Shaera didn't know what was happening behind her, Azriel reached his bloodied hand and grabbed her wrist, electricity spiralled up her arm. Her eyes widened as she recoiled from his touch wrenching her wrist from his grip. No. She knew what it meant, it made sense, how she could sense him the mighty Shadowsinger, her concern for him, Now his touch... Shaera blinked, fate could get fucked... well at this very moment at least. Azriel now stared up at her his eyes wide, lips slightly parted. He'd worked it out too, he felt it too. Shaera frowned and shifted her eyes to Cassian his torn wings sprawled and bleeding across the stone ground, his body shook from shock or agony, possibly both. The Illyrian men before her were not in good shape, both their breaths were laboured, heaving from injury and pain, How could she possibly do anything more? she'd stopped them from getting torn apart by the king's magic, but she couldn't exactly pull the ability to heal them out of her arse.

The blonde fae shoved Shaera away from the men the action sent her smacking into the ground, she slides across the floor the blood that now adorned her clothes left a deep red mark in its wake. She groaned as she stared up at the rather intricate stonework on the ceiling...
what a nice ceiling...
She'd never looked at it before...
she was hardly delusional yet but when one felt inclined to admire the ceiling, it had to be done.

Shaera turned her head ever so slightly to look over at Azriel. The blonde kneeled above him her hand grasped his own. The dark-haired woman hummed, her eyes flickered over to Feyre who had ripped the leather that covered her arm in an attempt to try and cauterise some of Cassian's bleeding. The high lord of the night court stood protectively in front of them all. 

"Shaera" the king's voice cut through the room like a knife 

"Yes?" The dark-eyed woman blinked up at the ceiling again, her voice came out wheezed and weaker than she intended. She could feel the king staring at her sprawled position on the stone ground, a small pool of blood finding its way around her. He hummed 

"I forgot you had a weakness for wings" he mused chuckling dryly. Shaera sat up hissing slightly from the new wave of pain that rippled around her body from the movement, she pulled herself to her feet and stumbled before standing up straight. She stared at the king, his eyes stared back dully into her own. 

"Put the prettiest one in first" he droned, Shaera's eyes snapped to Nesta who had Elain shielded in her arms, both huddled beside a pillar, the guards moved forward and ripped youngest Archeron from her sister's arms. Rhysand growled

"Please refrain from getting any ideas Rhysand-" the king stated lazily gesturing to Azriel on the floor

"-If any of you intervene-" A twinge of pain found its place of Shaera's chest she frowned as the hazel-eyed man groaned and arched his back slightly, his hand resting upon his wound. 

"The shadow singer dies... it's a shame about the other brutes' wings" he hummed his eyes flickered briefly to Shaera who stood rather unsteadily near the middle pillar of the room. The guards were able to subdue Nesta for the moment, Elain slumped in their arms. The king stood and bowed at both the sisters 

"Ladies, eternity awaits. Prove to their majesties the cauldron is safe for... strong-willed individuals" he grinned and gestured for Elain to be brought forward. Nesta went to fight but stopped and turned her gaze to Shaera. Her blue orbs were like the harshest of blizzards and the hottest of blazes, the dark-haired woman nodded at her but Nesta stared on. If she didn't save Elain, Nesta promised her, promised with all her being that she would tear Shaera apart.

Shaera would let her.

Tamlin stepped forward from where Shaera had shoved him to stand earlier, his brows furrowed, his hand rested uneasily on the hilt of his sword.

