𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕

"𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦 "

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╰┈˚ · ° .  "ᴏʜ ɪ ꜱᴇᴇ." ᴍᴀɪᴠᴇɴ ꜱᴀɪᴅ as she saw her sister enter her room "You are wearing your scheming FeyFey. What is it?"

"I have a scheming face?" She asked frowning slightly

"Yes you do, dear sister. What is it?" The younger girl asked with a chuckle

And so she did.

They both walked out of the manor, hand in hand, directed to the stables. But as soon as they were in the middle of the garden, a voice interrupted their walk.

"No trip wires today?" Tamlin asked Feyre freezing her in her spot

Maiven snickered lightly, earning a light smack on the arm by her twin sister. Feyre had explained to her the 'accident' that had happened with Alis and one of her traps.

"You said I was safe here. So I listened." She answered

"I let you two talk" Mai said walking away before Feyre could say anything else

She took just a couple of steps before turning around. She was behind Feyre as she searched for Tamlin's eyes. As soon as she noticed them, the girl bowed with a grin, clearly mocking his status making the High Lord roll his eyes at her

A couple of minutes later Feyre walked towards her, gripping her arm and dragging the girl towards the stable to continue their plan.

When the Archeron sisters arrived at the stable they quickly noticed Lucien there.

"Morning, Feyre. Maiven. Going for a ride, or merely reconsidering Tam's offer to live with us?" When the girls didn't say anything he continued "Come now. I'm to patrol the southern woods today, and I'm curious about the ... abilities you used to bring down my friend, whether accidental or not. It's been a while since I encountered a human, let alone a Fae-killer. Indulge me in a hunt. And I am really curious about your own skills Maiven. Perhaps you are a better killer than your sister" His eyes gleamed with amusement and mischief as he recalled the speech that the human girl had made the previous evening. Maiven's eyes matched his as amusement and mischief were too clear in her own.

"Oh you could say that, Red" She answered, feeling Feyre stiff a bit as she recalled her sister's 'work' in the mortal lands.

"Red, really? That is the best nickname that you could come up with, mortal?" The red haired male spoke with a smirk on his lips

"No it's just that I couldn't find in me to actually come up with a better nickname since I really don't care" Maiven's voice was calm dripping with sweetness almost as if she'd said that she cared for him.

"No ash arrows today, unfortunately." Lucian jested looking at Feyre

The said girl clenched her jaw but she shrugged, looking as bored as she could. "Well ... I suppose we are already dressed for a hunt."

"Perfect," Lucien said, his metal eye gleaming in the sunlight slanting in through the open stable doors.

"Let's go, then,"

Lucien made quick work to tell the stable's hand to prepare for other two horses as his own was already ready. Mai leaned against the wooden wall as she waited, keeping an eye on everyone present. Assessing the space as there was a threat nearby. In fact, there was. A lot of threats actually. She calmed her breath as tried to identify the faeries that were glamoured to her human eyes as she felt the hair on her neck raise. But just a couple of minutes later the horses were ready and soon, they were ready to mount them. A white one for Feyre and a midnight black for her.

At first the sisters rode behind Lucian but Feyre was quick to approach the fae, now riding next to him. Maiven followed her sister, positioning her horse on her right.

"Well, you two certainly have the quiet part of hunting down," Lucien said "Well?" He pressed. "No game good enough for you to slaughter? We've passed plenty of squirrels and birds." The canopy above cast shadows upon his fox mask—light and dark and gleaming metal.

"You seem to have enough food on your table that we don't need to add to it, especially when there's always plenty left over."

Lucien snorted but didn't say anything else.

Mai gripped the bow in her hands as she felt the familiar weight of the weapon. Perhaps a bit heavier. As bad as it sounded, it was so familiar that she missed it. The power that came with it. For all the training that she went through, her perfect aim was the outcome. That day, during the mission, Maiven couldn't bring the bow with her as it would have just weighed her down so now it was still in the mortal lands.

I still want my knife back— She thought

"You said you were an emissary for Tamlin," Feyre ventured. "Do emissaries usually patrol the grounds?"

Lucien clicked his tongue. "I'm Tamlin's emissary for formal uses, but this was Andras's shift. So someone needed to fill in. It's an honor to do it."

Feyre swallowed hard. "I'm ... sorry," She said—and meant it. "I didn't know what—what he meant to you all." Mai squeezed her arm lightly trying to give her the support she needed.

A kill is just a kill, but it becomes more if you see the people that cared for them. Grieving for them. And the younger twin knew that her sister regretted that kill more than anything.

