Chapter 4
Harrie didn’t recognise where she was. It looked like a cozy sitting room in what appeared to be a rather beautiful cabin. She was sat on a very comfortable armchair with fluffy pillows. There was a fire crackling softly. She startled when she realized there was a man sitting in the armchair opposite her, watching intently.
“Hello, darling,” he said. He didn’t seem surprised at her sudden appearance. Had she been taken again? Sirius had assured her she was safe in the House of Wind, that no one could penetrate the wards surrounding Velaris. But Sirius could be wrong, maybe she was safe from threats outside of the city, but that didn’t mean the people inside of it would harm her.
“Breathe, darling.” The man was in front of her now. When had that happened? He held her hand to his chest and spoke again. “Copy me, love. Breathe in slowly.” She took a shaky breath. “Good girl, now let it out.” She did.
Her vision cleared as they kept breathing together for several minutes. She hadn’t even realized that her sight had blurred.
“You are safe, and I will not hurt you. You’re currently asleep, safe in your bed in the House of Wind. I promise.” He backed away and sat in his chair again.
“What do you mean, I’m asleep? Who are you? Are you in my head?!” Harrie nearly shouted.
“My name is Rhysand,” he said calmly. “I am the High Lord of the Night Court. I believe you’ve heard a little about me?”
She looked him over. He wasn’t anything like she had expected. He looked young, though she knew he wasn’t. He must have been at least a couple hundred years old, but he looked to be in his late twenties. He was well muscled and tall, with golden-brown skin. He had raven-colored hair and his eyes. Violet. Like she’d been seeing in her dreams.
“How are you in my head?” She was surprised to hear that her voice didn’t shake. “You should know that I don’t handle having my mind violated very well.”
Something passed through his eyes, almost too quick for her to notice. He wore a mask, she realized, not unlike a few others she had known.
“It is not my intention to violate your mind. But your mind called out to mine the moment you fell into my city. I got a vision of you as you fell from the sky and into the Sidra.” He seemed confused. “No one has ever gotten through my mental defenses before.”
Shit. She had gone and pissed off the High Lord of the court that was offering her and her family sanctuary. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, I didn’t even know who you were! I’ve never even performed legilimency before. Please, your court offered us sanctuary, we have nowhere else-”
“Harriet,” he interrupted, “I am not upset. It was startling, to be sure, that not only had someone broken through, but that several people had made it past my wards. But I think we may be able to work together. Now, what is legilimency?”
Harrie took a deep breath to steady herself. “Legilimency. It’s a form of mind magic. There’s a spell that allows someone to invade another’s mind. They can search through thoughts and memories.” She shuddered. “It can be quite painful. You have to be very skilled in occlumency to block them.”
Rhysand hummed thoughtfully. “We have a similar type of magic, though I believe it works differently. I am what is known as a daemati. We can walk through another’s mind as if pushing a curtain aside if the person has no mental defense. Which it seems you don’t.”
She scowled at him. “What is the purpose of you being in my head? I’ve had too many people in here for my liking.”
“We’ll need to fix that,” he said. “I can teach you how to keep me and others like me out.”
“No thank you. I have tried to learn and I have no interest in going through that pain again.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “I can teach you with relatively no pain. You’d feel some discomfort, but it wouldn’t hurt unless I tried to hurt you. This is an important skill. If you met another daemati, they could waltz right in and take control. You wouldn’t even know they were doing it.”
“What do you even get out of this? Why would you teach me how to keep you out?” She was getting frustrated. “Me and my family are strangers to you. You don’t know me, you don’t know that I’m not a threat. How does this benefit you?”
“I’ll admit that this is a risk. One I don’t take lightly.” He leveled a warning look at her. “But I’m desperate. The high lords of Prythian, and by extension, our territories, have been taken over by a vile woman. Her name is Amarantha. I am fortunate enough to have a position close to her. I hear things, and sometimes she listens to me. But I have no way to get the information to the people who can do something with it. That is, until you. I want us to work together to bring her down.”
She stared at him for several long minutes, contemplating. “I’ve spent my whole life being manipulated by an old man to fight in a war I never should have been a part of. Now you want me to be a part of one for a world that isn’t mine. Tell me why I shouldn’t pretend this conversation never happened and go about my new life in Velaris.”
He sighed and managed to look both irritated and impressed. “One way or another, this war will make it to Velaris. She may discover my true loyalties, or she may just tire of my company. The chances of me making it out of here alive without help are slim, and when I die, the wards around Velaris will fall. Work with me and I will offer you and your family my protection. I will protect them as I would my own family.”
Harrie weighed her options. This world wasn’t her responsibility, and she was so tired. But Teddy’s safety wasn’t a guarantee unless Amarantha was taken out. They’d always be looking over their shoulders for the next threat. She didn’t want Teddy to live like that anymore.
She wouldn’t do this blindly, though. She wouldn’t be manipulated again.
“If we do this, I’ll need some assurances. And I need to know exactly who I’m working with.” She gave him a cold look. “No lies, no games. You will not decide what bits and pieces I need to know. I want to see the whole picture.”
Rhysand met her gaze evenly. “Ask your questions.”
“What is it that you do for Amarantha that has her willing to trust you?”
He sighed and looked into the fire, not willing to meet her eyes anymore.
“She has use of my unique talents. I can get information easily for her. I can also use those abilities to torture, and on more than one occasion, simply crush someone’s mind. Wipe away everything that makes them who they are until they’re just an empty shell..” He paused and she could hear the shame coating his voice as he continued. “And she enjoys my company in her bed. When I can manage to use my powers while she's distracted, I can sometimes influence her. Sometimes to show a little mercy.” He looked back at Harrie with steel in his eyes. “Judge me if you will, but there is nothing that I wouldn’t do or become to keep my family safe.”
_______________
Rhys looked at the witch in front of him, wondering if she would be able to look past the monster he’d become and work with him anyway. He was trying to give her the privacy of her own thoughts, but he couldn’t help hearing some fragmented pieces.
Terrible, what he’s had to do..
I’d do the same..
I’d be a monster if it meant Teddy would be alright..
The longer she studied him, the more her eyes softened. He was surprised. There was no look of judgment, no horror or hatred. She looked like she understood him.
“I’ll help you,” she said. “I don’t know how much use I’ll be. It has been three years since I’ve been able to actively use my magic. I can’t feel it anymore, but Sirius was right. If I had no magic at all, I’d be dead..”
Rhys could almost hear the longing in her voice, which he understood in a way. There were many times under the mountain that he had wished for his own death.
“I’ll do what I can to help you get your power back,” she continued. “But I need you to know right now that I don’t give a damn about some ‘greater good’. I’ve already fought one war, and I’ve lost too many people. I won’t lose anyone else. So once you’re free, we’re even, yeah? I won’t do this if you’re going to hold our safety over our heads forever.”
Rhys could live with that. He could ensure that she had a nice, quiet life once this was over.
“I can agree to that. Any other requests?”
She hesitated for a moment. “How do I know you’ll keep your word?”
This time he smirked. “Well, I think it’s time we made a bargain, darling.”