In Her Shadow (ACOTAR)

Chapter Forty: Wine and Winnowing

"That's it! I got it!" Elinoire came bounding into Isolde's room, waving her letter around madly.

Isolde was still knelt by the fire, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead as she had, moments ago, pushed the letter through the fire, through the wards that surrounded both of their rooms.

Surveying her sister in a mixture of surprise and awe, Isolde held her hand out and studied the letter, turning it over in her hands.

"Not a scorch mark on it,"

"Do you know what this means," Elinoire's eyes were bright. "We could winnow out of the castle,"

"Firstly," Isolde stood and led her sister over to the bed, plopping down and crossing her legs. "You can't winnow yet,"

"And?"

"And all this proves is that we can send notes through the fire, through the wards placed there by lesser High fae than us. This does not prove that we can winnow in and out of a castle specifically warded against winnowing," Isolde sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "The castle wards have been there for thousands of years,"

"What have we learned these past months?" Elinoire mirrored her sister, crossing her own legs and taking her sisters hands.

Isolde sighed and tried to call up all they had read about, all they had experimented with in an effort to bypass this powerful magic, "We picture the ward in our mind and then as we push the letter through, we imagine that ward dissolving,"

"So just do the same thing with winnowing,"

"You say that like it's so simple,"

"Are you not curious about just how far we could push our magic?"

"I'm curious about the beating we'll get if the boys not to mention the king find out what we've been doing,"

Elinoire fixed her twin with an intent stare, a look she reserved for the times when she wanted to pull Isolde into yet another dangerous scheme. Isolde had become wary of those looks and, while their lives at court so far had not been too horrible, she knew it was only a matter of time before Elinoire would be sent on her first mission and Isolde would begin training in private with the king. The time where it would just be the two of them, using their magic together as it always should have been was fast running out.

"Issy, just promise me you'll try,"

~

The house had graciously presented them all with dresses to go out in, Nesta in panels of black silk, Elain choosing a flowy and beautiful pale pink gown, Feyre in a tight gown of dark blue velvet and Mor choosing a top and pants set in furious red, not unlike the clothes Isolde had encountered in the Moonstone Palace.

The gown that the house had made for her was delicate chiffon in the softest shade of pale blue. It had a fitted bodice with a high neckline that gathered below her bust and then descended out into the skirt. It was backless and had a slit so high Isolde had almost asked the house for a darning needle to fix it but Mor slapped her hands away snapping, "Will you stop with the modesty malarky? No one cares how much skin you show here."

So she left it and braided her hair off her face, letting some tendrils loose, hoping she had achieved some kind of windswept elegance and after one last look in the full length mirror had declared herself adequate and prepared to leave.

As they made to exit the room Nesta gasped, her words slightly slurred from the drinks they had been consuming while getting ready, "Oh my gods we have no way of getting out,"