Day Court / Autumn Court
Day Court
The evening came, Helion had his eyes fixed in a nonspecific point of the bedroom, which was a random guests room where he had placed the red haired female in the bed for being the closest room to where she had windowed them, to the main living room.
The High Lord was sat in the edge of the bed, beside his lover, he had removed the metal parts of his armor and washed the blood of the few enemies he had to kill while still having a headache from him. Laurel was laid unconscious, had fainted in exhaustion right after their arrival, even Ziv didn’t believe on her eyes as she saw her old friend.
He was holding Laurel's hand, paying attention at the sound of her breathing, she was there, right on his side, he had imagined this day coming uncountable times, and yet he was nervous, anxious, afraid that it was just a dream.
When the night fell, Helion was distracted on his thoughts, thinking about what to do next, until his hand got squeezed, he turned his face to her. Her eyelids seemed heavy, he released her hand for a second, took a glass laid in the nightstand, filled with water from a jar, a heartbeat later he was back to her, helping her to sit, then sitting on the bed, using his own torso as a support for her to lean.
The male held up the glass close to her, she took it with her shaking hand, he placed a arm around her, his hand ready in case of the glass fell as her trembling hand. She was so thin, bony, even through the dress he could feel the exactly shape of the bones under her skin.
“Do you need more?” he asked as she finished the water, she shook her head, giving the empty glass to him, he took it, straighten his arm to the nightstand, where he placed the object.
“I am tired.” Her eyes meet the cloaks she was using, fallen in the corner of the room, the heavier was still wet in the edges from the snow it got while passing across the Winter Court. The red head rubbed her eyes, she was so exhausted from the running, and from winnowing, her power was fully drained, which made her exhaustion worse.
“Sleep.” He said low, worried, helped her to lay, then covered her with blankets.
Laurel grabbed his hand, holding tightly as she said, “Stay here.” She could barely keep her eyes open.
A light nod, he held her left hand with both if his, laying at her side, she placed her right hand on his face, stroking her thumb on his smooth skin before eyes closed.
oOo
Laurel woke up thanks to the morning light that invaded the room, she slowly opened her eyes, trying to make them used by the light, she looked around, remembering about the last hours, and at the same time wondering if everything that happened was a dream or not.
But it wasn’t, the red had recognized the white and light yellow shades in the walls, the white headboard with golden details, Helion wasn’t at her side anymore, someone had dressed her in a nightgown.
She slowly removed the blankets on her body, sat, and then stood up, stepped to the wardrobe already full of clothes, she took a simple long white strap dress, then went to the bathroom.
oOo
Her wet red hair swayed on wind that came from the windows as Laurel walked across the Palace, she had found Ziv while walking, who was so happy to see her that kissed almost all of her face while asked a servant to serve her the breakfast, Jomei also found her, he hugged her so tightly that she almost lost her breath.
The female greeted a few servants and sentries that she found while walking towards the dinner room, they all knew her, were happy to finally see her, a few Fae servants even hugged her before she could say a word to them.
The red haired arrived at the dinner room, sat in the first chair she saw, she had her hands on her lap, took a few deep breaths. She wasn’t in the Autumn anymore, she thought.
The female would try to eat properly, not all at once or she would puke, but slowly, eventually she would finally be able to do such a thing.
She took a bread then spread butter, took a glass and filled with orange juice, eating slowly, already felling full when only half of her food had been eaten, but she kept going, until her last slip on the juice.
Laurel stayed sat, staring at the empty plate, it still seemed like a dream, she had her arms wrapped around herself when she heard footsteps, felt the scent of fresh cutted grass and vanilla cream, she slowly turned her head, her gaze found the long haired male, Helion had changed his clothes, a formal toga, she could see the slightly apparent black circles around his eyes by lack of sleep.
He dragged a hand through his oak hair, “I had a reunion earlier.” A pause, “I wasn’t there when you woke up…” his lips pressed in a thin line, he blinked hard for one second before saying: “Sorry.” His voice was soft, he held his own hands before looking at her again.
“Ziv told me.” She loosed her arms, “This reunion was important, whatever it was about.” She said, Ziv hadn’t told her details, only that Helion was required there, she could read guilt and sorrow on his face, his gold amber eyes surveyed the table, her plate and glass before finding her again.
“How are you feeling?” Helion took a step closer, “After you woke up here, you slept one entire day.”
Her gaze ran to the window, the High Lord might have been spend two nights without sleeping, which would explain why he had black circles around his eyes, “I feel tired.” A pause, she eyed the edge of the table, “I also feel like I am going to wake up at any moment.”
