The mansion was grand.
Archways made of polish stone led down the hallway to the banquet hall.
The low tones of the guests voices echoed down, vibrating off the clear pane windows that over looked the forest.
Golds, browns and reds vibrantly contrasted the dark night that covered the landscape. An eternal Autumn.
Feyre rolled her shoulders as they entered the ball room. Stress coiled in her body. Rhysand glanced her way at her obvious discomfort.
No longer pregnant, Feyre glowed with health and beauty. Thanks to Nesta, no trace of death lingered near her. Though wariness filled her expression.
Rhysand squeezed her hand on his arm. Again greatful for the time they now have.
Cassian and Azriel walked closely behind them. Not dressed in finery like their High Lord and Lady but in their armour. Power gleaming off their siphons. Their faces were drawn, cruel and vicious pets to an even crueller and more vicious High Lord.
Azriel in particular looked lethal. His skin was pale from exhaustion and his eyes were focused, scanning the room. People flinched away as they met his angry hazel gaze. He moved through each petite brunette looking for that calculating golden glance.
High Fae around them cast cautious glances at the two, no doubt wary at the legendary Illyrian warriors and the illusive Night Court.
Mor and Amren remained in Velaris. Guarding the new babe, and the city.
Feyre had felt the need to stay back with them but didn't. Despite the ache in her chest at leaving Nyx. Auren was her friend. She would not abandon her.
No matter the stories her and Helion had spun, Auren still gifted her that cream, offered her an ear and had found a place in Feyre's court. Those were not actions of an enemy, of a cruel, deceitful person that Tavian had told them she was.
Helion stood at the Center of the large hall, his large stature standing out against the red and orange colouring of the room.
He gave a brief nod to them before turning to assess the rest of the room. He didn't come to them, instead he kept his distance. No doubt wary.
Feyre was unsure of where they stood now.
The deception ran deeper due to the fact of Feyre's pregnancy. The idea of their trust being broken like that fought against Rhysand's very nature to protect his pregnant mate.
They had fought endlessly about it, Feyre didn't see it for the treason Rhysand had.
Helion had allowed a stranger into their home, Rhys was still on edge about it, from the way his jaw set at the sight of the other High Lord. Feyre knew from the spark of night in her mind that was her mating bond that Rhys had begun to soften on it.
Feyre knew Rhys wouldn't hold that against them for long. Rhys liked Adalin- Auren.
Feyre sighed as she took in the room again, all it's grandeur. Obvious displays of wealth. Furniture around the room looked like it had never been used, seats that had never been sat on.
Despite the large table of food and drinks, and the orchestra perched at the edge of the room, the mood was anything but carefree and festive.
Fae from other courts wandered throughout the room. Enjoying the music but even they were on edge, no one drinking in excess, each watching their own backs.
The Autumn court did have that effect.
Thesan and Kallias were also present. Each sequestered on opposite ends of the room. Kallias had an arm wrapped around his wife, his gaze never pausing.
The wards at the entry way allowed for no weapons but that didn't stop either of them from having their guards around them, pretending to be party goers.
"Do you see her?" Rhys murmured under his breath. Violet eyes studying the face of every dark haired fae female. None were Auren.
"No." Azriel answers first, no hesitation. Voice dark and grave. His hazel eyes darted around the room. His shoulder set and tense, as they had been this last month.
"We need to talk to Helion." Cassian steps closer to Rhys. "He'll have a better idea of what's going on."
Their High Lord doesn't respond. His body rigid, pausing.
"Yes." Feyre said instead, turning on a heel. She leaves Rhys there, letting him decide for himself. Azriel was one step behind her.
Cassian shot a glance at his brother before he follow their lead. With a large sigh, Rhys follows his mate.
Helion is tense as they approach him, from their proximity or the fact that he was standing in Tavian's house, Feyre didn't know.
"Cursebreaker." Helion fails to offer a smile. The gesture comes out like a grimace instead.
"Helion."
The High Lord offers a nod in greeting to both Illyrians but pauses on Rhys.
"Rhysand."
There was no apology in his greeting, no remorse. Only sadness and grief.
Rhysand doesn't respond.
"She's not here." Azriel murmurs again, moving his chin to gesture to the room.
The shadowsinger had been on edge in the month since Auren's disappearance.
He did not eat or sleep, he spent hours combing through her room. He'd snapped at Amren only last week, leaving the petite female gaping.
Even Mor couldn't pull him from his head.
"Tavian enjoys a show." Helion sighs, taking another turn about the room. "He will present her in a way that humiliates her and strengthens his reputation."
