A Court of Sun and Stars

A Court of Sun and Stars: Part 4

"It took us one snap of our fingers to break that pathetic lock you had on your powers. You were a damned fool to think that would keep us out," the King said to me. I looked up at him confused, wondering what lock he was talking about.

"What lock?" I dared to ask. Surprise and amusement flashed in his eyes, and his lips curved up into a feral smile.

"You did not know then, it must have been your mother who placed it on you," he muttered more to himself than an answer to me.

"Why did I need a lock? I don't even have powers," I cried out, still confused about what he was talking about.

"Your mother placed a lock of sorts on your powers, it was a spell that kept them deep inside of you where you would not ever think to look. You are a very, very powerful girl which is why you are here now, and your mother clearly knew about your power and did not want you accessing it. Her intentions were probably for protection or control, but she was a fool to think we would not know about you from the day you were born."

"What do you mean was... Mother isn't d-"

"Of course she is dead. We killed her the minute we spotted her at Calanmai. She would have gotten in the way of your capture of course," the King spat at me wickedly. Those words resonated through me. Mother is dead. Mother is dead. Mother is dead.

I felt numb, the aching hole in my chest hurt worse than anything the King has done to me so far. I would never see Mother again, not that I expected to leave this place alive, but at least knowing she was ok gave me hope, gave me something to fight for. But now she is gone, and I have nothing left to fight for.

Cool steel dragged lightly along the plane of my abdomen, curving down from just below the peak of my breast to the bone of my hip. He was taunting me, letting me know he has the power here, that I have no control. My body trembled in fear, knowing all too well what was about to come. The King of Hybern smirked, cruel and wicked, before pressing the blade into my flesh. I writhed against the ancient blue stone chains that shackled down my arms and legs, but I refused to scream, refused to give him that satisfaction. He slowly dragged the dagger across my ribs, before curving to right above my belly button. The King then pulled out something he has used many times before, knowing it will break me. He grabbed the tiny sliver of ash wood, and dragged it along the cut on my abdomen. I screamed out in pain, my immortal body quaking at the touch of the damned wood. He did it over and over again, a very effective way to wreck me. I wasn't going to make it, I could not keep going through this endless torture day after day. The agony was never-ending, and with my immortal existence I was looking at an eternity of this. Panic started to bubble in my chest at the thought of it- thousands and thousands of years of this. I started slipping away, trying to go anywhere but the freezing stone table in the dungeon of Hybern's castle.

And then suddenly I was gone.

I was standing on a balcony, overlooking the most beautiful city I have ever seen. An entire city lay before my eyes, a calm sea lay beyond. The city was like a smear of a rainbow, colors bursting from every building and structure, enclosed by giant, but gentle looking mountains. I looked down from the balcony on the mountain, a warm breeze wrapping around my body, the sweet smell of sea salt and citrus filled my nose. I was perfectly content to just stand here forever, overlooking this ethereal place under a sky of stars. I tore my attention away from the view below and looked up at the endless night sky. I have never seen a sky this vivid, this bright. Stars painted the sky, weaving around the pale light of the crescent moon. The stars seemed so close I could reach out and touch them, all glittering with different colors. The sky behind the stars was more than the usual night sky, it was comforting and splattered with purple and blue hues wrapped into the depth of the black. I stood there in awe at it. I felt completely and utterly at home, like some part of me belonged here. I have never seen this place before, yet I was so at peace here, so comfortable. The snow-capped mountains, the city underneath the starlight, it couldn't be real.

Suddenly I was laying on the freezing stone of my cell. What happened? Last I remembered I was on the stone table... But then that vision of that beautiful city. Where did that come from? And how long was I there? The questions slowly slipped out of my mind as I fell into a deep sleep wrapped with starlight and a warm night breeze. As I drifted off I swore I could smell sea salt and citrus.

Rhys

I was seated in my throne next to Amarantha, watching as she let the Attor rip apart a young looking faerie from the Day court. I quietly slipped into the mind of the poor boy, taking away his pain, while keeping him screaming for show. I was watching the boy's mutilated body finally go limp as my mind suddenly drifted off...

A girl lay on a stone table, chained down with wicked looking blue stone chains that I have never seen before. She was thin, so thin I could count every rib on her naked body. And pale, she was so pale, like she had not seen the sun in decades. Her eyes were sunken in and dull, filled with a look of endless horror and pain. I have never seen her before, but something about her felt familiar, like I was drawn to her. I watched as the King of Hybern traced her ribs with a blade, as she screamed in pain, body thrashing against the chains. Her scent hit me as she screamed in pain again, sobbing as the King shoved ash wood into her wounds. She smelled of honey and lavender, and something about her scent broke something open in my chest, the familiarity of it was devastating. I needed to help her, to save her, to know her. I have never seen torture this gruelling, not even what Az or Cassian or I have done was this brutal. I did not know how long this poor girl had been enduring this, but something about her told me she was a fighter, that she was strong, but that did little to help the waves of nausea that hit me as I watched as she was cut up over and over again.

I was thrown back into the throne room, slightly disoriented and confused. I knew there was not another Daemati Under the Mountain, so then what the hell was that? And who was that girl? I made sure my face was a mask of boredom as I threw another amused glanced at what the Attor was finishing up. But the only thing I could think about was the smell of honey and lavender.