The dagger flew directly towards my face, the gem encrusted hilt glittering as the blade spun in perfect orbit. I waited but a second longer before shifting to the left. The dagger buried itself deeply in the tree with a loud thunk, exactly where my head had been just seconds before. I spun and pulled the dagger from the tree, as though withdrawing a knife from the butter dish. With a careful flick of my wrist it was cocked in my hand, ready for the toss.
"Now it's my turn" I yelled as I fixed Lucien with a steady stare.
"No!!! - Feyre I'm serious... don't you.." THUNK he couldn't even finish the sentence before the dagger found its mark, buried deep within the target with impossible precision.
I jumped up and down and clapped my hands with childish delight. Lucien stood wide eyed as a small freshly cut lock of his hair fell onto his shoulder.
"Feyre" he glared at me. His eyes darted between the dagger, not a quarter inch from his face, and back at me in disbelief.
"You could have killed me with my own dagger"
I laughed with derision.
"It's not yours anymore."
"Besides, you only told me not to bury it in your back, you never said anything about your face."
He chuckled darkly.
"What have the High Lords done? created an immortal pain in my arse."
I fixed him with an unimpressed stare.
"Careful Luce, next time I might pierce your ear. That way you can hang a gem in it like the prissy little bitch you are."
This time I didn't wait for the warning as I turned, ready for the blade that came flying back towards me.
As I stared at the dagger time seemed to slow. I was literally counting the rotations of the blade. I knew instinctively that there would be precisely five and a half more rotations before it reached me. A perfect stillness came over me as I decided not to move this time. I heard Lucien scream my name in a panicked warning as the blade turned three more rotations. I waited just a fraction longer before snatching the blade out of the air when it was but half a rotation from my head.
I stood dazed as I came out of my trance, looking down at my hand clenched around the dagger's hilt. Lucien's swore. I sheathed the dagger and walked slowly back towards him. As I approached I noted that the colour had completely drained from his face.
He looked at me with an awe and a little... fear.
"By the Cauldron, did that really just happen?"
I shrugged, not knowing what to say. I was saved from coming up with an answer as a highly disapproving Alis stormed over to us.
"If you two are done trying to kill each other, dinner is ready in the main dining room."
She didn't wait for an answer as she spun on her heels and stormed back to the manor.
We had argued this morning over my desire to learn how to fight. Tamlin had point blank refused to teach me and I had asked Alis to champion my cause. She had point blank refused as well - telling me that she fully supported Tamlin's decision not to teach me. My last resort had been Lucien. He was sitting quietly looking over charts at his desk when I had knocked on his door.
I stood, twisting a dagger in my hands. His dagger. The same one that he had given to me to make amends for leaving me alone with the Suriel. His eyes narrowed on the dagger and he looked up at me suspiciously.
"Have you finally decided to bury that in my back?" he asked mockingly.
"Not exactly. But I do want you to teach me how to use it so that next time I scream I won't need to wait around for you to show up." I cocked an eyebrow at him before continuing. "It didn't really work out in my favour last time."
He laughed softly.
"Nice try. Still No."
"Why the hell not?" I demanded stamping my foot.
"Because, you're more likely to hurt yourself than someone else if you play with knives. And besides, lets be honest, these days you're already throwing daggers at anyone who dares to mention a certain High Lord who enjoys Night time."
I glared at him, winning him a point.
But the match wasn't over yet.
"Why won't anyone take me seriously? I need to learn how to protect myself."
Lucien shook his head.
"She's gone Feyre, you are safe now."
I bristled at his tone. Too angry for words I took three strides forwards and grabbed his head between my palms. I held tight, not letting him pull out of my grasp. As I stared down into his face I conjured up the image of his brothers in Rhysand's court. The images of what had occurred with that tall lean brother who so desperately wanted to make me squirm before handing me over to the Attor.
Lucien let out a cry of terror as he fell backwards in his chair, breaking the contact I had with him.
I stood taking large, ragged, anger-filled breaths.
"That" I spat.
"Is why I need you to teach me how to use this."
I threw the dagger down on the table in front of him.
Three hours later I plucked the flying dagger from the sky.
I couldn't explain how I did it, like I couldn't explain how I projected my dream of Rhys to the whole Spring Court, or how I spoke mind to mind with Rhysand, or how I healed the fae servant on my first night at Rhysand's court. My powers seemed to be manifesting and growing stronger every day and I had no idea how to use them.
If the King of Hybern was going to start a war with Prythian then I needed to be ready.
We sat in silence at dinner. Each of us brooding over our own thoughts. Tamlin dismissed himself immediately after eating, leaving Lucien and I lounging in our chairs with our third goblet of wine.
"You know he will come for you tomorrow."
I raised an eyebrow at him, feigning ignorance.
He snorted with laughter.
"Nice try but I can hear your heart racing from all the way over here."
I scowled and quietly checked my heart rate - absolutely normal.
He laughed again.
"If I'm so wrong then why are you double checking?"
I was silent for a minute. I had deliberately been avoiding thoughts of Rhysand. Mainly because I became so nervous about seeing him again that I felt like throwing up. It was so like him to dump all of his unfiltered thoughts on me and then just expect everything to go his way. I rolled my eyes.
Lucien looked at me inquisitively.
"What happens..." I began and then stopped.
I gathered my courage and tried again.
"Lucien...what happens if someone is married and deeply in love and then they meet their mate?"
A brief look of shock crossed his face before transforming into his usual guarded expression.
"Nothing good." he responded.
"Surely they have a choice in the matter?" I asked with genuine curiosity.
"No Feyre. They don't."
"It always ends in heart break. I have only known two couples that this has happened to. Both swore to their partner that they loved them and would never leave them but as time drew on the call of the magic was too strong. They broke their own hearts leaving their loved ones but they were irresistibly and undeniably drawn to their mate. Denying their mate was physically painful and left them feeling like half of their soul had been ripped from them. The longing for their mate almost drove them mad."
We were both silent.
I swallowed hard.
Thank the Cauldron things between Tamlin and I had fallen apart before I was forced to endure that. If I had married Tamlin and then been forced to leave him for Rhysand it would have started a full frontal war.
Lucien seemed to be thinking the same thing.
He looked at me with concerned disbelief.
His unspoken question lay between us.
I knew he would never ask it, because in the end he didn't actually want to know the answer.
But tomorrow Rhysand was coming...
....and he was going to want an answer.