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florencemtrash · 8 months

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The Wisp Between Worlds

CHAPTER FIVE: LOOK AT ME

Acotar fanfic/rewrite. Inner Circle x OC. Eventual Azriel x OC.

Summary: Have you ever wondered what you would do (and do differently) if you found yourself trapped in the fantasy world of your dreams? For Nora, this fantasy of hers is about to play out when she finds herself portaled away to the Moral Lands south of Prythian. But all is not as it seems. Feyre Archeron is missing and the deadline to break Amarantha’s curse draws near. Who will save Prythian now?

Warnings: None for this chapter

Masterlist

*Let me know if you would like to join the taglist*

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The library was a safe space full of softness and comfort. Tucked into a quiet corner of the manor, it overlooked the drowsy gardens with a solemn and watchful gaze like some silent sentinel. Soft sunlight, colored in vibrant greens, blues, and pinks from the stained glass windows, cast itself on the deep stained bookshelves that rose from the floor to the ceiling three stories up.

When Nora laid herself out on the lush velvet and stared up at the ceiling she could trace the shapes and careful brushstrokes of the fauns and river nymphs that raced across the pearl-inlaid canopy. When she fell asleep, clutching the leather-bound history books to her chest, she imagined the eyes of those creatures beginning to glow, watching her with careful interest as sleep finally came to claim her.

She was a ravenous girl, barreling through at least one book a day as she paced around the library, head bent and mouth silently making shapes of the words that flooded her mind. The first day she had scoured the first few shelves of books, searching for anything and everything related to history, politics, economics, and magic - though mainly history. The next few days she carefully and methodically worked her way through the stacks of books that she arranged on the empty desk by the window, stealing every inch of sunlight before the encroaching dark eventually forced her to return to her room, books in tow. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat until she could repeat from memory the names and children of the seven High Lords of the seven courts of Prythian dating back seven generations, until the drawings of the magic creatures that existed throughout the courts invaded her nightmares.

Lucien held the reins loosely in his hands, feeling the muscles of the horse beneath him ripple and flex as they moved along the uneven earth. These were deep and dark woods they found themselves in, woods that had fallen outside the bounds of Tamlin’s waning powers. He wouldn’t have dared to trek this far into the Western Woodlands if it weren’t for the High Lord that stalked beside him looking more comfortable as a beast than as a fae.

Four months. They had four months to break this curse.

“Nora seems to be settling in nicely.” Lucien said. He knew Tamlin had slipped into the library on multiple occasions, too hesitant to interrupt the girl whose blazen quest for books had overtaken the space. Still, he was glad to see the space used. It had been a long time since anyone had walked their halls with any real sense of purpose.

Tamlin grunted in reply.

“Last I heard she’s stowed herself away in the library.” Again, silence. “Reading.”

“That is what you do in libraries, Lucien. If you’re going to say something, say it simply.”

Lucien started at the movement of shadows out of the corner of his eye. Brushing off the unease of feeling watched, he said, “She likes books. Might be an avenue to court her.”

“Court her?” Tamlin said with no small amount of derision, “I remember you saying I should drop her in these woods for the Bogge.”

“And like most other times you chose to ignore my advice.” Lucien kept the irritation and bitterness out of his voice with practiced ease. “Whether I like it or not, she’s here. You’ve allowed a murderer into our home-”

“Into my home. I know what I’m doing.”

Lucien stilled, the horse pulling at the bit to continue forward - she wanted to finish their hunt and get out of these woods just as much as the son of Autumn on her back.

“If you know what you’re doing, then you know how important it is to get her to fall in love with you. It’s the only shot we have, Tamlin, and time is running out.”

“Don’t you think I know that!” Tamlin roared in frustration, turning on his heels and barring his teeth, “Don’t you think I know we are teetering at the edge of a knife? The future of my court, of Prythian, is in the hands of some human girl. A human girl that dozens have died to bring here.”

Dozens of friends sent to their death beyond the wall, murdered and cut apart and sold to the highest bidder for nothing. Everytime he thought about it too closely, his mind would descend into dark places that took days to emerge from. It was what kept him away from the manor, chasing after beasts of shadow and darkness that prowled the edges of his court, nipping at his heels like the evil omens they were.

“I don’t need you to remind me that time is running out.” Tamlin muttered and sighed, eyes looking off to the slivers of green pasture that slipped through the crowded woods, “Go back to the manor, Lucien, and keep an eye on the girl. I’ll finish this myself.”

“Tam-”

“GO!” Tamlin growled. The horse pawed anxiously at the ground, twisting its neck back towards home. Lucien allowed her to follow her instincts. She transformed the brisk trot into a gallop as they escaped the woods together leaving Tamlin behind.

Nora sat at the table, flipping through the pages of an index of magical creatures as she broke off bits of a chocolate scone and sipped at the cup of tea before her. Alis had all but dragged her out of the library to have lunch in the dining hall like a civilized person. It seemed pointless to Nora - why have lunch alone in the dining hall when she could have lunch alone in the library. It wasn’t even like Alis stayed with her all day, despite Nora’s frequent requests to be taken out of the manor to go horseback riding or to explore more of the manor’s grounds.

“Don’t know what you want to go out for.” Alis would say, “There are creatures in every corner that would love to sink their teeth into you.” Nora wondered if Tamlin was included in that group.

