ACOTAR One~shots [Discontinued, Will be deleted]

Battle Scars

My sword crossed with another as I lunged forward, trying to make my way back across the field to where Rhys was fighting. I gritted my teeth in irritation as I was faced with another opponent standing between my mate and I.

I raised my eyes from the crossed blades to see a familiar pair of green eyes. I sucked in a breath and both of our swords fell out of instinct at seeing the other. Mine went back up before Tamlin’s had even relaxed fully. He blinked in surprise to see me holding my weapon against him. I narrowed my eyes.

I had been hoping to catch him off guard, to confront him in front of his court, when people would notice. Not when we were buried so deep in the fighting that nobody even recognized that I had been cutting down Tamlin and Hybern’s men and not Rhys’ or Tarquin’s.

“Feyre,” Tamlin said, frowning. “What–”

I moved before he could finish, feeling a tug on the bond. Rhys was waiting for me. He knew that I had been on my way to him, that something was holding me up. I flashed a memory at him of just a second ago so that he could see just what I was facing as I swung my sword for Tamlin’s neck once, my blade glancing off of his as he defended himself in shock.

Concern drifted to me so clearly that I almost sighed, feeling as though he was standing right beside me. I had been in Tamlin’s court for months, sleeping in his bed and kissing his lips to make him believe that, when a fight eventually came, I would fight with him. Instead, I was slaughtering his men without hesitation, and I had been feeding him lies about the Night Court for the months I was there, returning intel about the Spring Court’s plans and weaknesses to my mate through a messenger sent back and forth between courts by Azriel.

And dammit, I missed my mate. But now that he was within my reach, Tamlin was once again keeping me from him.

Not this time. 

“Get out of my way,” I snarled. “I’m giving you the choice now. Either get out of my way or I’ll make you regret it. Choose wisely. The only reason I’m giving you a chance at all is because I cared for you once. But that time had passed, and don’t mistake my mercy for foolishness. I will kill you if you don’t get out of my way so I can go to my mate.”

His eyes widened with every sentence, and I was getting a kick out of it internally. On the outside though, I kept my face dark and still as I glared into his eyes.

His face was pained in a way that almost hurt me. A lingering emotion from the part of me that used to love him, too weak to affect me, was hurt by his pain. But every other part of me was on fire with the rage that his presence inspired in me.

“Your mate–Hybern broke the bond. He’s not your mate. You don’t have to go to him.”

I snarled at the words, the lie he was spewing. Rhys is my mate. He’s always been my mate. He always would be. No damn king could change that. I looked over Tamlin’s shoulder and I saw Rhys tossing wary glances at me as he fought a few of Hybern’s men, all equipped with those wicked blue stones, weakening the magic used against them.

“No,” I finally said to Tamlin, smiling. “No, I don’t have to go to him. He’s always given me that choice, the one you never gave me. I don’t have to go to him. But I’m going to. Because I want to, and because I love him.”

And I dove at him, slashing my sword across his unprotected side, slicing into skin that his armor left bare. He growled out, leaping back just in time to avoid serious damage. I just smirked at him as I danced around him on the balls of my feet, remembering the advice Cassian had given me when I ran into him before even taking three steps into the fray.

Keep moving. You’re smaller than most of your opponents. You can move faster. Just keep moving, and move fast. Don’t give them time to catch up. And don’t get too focused on one opponent, keep an eye on everything around you. They’re not going to make this fair for you and come one at a time. Be careful, Rhys will kill me if you get hurt after I left you alone.