A Court of Sunflowers and Stardust

•chapter 40•

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"Dad!" I shouted as I opened the door, nearly in tears of relief yet anxiety. He would know my mother was here, he'd be able to scent her, how would this effect him?

"Acacia-" it wasn't my father who replied to me, it was Rhysand, who walked out from the kitchen with a near frown.

"Where's my dad?" I whispered, unclenching and clenching my fists, hoping the High Lord of Spring wouldn't react too badly to my mother.

"He's with your mother, they're talking." He responded, but something about his gaze set me on edge.

"He didn't respond well, did he?"

"He nearly smashed the house to pieces!" Amren grumbled from inside the kitchen, and I flinched. Why wasn't I here with him when he got to see her again? Why didn't anybody come and get me sooner?

"We've been trying to find you for hours, but something has been masking your scent, so it took a while. Tamlin came to the House of Wind two hours ago, wanting to speak to you, but instead he saw your mother, and he nearly blew apart the house. We brought him into Velaris on the condition he wouldn't break anything." Rhys explained calmly, as if trying to ease a scared deer. Why was he acting this way to me? "Has something happened?"

"You mean apart from my mom coming back from the dead?" I replied, my chest heating with a sudden, unbearable anger. "And now my dad has to face her alone?"

Rhys shared a split second look with Cassian, who took off into the kitchen.

"You mean apart from the fact we are practically hunting down my brother? Or the fact that my own mate probably hates me-"

"What's going on?" Kaleb's voice rang through my mind like a calling as he walked into the foyer, blue eyes watchful and curious.

I didn't realise when I'd began shaking, or when tears were coming from my eyes, or when the house had begun to tremble.

"I suggest you sheathe your sword, spymaster, before it ends badly for you." The voice that came from me was darker, scarier, and I didn't need to turn to watch as Azriel appeared from the shadows, his sword half unsheathed.

"You're threatening a centuries old warrior, girl, so I would reconsider your words." Amren walked out.

My anger was growing and growing, making me spiral into a pit of loathing, hatred and spitefulness. I couldn't stop myself, couldn't stop as I remembered Amren was willing to likely kill me just to get Alakai to back down.

I couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't focus on anything, as everything seemed to drown out of existence and the only thing remaining was this overwhelming power and rage. I couldn't form a reason to this fury, couldn't form a reason to anything as my mind seemed to be plagued by my negative emotions.

I lunged, for who, I didn't know, but Rhysand was in the firing line and I was heading straight towards him with my canines out. Tree roots shot through the windows, spiking and arching around the foyer, trapping everybody inside.

I was tackled before I could even touch the High Lord, and Feyre was suddenly on top of me, shaking me by my shoulders with wide eyes. "What's wrong with you? Wake up! Something isn't right! Get ahold of yourself!"

Kill. Kill. Kill.

I reached up, quicker than I'd ever moved before, and grasped the High Lady by her throat, managing to throw her far and hard enough, she nearly collided with the opposite wall of it wasn't for Rhysand reaching out and practically catching her.

I saw red, I saw nothing, I saw death.

I couldn't move before Cassian and Azriel were pinning me to the ground, growling. I shook, I tried to throw them off of me, but I barley had any coherent thoughts and plans.

"Acacia!" Kaleb was shouting, over and over again, but my body wasn't responding to him the way it used to.

Teeth snapping, I tried to rip a chunk out of Cassian's shoulder, missing by barely an inch. Everybody was wide-eyed, shocked, quiet.

"Is her mind being controlled?" Amren questioned Rhys as he walked towards me with Kaleb at his side.

"No, this is something different. Something darker."

"You need to knock her out, at least then we can control her." Feyre spoke, holding onto her arm.

Kaleb growled, "that's not fair."

"Look at her! She's attacking everything and anything! This clearly isn't the girl we know so-"

"Acacia! Open up!" Dad.

Something inside of me relaxed for a brief second, as my head tilted to the side, watching as Feyre opened the door and allowed a Male and a female to enter.

"By the Cauldron- what is going on?" Mom.

"This is Alakai's doing. He's released it." Tamlin was growling, taking swift steps towards me.

Familiarity shown in my mother's face and she quickly looked at everyone in the room, who was staring at them. "Why would be do that?"

"Because he wants her on his side. He knows he can win that way."

"Released what?" Kaleb demanded, Rhysand putting a hand on his son's shoulder as if to steady him.

My father put a hand to my cheek, looking into my hateful eyes. "Her power. The power we kept locked inside of her, kept hidden from the world. Years of it manifesting and waiting for release has led to this. Alakai was told not to ever let it out, under any circumstance."

"Why?" Feyre whispered, staring at me, but my entire thoughts and mind were blank, and so were my eyes.

"Look around you." My mothered spoke, pointing at the trees that had entered the house, spiking angrily.

"Acacia was kept hidden all these years, was kept under control all these years because of this power we have managed to tame. She is losing control, of her emotions, her power, her mind." Tamlin commented, putting a comforting hand on my hair as I was starting to fade out of consciousness. "If this power gets released at full velocity..."

My mother replied,

"She will have the ability to blink this entire planet out of existence."