She hadn’t seen Tamlin, or Lucien, in two and a half weeks. Two and a half weeks of holing up in the library and only emerging to take extended walks around the manor or for mealtime. She’d already given up on trying to learn weapons fighting - reading techniques in books and practicing with an old fire poker didn’t equate to proper instruction from a swordsman and after months of surviving on so little, she doubted she had gained the strength to lift a real sword. Maybe if she pestered Tamlin or Lucien enough…

Her head shot up from the page on the Suriel as Lucien sauntered in, mouth flattening into a thin line when he saw Nora sitting at the table. She never looked quite right in Spring colors - pale pinks and blues too pastel against her skin, which had steadily been taking on a tan now that she was removed from the winter months in the Human Lands.

She swallowed her last bite guiltily, quick to move her papers and books from the dining table to make space for him. He waved off her efforts, sinking into the seat furthest from her and beginning to help himself. Her dark eyes tracked his movements as keenly as a hunting dog.

“Where’s Tamlin?” she asked carefully.

“Out hunting.” His words were quick and to the point. He’d tried to shrug off the sting of Tamlin’s words on his ride back home to the manor.

“What would he have to hunt? There never seems to be a lack of food.”

“He’s not hunting to eat, he’s hunting to keep these lands safe. You didn’t seriously think all fae would be as welcoming as we’ve been?”

Her eyes flitted down to the book she’d been reading, “No. I didn’t think that at all.”

With a snap of his fingers the book appeared in his hand. She jumped from her seat, running around the table to try and steal back the book, but Lucien merely stood up and held it out of reach, golden eye whirring as he read aloud, “The Book of Beasts - Erudition and Mesmerism. This is what’s kept you trapped in the library?”

She pushed roughly at his chest, frowning when he didn’t budge.

He walked over to her abandoned notes, eyes skimming the pages of her handwriting which progressively worsened the more tired and anxious she became. All notes on how to protect from magic and wicked fae of every variety. A familiar figure kept cropping up - The Suriel. Lucien examined everything thoroughly, tracing the words she’d written with a careful, if not quick, hand.

Nora scrambled to pick up her notes and books when he finally stepped away, hurrying back to the library in a flurry of tulle and anxiety. Would he think her strange for her research? Would he begin to suspect her plan?

No, that’s ridiculous. There’s no way for him to know what I know. He wouldn’t even believe me if I told him.

Wherever Tamlin was, he’d sent Lucien back to keep an eye on her. She might have enjoyed having company if he didn’t hover without so much as a word, slipping in and out of the library with a quietness her poor human ears couldn’t pick up on. He seemed infinitely curious about all the time she spent in the library and would occasionally get up from his seat on the sofa and take a turn around the room, brushing past her shoulders and peering over to look at her reading for that day, at which point she’d slam the book shut or gather her notes to her chest like they were her own children. There were few things she could call her own, and so she wouldn’t give up these scraps of knowledge, not even for Lucien.

“Who taught you to read?” Lucien gazed up at the girl. She’d moved around the library like a ghost on a mission, only huffing and muttering underneath her breath when the pages refused to yield their knowledge to her.

Nora gripped the ladder tightly. She had to crane her neck to look past the many layers of her seafoam green dress to where Lucien stood at the base of the ladder. With every passing day that Tamlin neglected to appear at the manor, the more anxious Alis became. Nora was no longer allowed to pick her dresses. Instead Alis would spend the first two hours of every morning carefully arranging her gowns and her hair to look perfect in advance of Tamlin’s arrival. Lucien had to admit that Alis’s efforts were working, paired with the simple fact that Nora was slowly filling out her dresses with regular meals and time to rest. Her skin no longer held that pallor of poverty.

“Excuse me?” She looked at him like he’d grown horns.

“Where’d you learn to read?”

Nora blinked, briefly forgetting that illiteracy was a prevalent problem in the Human Lands. “Jaskiel taught me. He was a merchant.”

“And who is this Jaskiel?”

Lucien didn’t miss the droop of her shoulders or the sad memories that glazed over her eyes. She missed him dearly.

“I suppose you could call him my adoptive father.” The smirk on Lucien’s face faltered. He only knew the briefest account of her story - taken by slavers from the Continent and forced to survive by the Wall on the kindness of strangers.

“Merchants are taught to read contracts - bland and boring things.” He said, fingers dragging over the shelf with a look of boredom.

“Words are words.” She said, eyes returning to the soft leather spines of the books in front of her, “Just because you start off reading contracts doesn’t mean you can’t learn to enjoy other things.”

“Like bland and boring accounts of history.”

She shot him a look of indignation before returning to her search, “What do you want, Lucien?”

Lucien shifted beneath that gaze - a look that spoke of exhaustion and a sadness deep and unbroken. It was a feeling he was well acquainted with.

He should hate her. She was here solely because she hated fae strongly enough to murder one in cold blood, but the longer and longer she remained at the manor, the less he felt that to be true. How hateful could someone be who seemed so genuinely curious about their way of life, their magic, the creatures good and bad that roamed the lands wild and wicked? More than once he’d passed by the library to find her pouring over pages with a light in her eyes that could rival the powers of the Day Court.

More than hateful, she just seemed lonely.

Slowly the pieces began to fall into place. The second set of tea cups on the table, the hours upon hours spent alone reading about Prythian, the unfinished letters to her family, blotted and torn from tears - they laid out a story of loneliness and a fear of a world wholly unfamiliar to her and filled to the brim with people that would like nothing more than to see her dead. It was a miracle Amarantha hadn’t found out about her.

“I thought you might like some company.” Lucien said, abandoning the snide comment he’d been planning to tell her, “Maybe time spent away from this stuffy place.” After all, she would be of no use to anyone if she went mad in isolation.

She perked up at this, climbing down the ladder in her ridiculously lavish dress that felt more appropriate for a Court ball than a day spent indoors.

“Where will we be going?”