"Stop-" Shaera stared at him and then moved her gaze to the king who simply ignored the high lord of the spring court. Lucien too stepped forward 

"-Stop this!-" Tamlin's voice bellowed, the king waved his hand and the cauldron filled to the brim with liquid Elain's doe eyes met Shaera's 

"-This wasn't part of the deal! Stop this now!" Tamlin took another step forward, Shaera kept her gaze locked with Elain's, and the girl didn't resist, the guards pushed her closer to the cauldron 

"I don't care" the king turned his head and addressed Tamlin, his tone blunt and condescending. The blonde man didn't hesitate as he launched himself towards the throne, Shaera felt the Cauldrons hold slack against her power, she didn't exactly like the high lord, but she'd save him just this once for old time's sake. She'd only known him for a little over a month. But hey, never too late to reflect on one's morals . That's what she told herself at least as her eyes locked onto the man... then Shaera did, what Shaera did best. Tamlin's sword clattered to the ground inches away from the king, his breath hitched as he felt the very control he had over his limbs fade away. His arm returned to his side as he backed away from the throne and lowered himself onto his knees. The king smiled down at the fae man, who stared at him his eyes wide. 

"Oh this isn't my party trick High lord" the king gestured towards Shaera, Tamlin turned his head
and locked his eyes with her briefly. Shaera felt him pushing back, violently, angrily. Her back throbbed as she fought back against him,  her pain masked by the gritting of her teeth and a malice smile. The attention swiftly moved off of her and back to the king. Shaera drowned out the voices as she snapped her eyes to the red-haired fae who repositioned his stance. Shaera groaned, she had to hold Tamlin, stop his idiot friend from getting killed and save Elain! All with her back fucked, probably beyond repair. She straightened and focused on Lucien. 3...2...1... Shaera broke through, Lucien stumbled back the slightest and turned to look at her

"I suggest you stay where you are Lucien" Her voice always took a more melodic tone when she spoke to people through her mental capabilities 

"Get out of my head" the fae growled his glare settled onto her 

"Stop being irrational, you'll be killed if you interfere" Shaera stated as she stared at the man across the room 

"What do you know, you're the enemy" he hissed back at her, Shaera's laugh echoed in his mind 

"We were on the same side but a few moments ago, were we not?" She mused as Lucien frowned, stepped back slightly and removed his hand from the hilt of his sword. Shaera quickly pulled herself from his mind and focused back on Tamlin. Doing her best to keep him under control.

Shaera snapped back from her mind games when Elain screamed, her foot hitting the water of the cauldron. Shit. She'd spent so long keeping Tamlin and Lucien under control and alive, Elain had escaped her thoughts. The small girl kicked against the side of the cauldron to keep herself from being submerged, Nesta grew more panicked, she pulled against the guard's hold. Feyre let out a snob

"Please, I'll do anything" the middle Archeron begged her eyes red from the tears. The king looked over at her 

"It is done" he waved his hand and the guards restrained Elain and pushed her under into the cauldron. Shaera met Nesta's eyes for a split second before she closed her own.

The control she had on Tamlin slipped as she dove her mind into the Cauldron, it fought back, to keep her from Elain. She pushed, the liquid tendrils lashed again. Shaera frowned, she cautiously opened her eyes squinting slightly. Inky blackness swirled around her, grey started to spiral in a dance around her fingertips it beckoned her into its clasp. What the fuck. She was meant to find Elain and guide her pit mentally, not end up in the godforsaken cauldron. A cold breath hit the back of her neck, shaera turned around coming face to face with a rippled Aurora borealis of colours, greens, pinks and largely blues. The dark-eyed woman frowned. 

"Shaera" she snapped round again dark orbs meeting sea blue... 

"Kyra..." she breathed as she stared at the girl, shaera moved her left hand forward as she reached for her lost friend, as her hand made contact the figure faded into nothing more than swirled grey smoke. Not real. Shaera snorted half in amusement half in panic, she should take her own advice every now and then. She turned and faced the intricate colours again. Shaera sighed and stepped through the swirling barrier.

Then she saw her. Elain. Drowning. A vast pool of liquid fought to encase the girl in its grasp, silvers clashed and turned, the unending bottom of the pool seemed to glow with an icy coldness. Shaera didn't think, she dived into the liquid.

COLD!...
VERY.
FUCKING.
COLD!