Azriels ground his teeth, confusion and anger making his hands flex at his sides, "What does that mean?"
Helion doesn't respond for a moment , he just looks at the shadowsinger, sadness in his golden eyes. He takes in the male before him.
"You'll see."
-
At the same time, Auren is standing in front of a mirror. The lady's maids Tavian appointed her adding the finishing touches to her hair and face.
They added cosmetics to her eyes and cheeks, caking them on to make her look almost like someone else.
The dress Tavian had chosen was.. exactly what Auren expected.
Pink, the colour of tulips, with long sleeves and a high neckline.
She used to ice this colour, thought it made her more approachable, and kind. Now she felt like she was barely out of leasing strings, pretending to be someone else.
Tavian didn't care, he preferred her this way. No skin was allowed but what he approved.
And of course he approved of her back being on full display. A show of his wrath, his strength. A display of Auren's weakness.
Auren hid her shutter of embarrassment and shame as she turned to get a better look.
Her skin was broken and marred, a mixture of burns and lashing scars from a belt, and sometimes an actual whip. Some old and some new.
The dress covered the backs of her shoulders but that was it, it hung low, just touching the curve of her backside.
It showed every punishment, ever gash that proved she was nothing but weak.
Gods, she hated herself for it.
Auren turned back forward. The chain links on her ankles clanked at her sudden movement.
The same chain links that cut off all her power.
The well in herself, usual full of lightening and storm now sat silent. Not the dampened buzz she had grown accustomed to in the last few months.
She was pitiful, and until this very moment she had never felt so ugly.
Even as the females, added sparkling dust to her cheeks, with thin but deep lines of kohl around her golden eyes, Auren heard the words in her ear.
Stupid
Ugly
Worthless
The sickness that had taken her a week after arrival had pulled the lustre from her hair, and made the weight she had gained in the Night Court wither away worse than before.
She closed her eyes, regaining her composure and her eyes began to burn just at the sight of her.
Azriel, Feyre, Helion, Nesta, Rhysand, Cassian.
She listed the names. They hated her now but they were safe. There would be no petty war led by Beron and her husband.
Auren would survive this, it did not matter who saw her scars now, who knew her corrupted soul.
She would kill Tavian, she would pull his heart from his chest with her bare hands for threatening the Night Court. For threatening her friends.
Auren open her eyes.
At last the lady's maids nodded, confirming she was ready to enter the party.
Her hair was woven up, in a cornet braid. It made her neck itch but she nodded in return. Resisting the urge to pull the braids down.
"Tavian is expecting you now, Lady Auren."
The ladies that surrounded her weren't bad people. She saw the fear in their faces even when Tavian wasn't around.
As she turned to them now she wondered which one of them entertained Tavian for all those centuries he thought Auren was dead.
With the way each of them pulled down their sleeves and didn't make eye contact, Auren knew he rotated through all of them.
"Of course." It was work to keep her voice level. To not let the sadness and loss seep in. But she wouldn't.
After a month under Tavian's cruel conditions, Auren had still not spoken a word to him, had not given him the satisfaction of any emotion across her face.
Her face was a constant expression of nothing, no matter how Tavian raged, how many new scars he created. Auren had stay silent, stayed blank.
She wouldn't break now.
With a nod of understanding, one of the older girls lead her out of her door and into the hallway.
The servants soft shoes barely making an noise on the stone floor.
Auren forced her shoulders back, her head high. Tavian meant to shame her, to make her cower.
Auren would not break.
He had moved her from that darkened dungeon a week ago. Keeping her in her old room.
He had not visited her. Had not tried to touch her in that way. A small mercy.
Again she listed the names of those she loved :Azriel, Feyre, Nesta, Helion, Rhysand. She ticked off Cassian, Mor, and even Amren as they drew closer to the large door leading to the ballroom.
They were her friends. They laughed with her, allowed her some peace. They gave her space but pushed her to be better. She would owe them for the rest of her life.
She did not fight for escape, did not fight back for them, for the horror Tavian would release onto their family.
Azriel, Feyre, Rhys, Helion, Cassian, Nesta, Mor, Elain and Amren.
She would not show emotion, she would not break. She would spend a thousand days like this to guarantee their safety, their happiness.
Tavian and Baron await her at the entrance way. The door closed behind them for a grand spectacle.
Tavian watches Auren with a look of vicious malice. Baron looks at her in distaste but says nothing.
Azriel, Feyre, Rhys, Helion, Cassian, Nesta, Mor, Elain and Amren.
