𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙤𝙜𝙜𝙚

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃ 

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃  

╰┈˚ · ° .  THE MORNING SUN STREAMED FROM THE WINDOWS, flower embroidered curtains drawn open permitting the light to shine in my room. It was one of those mornings where there was nothing to do. A huge difference from how my life had been in the last years. Previously, I had no time to admire the view from a window or sit comfortably reading a book. I had no time to think, and maybe, I preferred that way.

Finishing the last exercise of the training circuit, I stood up, sipping from my glass full of water and drying my sweets with a towel while I looked from my window down to the back garden of the mansion. As much as I loved the peaceful view of the Spring Court, I knew it wasn't exactly how they wanted us to believe it was. Something was happening, no rules of the treaty stated the destiny of a human if they had killed any habitant of the land of Prythian. Something wasn't right.

Barging inside as it was her own chamber, Feyre, with a dead set expression marched in.

"Oh I see." I said as I examined her face. It was an expression that I used to see very much when we were little. Feyre stubbornness was one of my favorite and least favorite traits of personality. "What's with that face, Fey Fey?"

"What face?" She asked.

"You have your scheming face on. You are plotting something." Smirking as I stepped closer to her I then added with more enthusiasm "Tell me what is it."

"I have a scheming face?" Feyre asked, her nose scrunching up slightly in a very cute manner.

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

And so she did. Her plan wasn't very detailed, but I was bored, and I wanted answers too.

"I'm in. Let's go." I told her with a nod, starting to put my boot on.

Grimacing, Feyre stopped me by grabbing my arm. "Maybe after a quick bath?" She suggested.

Rolling my eyes and letting out a scoff I told her. "I don't smell."

"You kind of do." My twins said

"I don't." I insisted. Then I sniffed my armpit. "Yeah, maybe after a bath."

────༺☽༓☾༻────

╰┈˚ · ° .  After washing myself quickly, I dressed myself in gray pants and white blouse with my under the knee leather boots. The darker fabric that they would use here was a shade darker than gray, definitely there was no black. Everything was pastel colored, matching the color of flowers and blooming nature.

Walking out of the manor, hand in hand, directed to the stables, Feyre and I stayed silent, more focused on our still new surroundings. But as soon as we were in the middle of the garden, which was in full flourish with fairies attending with dedication to the bushes and flowers and landscape, a voice interrupted us, stopping us dead in our tracks.

"No trip wires today?" Tamlin asked Feyre, his lips tilted a bit to the side showing the beginning of an amused smile.

I snickered lightly, earning a light smack on the arm by my twin sister with a matching annoyed look. Feyre had explained to me the 'accident' that had happened with Alis and one of her traps the previous day as I braided her hair to pass the time. For sure, that had not been one of her best moments. Even if I found it amusing and ingenious. She just wanted a head start if something were to happen, there was nothing wrong with that. Not trusting this Fae, where we were, it was a good thing.

"You said I was safe here. So I listened." Feyre answered, trying to keep her tone even and uninterested.

"I let you two talk alone." I said walking away before Feyre could say anything else or just drag me near her.

I took just a couple of steps before turning around. I was behind Feyre, my sister completely shielded by my next movement. I searched for Tamlin's eyes and as soon as I noticed them lingering to me, I bowed with a grin full of arrogance and mischief. A clear mocking of his status as High Lord. The male could only roll his eyes discretely before focusing his attention back on my sister.

A couple of minutes later, Feyre walked towards me, gripping my arm in string hold, nails almost digging into my skin as dragging me towards the stable to continue her plan.

"You can lose your grip, you know? I'm not going anywhere." I said trying to not let my amusement shine through.

"Sorry." She mumbled, as she softened her hold, but still, never relented into dragging me.

When we arrived at the stable we quickly noticed Lucien there. Just like we wanted and knew him to be.

"Morning, Feyre. Maiven." The High Fae titled his head slightly in acknowledgement to us "Going for a ride, or merely reconsidering Tam's offer to live with us?" When we 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 maybe, a glint of something else, curiosity and caution. Apparently my words to the two faes had done their job.

My eyes matched his as amusement, a fickle flame in an otherwise clean state of nothingness that were my feelings. "Oh you could say that, Red." I answered. Feeling Feyre stiff at my side when the topic of my previous 'job' in the mortal lands was nothing new. If there was something that I could say for certain, it was that guilt was what she felt whenever it was brought out. She had failed to protect me. That is what my sister thought of it.

"Red, really? That is the best nickname that you could come up with, mortal?" Lucien spoke with a sly smirk on his full lips, an expression resembling the same animal his mask was inspired by .

"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." My voice was calm, dripping with sweetness almost as if I'd said that I loved for him. When in reality, I couldn't have cared less.

"No ash arrows today, unfortunately." Lucian jested looking at Feyre after giving me a narrowed look.

