The Night's Child | The Night Court Chronicles

Chapter ★ Two

Iradessa leaned against the railing of the largest balcony of Tarquin's palace in Adriata. The sea breeze rustled her loose golden brown hair, and she closed her blue eyes as the warmth from the Summer sun hit the bare skin of her arms, her face, the vee of her bosom.

Yes, Iradessa was made for the Summer.

She never understood why her mother took preference to the High Lord of the Night Court over the Summer Lord, but then again, she supposed one can't pick their mate. She let a sly smirk play across her face at the thought of her sister Rhiannon's unfortunate situation, and relished in her misery. What Heir would refuse to accept their own mating bond? Not a very good one, Ira decided, as the story of her and the General was well known, though whispered more so behind their backs than anything else.

It brought Iradessa great joy to know her sister would never find the love she so desperately craved, whether she vocalized it or not.

Her heart dropped, however, at the thoughts of her brother, and his Mate.

Emrys was so young when his bond snapped, and after only thirty years, his mate perished.

That gave Iradessa a moment to pause. And was why she invited her brother to visit her.

That and she knew it would piss her father off royally.

And so, the Lady of Summer waiting for her brother's arrival- it had been too long.

★★★

Emrys did indeed decide to leave the Night Court to visit his sister sooner than he had planned.

After the talk with his mother, after his confession, Emrys was more than enthusiastic about going to visit his sister in Summer. He didn't wait around to tell his parents that he was leaving, either. He packed a simple bag with just a few changes of clothes and the most basic of hygiene products. He left a quickly jotted note on the kitchen table, telling his parents he'd decided to leave early and he didn't know when he'd be back. And then he set off for Summer.

Winnowing was something he had always been pretty shitty at, and he'd not practiced at all while he was beneath the mountain within the Court of Nightmares. When he was younger, he'd picked up a bit of time to test his minimal amount of powers, passed down to him through the gene pool. It was difficult, and he couldn't winnow across vast expanses of land at once, and being so ridiculously out of practice only made things worse.

So he winnowed in short spurts and by the end of the day he was only just midway through the Dawn Court. He took the night to rest, choosing to sleep in a cave, deep within it and he built a small fire, if only for the familiarity of it. He did not wake with the dawn that morning, for the sun did not reach him that far back in the hallowed-out rock. But when he did wake, the sun was sitting pretty high in the sky, so Emrys could only assume that it was late morning or early afternoon. After cursing himself for the delay, he continued winnowing until he crossed the border to the Summer Court, with Adriata, its capital city, not far.

And so he walked the rest of the way, exhausted from his depleted power and anxious to see his sister after so many years. He wondered what she looked like now that she was a female grown...

It had been thirty years since he saw her- since he had truly seen any of his family. And other than his mother, he knew he was the only one she communicated with when it came to the denizens of the Night Court.

But it was so gods-damned hot here.

Emrys felt beads of sweat trickling down the back of his neck as he walked in the sun. It's not that it wasn't pleasant- in truth, it was beautiful. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but it was also very, very warm.