The woman steadied her bearings before she started her way towards Elain, tears ran down the Archeron's face, she screamed, water-filled her mouth and nose. Shaera swam with all her might. Her teeth clattered together even as she swam. How does one feel the cold in a place that's all in their head? Something snagged her ankle, it started to pull her... pull her down, she flung her head back and gulped the air. Fucking hell. "Yeah, I'll save Elain, sure thing no problem" The force yanked her again, Shaera panicked and kicked.

"Let us have her" a croaked voice snarled 

"We want her" a feminine voice pleaded 

"She's ours!" A male voice roared in her ear the grip on her ankle tightened and pulled, and Shaera went under. Elain started to slip under the water her arms grew weaker and her legs no longer kicked as they should. Liquid pooled into Shaera's mouth. she fought against the urge to breathe. Her dark eyes squinted into the water and saw Elain's legs slow. Shaera turned and looked down... it was a person. Fantastic. Her eyes flickered past him. 1000's of people swirled at the bottom of the pool, fluorescent tones seeped off their pale corpses, the cauldron had taken them... was it in its right to take the dead?... is this where they all ended up? Shaera shook her head, her oxygen was depleting. She had to save Elain now or they'd both be dead. She'd save the girl if it was the last thing she ever did in the mortal realm. Shaera kicked the man's hand and launched herself toward the drowning girl. Not a moment later she made contact and latched her arms around Elain's torso, the girl made a watery sound of surprise, Shaera kicked with all her might, Elain continued to splutter

"Y-you found me" Liquid entered the Archeron's mouth, and she coughed more. Shaera kicked and kicked, she felt like all she had done was kick for about an hour when in reality it was probably about a minute. At this rate, she never wanted to take a swim again. Then she felt the edge she scraped her fingers against its cold surface, before her grip settled strong enough to heave herself and Elain onto the side, Shaera collapsed and heaved 

"Course I did" she wheezed, Shaera turned her head to the side but Elain was gone, her eyes widened as she scrambled to her feet.

"She wasn't meant to get out" a voice hummed its tone filled with malice 

"Yet she did" Shaera countered into the nothingness 

"It is in my every right to keep you here as payment...-" it went silent, its melodics hanging in the air 

"-But I won't" its voice filled with humour

Shaera twisted as a hand grabbed her wrist, she came face to face with a golden-haired fae. A sword was brandished and held to her chest. Shaera didn't often feel fazed when I sword was held to her chest, but this was different. She was afraid. The fear crawled up her spine like a seeping sickness 

"I should kill you little Illyrian" Shaera frowned, she didn't know this man, he grinned as she shrunk back, his grip only tightened 

"I don't think I'll kill you..." he paused

I'll take those instead" he gestured pointedly to the area just behind her. Shaera's eyes widened in panic, she recoiled and pulled harder her eyes now clenched shut, the man brought his sword down.

Her eyes snapped open.

Little Illyrian.

Elain was on the floor below the cauldron, her clothes drenched and her hair splayed around her. Something wet ran down Shaera's lip, she brought her hand up and touched the liquid. Blood. She wiped her nose on her sleeve. Fuck that, she was not going strolling back into the cauldron anytime soon that was for sure. She glanced down at her wrist briefly but there was no sign of bruising, strange place the cauldron was. The youngest Archeron sucked in a much-needed breath her chest rose. Her skin glowed, her hair like silk, ears now pointed. She turned to look at Shaera. Guards snickered at the girl's now see-through dress. The dark-haired woman didn't even register her moral compass as she started forward, Shaera removed her jacket on her way. Lucien took a step towards the shaken girl but Shaera got there first and sneered in not only Lucien's direction but the guards too. Elain gripped Shaera's jacket and leant into the woman as she pulled her up from the ground.

The king's gaze lingered.

"The hellcat now, if you'll be so kind" he commanded, the guards pulled Nesta forward, the eldest Archeron's gaze met Shaera's for a moment and nodded. Then Nesta too, did what Nesta did best ... she gave them hell. The Archeron flung her head back and hit the man in the nose, she bucked, kicked, clawed. But in the end, it was no use. The guards pushed her into the water up to her shoulders, Nesta screeched. The Illyrian with the shredded wings stirred ever so slightly yet fell limp once more. 