She stretched out her arms, breathing in the familiar scent of the woods. After trading in the dress for riding pants and a cloak, Lucien had led them out on horseback to the Western Woods, still close enough to the manor that they would be safe. Birds chirped lazily from their nests, drunk on honey and nectar and the wind whispered between the gaps in the trees. The spare bow Lucien had given her rested comfortably on her back. It wouldn’t be of much use in the hands of an untrained human, but if it made her feel more relaxed in his presence he would allow it.

Maybe I should strap a sword to her back when Tamlin’s around. Lucien thought with a silent chuckle, then immediately stopped. Tamlin would hate to see her armed.

He took the lead, a few paces in front with his own sword strapped to his side in a sheath of glimmering gold. Nora wondered if it had ever been used before.

“You said Tamlin’s been out hunting but you never told me what.” Nora said, breaking the fragile silence and surprising Lucien.

“A creature called a Bogge. A creature you should pray never to cross paths with. I assume you’ve come across it in your readings?” He turned in his seat, the tail of his riding cloak catching the light to shift between gold and forest green - colors fit for a bright autumn day.

Nora nodded, “A species of lesser fae. Children of one of the First Gods, Lanthys. Formless and filled with malice and hate, they don’t become real until you give them the power to become real by looking at them.”

The corner of Lucien’s mouth twisted in a half-smile. She sounded like a prized pupil that had been waiting for an examination.

“How do you fight it?” She asked, “In the Human Lands people say fae are vulnerable to iron and ashwood. Iron does nothing and most weapons here aren’t made from ashwood. So how do you kill other fae? How do you kill an idea?”

“You’ve been doing your research.”

“There’s been little else to do.” Nora said, looking off to the side as a squirrel darted out from the underbrush, “Boredom made me rather productive.”

“Like attracts like,” Lucien said, repeating the words that most high fae children heard first from their tutors, and then from soldiers and generals if they were ever trained in the art of warfare, “Like protects like, and like destroys like. Contradictory, I know, but it’s magic that can transform typical weapons into ones capable of killing other fae or magic embedded into fae-crafted weapons that give them power. Ashwood is special - it has a natural magic of its own that allows it to be deadly to us, even when wielded by humans. You can still find fae-crafted weapons with ashwood inlays.”

Nora pulled out a glistening silver arrow from her quiver. Sure enough, threaded through the metal as finely as veins in a living body, were slivers of gray-stained ashwood. Lucien slowed down to walk shoulder to shoulder with her, tracking the gentle sway of her body as she ran her fingers along the shaft of the arrow.

“As for the Bogge,” He continued, feeling her hang onto his every word, “Only a High Lord has the power capable of destroying it.”

She nodded thoughtfully, “Hence why Tamlin’s been hunting it for the last two weeks.”

Lucien stiffened in his seat, then swore loud enough for the sterlings nearby to take flight.

Nora chuckled - a sound he’d never heard before.

“How long have you known Tamlin was High Lord?”

Always. “Since the second night.” The lie rolled easily off her tongue, “I found a genealogy tome in the library. You’re in there too, obviously.”

At the briefest mention of his family, Lucien’s expression darkened and Nora knew not to brush the subject again. Memories, dark and terrible, floated behind his eyes almost as easy to read as a book. He schooled his face into one of bored neutrality, but there was a bite behind his words when he said, “Be careful of the things you learn, Nora.” It was the first time he’d ever said her name.

“If Tamlin’s a High Lord, the Bogge should be easy to track down and kill, shouldn’t it? He’s one of the most powerful beings in all of Prythian.”

Lucien set his teeth together. “It’s not as simple as that anymore.”

“And why not?”

“I can’t-” Lucien growled in frustration, rubbing at his temples and brushing against the borders of the mask on his face with hate. Strands of scarlet hair fell out from his elegant braid, as if highlighting his distress. The timing was almost perfect enough to be comedic. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not? I’ve done my reading, magic is as much a part of Prythian as water is to the sea.” Just tell me about Amarantha - as much as you can say under the curse. Say the words and I’ll figure the rest out myself, “Nowhere does it mention the capacity for anything to go wrong with the-”

Lucien grabbed hold of Nora’s waist and dragged her over onto his horse, clamping one strong hand over her eyes and pressing her against his chest. Curses spilled from her mouth as she slapped him. She may as well have been hitting a stone wall.

Why the fuck are you so goddamn strong?

“Stop it. Stop it now.” Lucien hissed into the curve of her ear, fear lacing through every fiber of his voice. It was enough to make her freeze in her seat. “Don’t move. Don’t look. No matter what happens, don’t look.”

The tan of his face had been all but drained, leaving the space between the mask and his jaw pale and sickly. She felt it then, the presence of something lurking at the edges of her mind and soul. Something as old as time itself, ancient and horrible in every way imaginable. It waited outside of her mind, knocking and slamming its hands against doors and walls that remained firmly shut.

She clamped her eyes shut tightly enough to see sparks behind her eyelids and silently latched onto one arrow with a vice-like grip.

Lucien’s breath was trapped in his chest as that inky, devilish voice invaded his mind and made his stomach turn.

Look at me…Look at me. LOOK AT ME!

I will devour you whole - your flesh, your body, your soul. I will be your worst nightmare. I will drink your blood and gnaw on your bones.

Look at me.

Lucien flinched, pathetically attempting to steel his ever-weakening resolve against the Bogge’s temptations. Every cell in his body screamed at him to end his misery, to end it all and gaze upon the Bogge. Anything to stop this madness.

I will leave you for the crows. I will bury you in the earth.

LOOK AT ME.

I will fulfill all your desires. I will give you everything.

Nora waited with bated breath for the feeling to leave her and slowly but surely, she felt the turning of her stomach ebb away into nothingness.

