A Court of Night and Shadows

Chapter 23

"So what do you have planned?" Mor cut in.

Rhys picked an invisible piece of dirt off his fighting leathers. When he lifted his head, his eyes were piercing, glacial. "The King of Hybern sacked one of out temples to get a missing piece of the Cauldron. As far as I'm concerned, it's an act of war - an indication that His Majesty has no interest in wooing me."

"He likely remembers our allegiance to the humans in the War, anyway," Cassian said. "He wouldn't jeopardize revealing his plans while trying to sway you, and I bet some of Amarantha's cronies reported to him about Under the Mountain. About how it all ended, I mean."

We all ignored Rhys's near imperceptible wince at her name.

Yes, Hybern most likely knew of Amarantha's death. He would know that Rhys had tried to kill her. That we all were there, we all had fought against her when no one else would. And now we called her true murderer one of our own.

An alliance was more than impossible.

Rhys said, "Indeed. But this means Hybern's forces have already successfully infiltrated our lands - without detection." I steeled my grip at that and knew Cassian was holding in the rage I felt as well. "I plan to return the favor."

I could have grinned for days.

I didn't, of course, but Cassian and Mor both savored the feral delight of revenge against one of our greatest enemies. "How?" Mor asked.

Rhys crossed his arms. "It will require careful planning. But if the Cauldron is in Hybern, then to Hybern we must go. Either to take it back, or to nullify it."

I braced myself, mentally preparing my strategy for staking it out long before the others would ever set flight near that land. "Hybern likely has as many wards and shields around it as we have here," I told them. "We'd need to find a way to get through them undetected."

Rhys gave a slight nod. "Which is why we start now. While we hunt for the Book. SO when we get both halves, we can move swiftly - before word can spread that we even possess it."

Cassian nodded, but asked, "How are you going to retrieve the Book, then?"

Rhys gave away no sense of hesitancy for his mate's sake when he said, "These objects are spelled to their individual keepers, and while they can only be found by them the Bone Carver hinted at the idea that the..." finally, he fumbled, "the stone was an object like the Book. Like calls to like, he said. The stone should be able to find its brothers."

Everyone looked at Feyre, but I kept my eyes on Rhys. The idea of Feyre's life being entirely in the hands of something comparable to such evil as the Book of Breathings was not something I found easy for Rhys to have shared, or have heard from the carver. I wondered what other information they found out about that stone from him under that Prison.

"Perhaps..." she said in response, but Rhys gave her a sideways smile and she rolled her eyes. We took that as an agreement.

"Is there no way for us to test it?" I asked, taking another small step into the room from my vigil by the window.

"Do you know of any other object like the Book? Like the Cauldron itself we could search for while we wait for the Summer Court's reply?" Rhys countered.

Indeed, I did not.

"We'll have to make due," Rhys continued. "But I'll check with Amren when I see her in case she knows of anything."

We twiddled our thumbs in response, all frustrated at the lack of ideas. I was starting to feel like our meeting was over and the others would start making to leave when Rhys spoke up once more, "I had another matter I wanted to discuss briefly."

We stared at him, Mor looked bored with his open ended statement.

"I would like to appoint Feyre as our Emissary to the Night Court for the human realm."

Immediately I interjected, "There hasn't been one in five hundred years."

"There also hasn't been anyone like Feyre since then, either." Rhys turned his gaze to his mate, who was already looking at him like he'd lost his mind. "The human world must be as prepared as we are - especially if the King of Hybern plans to shatter the wall and unleash his forces upon them. We need the other half of the Book from those mortal queens - and if we can't use magic to influence them, then they're going to have to bring it to us."

More silence. On the street beyond the bay of windows wisps of snow brushed past, dusting the cobblestones.

He was trying to help Feyre - to help her family.

I hadn't wanted to bring this up in front of the others. I'd hoped to confront Rhys privately, but this conversation was getting out of my hands and Mor knew it. She made brutal eye contact with me, pleading for me to say something.

"Rhys," was all I said. His head snapped to mine, the eyes of Cassian and Feyre following. I felt the heat of Feyre's stare more than the others. She shifted in her seat, angling herself away from the fire now to look at me entirely. Rhysand slipped his hands in his pockets, waiting. "We received a letter from another court while you were gone."

Rhys was immediately responding, "The Summer Court couldn't have accepted my offer so soon."

"You're right," I said, moving my weight from one leg to the other. "It wasn't from the Summer Court." Each word fell from my tongue like lead as I felt the weight of Feyre's eyes on me.

"C'mon, man, who was it?" Cassian blurted out as he began to fidget with nervous energy.

"The Spring Court."

Everyone was still as death. No one even dared take a breath.

"Lucien has become High Lord of the Spring Court," I said, a fact Rhys and I hadn't discussed. The Spring Court had always been a hard spot for us all, Rhys more than anyone, but it had been an entirely avoided topic since his return from Under the Mountain. I wasn't sure I could utter the name of the male who'd done what he'd done to my High Lord's mate myself. "He's sent word that Feyre's sisters ventured over the wall to find her, only for Lucien to find them first. They're currently staying with him there, where he says he's sheltering them for now. The letter is an invitation for you and Feyre to visit, so she can see her sisters."

"A peace offering?" Mor asked.

Cassian sat up straight. "Or a trap?"

Rhys was frozen in place, his eyes trained on Feyre who looked somewhere between this world and the next. I could feel the stone's power palpating in her skin and I wondered if the others could feel it too, or if, once again, this was a gift solely mine to bear. "I can scout out the grounds, even accompany you should you choose to go. Even if I don't, I suggest at least one other go with you..." I trailed off, expecting one of them to have said something by now.

But they didn't say a word, not for a long while. We all sat in their silence, letting them process and I idly wondered if they were having a telepathic conversation about it, leading me to wonder if they needed Rhys's powers for that or if the mating bond provided the means on its own.

Finally Feyre said, "How soon can we leave?"

Rhys took a dragging breath and drawled out, "Tomorrow."