Hey Everyone,
Sorry for the short update- the next chapter is going to be the last one and I couldn't bring myself to drop that on you unannounced!
So it has been a full year since the challenge and someone had lost the 'spring' in her step ;)
I wonder if Rhys is ready to share her again?
Hope you enjoy this little lead up to the end!
Till next time,
Spinlight xo
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Feyre
I frown at the swirl of colour that crowds and overwhelms my vision. Green. So many shades of green. There is a willow swaying sadly in the breeze. Her soft coos calling all of the weary and broken hearted to rest. Her slender branches moving in a lulling motion to and fro beside the water. Amidst the steam the water sprite is laughing and her merriment rises like soft lofty bubbles, floating away and bringing joy to the world around her. The tender lambs are weaving in and out from beneath their mothers legs as they bleat out their tales of wonders newly discovered. Bright bursts of colour break through the sea of green as wild floors dots the hill with their vibrant indigo, violet and blurs. All around the whole world teams with life. And there in the midst of it was a patchy splash of gold and red that could only mean one thing. Lucien and Tamlin.
I stepped back, my hands trembling as my paint brush clattered to the floor.
Spring.
It had been one year since I had seen it. A full orbit of the skies.
Some how there had never seemed like a right time to tell them.
I mean when is it ever right to burst back into someones life and announce that you aren't in fact dead, but living in the body of a traitorous bitch.
At first I had been scared that others would find out and then everyone would know. I wasn't ready to be pulled back into that world or responsibility and attention. I liked my quiet life. Ha! - well as quiet as things could be when you were constantly on the arm of Prythian's dark sultry High Lord. I smirked at that, enjoying knowing the truth in those words, and that despite them he still chose me.
I was giddy with love for the dark handsome and truly wicked Lord of darkness. His eyes never left me, his lips always teased me and his hands couldn't stay off me. We were notorious for scandalous behaviour around the manor. Actually, shocking the staff and embarrassing me was one of Rhysand's favourite games. Last night he had pulled me into a stores cupboard and had had ravaged me until I was moaning and breathless and begging for him to take me to his room. At that moment he had abruptly opened the door we were leaning against so that we tumbled out in front of three passing courtiers. I had flushed bright red and felt mortified by the incident. Rhys was nonchalant and oozed smugness. As the ladies shot us shocked and disapproving glances before scurrying away.
It wasn't until later that night that I realised all three of those ladies had attempted to seduce Rhysand in the past month and all three had only doubled their efforts at his dismissal. I had been meaning to deal with them but hadn't known how. Once again his radom antics had actually been a carefully crafted plan. I shuddered as I wondered what he was planning for me next.
Speak of the devil.
I felt Rhysand's reassuring presence as he entered the room and strode towards me. I felt panicked. A small part of me wanted to hide this painting from him. It felt traitorous. He was everything I had ever wanted. So why did I still want more? I was ashamed of this longing that had been growing in me, a longing for greener pastures.
I spun and walked away front the painting to meet him. As I looked up to face him my heart stuttered in my chest as he approached.
He had come straight from court business and was wearing a tight fitting black shirt and slacks. The shirt had a fine silver lining and buttons that caught my attention as my eyes trailed up and down his muscular torso. Damn. His physique never ceased to excite me. And that face! I looked up and was hit with that perfectly chiselled jawline, lightly lined with stubble and those smouldering violet eyes. His lips curled up into a knowing smirk as he looked at me.
I smiled back and raised my eyebrows at him in exasperation.
You can hardly blame me.
I don't.
His words were laced with that snarky arrogance that drove me wild.
I took a step towards him and he reached out, pulling me the rest of the way and then devouring my lips with his own. He moaned into my mouth as his hand brushed up over my breast and then he lifted me up so that my legs could wrap around him.
My breathing became ragged as he broke away from my lips and trailed warm sucking hisses along my collar bone.
"I missed you," he groaned as his nose grazed along the length of my neck.
"You were only gone for a few hours."
I could feel the scowl form on his lips as he pulled back to frown at me.
"You weren't there - it was torture. Hours caged in a room with only men swooning over me."
I snorted as his description.
"It was a board meeting."
"Yeah so?"
"They have to swoon over you or you would rip their heads off and replace them."
He chuckled darkly before nipping at my neck and making me squeal.
"You know too much, what am I to do with you?"
I moaned at what he was already doing to me.
If I was grateful for one thing about immorality it was Rhysand's tireless creativity in coming up with new ways to torture me.
My moans came to an abrupt halt as Rhys all but froze.
I could tell from his rigid posture that some thing was wrong.
"Wha -" I began before realising that he was staring at something over my shoulder.
Damn it! The painting!
Rhys slowly walked us both over towards it.
I closed my eyes and buried my face in his chest, terrified of the betrayal I was about to see on his face.
I felt him loosen his grip on me and I lowered my feet to the ground.
I felt his hands gently grasp my arms and I looked up at him sheepishly. I waited for his jealousy. For the snarky words and hurt expression. I took a deep breath as I steeled myself for the onslaught of his anger.
It never came.
Gentle loving eyes, filled with concern met my own. My lip began to tremble at the love and understanding that I found in that stare.
"It's time my darling," he said with a devastatingly tender voice.
"Time for what?"
"Time to go home."
"But you are my home!"
He drew me in tightly against his chest and placed a soft kiss on my head.
"And you are mine."
"But Feyre, this apart of you too," he said gesturing towards my painting.
He was right. Spring was haunting me. I had not realised how much I had come to love Spring and everyone there. They were a part of me. A part that I hadn't accounted for missing when I stepped away from that life. I sighed as I looked back at the painting longingly. Rhysand's eyes followed my own.
I knew his sharp eyes had spotted them.
That tell-tale splash of gold and red.
The missing piece of me.
Tamlin and Lucien.