“You can open your eyes now.” Lucien gasped out as he gestured for Nora to remain on his saddle and set the mare into a quick pace back to the manor. Nora’s horse followed close behind, edging ahead of them now that it had reason to run and lacked the weight of a rider.

“The Bogge?” Nora asked quickly.

Lucien nodded, taking the time to assure himself that Nora was alright. And she was… surprisingly. Aside from the pale tint to her skin and the way she leaned against his chest, curling in on herself as if he could shield her, she was handling it remarkably well.

Tamlin paced at the front doors, immediately alerted to Lucien and Nora’s presence in his lands when they emerged from the woods. His green eyes, alight with fury and fear at returning to an empty house, narrowed in on the pair. The riderless horse arrived first, chestnut brown coat slick with sweat and foaming at the mouth from exertion.

Lucien stilled, pulling at the reins ever so slightly and dreading what thoughts might be running through Tamlin’s mind. He’d taken Nora off the main grounds without permission, and nearly gotten the both of them killed in the process. From the way Tamlin’s jaw clenched at the sight of the two of them sharing a saddle, he was not pleased.

“Where the hell have you been?” Tamlin growled out when Lucien leapt off the horse. He brushed off Lucien’s hands and helped Nora down himself before she could say anything, hands gently grasping her waist.

When she was on solid ground he placed himself in between her and Lucien.

“Tamlin, I can explain.” Lucien said, lifting his hands in surrender.

“Explain it then.” He pushed back on Lucien’s chest and unlike the times when Nora had done so, he was forced to step back and regain his balance, “I come home expecting the two of you to be here. Next I hear you’ve disappeared into the Western Woods. Do you understand how dangerous these times are?! And for a human girl no less!”

“I wasn’t thinking-” Lucien stumbled over his words and his steps. Tamlin opened his mouth, anger and power rolling off his body.

“I asked him to go!” Nora shouted, pulling at Tamlin’s arm that was pointed firmly at Lucien’s chest. “I was bored to death in that house and I asked him to go. I begged him.”

A sliver of relief swam behind Lucien’s mask as Tamlin turned towards Nora. She immediately let him go and stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself and making herself small.

“Don’t blame him.” She murmured, “It was my idea.”

“I suppose I should’ve done more to make sure you were taken care of.” He said through gritted teeth. None of the tension left his shoulders when he acknowledged Lucien once more, taking in the thinly veiled fear in his eyes, “What happened in the woods? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I nearly looked at the Bogge.”

Tamlin froze, “The Bogge? In the Western Woods?”

Lucien nodded.

“That’s impossible. I already checked every inch of those lands. The wards-” Tamlin bowed his head and cursed the ground beneath his feet. “Lucien, get Nora back to her room. And neither of you leave the manor until I get back. Understood?”

They both nodded as the ground beneath him began to glow. It was as if the land itself was draining its magic into Tamlin’s body, setting his skin alight in shades of bronze and gold. In the blink of an eye the beast that had first brought her to Prythian returned and Tamlin barreled towards the treeline.

“Come on, let’s go.” Lucien said, tilting his head towards where Alis waited by the front steps, gnarled hands as wrinkled as a tree branch twisting in front of her stomach. “I’ll walk her to her room, Alis.” He said.

She bowed deeply, sneaking a glance at the ruined state of Nora’s riding boots and the flecks of tree bark in her hair. But then her eyes softened and relief flooded in. The girl was safe. That was all that mattered.

“You did well, not looking.” Lucien said as they wove their way through the labyrinth of hallways and then finally stopped in front of her door. The words, thank you, lingered on the tip of his tongue, daring to dive out of his mouth.

Thank you for taking the fall for me today. Thank you for lying.

But instead he said, “Most fae fall for the Bogge’s temptations.”

Her brows furrowed together. “What do you mean?”

Lucien tilted his head in confusion, russet and gold eyes narrowing, “The Bogge speaks to you in your mind and shakes your soul. It promises you things great and terrible - anything to get you to look at it.”

Nora looked stealthily down to the floor, hiding her face and trying to match the lingering terror in Lucien’s countenance. She imagined she was painting an image of herself in his likeness.

Lucien gently held her shoulders, shaking her until she looked up at him with worry. He scanned her face, eyes widening, “You didn’t hear the Bogge, did you?”

“I did.” She lied, but he caught onto it.

“No… No you didn’t.” Lucien snapped his head up and looked around the empty hallway quickly. He bent down until she could look directly in his eyes and murmured desperately beneath his breath, “Tell no one about this.”

Nora gaped, “What?” She whispered back.

“I don’t know what it is, but there’s something strange about you, and that is dangerous. Tell no one.”

She nodded dumbly, stunned and overwhelmed by everything that had happened today. The weight of it crashed around her as chaotically as a tsunami. Lucien opened the door and ushered her in, giving her one last careful glance before leaving her to her thoughts.

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Taglist: @myheartfollower @impossibelle @chybay22 @lahoete

Author's note: Lucien deserves more love - that's it. That's the note. Oh also, apologies it's taken me so long to get this chapter out. Life has unfortunately happened.

#acotar #acotar fanfiction #eventual azriel x oc #lucien x oc #lucien vanserra #tamlin the tool #a court of thorns and roses #sjm #acotar rewrite #the spring court #acotar spring court #eventual inner circle x oc #found family #writeblr #azriel shadowsinger

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florencemtrash · 9 months

Text

The Wisp Between Worlds

CHAPTER THREE: OVER THE WALL

Acotar fanfic/rewrite. Inner Circle x OC. Eventual Azriel x OC.