Lucien shrugged. "Tamlin said as much, which was no doubt why he brought you here. Or maybe you looked so pathetic in those rags that he took pity on you."

"Well, thanks" Maiven said rather annoyed now

"I wouldn't have joined you if I'd known you would use this ride as an excuse to insult us."

Lucien smirked. "Apologies, Feyre."

"So," he said, "when are you going to start trying to persuade me to beseech Tamlin to find a way to free you from the Treaty's rules?"

Mai snorted. Of course he knew. This was a shitty plan from the beginning.

"What?"

"That's why you agreed to come out here, isn't it? Why you wound up at the stables exactly as I was leaving?" He shot me a sideways glance with that russet eye of his. "Honestly, I'm impressed— and flattered you think I have that kind of sway with Tamlin."

"What are you talking—"

His cocked head was answer enough. He chuckled and said, "Before you waste one of your precious few human breaths, let me explain two things to you. One: if I had my way, you'd be gone, so it wouldn't take much convincing on your part. Two: I can't have my way, because there is no alternative to what the Treaty demands. There's no extra loophole."

"But—but there has to be something—"

"I admire your balls, Feyre—I really do. Or maybe it's stupidity. But since Tam won't gut you, which was my first choice, you're stuck here. Unless you want to rough it on your own in Prythian, which"—he looked her up and down—"I'd advise against. A valiant effort," Lucien said with a smirk.

"Mind your tongue if you still want one. Bite it if your need to insult us is so deep" Maiven told. Still glancing forward and looking pretty bored

"As you wish, my lady " Lucian answered amused more than ever

We rode in silence, and aside from a few birds and squirrels, I saw nothing—heard nothing—unusual. After a few minutes Feyre spoke

"Where is the rest of Tamlin's court? They all fled this blight on magic?"

"How'd you know about the court?" he asked quickly, shifting his gaze on Mai for a second

"Do normal estates have emissaries? And servants chatter. Isn't that why you made them wear bird masks to that party?"

Lucien scowled, that scar stretching. "We each choose what to wear that night to honor Tamlin's shape-shifting gifts. The servants, too. But now, if we had the choice, we'd peel them off with our bare hands," he said, tugging on his own. It didn't move.

"Good for me. I see enough of your horrible personality that I don't need to add your face to the mix" Mai spoke with a smirk

"Count me offended" Lucian talked back, still amused.

"What happened to the magic to make it act that way?" Feyre questioned

Lucien let out a harsh laugh. "Something was sent from the shit-holes of Hell," he said, then glanced around and swore. "I shouldn't have said that. If word got back to her—"

"Who?"

The color had leached from his sun-kissed skin. He dragged a hand through his hair. "Never mind. The less you know, the better. Tam might not find it troublesome to tell you about the blight, but I wouldn't put it past a human to sell the information to the highest bidder."

"How old are you?" Feyre asked,

"Old," he said. He scanned the brush, but Mai had a feeling his darting eyes weren't looking for game. His shoulders were too tense.

"What sort of powers do you have? Can you shape-shift like Tamlin?"

He sighed, looking skyward before he studied us warily, that metal eye narrowing with unnerving focus. "Trying to figure out my weaknesses so you can—" Maiven glowered at him. "Fine. No, I can't shape-shift. Only Tam can."

"But your friend—he appeared as a wolf. Unless that was his—"

"No, no. Andras was High Fae, too. Tam can shift us into other shapes if need be. He saves it for his sentries only, though. When Andras went across the wall, Tam changed him into a wolf so he wouldn't be spotted as a faerie. Though his size was probably indication enough."

"Cute" The girl added rolling her eyes making the red haired Fae doing the same

"Anyway," Lucien went on, "the High Fae don't have specific powers the way the lesser faeries do. I don't have a natural-born affinity, if that's what you're asking. I don't clean everything in sight or lure mortals to a watery death or grant you answers to whatever questions you might have if you trap me. We just exist—to rule."

"I suppose if we were one of you, we'd be one of the faeries, not High Fae? A lesser faerie like Alis, waiting on you hand and foot?" He didn't reply, which amounted to a yes.

"How'd you get that scar?" Fayre asked

"I didn't keep my mouth shut when I should have, and was punished for it."

"Tamlin did that to you?"

"Cauldron, no. He wasn't there. But he got me the replacement afterward."

More answers-that-weren't-answers. "So there are faeries who will actually answer any question if you trap them?"

