, a haunted look flashing across her expression. Seeing how affected she was by it, Asteria was adamant that she never wanted to know what it felt like to be taken control of like that, now more than ever. "I know... but he touched you likeㅡlike you were his doll."

Not that she'd minded it...

Asteria bit her lip, debating whether or not she should tell her about Calanmai, and how he'd saved her. Feyre seemed to be quite suspicious as to why she didn't seem as affected by what had occured as she had been with that Summer Court faerie, or even the Bogge. But that would only raise more questions that she didn't have the answer to.

The Rhysand she met that night was very different from the male that had sauntered into the manor unannouncedㅡand truthfully, even Asteria couldn't quite grasp why she wasn't reacting to him the way she knew she should be, didn't understand why she was so drawn to him like he was his own gravitational force. She should be terrified, but all she could feel was hurt, betrayal, and that subtle ache in her chest.

She opened her mouth to come clean, but a resounding knock came to their wooden door. Feyre sent her one final glance to make sure she wasn't going to shatter at the slightest sudden sound, before walking over to the door and opening it to reveal Tamlin. Asteria's eyes flickered between the two, noting the forlorn expression with a hint of longing on the High Lord's face and the way Feyre's throat seemed to close up the longer she stared at him.

"I'll let you two talk," she said quietly, but paused by her sister's side with a soft questioning look. Feyre gave her a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, but the gesture was answer enough for her as she slipped past Tamlin and into the hall.

Asteria's head was dipped to the floor as she wandered aimlessly, arms wrapped around her stomach in a self-comforting manner for the strange emotional turmoil she couldn't hope to dissect. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see Lucien until he was bracing his hands on her shoulders, preventing her forehead from colliding into his sternum.

"You're going to severely injure yourself if you keep walking around like that, little human." The quip was said without its usual humour, his voice and face drained of any warmth even as he grinned at her.

Her throat felt like it was being squeezed shut by an outside force as she looked up at him with watery eyes. "We're leaving, aren't we? You're sending us away?" Lucien's forced smile fell, and he nodded solemnly. Months ago, she would have been ecstatic, but now? "I... I don't want to go."