Warnings: None for this chapter

Masterlist

*Let me know if you would like to join the taglist*

________________

Dinah made good money that day, haggling at the market to sell the deer meat for a higher price than it was worth. They’d even cooked a few cuts for dinner in the fire, filling the house with the heady scent of meat that lasted long after they’d finished tearing into the food with reckless abandon. After nearly a week of surviving on stale bread, tea, and water it felt like they were doing something wrong. But after leaning back in her chair, stomach full and comfortably stretching the waistband of her pants, Nora wondered if it was the guilt eating away at her instead. If she was right about this, about everything, then she’d just killed a faerie today and the High Lord of the Spring Court would be coming for her.

Nora crawled into bed, bones weary and begging for rest. But her mind would not let her forget the glint of the steel tipped ashwood arrow sticking out of the beautiful wolf’s skull. Dinah and Jaskiel whispered to one another from their shared bed across the room. During the winter months they needed to crowd into the living room by the fire to escape the cold that seeped in through the floor and walls. Sleeping on opposite ends of the room was as much privacy as any of them would get. The beds themselves were little more than sheets stuffed with hay and scraps of wool from Dinah’s mending projects and just barely kept you from freezing on the ground.

Before Nora had met them, and before Jaskiel had fallen ill, him and Dinah had lived comfortable lives in this little cottage. Jaskiel was once a small-time merchant and craftsperson, making frequent travels to the Continent to trade his wooden trinkets for spices and silks to sell to nearby villages. Dinah stayed home, tending to the house and the now dead garden of roses in the backyard. Whatever comforts Jaskiel had brought back for Dinah had long since been sold to the highest bidder. The only pieces left from that previous life were the books tucked away in the corner shelf of the living room, swollen and yellowed from the many times they’d all run their fingers through the pages, and Dinah’s wedding ring.

“It was the first thing I bought on the Continent.” Jaskiel told her, smiling at the strange girl who sat on the floor by his feet, bright eyes staring at him with curiosity. After a bath and a dinner of boiled katniss she was looking better, less like a frightened bird with its wings clipped.

“My first successful trip, and certainly not my last! And I knew the first thing I needed to do when I came home was marry Dinah.” She smiled from her seat next to him, abandoning her sewing project for a moment to rub his knee. She was thinner now than when they’d gotten married, gray hair sprouting from her temples and framing the crows feet that grew from her eyes whenever she was happy. Her hands were stronger too, more calloused and accustomed to hard work after Jaskiel had gotten sick. By pure force of will she’d carried the two of them through life since then and she vowed to continue doing so.

Perhaps it was because they’d known a kinder life that they took Nora in, patiently allowing her to learn the skill of survival.

I don’t want to leave. Nora thought tearfully, praying to whatever gods existed in this world that she wouldn’t be swept away in the night. She’d dreamed of Prythian every day, dreamed of being able to go home. Part of her still wanted that, the other part simply wanted to make peace with the life she knew now. No more change, no more being taken to new places and forced to learn everything all over again.

Her prayer was not answered.

Dinah and Jaskiel had been asleep for hours now, unaware of the doom that had slipped through the wall and was now lurking outside their home. Nora lay awake, holding a knife close to her chest and continuing to murmur her pleas and prayers.

The front door blew open, shattering into a million pieces and raining down over their heads with sharp stabs. Nora immediately jumped to her feet, throwing her blanket around her to protect from the wood that continued to strike her as the creature clawed at the ruined door frame.

Dinah was screaming. Jaskiel shouted Nora’s name as he threw his body over his wife, grabbing his cane. His lame legs cried out in protest when he tried to stand, brandishing the glorified stick as a weapon.

Nora sprained across the room, heart pounding and vision a blur as she barely dodged the next spray of wood that came crashing down.

The beast had ripped the walls and part of the ceiling into ribbons with one angry swipe of his claws.

Well that was fucking rude. Nora thought, trying to quell the shaking of her hands as she stepped in front of Jaskiel and Dinah, holding her knife out towards the beast as he finally made his way into the room.

Every step shook the ground more powerfully than an earthquake. The little moonlight spilling through the cracks in the ceiling were snuffed out by his enormous frame. Standing taller than a fully grown man was a creature with the body of a bear, head of a wolf, and horns extending so far out from his skull it was a miracle they didn’t catch on the wooden beams. Pure muscle rippled underneath fur that glowed with a golden light, illuminating the mouth of jet black teeth that were bared as he roared, “MURDERERS!”

Nora cringed, clapping a hand over her ear. Don’t drop the knife. Don’t you dare drop the knife.

“MURDERERS!” he screamed again. The foundations of the house shook with his power. Dinah’s screams died into quiet whimpers. Jaskiel crumpled to the ground, legs folding like paper beneath his rickety frame.

“WHO KILLED HIM?!”

The house remained silent. Only Dinah’s choked sobs punctured the stillness of the night. Nora tried not to faint, her mind fracturing into a million pieces as she tried to think of what to do next.

Do I tell him I killed the faerie? Do I tell him I killed Andras? Was that even the faerie’s name? But he hasn’t told me who I killed. I know who I killed. Am I supposed to know who I killed? Am I supposed to know I killed a faerie at all? What will happen to Dinah and Jaskiel?

Infuriated by the silence he lifted one arm, slamming his paw into the ground so hard that it broke through the wooden floors. Nora could feel the heat of his breath as he drew near, shoving his face right up against hers. “WHO KILLED HIM?!”

Nora refused to falter, irritation slowly beginning to overtake her fear.

His breath smells like roses. How ridiculous.

“We didn’t kill anyone!” Dinah sobbed, clutching her husband's shaking arm. The beast took one step backward and Nora let out a breath of relief. They were still alive. Dinah must have caught onto that string of hope because she began to regain her composure. Her blubbering might do nothing more than enrage the beast enough to slaughter them all.