Her russet eyes became vacant, Helion walked close to her, gently touching her bare shoulder, his eyes surveyed her arms, looking for hematomas on her fair skin, he found none, the servant who had dressed her in a nightgown also didn’t found anything, the situation on Prythian was bad, but it at least made Beron busy enough to forget about beating her.
“My spies reported that Beron is death.” He said low, eyes fixed on her face.
“Good.” she let escape a sigh of relieve, it was everything she had to say about it.
“No one will take you back there.” Helion used his thumb to caress her skin, his voice low, “We are not dreaming.” We, he felt the same thing as her.
Laurel let escape a low breath, used her hand to touch the one Helion had on her shoulder, he got still as if he had been frozen, in a few seconds she released the grip, slowly standing up, her body slight trembled, the hand Helion had on her shoulder was on her elbow, as if being ready to hold her if needed.
She went closer to him, leaning her body on his, an arm around his waist, the hand from her opposite arm touched his bare powerful arm, her fingers brushing his skin as she leaned her head on his shoulder, he leaned his cheek on her head, hugging her back, they weren’t sure for how much time they stayed like this, they could only focus on each other.
Laurel moved her head away from him, staring at his neck as she said: “Lucien... He got disappeared decades ago, did he..?” her lips pressed in a thin line, that was the last thing she heard about her youngest son, that he had went to the human lands, then disappeared.
Helion blinked slowly, sorrow on his face, he knew she would ask about Lucien at any time, the only people who knew about what really happened to their son besides him were the ones close to him, and Rhysand's Inner Circle. His eyes became wet as he asked her to sit, then he sat at her side, he had so much to tell her.
oOo
“So he on the Night Court now?” the red haired asked, shocked, she was still processing everything that had been told her.
A nod, “I couldn’t take him after the two weeks” his voice was low and hoarse, full of guilty and sorrow, “If his bond had not been accepted and he got separated from his mate for too long, he will fall in madness again.”
“What have your spies reported about him?” she placed a hand in the table, glanced at the window, to the afternoon sky, almost evening.
“He is going well, healthy, didn’t seem to have any kind of harm.” Helion rubbed his index finger at the arm of the chair he was sat, his gaze low, “One of them, who works in the Palace said he is close with the High Lady's sister, his mate, but their bond hasn’t been accepted.” A pause, he stared at a nonspecific point in the table.
“He must stay close to her…” It came out as a breath,
He confirmed with the head, toying a random fork on the table, “The madness came slowly, it starts imperceptible, and when noticed it is painful, not only for the rejected mate but also for the ones around…” he pressed the fork against the table with his fingers, until the metal started to become flat.
Laurel rubbed her temples, placing both elbows on her knees, the male's gaze ran to her, “I need time.” To process what she learned, to process that it wasn’t a dream, to process what had happened to her youngest son.
“Please, take how much you need.” He said softly, touching her upper arm, “Sorry.” His eyes became wet again, tears treating to fall.
“It is not your fault.” She grabbed his hand, gently squeezing the grip, they stayed in there for awhile, in silence.
oOoOo
Autumn Court
Eris walked inside the military room, towards the head of the table, to his father's chair. Slowly, he approached to it, touching the reddish gold ornament.
He dragged a hand through his red hair, pulling the chair, his chair now, then sat on it, got closer to the table, taking a few reports, carefully reading them, until a servant arrived, warning him about his fourth brother and Beron's bodies, that were ready to be cremated.
The new High Lord dismissed the servant, finished to read the report and stood up, straightening his formal crimson jacket, he walked out the room, crossing the Palace, until he arrived to the main back garden, the placed was illuminated by lights of orange and red shades, a few high torches around to demarcate the place of the ceremony.
Eris walked through the people, made only by nobles High Faes, until he arrived at his father and brother's corpses, rounded by high ranking soldiers and his most loyal nobles.
The two bodies used formal clothes, Beron was laid in a large bed made by dry dark wood, with a flat surface similar to railings in the place of the mattress, the fourth son laid in a similar structure at his father's right side. Under then, in the ground, it was surrounded by rocks and covered by ash, and flammable fabrics under the structures.
He stood at his father’s left side, two steps back from the rocks, his third brother stood at the fourth's side, a High Priestess came, placing herself close to the corpses' heads, she discoursed, prayed, took a few steps back before giving permission to the two red haired males to start the cremation.
The two brothers threw a small sparkle of fire in the fabrics, which instantly burned, spreading fire by all of the beds and corpses, burning it, until they were only ashes in the ground.