On Thin Ice: Azriel x OC

Chapter 1

Nova Alastair was born High Fae to a cousin of Kallias, High Lord of the Winter Court, about 200 years before Amarantha's reign. She had an older brother named Alex. Before Amarantha, she lived peacefully with her parents and older brother in the Winter Court and worked as a spy under Kallias. Her father and brother both had short tempers, and she quickly learned to keep her mouth shut around them. Her brother always made fun of her for how quiet she was, and always said she was useless.

Kallias often brought Nova's father to High Lord meetings. Rhysand, the son of the High Lord of the Night Court, frequently came with his father to those meetings. He was about 300 years older than Nova, but he was the only one she told about the things her brother said. He promised to help her one day, but until he became High Lord, there wasn't much he could do.

Nova survived working in the Winter Court under Amarantha's reign, until 3 years before the end. Her parents were killed by Amarantha, and Alex blamed Nova for their deaths, saying it should have been her instead.

Alex managed to lock her in the dungeon under the palace of the Winter Court, where no one would see or hear her. There were 2 guards stationed outside her cell at all times, rotating shifts every 8 hours. Servants brought down 2 meals a day, and a new bucket was brought down every day. She tried to keep as much strength as she could, but being malnourished and chained to the wall did nothing to keep her muscles.

She even tried to escape a few times, but the guards caught her before she could get far. Alex would come down to check to make sure she was still alive once a month, and after about a year and a half of her being locked up, he told the guards they had free reign to do whatever they wanted to her.

For the next 4 years, she was tortured, raped, and beaten to the point that even her High Fae body couldn't heal her fully. Every time she fell asleep, she prayed that she wouldn't wake up.

For the first 2 years, she put up a fight. She objected and even screamed when they touched her. For the last 2 years, however, she gave up all hope of getting out and just stayed silent through everything.

Whenever anyone asked about her, Alex just said she was on a long mission and wouldn't be back for a while. But she had been so quiet, not many people asked where she had gone.

One night, it must have been a holiday, because Nova's cell was left unguarded for 2 shifts. She was grateful for the timing because she had spent a few days prior trying to regain some of her strength to be able to use her powers.

She had slept for the entirety of the first shift, figuring she would need as much energy as she could get if she was gonna try to escape. When the servant brought down her food, Nova made sure to talk to the servant and find out information on the holiday, figuring out it was to celebrate the end of the war with Hybern. The servant realized why she was asking and subtly left her cell unlocked, which Nova immediately noticed.

Once the servant was gone, Nova channeled as much power as she could and froze her steel chains around her wrists, causing them to break off. She noticed she was half-naked, and all the skin that was exposed was covered by bruises of various shades of purple, blue, and yellow.

She opened her cell door as quietly as possible, even though she was underground and no one would hear it anyway. She walked a few steps towards the stairs, her legs barely strong enough to hold her up. Her arms were stronger, she had to hold steel chains by her wrists, so she grabbed onto the sides of the wall to hold most of her weight as she ascended the stairs.

She got to the top of the dark staircase and emerged into an equally dark hallway. She figured it must have been nighttime, as no sunlight was coming from either end of the hallway. She decided to go left, with hopes she would soon be outside. She snuck up to the door at the end and cracked it open, revealing a long, empty, brighter lit hallway. She turned a corner and ran right into someone. She was praying it wasn't Alex or any of the guards, and to her surprise, she looked up to meet Rhysands eyes.

He looked down and noticed her clothes or lack thereof. He looked up to a worried and terrified look in her eyes.

"Help me." is all she could croak out before he winnowed her away.