“Please we didn’t-” Jaskiel’s feeble words were cut off by a growl. The beast’s eyes were still fixated on Nora, filled with even more fury for the fact that she remained standing - standing with a weapon brandished in her hand. The gall of the girl. He ripped it out of her hand as easily as one swatted a fly. Nora was too shocked to register the pain in her forearm as she stumbled backward, blood dripping down her hand and landing with a rhythmic thump thump thump onto the floor.

If he regretted hurting her he didn’t show it. As if to make a further point that he could kill them all in an instant, he whirled around towards the dining table. It exploded without so much as a whisper from him, taking out a chunk of the wall in the process.

His horns threw shadows against what remained, twisting and turning like a pair of skeletal hands. Jade green eyes glared out, filled with fury and some small seed of grief. “Who killed him?”

“We didn’t kill anyone.” Nora said. Her pain made her angry.

“LIAR! THE WOLF! Who killed the wolf?”

Jaskiel and Dinah shared a look. Nora hadn’t said anything about a wolf.

“I did.” The young girl didn’t flinch, although her throat tightened from the admission like someone had a hand around her neck. “I killed a wolf. This morning in the woods.”

“Hush, child.” Dinah hissed. She tore a strip of fabric from her dress and tried to stem the flow of blood from Nora’s arm.

“And did you know?” The High Lord growled out, barely concealing the threat of death in his voice, “Did you know he was faerie?”

The color drained from Nora’s face.

This is it. Two choices: lie and say you didn’t know and maybe he’ll let you live. Or… tell the truth. Tell him you knew the wolf was a faerie. Tell him you killed him out of hatred. Go to Prythian… try and get home.

The beast caught the flicker of recognition in Nora’s eyes, caught the narrowing of her inky black eyes in a look of hatred.

“You did know.” he seethed. He pulled away from her, disgust in his eyes at the feeble human girl before him. This was the girl who’d killed Andras. Some pathetic little human had slaughtered his trusted friend. “Did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy it when you slaughtered my friend.” He prowled about the room, never taking his eyes off the three of them still huddled in the corner by the cinders.

“Better him than me.” Nora held her head up, glaring at him.

“No.” Jaskiel breathed out, grabbing at her uninjured hand. “Please,” he begged the beast, “She’s my daughter. She’s young. She didn’t know any better. She was afraid.”

“Is that true?” the beast hissed, baring his fangs, “Did he attack you?”

She squared her shoulders. “No.”

“So you slaughtered him. Unprovoked. You murdered him.”

Nora barked out a laugh, “And how many humans have you murdered? How many will you continue to murder? How many homes will you break into? How many lives will you threaten?” her voice was filled with venom as she spit out the words, “I hope your friend is suffering right now in the afterlife. I wasn’t certain at the time, but now that I know he’s faerie I don’t regret it at all. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

She ignored his deep growl and dealt a final blow, “It was a quicker death than he deserved.”

With a roar he brought his claw down on the bookshelf next to him, shattering it completely. The beloved tomes tumbled onto the floor, half shredded and dusty from their fall.

If you were really going to kill me, you would’ve done it by now.

The fear of a painful death with Tamlin sinking his teeth into her throat and thrashing her around had made Nora forget one key fact: she knew this story. She knew about the curse that hung over his head - that hung over Prythian - and like it or not, he needed her.

The realization gave her power. She stood up again, ignoring Dinah’s desperate hands as she tried to force her daughter to kneel again, “What do you want?”

“What do I want? I want justice for what you did. I want you to pay.”

“We’ll pay the cost.” Dinah said frantically, “Name your price.”

Nora’s heart broke. Please don’t.

They had no money to spare. Dinah worked hard enough as it was, coming home every night with bleeding and cracked hands, and Jaskiel could do little more than beg for scraps of work. The wealthy in the village would offer them no respite, no mercy. They were too comfortable behind their iron gates and towering walls. Nora didn’t want to see Dinah beg too.

“And what is the price you’d lay on your daughter’s head?” the beast asked, stepping off the ruined shelf. Dinah stilled. “Whatever pathetic sum you offer won’t be enough. Andras was worth more than one-hundred of you.”

“Then what would be enough?” Tell us and be done with it already. “What do you want?”

“A life for a life. That’s what I want.”

“I’ll pay it.” Jaskiel said, voice even and strong. Dinah swore at him as he struggled to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane.

“What the hell are you doing, Jaskiel?” Nora hissed, turning around and stepping directly between him and Tamlin.

His kind face, weathered and leathery after decades of sea travel, softened when Nora’s face blocked the terrifying beast. She knew he liked her. He’d treated her with the love and kindness he would have shown his own daughter if he and Dinah had ever been blessed in that way. But the fact remained that Nora wasn’t theirs. She owed them a debt that could never be repaid and she wouldn’t forgive herself if anything happened to them.

“I’ll pay the price.” He said again, stepping to the side. Nora stepped with him, refusing to let Tamlin get close to Jaskiel.

“No he won’t.” Nora commanded, swinging back to Tamlin. The beast’s eyes flickered for a brief moment with something like surprise.

“As touching as the offer is,” he drawled, “I want the actual murderer.”

“Take me outside then. Don’t do it here.”

Again, that flicker of surprise, “You dare ask for such a thing?” He scoffed, eyes narrowing.

“I wasn’t asking. You already ruined half the house and left a hole in the floor, you don’t need to fill it with blood either.” Nora spit out.