"Put her under" the king hissed, the guards strained and fought with the wildfire of a woman before they finally pushed her head down. The eldest Archeron thrashed one last time and freed her long, pale arm. Her head reeled and her teeth bared she pointed her finger at the king of Hybern. A promise of death, they shoved her under. Elain turned her head into Shaera's neck, the "commander" wrapped her arm around the young girl's shoulders.

Though Shaera had let Tamlin go he had remained on his knees. Will you look at that, he figured out the direness of his situation. Shaera's head snapped over to the cauldron as Nesta came coughing and spluttering out of it... so that's how quick it was. not even a whole 30 seconds yet Shaera knew she'd been in there a little over 8 minutes.

when the woman looked up her golden-brown hair drenched and slicked to her face, the dark-haired woman thought she saw the cauldron itself in her eyes. Nesta lurched to her feet and bounded over to Elain, Shaera quickly let the young girl go, not exactly up for facing a now immortal, cauldron possessed Nesta. She moved back away from the pair and turned to slip way unnoticed to the back of the room where one of her soldiers stood. 

"I need you to do something for me" she whispered lowly the thing turned to her and frowned before it grinned 

"We don't take orders from you anymore, " Shaera stared at the attor. She blinked and hummed and licked her lips

"And why's that?" she questioned, Shaera tilted her head to the side. The top of her back protested in pain. 

"The king doesn't think you're as loyal as you should be" the attor posted behind her licked its lips mirroring Shaera's last action, the dark-haired woman nodded her head and tapped the thing on its shoulder 

"Ah okay, thank you for letting me know" she went to turn away the attor cut her movement of 

"He also said after today you'd no longer have protection in his kingdom." The soldier hummed Shaera stopped,  the new revelation hit her like a ton of bricks. No protection, there's no way she'd survive in hybern without the king's protection. Yeah, she could fuck with people's minds with the power the king let her have, but there was no doubt in her mind that he wouldn't let the cauldron's control over her be released. This was bad. Very bad.  she kept saying it was bad when really it was a fucking disaster! All those years she has spent serving him, willingly at that! it was only recently she had found faults and doubts but she'd never let that show before today. He said he knew about her weakness for wings, he had let it slide, hadn't he. The soldiers and the attor couldn't have been given an order to not answer to her that quickly it didn't make sense. Shaera's rambled thoughts were cut off when a force smacked into her back, her wounds unclotted, the force slammed her into the wall next to the attor, her head smacked into the stone as she fell at the base Shaera groaned, she was not having a good day. Blood dripped down her head. another groan left her lips getting blood out of her hair was a pain in the arse. The dark-eyed woman blinked away the blurriness in her vision only to meet the eyes of a poisoned yet concerned Illyrian. She glared and turned her gaze to the ceiling again. It was a pretty ceiling...

If anyone ever got a look into her mind she'd never keep her scary reputation. 'The Ex commander of Hybern simply admires the stonework of the ceiling as those around her battle for their lives'. She grinned, she really did have a screw loose somewhere. The attor looked down at her in a mix of disgust, and confusion. Oh, and will you look at that he still thinks she's scary. She put her arm up and the thing begrudgingly pulled her up 

"Thank you dear" the thing sneered as Shaera smiled sweetly. She Subconsciously reassured herself that not everyone can have all their screws in check, not in this day and age at least. Shaera turned her attention back to the party, a deep-set frown made its way onto her face. She really should pay more attention... Feyre was in Tamlin's arms as he snarled at Rhysand

"I don't give a shit if she's your mate! I don't give a shit if you think you're entitled to her, she is mine — and one day, I am going to repay every bit of pain she felt, every bit of suffering and despair. One day, perhaps when she decides she wants to end you, I'll be happy to oblige her." Shaera's eyes flickered between Tamlin and Rhysand in complete and utter confusion. The fuck did she miss? 