"Yes," he said tightly. "The Suriel. But they're old and wicked, and not worth the danger of going out to find them. And if you're stupid enough to keep looking so intrigued, I'm going to become rather suspicious and tell Tam to put you under house arrest. Though I suppose you would deserve it if you were indeed stupid enough to seek one out."

Of course it's The Suriel

Maiven blood froze as a creeping, leeching cold lurched by. The cold thing whispered past, circling. She could see nothing, but she could feel it. And in the back of her mind, an ancient, hollow voice whispered:

I will grind your bones between my claws; I will drink your marrow; I will feast on your flesh. I am what you fear; I am what you dread ... Look at me. Look at me.

"Well fuck me" Maiven commented in annoyace.

Just what we need. A Bogge

Lucien whipped his head to the right, listening, his eye whirring softly. The hair on the younger twin's neck stood as Feyre had her bow drawn in a heartbeat, pointing in the direction Lucien stared.

"Put your bow down, Fey" Maiven whispered calmly

"Put your damned bow down, human, and look straight ahead."

She did as we said, the hair on Maiven's arms rising as the Bogge continued to whisper in her mind

She completely ignored it looking just straight ahead. She wasn't afraid of it. In her mind and body there was just calmness even when the Bogge whispered death in her ear. Her only thought was Feyre. Maiven wished with everything in her that her twin would listen to them.

"Don't react," Lucien said, forcing his gaze ahead, too, the metal eye going still and silent.

"No matter what you feel or see, don't react. Don't look. Just stare ahead." Mai said to her sister interviewing their hands together

"What was that?" Feyre asked once she saw the both, the human and the high fae more relaxed, brushing the tears from her face.

Lucien's face was still pale. "You don't want to know."

"Please. Was it that ... Suriel you mentioned?"

Lucien's russet eye was dark as he answered hoarsely. "No. It was a creature that should not be in these lands. We call it the Bogge. You cannot hunt it, and you cannot kill it. Even with your beloved ash arrows."

"Why can't I look at it?"

"Because when you look at it—when you acknowledge it—that's when it becomes real. That's when it can kill you." Maiven answered unbothered. She felt Lucian stare on her as quickly as I said those words but she didn't acknowledge it

"How do you know this?" He asked

"Someone taught me a thing or two about your world" Still unbothered she answered

"I heard its voice in my head. It told me to look." Feyre explained

Lucien rolled his shoulders. "Well, thank the Cauldron that you didn't. Cleaning up that mess would have ruined the rest of my day." He gave me a wan smile. I didn't return it.

After an hour of meandering through the trees, hardly speaking to each other, Feyre stopped trembling enough to release her twin's hand and turn to Lucien.

"So you're old," She said. "And you carry around a sword, and go on border patrol. Did you fight in the War?"

He winced. "Shit, Feyre—I'm not that old."

"Are you a warrior, though?"

Lucien huffed a laugh. "Not as good as Tam, but I know how to handle my weapons." He patted the hilt of his sword. "Would you like me to teach you how to wield a blade, or do you already know how, oh mighty mortal huntress? If you took down Andras, you probably don't need to learn anything. Only where to aim, right?" He tapped on his chest.

"I don't know how to use a sword. I only know how to hunt."

"Same thing, isn't it?"

"For me it's different."

Lucien fell silent, considering. "I suppose you humans are such hateful cowards that you would have wet yourself, curled up, and waited to die if you'd known beyond a doubt what Andras truly was." Insufferable. Lucien sighed as he looked at her. "Do you ever stop being so serious and dull?"

"Do you ever stop being such a prick?" She snapped back.

Lucien grinned at her. "Much better."

As they made their way out of the stables Lucian stopped Mai with a hand on her arm.

The human girl hissed at him before grabbing his wrist putting thumb on his pressure point hard making him hiss back releasing his grip on her arm

"A simple 'Take your hand off my arm' would have been sufficient" Lucian said massaging his wrist

The girl looked at Feyre, who was watching the interaction with wide eyes, giving her a nod to let her know that everything was fine and she could go. Feyre glanced back at her sister one last time before she walked out of the stables

"What do you want?" The gold-brown haired girl asked the Fae

"Why were you not afraid? By the Cauldron I  was afraid!" Lucian said almost shouting making her roll her eyes "That was not a normal reaction. Most of all from a human" He continued

"There is just one thing that I fear and he is not the Bogge."

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone!

New chapter. Sorry for the week of waiting. I don't know how I feel about this tbh but I had a bit of a block

Anyway please if you liked this chapter, leave a comment and a star. I really appreciate it.

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