𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚎(𝙰𝙲𝙾𝚃𝙰𝚁)

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖞

Elain walked to Feyre and Nesta, who pulled back long enough to survey Elain's clean face, her clear eyes.

"We need to get you to Thesan," Rhys said to Azriel. "Right now."

Elain threw her arms around Feyre, who began to cry.

I stayed with them as they all were patched up, and as Feyre explained what happened. Helion got the chains off of Elain, and Azriel got fixed up by Helion. Eve never left his side.

It turned out that the human was named Briar. She'd been captured and tortured by Hybern's army, and Feyre had rescued her.

Once it was all done, Feyre laid down on the bearskin rug. Elain laid down beside her, curling into her side. A moment later, Nesta settled beside her left.

It reminded me of when my brothers and Eve were children, and they'd all crawl into my bed during a thunderstorm, or after a nightmare.

"Let's leave them," Rhys mumbled to us. "We should check on Azriel and Eve."

✧: *✧:*:✧*:✧

The next morning, I went to Azriel and Eve's tent. Eve stepped out before I could go in, a solemn expression on her features.

"Is he doing okay?" I asked her. She sighed, crossing her arms.

"He's alive. His back is fine. But Thesan hasn't healed many Illyrian wings, so the healing is slow. Rhys sent for Madja. She'll be here either later today or tomorrow to work on him."

"Will he fly again?" I asked, my own broken wings twitching at the words.

"Considering Cassian's wings were in worse shape, I'd say yes. But perhaps not in battle. Not anytime soon."

"He wont be happy about that," I mumbled, pinching the bridge of my nose.

He'd always been so protective of his wings. Our wings were so neglected in our childhood, and we hadn't learned to fly until much later than normal.

He never let anyone touch them except for Eve, and he was very careful to keep them from being injured.

Even when he was a baby, he would fuss if I even brushed his wings on accident. We had a sink in our cell that I could bathe him when he was small. He used to scream his head off when I washed his little wings.

"None of us are," Eve admitted, her voice breaking.

I noticed her lower lip trembling. I wrapped my arms around her, bringing her close to my chest. She broke down, sobbing as she clung to me.

"It'll be okay, Eve," I whispered, stroking her dark hair. "He's been through worse and come out alive. He'll get through this."

✧: *✧:*:✧*:✧

"My scouts say Hybern is on the move as of this afternoon," Helion announced as we all gathered in a tent over a map.

"My spies say the same," Azriel said, his voice hoarse.

He was perched on a stool, his wings and back heavily bandaged and face still grayish with blood loss.

Evelina was standing behind him, her arm on his shoulder to keep him steady. Her eyes were red and bloodshot from crying.

"He shifted directions, though. He'd planned to move that army north--drive us back that way. Now he marches due east," Helion went on.

"So he's now heading straight across the island--to what end? He would have been better off sailing around. And I doubt he's changed his mind about meeting us in battle. Even with Tamlin now revealed as an enemy," Rhys said.