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August 5 - August 6, 2025
Tamlin was just staring at Lucien, whose mouth had tightened into a
thin line as he marked those claws, still half-drawn.
I wondered if Lucien had pieced it together. That I had known Tamlin would come to my room tonight, after I had given him so many shy touches and glances today. That I
had changed into my most indecent nightgown not for the heat, but so that when my invisible snares in the house informed me that Tamlin had finally worked up the nerve to come to my bedroom, I’d look the part.
A nightmare, I’d told Tamlin. I was the nightmare.
“There is … My acolytes discovered that the land around my temple is … dying.”
“Then tell the gardeners,” Brannagh said, returning to her own food.
“It is a blight upon the land. Grass, root, bud—all of
it, shriveled up and sickly. It reeks of the naga.” It was an effort not to glance to Lucien—to see if he also noticed the too-eager gleam in her eye. Even Tamlin loosed a sigh, as if he saw it for what it was: an attempt to regain some ground, perhaps a scheme to poison the earth and then miraculously heal it.
“He will not,” I said,
cutting off Tamlin before he could reply. He set down his utensils. “I think I will.”
“Perhaps if you returned to him his family’s wings, he might … settle.” For a heartbeat, silence rippled through me. Followed by a wave of roaring that drowned out nearly every thought, every self-preserving instinct. I could barely hear over that bellowing in my blood, my bones. But the words, the offer … A cheap attempt at snaring me. I pretended not to hear, not to care. Even as I waited and waited for Tamlin’s reply. When Tamlin answered, his voice was low. “I burned them a long time ago.”
“We were backed into a corner with no options. None. It was either go to war with the Night Court and Hybern, or ally with Hybern, let them try to stir up trouble, and then use that alliance to our own advantage further down the road.” “What do you mean,” I breathed. But Lucien realized what he’d said, and hedged, “We have enemies in every court. Having Hybern’s alliance will make them think twice.” Liar. Trained, clever liar.
But I had no doubt Jurian would tuck away the information to throw in Tamlin’s face when we returned: we’d shared a tent, and had been very cozy upon awakening.
“I’d pick Beron’s son, too.”
“Autumn Court males have fire in their blood—and they fuck like it, too.”
And staring right at us through the hole were three Children of the Blessed.
“We have come to dwell in the immortal lands; we have come as tribute.”
Jurian’s eyes were on the place where the humans had been. “Thank you,” he said, his voice rough. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, well aware that Lucien carefully watched from the shade of a nearby oak.
answer arrived. Like mine, it was wordless, a mere image. Like mine, Rhysand’s tongue was out. But it was occupied with doing something else.
“I’m going with you,” he said again, face splattered with blood as bright as his hair. “I’m getting my mate back.” There was no time for this argument. For the truth and debate and the answers I saw he desperately wanted. Tamlin and the others would have heard the shouting by now. “Don’t make me regret this,” I told him.
“Why should I be scared of
an oversized bat who likes to throw temper tantrums?”
Thank you, I said down the bond. You can make it up to me tonight. I tried not to blush at the image Rhys sent into my head detailing precisely how I’d repay him, and slammed down my mental shields.
Or at Eris, heir to the Autumn Court, as he strolled into the room.
“Hybern has attacked the Summer Court. They lay siege to Adriata as we speak.”
“I figure it’s time for the world to know who really has the largest wingspan.”
Rhys began to winnow us again, and just as the dark wind swept in, I heard Cassian say to Nesta, his voice low and rough, “The next time, Emissary, I’ll come say hello.”
Tonight, I want you to wear that crown to bed. Only the crown.
It was almost the same—the entrance. Almost the same as that night in my family’s old cottage, when the door had shattered and a beast had charged in with the freezing cold and roared at us.
He did not bother with the landing balcony, or the escorts. He did not have an entourage. Like a crack of lightning, vicious as a spring storm, he winnowed into the chamber itself. And my blood went colder than Kallias’s ice as Tamlin appeared, and smiled like a wolf.
Not as Tamlin surveyed the hand Rhys had resting on my sparkling knee. The loathing in Tamlin’s eyes practically simmered.
“No,” Tamlin said with equal ease, “you’re just in the business of fucking them.”
“If you hadn’t stolen my bride away in the night, Rhysand, I would not have been forced to take such drastic measures to get her back.” I said quietly, “The sun was shining when I left you.”
“When you fuck her, have you ever noticed that little noise she makes right before she climaxes?”
“Why are you here, Tamlin?” A muscle flickered in Tamlin’s jaw. “I am here to help you fight against Hybern.”
“It was so easy for you to call me a monster, despite all I did for you, for your family.”
“Yet you witnessed all that he did Under the Mountain, and still spread your legs for him. Fitting, I suppose. He whored for Amarantha for decades. Why shouldn’t you be his whore in return?”
“Who is to say that Rhysand and his cronies are not agents of Hybern, all
of this a ruse to get you to yield without realizing it?”
“If we need to ally against Hybern,” Thesan said, “you are doing a good job of convincing us not to band together, Tamlin.”
“I am simply warning you that they might present the guise of honesty and friendship, but the fact remains that he warmed Amarantha’s bed for fifty years, and only worked against her when it seemed the tide was turning.
“You’re insane,” I breathed to Tamlin as Varian bared his teeth. “Do you hear what you’re saying?” I pointed toward Nesta. “Hybern turned my sisters into Fae—after your bitch of a priestess sold them out!”
“Perhaps Ianthe’s mind was already in Rhysand’s thrall. And what a tragedy to remain young and beautiful. You’re a good actress—I’m sure the trait runs in the family.”
Nesta let out a low laugh. “If you want someone to blame for all of this,” she said to Tamlin, “perhaps you s...
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Tamlin looked between my sister and Cassian—his gaze lingering on Cassian’s wings, tucked in behind him. Snorted. “Seems like other preferences run in the Archeron family, too.”
“What do you want?” I hissed. “An apology? For me to crawl back into your bed and play nice, little wife?”
“Why should I want spoiled goods returned to me?”
“The moment you let him fuck you like an—” One heartbeat, the poisoned words were spewing from his mouth—where fangs lengthened. Then they stopped. Tamlin’s mouth simply stopped emitting sounds. He shut his mouth, opened it—tried again.
“The gasping-fish look is a good one for you, Tamlin.”