"Don't" Rhysand whispered his gaze locked with Feyre's, the middle Archeron melted more into Tamlin's grasp. 

"Do it" the high lord of the spring court commanded staring at the king 

"No" The violet-eyed Illyrian whispered his voice breaking ever so slightly. Shaera moved her eyes to the king who grinned before he pointed at Feyre. Then the fae girl screamed.
Shaera winced. Rhysand fell to his knees, he screamed Feyre's name who withered on the stone ground. Then she saw it, the bond. Translucent as a thawing lake on the eve of spring, it hung in the air between them both, unnoticed by the rest of the room, tension pulled at it and pulled. Feyre continued to scream until

CRACK

Shaera winced again. The blonde female moved forward and hauled the high lord of the night court away from where Feyre was, encased in Tamlin's arms, her tattoo gone, skin bare... Shaera blinked, there was the other tattoo... it was on her other arm. How could she forget? That other tattoo did change everything... well for everyone else in the room that is ... not for her though, she'd probably be dead in a minute. Rhysand shrugged Morrigan off of his jacket and crawled. Shaera did a second take. He Crawled back to his comrades, his brothers. He rasped with every movement. 

" You are free to go Rhysand. Your friend's poison is gone. The wings on the other. I'm afraid are a bit of a mess-" he paused as his eyes slithered to where Shaera stood 

"-but not completely gone" She shrunk back slightly from his gaze, the Attor's breath hit her face. She could feel his teeth, it's bloodlust stirred, ready to tear into her jugular. Fantastic, she even called him dear a moment ago. She stared the king down, not daring to turn to look at the monster that waited to tear her to pieces. Azriel heaved himself and his brother to his feet. Silence resonated around the room. How bittersweet it was. She ended up dead and they all got away, wounded and torn but very much alive. Shaera chuckled lowly under her breath. Azriel turned his head in her direction some of his dark hair stuck to the sweat on his brow. His face visibly paled more so than she thought was even possible as he set eyes on her situation. The blonde fae kicked into action, she spurred forward and latched onto Elain and Nesta, slamming Lucien's lurking form in the chest with her palm which sent him stumbling back into a pillar. Then she vanished.

5. Rhysand slipped his arm under Cassian's right shoulder and took on his weight. The attor's breath hit her face again. She sighed and closed her eyes.
4.It could be worse she supposed. Death is better than imprisonment, she got awfully bored after a short while and would probably go insane...
3.it's not every day one comes face to face with their imminent death, and when one ponders they don't ponder for long before they meet it.
2.Maybe she'd end up a floaty corpse in the cauldron...she hoped not though, after the revelation she did hate water, and floating for the matter. It wasn't a place she wanted to go... She didn't even want to get started on the prospect of swimming for eternity
She sighed
1.Shaera's eyes opened again, the attor descended to her throat. Something slammed into her. Someone. Not an Attor. Not enough teeth. She turned. Black clashed with hazel. Azriel.

Time slowed, his hand gripped the back of her head the other around her waist, his wings moved to form a cocoon of sorts. She stared into his eyes as he too stared into hers. This time it clicked. She moved her eyes down to the wound on his chest her hand found a place just beside it. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK. What the fuck was he doing. 

"Saving your life" Shaera chocked 

"Pardon?"

"You heard me"

"I'll give you 5 stars for effort, but now we're both dead!"

"Hardly"

"How do you feel about being Attor lunch?"

"Just Shut up" He pulled her to his chest. Then they were gone.

*************
3953
7th of January
Why do I do this to myself, I have a 3-hour exam... oh look today because it's currently ONE IN THE FUCKING MORNING
Edit update: I got a distinction on that exam ;) Love editing and finding weird plot holes 😂
anywho :)
Love you all
Don't forget to vote and comment ❤️

Edited: 11th May 2022...I did in fact pass photography with an overall grade of Distinction*