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"I can't tel if I like him or want to punch him in the throat. Likely both."
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I FOUND Amren the same way I had last time: hunched over the Book, papers strewn around her. I set the blood I'd brought with me on the counter, studying the female as she worked.
She said without looking up, "Ah. the reason why Rhys bit my head off this morning."
"Me?" I asked, arching a brow, "He's the one who put himself in the dog house."
Amren chuckled darkly, flipping a page. "That is to be expected." she said, "Males are such disgusting creatures."
"Couldn't agree more." I replied, shifting myself so that my arms were crossed as I leaned against the cool countertop. "Where's he scurried off to?" I questioned nonchalantly as I referred to the High Lord.
"To hunt whoever attacked you yesterday."
I snorted, "He won't find anything. Those people are trained to stay hidden from the most skilled Fae." A foolish mission. One I could have told him off about if he stopped sulking and quit ignoring me.
Little prick he was, running from what he'd done.
It hadn't been less than a day and a half and I had not seen the male at all. That was fine. Let him flee, all the more groveling for me when he realizes he can't avoid what he said anymore.
Amren ran a hand along the text she read. She must be truly absorbed to not bother with the blood I had brought her. "Regardless, it seems like our enemies have a track on your's and Rhys's magic. Which means they're able to find him if he winnows anywhere or if he uses his powers."
Confusion rolled through me. The Flame had never had that ability before? We'd used classic tracking: magic imprints, tracks, scents depending on the hunter. But magic detection? That had never been in our—their arsenal.
At last Amren looked up, surveying my confusion before she finally added, "You lot are leaving Velaris in two days. Rhys wants you at one of the Illyrian war-camps—where you'll fly down to the human lands once the queens send word."
What, were we in kindergarten? He was telling Amren to give me messages now? Immature as hell.
"Why not today?" I voiced.
Amren said, "Because Starfall is tomorrow night—the first we've had together in fifty-years. Rhys is expected to be here, amongst his people."
"And what's Starfall?" I asked with a sheepish smile as Amren rolled her eyes slightly.
And yet despite the action, her eyes twinkled a little, "Outside of these borders, the rest of this world celebrates tomorrow as Nynsar—the Day of Seeds and Flowers." my brows raised high. I hadn't realized how much time had passed since I'd arrived here. "But Starfall," Amren continued, "only at the Night Court can you witness it—only within this territory is Starfall celebrated in lieu of the Nynsar revelry. The rest, and the why of it, you'll find out. It's better as a surprise."
Hm, well that explained the preparations going on throughout the streets as I'd walked here. The soft chatter of the city had been replaced with cheers and shouts as people readied for something—Starfall apparently. High Fae and faeries alike hustling home with vibrant wildflower bouquets in their arms, streamers and food.
"And when will we be able to come back once we leave?" I questioned, I was smart enough to know that we had been coming and going so much that eventually...it would get too risky to come back for quite some time.
Her eyes returned to the Book, "Not for a while."
Something in my chest began sinking, collapsing. To an immortal, a while must be...a very, very long time.
I took that as an invitation to leave, and headed toward the door in the back of the loft. But Amren's voice gave me pause. "When Rhys came back, after Amarantha, he was a ghost. He pretended he wasn't, but he was. You made him come alive again."
I didn't want to think about it. Not when whatever good I'd done—good we'd done for each other—was covered by the ringing of his words in my ears.
I didn't know what I wanted from him at the moment—be it an apology or to just simply ignore what he had said and move on. But I knew the statement lingered, carving itself there liek all the other words that had been spoken to me over my life.
Who would want to bother with that sort of mess?
So instead I said, "He is lucky to have all of you." To have all of this. Velaris. These people. It was something magical.
"No," She said softly—more gentle than I'd ever heard her. "We are lucky to have him, Dani." I turned from the door. "I have known many High Lords," Amren continued, "Cruel ones, cunning ones, weak ones, powerful ones. But never one that dreamed. Not as he does."
"Dreams of what?" I asked quietly, my voice slightly breathy.
"Of peace. Of freedom. Of a world united, a world thriving. Of something better—for all of us."
My lips tilted a bit, "And he thinks he'll be remembered as the villain in the story." With hopes like that? I didn't think so.
The ancient one snorted.
"But I forgot tell him," I spoke opening the door with the beginning of a grin, "that the villain is usually the person who locks up the maiden and throws away the key."
"Oh?"
"He was the one who let me out." I shrugged, "If only he wasn't such an insufferable, arrogant, prick." I sighed.
Amren's laugh followed me out the door.
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Come face me, you prick. I wrote on a parchment after getting home from Amren's apartment.
The letter vanished.
No response.
I didn't deign trying again. If he was going to be all moody then why should that bother me? I wasn't the one in the wrong here.
I knew where he was, anyway.
Cassian and Azriel joined me the next morning and admitted that Rhys was up sulking at the house of wind. To which I'd told them to deliver a message from me: If you're gonna be all broody and not apologize like you should than I am going to quite literally lock you out of the townhouse and put lint on your clothes again.
Cassian and Azriel had volunteered to help. Right before we promptly burst open a bottle of wine and went to town at nine a.m.
A/N: People are scared of my most recent tiktok but that is the least you should be scared of for this story tbh.
Short chapter before we get into the juicy bits theehehehehhehe