Unknown Heir (ACOTAR)

TWO

As the morning arrived, the sun shown through the window and hit my eyes. I turned over and slowly opened them. I stared at the wall of the house and yawned. Once my feet hit the floor I grabbed a pair of pants and a loose-fitting top. I changed into them before heading into the kitchen and grabbing the eight vials. I opened a pocket in the world where I kept a couple of things. I added the vials to that list for safekeeping. Especially after the shadowsinger's visit last night. I knew for certain I hadn't seen the last of him.

I grabbed a small measuring cup and poured out the liquid from one of the vials. I put the vial back and just then I felt their presence behind me. I gripped the cup and started lifting it my lips. "Don't drink that," snarled someone from behind me. I smirked. I turned around and stared straight into the violet eyes of the High Lord.

"Am I not allowed to take my medicine?" I asked sweetly before in one motion swallowing the liquid. He snarled at me as the liquid burned my throat a little. I placed the cup again. I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms. "There better be a very good reason you five are in my house," I said to the four in front of me and the shadowsinger hiding in the shadows. He appeared a moment later.

"How?" he asked, staring at me. I averted my eyes and shrugged. I felt the slight tug again and pushed it down, deep down, within me.

"What do you want from me?" I asked with a bored tone. The Illyrian next to the High Lord tensed. I smirked at how I had agitated him with my tone. The High Lord looked at the shadowsinger and nodded. I raised an eyebrow but he only smirked at me. Within seconds the shadowsinger was gone and reappeared at my side, grabbing my upper arm with such force I winced. The High Lord smirked again.

"You're coming with us. We've got some questions for you." And with that, the shadowsinger winnowed me somewhere else.

Azriel disappeared with the woman but Rhys didn't leave just yet. He walked up to the counter and sniffed at the glass. Then he walked to the cauldron and sniffed there. He took the glass and scooped the small amount of remaining liquid into it and sniffed again. "Definitely too strong to be a pain stifler," he said. He winnowed out and Cassian, Mor, and I winnowed as well.

We arrived just outside the townhouse and walked in, following Rhys as he went to Madja, our healer. He gave her the measuring glass and she took it with careful hands. "Is there an antidote?" Rhys asked her. Madja sniffed and raised a brow at him. "Someone's been using it. Can you find something to reverse it?"

"I will do my best but there is no reversal herb that works well against Andaras," Madja said. "You would be more successful waiting 36 hours for it to die down. But be careful, she most likely has a store of the tonic." Rhys nodded and went to find Az.

We winnowed down to the dungeons under the Court of Nightmares. I saw Az standing in front of the bars with his arms crossed and wings tucked tightly behind him. I walked up next to him and saw the woman sitting in the dungeons with metal chains which served as a magic dampener around her hands. She looked up at me smiled. She raised her hands, "are these necessary if I've been taking a tonic to stifle my power anyway?" I looked her over.

"What's your name," Rhys asked sternly before I could answer her question. Her smile faded.

"You can call me Kristal," she said, staring down my mate. Rhys kept staring at her and she did not break the stare. "Your talons do nothing to my mind, so the effort is unnecessary," Kristal said, rolling her eyes. Rhys snarled. Kristal only smirked before locking eyes again. A moment later Rhys stumbled back and stared at her wide-eyed. "So many questions, High Lord," Kristal said with a snake's tongue. I turned to him shocked. I felt at his mind but his walls were intact. Rhys snarled and walked off, I followed in tow.