Let You Down |Azriel|

.03.

We all stood around a massive hole in the ground that took the appearance of a maze. I spotted Tamlin beside Amarantha, still looking like a husk. Rhysand stood along the edge, peering out at what was to come. And poor Feyre stood in front of the queen, prepared to hear her first set of instructions. In lieu of communication, she was tossed into the pit. I watched with wide eyes as she scrambled to her feet and took stock of her surroundings. I'd had a feeling we'd realized what that pit was at the same time. It was a home for something big, something big and probably hungry.

She took off running as she felt the ground rumble. A small yelp escaped my lips as I saw what was barreling after her. An absolutely massive worm with rows of teeth chased her, closing the gap incredibly quickly. It was fast, but she was just a bit faster. My fingers curled around the chain that circled my neck as I watched her run and try to squish through a small gap in the side of one of the walls. My stomach turned when I saw her struggling. I kept inching closer and closer as I watched her.

Step back. A voice echoed in my head.

I snapped my head around, trying to see where it came from. My feet carried me backward, away from the ledge. I hadn't realized how close I'd been standing to what could have been my death. My eyes traveled down to my feet and I saw that the bottom of my gown had been coated in a layer of mud. I had been so wrapped up in Feyre's trial that I hadn't realized how I had been portraying myself. My own mask fell, almost long enough for Amarantha to see. I wanted to thank whoever had brought my attention back to myself. I didn't know who to thank, though.

People had bet on this trial. Bet that Feyre would lose. The claims ranged from the general loss to specifics of when she would die to whatever may have been the threat. To my knowledge, only Rhys and I had claimed she would win against this monster. I didn't have much to give, but to spite the assholes that had no regard for her life, I put my all on the table. Tensions were high, it never eased up. I watched my footing as I had become entranced by her decision making. She slammed bones into the mud wall and began to climb them. Then she went back down and started cracking more bones. She would absolutely have shin splints by the end of the trial.

My smile was undeniable as I watched her create a trap to kill the worm. She climbed her ladder once more, another long bone in hand, and waited for the worm to circle back. Her skin, hair, face, clothing- all covered in the mud that was the ground of the pit. Smart cookie, that one.

"What's it doing?!" One of the lesser fae panicked as he watched her create this trap.

"The worm is blind, it relies on its sense of smell to see," Rhys's grin broke free.

I couldn't keep my hands away from my neck as I bounced lightly on the balls of my feet, watching all of the events unfold. The worm barreled through the trap and became stuck. Feyre leapt off her bone ladder and impaled the worm, killing it quickly.

"Yes!" My excitement was uncontrollable, my words were loud and I regretted it immediately. Amarantha would make me suffer for my treason by the end of the night.

Feyre took a piece of bone in her hand and looked at it for a moment before throwing it at Amarantha, it splattered mud onto her gown. I already recognized I was going to get in trouble later. My grin was devilish as I took in her face.

Fix your face, you're in deep shit, this time I recognized that voice.

My eyes went wide and as the movement began which carried Feyre back to her cell, I stepped to Rhys's side.

"It's going to be bad, isn't it?" I frowned at the ground.

"For both of us," he responded through a completely deadpanned face. I groaned. "50/50?" He questioned.

"What?" I looked up at him.

"We won the bets. Want to split 50/50?"

My right foot twisted on the ground, concealed by my gown. "Can I request an alternative?" His brow lifted. "Keep all of it. In exchange, could I come live and work in the Night Court once Amarantha dies?"

"50/50," my heart dropped, "and a place in the Night Court."

Relief washed over me. Tears brimmed the edge of my eyes and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop them from falling.

"Thank you, Rhys."

"Rhysand, Cecelia," Amarantha's voice cut through the air like a steel blade and my entire body cringed in response.

We both turned to face her. She waved us over from her throne and we stopped, side by side, within a few paces from her feet. Her scowl was terrifying.

"Both of you, follow me, now," she glided from the throne to the double doors of the room.

My stomach turned sour as we trailed behind her. I bunched my gown tightly in my fists as if the action would curb the nausea. Instead of thinking about what I knew would likely take place once we reached our destination, I tried to force happier thoughts into my mind. Snow covered windows and fae lights bouncing through a quiet, snowy street. My ability to conjure heat and turn it into shapes like a fox or serpent. My dark wings that I could conjure when I had access to my magic.

The thought of those wings appeared in my mind and Rhys's head snapped to me. I turned my head to meet his gaze and scrunched my brows. If he could speak to me through thought, did that mean he could read and see my own as well? His attention quickly turned back to Amarantha as we scaled a staircase that led to her bedroom. The night of torment had begun.