He snarled, “For having the gall to ask me for such a thing, I’ll clarify something: I want your life. Prythian wants a life for the one you stole. So either you come with me across the wall to live out the rest of your days, or I take you outside and tear you to pieces as you so kindly told me to do.” His lips pulled back in a threatening smile.

“So either you kill me here and now, or some other beast over the wall kills me in a few days time. Tell me, Beast, which would be quicker?”

He cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowed. There was something in the way he moved, cat-like and predatory. Doubt flickered within her. What if I’m wrong? What if he kills me?

“I have lands,” Tamlin said carefully after some consideration, “So long as you don’t leave those lands you will be safe.”

“And what about Dinah and Jaskiel?” His eyes flickered over to the pair. Dinah’s eyes were trained on him, fear and fury simmering under the surface of her now composed face.

“What about them?”

“They’ll die without me. You only asked for one life. What fairness in ‘a life for a life’ is there if my absence leads to their deaths.”

Dinah and Jaskiel both tugged harshly at the back of her sleep shirt, begging her to control her boldness.

If a wolf could frown, it would look like the annoyance that crossed Tamlin’s face. “They’ll be taken care of.”

Nora’s breath caught in her throat. Did he mean it? He must mean it. I’ll give him hell if he doesn’t help them.

“You swear it?”

Tamlin’s eyes passed through each of them in turn. Nora, the girl’s name was. He tested the name out in his mind finding it agreeable enough. And he had to admit, some small piece of him was impressed - if not annoyed - by her boldness. The couple would surely die without her, already their frames were too thin and delicate to support their aging souls.

“I swear it.” He said, and found it a very easy promise to make, “But, you must promise to never leave Prythian. The moment you step foot back in the Human Lands, the deal is off, and I can’t promise what will become of your precious little family.”

“Take the offer.” Dinah said, turning Nora around and grasping her too-thin face. Tears welled up in her amber eyes and Nora did all she could to stop the rising emotions in her chest. “Take the offer. You’re a survivor, child. You’ll make it. You’ll make something of yourself.”

Jaskiel said nothing, face falling and aging twenty years in a few mere seconds.

“When does she leave?” Dinah said with a sniffle, wiping her tears away and taking a deep, shuddering breath.

“Now.”

“Now?!” Nora wanted more time with them. She wanted one more night.

“Now.” The decision was not up for discussion.

Dinah grabbed Nora’s shoulders, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. “Don’t worry about us,” she whispered, burying her face into Nora’s dark hair, “Just worry about taking care of yourself, alright? You know how.” She kissed Nora’s cheeks, wiping her hands on her nightdress as Jaskiel took his turn.

Nora braced her legs, feeling the weight of Jaskiel in her arms as he held her close. His legs may have been weak and broken, but his arms were strong. He brushed the hair back from her face with a calloused hand, stormy gray eyes expressing all he could not say. Goodbye. You will always be a daughter to me. Until we meet again.

Dinah grabbed her thickest cloak from the back of Jaskiel’s chair and threw it over Nora’s shoulders. Somehow the most important piece of furniture had managed to survive Tamlin’s rage. Final whispers of encouragement escaped Dinah’s lips before the beast snapped at them to leave, maneuvering through the wreckage he’d created with grace and power.

Nora could do nothing but allow her hand to slip through Dinah’s and quietly trail after the beast.

He led her to a beautiful mare that had been waiting obediently for them by the treeline. Her coat was as silky and pristine as a polished pearl. Nora hesitated. She’d never ridden a horse before, but Tamlin was in no mood to wait any longer. He grabbed her roughly by the waist with one paw and dumped her unceremoniously onto the mare’s back.

Asshole. She glared at the back of his horns as he led them into the night.

When Nora looked behind her she found Dinah and Jaskiel standing together in the gaping hole of their now ruined house. She didn’t stop looking until the woods closed around her and her home disappeared from sight.

>>>

They traveled for hours through the woods, the sun slowly sliding into place over the horizon and transforming the frost-bitten forest into the world’s largest chandelier. The constant rocking of the pearl-coated horse beneath her made Nora’s stomach turn and her thighs ached from the effort of staying upright. Tamlin’s utter silence didn’t make matters any better as he traced some secret path through the woods. Over time the rhythmic crunch of snow breaking beneath the mare’s hooves began to drive Nora to insanity.

You’re supposed to be getting me to fall in love with you, you know? Fucking idiot.

The more and more Nora thought about the events from last night, the more irate she grew. He’d crashed into her house in the middle of the night in his beast form, scared them nearly to death, demanded Nora leave her home, and now wasn’t even putting in the effort to speak to her. It was deathly silent in these woods, as if even the squirrels and birds knew that royalty walked among them.

Nora huffed. Tamlin continued to walk unbothered.

“You didn’t need to break into my house like that.” She said pointedly, breaking the silence.

Tamlin’s left ear twitched. “What did you say?”

Nora rolled her eyes. With his fae senses there was no way he hadn’t heard her.

“I said you didn’t need to break into my house like that.”

He ignored her, which only fueled her desire to speak her mind out loud.

“You could have stolen me away in the night without bothering them. You could have waited until daylight when we weren’t sleeping.”

“You’re upset because my timing wasn’t convenient enough for you?”

Nora frowned. When he put it that way her words sounded quite childish. “What I’m saying is that you barged into my home with more pomp and circumstance and-and drama than you needed to.”

“You killed my friend.”

Nora stilled. She wanted to apologize for it. As much as she didn’t like Tamlin she regretted what she did. Part of the reason she hadn’t been able to fall asleep the night before was because she kept seeing the light leave Andras’s eyes. She couldn’t stop herself from hearing the pitiful whine that had escaped his throat as he finally stilled. She’d dared to touch his body to close his eyes. But as quickly as she’d laid her hands on him she’d reeled back. In the time it had taken her to gut the deer and bind it to the sled, his body had turned cold and rigid.

