eclipsed nova (UTM Feysand)

28: Rhysand's POV

"There you are, you little traitorous bastard," Amarantha purred. "So glad you could join us. And just in time for the finale, too!" Two more steps and my hands were wrapped around her throat, squeezing so harshly that her face began to turn purple from the restricted blood and air flow. She gripped my wrists, sinking her claws into my flesh. I gritted my teeth, squeezing even harder.

I was flung across the room, my head smacking back against the limestone of the cave walls. Amarantha touched her throat, glowering at me. She screamed, her hands flicking at me as a large stalagmite broke off and fell directly over my head. I barely rolled out of the way in enough time to dodge it.

"You will pay for this; you twisted sick bitch!" An icy voice exclaimed, and I could barely make out a rush of white as Kallias ran straight for Amarantha. He didn't even get there before he, too, was slammed brutally against the unforgiving wall.

Beron hurtled a ball of pure flame at her, and she dodged it easily, the ball moving much faster than normal since she'd tempered his powers. Just from one attack he was already sweating. The odds were not looking promising. Amarantha still radiated with power.

Feyre took another shaky breath, and my heart stuttered in my chest. Her eyes were swollen shut, her face bruised and covered in lacerations as though she'd been beaten nearly to death before they'd strung her up. Beron threw another blaze through the air, and as Amarantha dodged, she fell right into the path of Kallias' counterattack, a heavy block of ice knocking her head sideways, throwing her off balance.

I closed my eyes and strained every ounce of power I could muster. I hoped Kallias and Beron kept her occupied enough for this to work. I mentally pried at the steel doors around Amarantha's mind, seeking access. It wasn't giving. She roared with anger, still fighting off the other High Lords. I forced myself to focus.

I mentally summoned a hammer, beating at the hinges of the bolted doors of her mind. Just as she was smacked with a fire ball, one of the hinges broke loose. Swearing, I set to work on the other. She refocused her efforts and the bolt I'd just broken sturdily refastened. Growling, I slashed my talons against the metal, only leaving scratches behind.

Amarantha was choking, coughing. I opened my eyes to see Tarquin flooding her throat with water as Helion held her still, his insanely burly arms making her look so fragile. I closed my eyes again, determined to get into her mind.

As she was drowning, I clawed over and over and over against the most vulnerable part of the steel. A claw punctured through, and I groaned with relief. I yanked at the hole I'd made, forcing the gap bigger and bigger with every force of my hand. The metal groaned unhappily, bending to my will. A gap big enough to squeeze through formed, and I jumped through, landing gracelessly on the other side.

Her mind was a dark and desolate place. She must have hidden her memories and thoughts away somewhere deeper. I took a breath and calmed myself. These were my powers. She only had the ability to do this because she'd stolen it from me. I could fix this. I could find them.

I bolted forward, spider webs snagging in my hair and my eyes barely adjusting to the rabid darkness. I came to several rows of bookshelves and dived between a set. I began pulling the books from the shelves recklessly, letting them crash to the floor at my feet. One book cracked open, revealing its colorful pages to me. Inside I could see Amarantha and her sister when they were younglings.

I'd found them. Amarantha filed her life away in books. I greedily grabbed the next book, thumbing through it to find memories of the war. So, they weren't in chronological order. Then how were they organized? How could I find what it was I was looking for?

I searched through several more books, my movements jerky and rushed. I found memories of me, spread out on her bed, and wanted to shred them from the spine, but knew I didn't have that time. I angrily threw it as far as I could into the darker recesses of her mind. Where the hell was the answer I needed?