Auren does not break.
"You look lovely," Tavian smiles broadly. His eyes darkening as they roam her body.
Baron, casts a long glance over her as well. No interest flares in his hallow gaze, Auren thanks the mother for that.
"Let's go." Baron wastes no time. Auren had begun to wonder what Baron was getting out of this.
Tavian was powerful, but he was not stronger than Eris, let alone Baron. He gained power through his tricks and manipulation. By always having something that someone else wanted.
Tavian turned on a heel, the large doors opening. He was a step behind the High Lord of Autumn. She didn't miss the tick in Tavian's jaw at the blatant show of Beron's status, despite his considerable less power, arrogant Octavian wanted to enter first.
Auren almost laughed.
When the doors finally opened fully, Auren's stomach dropped into her feet.
A hundred eyes turned towards her.
There was so many people, so many voices went dead at the sight of the High Lord and her husband.
Even with the manacles clanking at her feet, cutting off her power. She could feel an essence skitter across her skin. A warning of some kind.
Auren held her breath. Sweat beginning to form on the back of her neck. Something was in the air.
Glasses clinked, and Auren took her first step down the stairs. Focusing on her breathing, on the next step in front of her.
Tavian and Baron walked a few feet in front of her, offering a hand to a rich lord or viscount as they walked.
Pressure buzzed in Auren's, from the crowd? She didn't know, it felt like power, magic building.
She wanted to curl into a ball on the floor.
Tavian preened at the attention, paying attention only to the eyes on him that looked in fear and awe.
Disgust, sneering and some pity crawled up Auren. She was nothing, she was Tavian's wife, his property.
The marks on her back were proof.
Auren ignored them, she focused on her breathing and the growing pit in her stomach.
Something swirled in the air, with every step, it felt like sparks along her skin. Auren flinched away from it.
Without meaning too, Auren casts her gaze across the crowd. No expression marring her face.
She shoved the feeling down, forcing it away.
This can't be happening.
No surprise when her gaze meets Helion's, his face silently enraged. The hand on his shoulder, holding him in place belonged to Cassian.
The warrior that had come to be a good friend, looked... sad. Not the cold set of betrayal that she'd last seen him wearing.
And when Auren finally looked into his eyes, he gives her a soft nod. An apology, a sorrow. But not pity, never pity.
Rhys watched her, stone faced. His expressions unreadable. Auren's heart cracked.
For a split second she tried to lower her shields in her mind. I'm sorry, I'm sorry echo'd in some small attempt to reach them. The manacles held true.
Feyre had a hand to her mouth. She didn't meet Auren's eyes but instead was holy focused on her back.
Her stomach, Auren paused, the baby.
Feyre was no longer pregnant. She pushed the thought back, it didn't matter.
They hated her, they must. She lied to them. Betrayed them. But they were here? Auren didn't know what that meant.
The wild crescendo building with each step was drowned out by the sadness that now filled her bones.
Auren couldn't pull herself to look to who she knew stood next to the High Lord and Lady of the Night Court.
She couldn't, again fear clawed at her throat, pausing her steps for a mere second.
Tavian cast a threatening glance over his shoulder as he settled into place beside Baron. Now greeting guests more throughly.
Auren hurried up, lowering her eyes at last to the floor. Ringing began to scream in her ears, and her breath came fast.
Something was in the air, something strong, if she could feel it brush against her skin despite the chains on her feet.
When she took her place behind Tavian, her head was spinning and she knew.
No, no, no.
Her legs begged her to run, to hide from what her body was telling her, what she could no longer fight, no longer hide.
A drop of sweat dripped down her forehead as she pushed everything into keeping her eyes down, her face blank.
Tavian's booming laughter made her flinch.
Scents mingled all around her, Kallias was here, Tharion too. Vivian was in the crowd watching this.
She wondered if they would come greet Baron, introduce themselves to Tavian offically. Would they look at her in disgust too?
As her thoughts pull her away, Auren's eyes shoot up, finally locking on everything her mind told her to ignore but her heart yearned for.
Azriel watched her, his eyes full of pain and fury, all of the emotions casting in his face had the wind leaving Auren's lungs. He was staring at where her back was, where the new scars were red and angry.
The ringing had crescendoed to its peak, such strong pure magic. The strongest magic known.
Auren felt her body freeze and when Azriels eyes look up from her dress, her back and finally to her face...
Auren watches the realization hit the shadowsinger, let the pain In his eyes cut a hole in her heart.
She doesn't wipe away the tear that slips free as the mating bond snaps into place between them.