“You threatened to kill my family.” She said lamely.

“And yet they’re still alive, aren’t they?” “How can I trust you? How do I know you won’t just send someone else to kill them after we’re beyond the wall?” “I promised you they would be taken care of. I keep my promises. The question is whether you’ll keep yours.” His voice was gentler, more tired the further and further they got from Nora’s village. She thought his power would be tied to Prythian in some way - that he would gain strength as they neared the wall. Instead he was dragging his feet, limbs landing on the ground with heavier steps as they went along. She made note of every change in his body, storing the information away to mull over later.

“If it means they’re safe you can be sure I’ll keep true to my side of things.” She replied.

He’d been walking ahead of her the entire time, forcing the mare into a brisk pace that had Nora jolting in her seat, but after a few moments of cautious thinking he slowed down to walk beside her. Even while atop a horse, Tamlin stood taller than Nora, his horns dangling over her head like the swaying branches of a tree. She looked at them for a long while, tracing the grooves in the bone all the way down to where they connected to Tamlin’s skull. He stared at her the whole time.

“You don’t look like your parents.” Tamlin said carefully, catching her eye.

Nora snorted. With her dark hair and darker eyes and… well the rest of her, she was well aware that no piece of her looked like it came from Dinah or Jaskiel.

“They’re not my parents.”

She flung her arm out, grasping at Tamlin’s horn for support when the mare took a quick jump over a fallen log. Her thighs were burning now, holding onto the lean body beneath her like a lifeline.

“Sorry.” Nora muttered, jerking her hand back to her body and cradling it beneath the folds of her cloak. She flexed it uncomfortably.

She’d just touched the High Lord of the Spring Court.

Suppressing a shiver she instead focused her attention on the strip of fabric still wrapped expertly around her forearm, running her fingers over the material and ignoring where it dried stiff with blood. It reminded her painfully of Dinah. She would have to mend the rest of her nightgown now. Nora hoped she hadn’t stained it too badly with any blood.

“What happened to your real parents?” Again he asked the question carefully, like she was a flight risk he couldn’t afford to scare off… which she very much was.

“They’re alive… or dead… I don’t know.” A truth. “I was stolen from them too and brought here from the Continent to be sold by slavers.” A lie.

“But you escaped.” He almost sounded impressed.

“Obviously.”

And one day I’ll escape from you too.

The words hung unspoken between the two of them like a spider’s web between two branches, delicate and complex. They descended into silence once more.

“I’ll need to bind your eyes when we cross the wall.”

“What? Why?” Nora snapped her eyes to Tamlin and she forgot about the raven in the sky she’d been examining for the last twenty minutes.

“I cannot risk you seeing my lands.” His back tightened and he held his head up high.

“You said I would be safe in your lands.”

“You will be. That doesn’t mean I want you to see all of them.”

Because you don’t want me to know how to run away.

“Fine.”

A black silk sash appeared in Nora’s hands, cool as water and weightless as she obediently tied it tightly around her eyes. He must have enchanted the fabric because when she tugged at the knot she made it would not budge. She tested the blindfold but as much as she tried to pull it off it would not give. She huffed as she gave up, turning her head towards where she imagined Tamlin still was. He may be taller than a man and ten times heavier but his footsteps were imperceptible.

Blindness forced her to see with her ears, straining to identify every flutter of wings and rustle of snow falling onto the ground from a disturbed branch. She was just about to ask when they’d reach the wall when the world went still.

All the sounds of the forest she’d been analyzing died out. Magic rippled through the air, humid and all consuming as it reached out for her.

Her face paled. Suddenly she was back in the sea, screaming underwater as salt water filled her lungs and magic dragged her from her world to this one. Her reigns on the horse tightened, knuckles losing all their color.

“Take off your cloak.” Tamlin said tightly. “You won’t need it anymore.”

Nora only gripped the cloak tighter as though it would keep out the magic that threatened to consume her.

Tamlin said nothing, but he must have continued forward because despite Nora’s protests, the mare passed through the break in the wall.

They passed through like they were passing through a waterfall. Magic rushed over Nora’s body, slick and alien, but it was quickly replaced by the comfortable heat of spring. The heady scent of flowers filled her nose, clouding her mind with their fragrance. While the oppressing winter in the Mortal Lands had driven all but the scavenger birds into their homes, here they fluttered about seeking companions with whom to live out the eternal spring. The subtle morning sun blanketed Nora’s shoulders, heating her up beneath her clothes. Still she refused to give up the last piece of her home.

Tamlin let out a sigh of relief or despair - Nora couldn’t tell - as he felt his bond to Prythian grow once more. His magic would always run through his veins as intrinsically as blood - being in the Human Lands had done nothing to diminish that power - but he could not deny his connection to the magic that ran through Prythian, a magic that was beyond himself and to which he was only a borrower. These were the lands to which he would be tied until the end of his days.

“Welcome to the Spring Court, Nora.”

________________

Author’s Note: Hope you all enjoyed! Apologies it ended up a lot longer than I was expecting... whoops 😅. I have a masterlist up and am also starting a taglist so if you want to be added just let me know!

Taglist: @myheartfollower @impossibelle

#acotar #acotar rewrite #acotar fanfic #acotar fanfiction #the spring court #acotar spring court #inner circle #inner circle x oc #azriel x oc #azriel shadowsinger x oc #azriel shadowsinger #found family #writeblr #a court of thorns and roses #azriel #azriel x reader #tamlin #tamlin the tool #shadowsinger

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