A Court of Shadows and Secrets (ACOTAR FANFIC)

Chapter 5

When Kali did a little check-in on Feyre she was horrified at the memories that came crashing in. 

She was only gone a few days, how the fuck had her little sister encountered not only a bogge but a shapeshifter maid to look like her father.

Kali swears she had never flown so fast in her life than to return to the spring court. 

"Has anyone ever taken care of you?" She heard Tamlin ask softly as she crept into the shadows. 

Feyre hesitated, but to Kali's surprise, she actually answered the High Lord honestly, "Yes, our elder sister, Kali. You met her when you first came for me. She taught me everything I know. She cares for me and my sister. Hell, she was willing to give her life for mine when you came. She is everything to my sisters and me. She is the only one who cared for us... for me."

Kali's eyes stung, she closed them tightly hoping the high lord couldn't smell the salt of the tears threatening to fall. 

"I remember her. She is a brave human to stand up to a fae. Not many could." Tamlin replied. 

"She is the bravest person I know." Feyre smiled at the thought of her sister. Hoping that Kali heard what she said from wherever she was. 

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"And what, Little Star, do you think you're doing?" Kali asked sternly as she looked down at her crouching sister. 

"Making a trap," Feyre answered, knowing she was completely incapable of lying to Kali. 

"A trap for what?"

"...A Suriel." 

"...Feyre darling, I am a child by fae standards. I have no idea what that is." Deciding to trust her sister's intelligence (and her ability to slaughter whatever it was they were trying to catch) she knelt down beside Feyre to help her with her trap. 

"It is a fae, that if caught will answer any question. I want to know if there is a loophole in the contract so I can go to that fancy new house of ours." 

Feyre was happy to know that Tamlin was honest about taking care of her family financially. But she still wanted to go home, to be with her sisters and father. 

After a long while of waiting, the trap was sprung. The fae trapped had skin like dried, weathered bone and eyes white as death. "Are you the suriel?" Feyre asked, admittedly feeling better because her sister stood behind her arms crossed like with the glare of a true soldier. 

"Human and fae? Did you set this clever, wicked trap for me?"

"Are you one of the suriel?" 

"Indeed I am."

"Then the trap was for you." 

The suriel told her there was no way for her to go home. That Tamlin... was a High Lord. 

The high Lords were monsters that her sister had warned her about. Selfish beasts would slaughter their own children for political gain. She never understood the bitterness that her sister held for all High Lords. Whenever she asked what had happened to her sister in Prythian she always answered, "Ask me for a secret again tomorrow, maybe you'll get lucky and I'll tell you."

That was always her response. Every night she would ask her sister for a secret, and every night she would tell an honest secret. 

But she held so many, it was never enough to get a full picture of what Kali's life was before she found Feyre in those woods.

She thought for a moment about asking about her sister's past but quickly dismissed the selfish thought. One day her sister would tell her, her story on her own terms.

The Suriel spoke of the blight, telling her to stay with the High Lord. It also spoke of the king of Hybern and the Deceiver who infiltrated fifty years ago.

"And you? The Survivor. The glamoured princess. The dweller of horrors. Why are you here? You are dead to Prythian, why leave your sanctuary across the wall?" The suriel crooned. Its full attention on Kali.

She felt it looking at her, not at the carefully placed glamour, but at her true face. 

"I am here to keep my sister alive. Nothing more." Kali answered. Feyre flinched at her sister's voice. She had never heard her playful, mischievous elder sister use such a harsh tone. 

Feyre looked at her with new eyes and for the first time saw how her sister was with people she did not cherish. 

She stood strong like nothing could move her unless she allowed it. Her eyes were cruel and piercing, the smirk gracing her noble features made her look like a preditor ready to kill when she grew bored. 

She stood like a war general, but there was an aura of power surrounding her, a sensual grace, that made her appear like a queen.

"Do you not wish to avenge your other half?" the suriel asked.

"I said... I'm here for my sister. Nothing more." Her tone was final and Feyre swore she saw even the terrifying suriel shrink back a bit. 

Kali's lazy stance became stiff in a moment, "We aren't alone... Feyre run that way towards Lucien, NOW." 

Feyre fired an arrow to free the suriel and took off in the direction her sister pointed. 

"I shall see you again Heir of Night." The Suriel whispered as it departed. 

"I am heir to nothing. I am a daughter to none." She spat, knowing the suriel could still hear her. 

She turned to face the approaching Naga. Four surrounded her, "Well, I suppose it has been a while since I got a workout in. Should I wait for more of your friends to arrive, that might give you a chance of lasting longer than a few seconds... No? Ah well, try not to be too disappointing." Her cruel humor seemed to anger the Naga even more. 

She was in fact disappointed as she looked at the corpses of the dead naga, which she had eliminated in less than a minute. 

"These are your warriors, Amarantha? How pathetic." She spat. Glamouring herself to be invisible again to follow after her sister.