The said girl clenched her jaw but nevertheless shrugged her shoulders, 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. I leaned against the wooden wall as I 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. I calmed my breath as I tried to identify the faeries that were glamoured to my human eyes as I felt the hair on her neck raise at their magic. But just a couple of minutes later, the horses were ready, and soon, we were mounting them. A white one for Feyre and a midnight black for myself.

At first, Feyre and I rode behind Lucian, but soon, my twin sister was quick to approach the fae to ride next to him. I followed my sister's lead, positioning my horse on her right keeping her in the middle.

"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.

I gripped the bow in my right hand feeling the familiar weight of the weapon and at the same time, It felt wrong somehow. Because it wasn't mine. Perhaps this was a bit heavier than my usual one. As bad as it sounded, it was so familiar that I missed it. The power that came with it. For all the training that I went through, my perfect aim was the outcome. Knives and swords, hand to hand combat... Everything was too familiar. And now, without having my weapons, my hunting knife, I felt bare, almost without my skin.

"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." I squeezed her arm lightly trying to give her the support she needed.

"Stop trying to make her feel bad about your friend. She didn't know." I said in a chilled tone. I didn't even bother to look at Lucian. I knew that my words wouldn't probably stop the Fae.

A kill is just a kill, but it becomes more if you see the people that cared for them. Grieving for them. And as of right now, I knew my twin regretted that kill more than anything. Regretted the hate and desperation that she felt and that made her shoot that arrow.

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." I 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?"

I snorted. Of course he knew. This was a shitty plan from the beginning. I knew it and I still went with it. Maybe because I was bored? Who knows.

"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" I said. His insults about us being human, and so below him, were really making me feel the itch to slash his throat until I had his head in my hands. But nevertheless, I still managed to look unbothered, not even moving my gaze from the pathway ahead of me.

"As you wish, my lady." Lucian answered amused more than ever, lips twitching upwards.

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

"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 me for a second.

"Do not look at me, Lucian. She was smart enough to understand it on her own." I said, my lips threatening to tilt into a proud smirk.

"Do normal estates have emissaries? And servants chatter." Feyre asked, not even waiting for his answer before she continued. "Isn't that why you made them wear bird masks to that party?"

Lucien scowled, that scar on his face 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 with distaste. The mask didn't move an inch.

"Good for me. I see enough of your horrible personality that I don't need to add your face to the mix." I spoke, this time a smirk was spreaded wide across my features. I couldn't lie, bantering with Lucian was fun. Maybe one of the few things these days that could get a genuine reaction out of me.

"Count me offended." Lucian talked back, an over dramatic expression on his face, but even the fox mask couldn't mask the amusement shining in his eye.

"What happened to the magic to make it act that way?" Feyre questioned suddenly. A thing that I was asking myself too, if to be honest.

He for sure never had a problem with his magic.

Lucien let out a harsh laugh. Cold and full of hatred. "Something was sent from the shit-holes of Hell," he said before realizing his words and where he was. His eyes widened as he glanced around, swearing out loud. "I shouldn't have said that. If word got back to her—"

"Who?"

The color had leached from his sun-kissed skin. Fear. It was an emotion that I had been very familiar with years prior, but now, it had been stripped from me with brute force. Only one thing could make me feel it again. But even if it was uncommon for me to be afraid, nowadays I could easily read it people's faces. I was used to creating it. That deep feeling of fear, of dread, as my knife slashed through layers of skin to cause pain or as when I would raise my sword ready to make the last strike to end one's life.

Lucien dragged a hand through his long hair, tugging at the roots. His own fear was palpable as he strengthened the hold into the reins of his horse. "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."

"You are right." I said, shrugging my shoulders when both pairs of eyes of the two people I was with, landed on me. "I could easily sell whatever information you give me. I'm sure the High Lord of the Spring Court has many enemies."

"How old are you?" Feyre asked, before the rage in Lucian's eyes could bleed into whatever he wanted to say next.

I couldn't help my smile slightly at the harsh glare that my sister sent me. Stop trying to start a fight. Her eyes shouted at me.

"Old." Lucian said after reeling a breath of air trying to maintain control on his emotions. He then scanned the woods all around us, a motion that he had made plenty of times during the ride. But by now, I was more than sure that he wasn't looking for any hunting game. His shoulders were too tense. And still, fear never left him completely.

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

He sighed, looking skyward as to try to find any patience left. He studied us warily, that metal eye narrowing with unnerving focus. "Trying to figure out my weaknesses so you can—" I shot him glare, freezing his words before another insult could pass his lips. "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. 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.

"High Fae can have specific powers. Mostly related to their Court." I said to Feyre. "For example, a High Fae from Summer can have affinity with the water element. Someone from Winter with ice." I casted my eyes on Lucien before I continued "The one from the Autumn Court usually with fire. And so on."

Gritting his teeth, Lucian sent me a seething glare before returning to look forward once again.

"That makes sense." Feyre said with a nod in my direction. "How'd you get that scar?" She then asked the Fae.

"I didn't keep my mouth shut when I should have, and was punished for it." His eyes once again founded mine. A threat to keep me shut. Well, it was not going to work.

"You do have a big mouth, Lucien." I commented with a satisfying grin. A snarl curled his lips but before he could say anything, Feyre talked again, sending me another warning look.

Right. We need information.

"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."

The Suriel. The name of the creature was not unfamiliar to me.

Before I could think about it more, I felt the change into the air. A being, not high fae or faerie. Its magic was different, more powerful and made to create one emotion. Fear.

The cold thing was circling us. We could see nothing, but we could feel it. But only when it started to whisper in the back of my mind with an ancient, hollow voice that I understood what it was.

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." I commented rolling my eyes in clear annoyance.

Just what we need. A Bogge

Lucien whipped his head to the right, listening, his eye whirring softly. Feyre didn't waste a second to ready her weapon. Her bow was drawn in a heartbeat, pointing in the direction where Lucien stared.

"Put your bow down, Fey" I whispered in the most calm way I could. "It won't be of any help."

"Put your damned bow down, human, and look straight ahead." Lucian, on the other hand, chose a completely different way to deal with it. "Don't react." He said, forcing his gaze ahead, the metal eye going still and silent.

Fortunately, Feyre did as we said, as the Bogge continued to whisper in her mind. Our minds.

Fear. It can make you a different person. It makes you act irrational and easily get you killed.

"Calm down. Both of you." I said acting as the ancient being was not hunting for us, ignoring it completely and just looking straight ahead. "No matter what you feel or see, don't react, Feyre. Don't look. Just stare ahead." I instructed my sister, interviewing our hands together.

Fear. She was afraid. Her frail body trembled from it. In my peripheral view I could see that even Lucien was afraid even if he tried with everything in him to not let it show, though.

It made me frown. Even a High Fae was scared. One that was born with more power and strength that I would ever even dream to have. It made me think that maybe I was too far gone. Too stained with death. Because of the life of me, I couldn't fathom to feel even a slight drop of fear other than for my sister even with the Bogge still whispering its promises of death in my mind.

And then, it stopped. And everything was back as it was.

"What was that?" Feyre asked once she understood that it was over, brushing the tears from her face that had fallen from her still glassed over eyes.

Lucien's face was still pale as he answered. "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." I explained. I felt Lucian stare at me as soon as I said those words, but I didn't acknowledge it.

He might think I was a useless human but he was wrong. I probably knew more about his world than he did himself.

"How do you know this?" He asked with suspicion, brows lowered, hiding behind his fox mask.

"Someone taught me a thing or two about your world" Unbothered I answered. I was not going to let out my secrets. Not that I cared but those helped me stay a step ahead of him, of Tamlin and everyone in this Court.

"I heard its voice in my head. It told me to look." Feyre explained. Eyes still pooling with tears that I know she will not let fall. Not again.

Lucien rolled his shoulders, loosening the tension. "Well, thank the Cauldron that you didn't. Cleaning up that mess would have ruined the rest of my day." He tried to joke. But it was hollow, different from the insults and normal jokes that he would came up with usually.

After an hour of meandering through the trees, hardly speaking to each other, Feyre finally stopped trembling enough to release my hand from her iron tight hold.

"So you're old," She said to Lucien, bringing up once again one of the previous topics. "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 indicating his heart.

"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."

"Want to try me?" I asked. The mask of the human that I always had on slipping away to reveal the bare state of my emotion, or more so the lack of them. My tone chilled to the temperature of death making my already raspy voice hollow, almost resonating on itself. "The last time I was in front of one of your kind it was him curled on the ground pleading with me. And not to let him live." To let him die. Pleading me to kill him.

The silence that followed my words was almost uncomfortable.

"Mai..." Feyre sighed out. A breath filled with pity that I decided to completely ignore. She finally decided to ignore my comment turning toward towards the High Fae insted "You are insufferable, you know that Lucien."

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 we made our way out of the stables Lucian stopped me with a hand on my wrist.

I hissed at him as my instincts rose. I grabbed his hand with my free one, twisting my held wrist until I could push his own down and making him twist his arm. Lucian fell into his knees with a groan, his arm still twisted in a painful way held now in my grasp

"A simple 'Take your hand off of me' would have been sufficient." Lucian said, massaging his arm as I released him.

I 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. My twin glanced back one last time before she walked out of the stables.

"What do you want?" I asked to the Fae not bothering with any niceties.

"Why were you not afraid of The Bogge? By the Cauldron, I was afraid!" Lucian snapped, almost shouting, making me roll my eyes. I knew he was begging for an answer, I could feel the question on the tip of his tongue throughout the rest of the journey after the Bogge "That was not a normal reaction. Most of all from a human." He continued releasing a breath filled with confusion and fear.

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

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone!

This is a big chapter, almost 4500 words, but i think this is a bit boring. Not much happening.

This first act is more focused on Feyre since she is the one falling in love with Tamlin. Everything written is from Mai POV but everything to Feyre written in the ACOTAR book, of course, still is happening.

Anyways, thank you for reading this chapter, I'll see you on Saturday!

˚ · ° . 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 . ° · ˚

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