A Court of Light and Fire (ACOTAR)

Chapter Seven

Mor had spoken to Celeste through the doorway until her lids had drooped with exhaustion. Had helped the girl clean the dried bile from her face and clothes and tucked her into clean sheets on her mattress.

When Celeste awoke the next morning, she felt the emptiness of the room from the previous night. Mor had held her hand until the girl had fully succumbed to sleep's grasp, and she knew the female had lingered longer to ensure Celeste's mind did not plague her with nightmares once again.

The sun sweeping through the room, warming the membranes that had since appeared on Celeste's spine as she rose, she felt something was different about this morning. Nothing had changed physically - the room was just as it had lay the night before. But as she made her way to the bathing chamber, careful not to look at the spot she had wept the night prior as she changed out of her sleepwear, the feeling had settled fully into her bones, a thread wrapped around her heart in her chest now.

As she readied herself, she suddenly realised just what had shifted over night.

Celeste felt an odd sense of peace embedding itself into her soul.

Perhaps it was the familiar company of having another friend in the room; maybe she had worn herself to the bone with her exhaustion the night prior, or perhaps Mor had placed some calming herbs in the tea left on her bedside table that morning.

Whatever it was, Celeste was grateful for the small blessing of having woken up with some semblance of... acceptance, for the first time since she had been crafted into her new frame.

The thought set a small smile upturning her lips as she reached for the handle of her door, just as a loud but gentle knock landed on the other side. She opened the door to see Cassian leaning against the wall opposite, his lopsided grin bright as he beamed down at Celeste.

'Morning, sunshine,' he sung, ruffling the girls hair with his large, callused palm that she ducked to avoid, as she did every other morning. She tried to ignore the way the nickname he had grown to call her set her heart fluttering with warmth.

She hoped he couldn't hear it.

'How is my favourite Archeron doing this fine morning?' His arm over her shoulder was a welcome weight - a touch she had grown accustomed to after hating any sensation on her new skin. A touch she also knew acted as a silent guide down the House's stairs when he'd noticed her wings on her back that morning.

'Wait until Feyre hears about that. Away such a short time and her title has already been revoked,' a deep voice chuckled from the kitchen, and Celeste found a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs had already been set beside Rhysand's own for her.

He knew just what she wanted to eat, and had the steaming meal prepared for her every morning. She had the same meal whenever she could manage, with her taste buds still repulsed by any flavour too strong, too foreign.

But it was better than those first few days after she had awoken, and that was something she would keep reminding herself of.

'So how is our Princess doing this morning?' Celeste rolled her eyes at Rhys's preferred title for the girl.

Looking back, the past week had been a blur of Madja - as she had come to know the healer - Nesta glaring at the faeries, and visits from Feyre's friends - her favourite company being Cassian's of late.

The Illyrian teased and prodded her as though she were truly one of his own friends. But he knew when that distinction needed to be made - when he could tickle her under her arms or drag her onto the balcony so he could take her flying when she couldn't sleep at night, and when she needed him to place a solid arm around her shoulder and hold her to his chest when the memories grew too strong in the forefront of her mind. Just as Mor knew to visit her in the endless pit of the night prior, and exactly how to pull her from its seemingly bottomless end. Azriel had been away for a mission. Amren was figuring out a spell for stronger shields if they were to leave and fight in the war that would inevitably occur.

She hadn't seen Nesta for a few days now - not since Nesta had visited her, and told her to stay away from the Inner Circle; not since Celeste had told her that she truly trusted they were safe in this land, and perhaps Nesta could even join them some time.

Nesta hadn't liked that, but after all they had been taught and had endured at the hands of faeries, Celeste couldn't blame her sister one bit. She almost loved her more for the fact - the reminder of her old life back at home, and that Nesta would always be in her corner supporting her and looking out for her best interests, even in her own round-about way of doing so.

Even if it meant butting heads with her own sisters to do what Nesta thought was right.

'I'm doing alright,' Celeste tried to give a reassuring smile to the boys as she pressed down the memories of the argument, the events of the night before. Whenever her emotions escalated, the nightmares usually escalated with them, so it was no surprise to Celeste that the night's events had taken place. 'Ready to take on the day.' 

'Just what we like to hear,' Cassian grinned at her, shovelling his second bowl of oats into his mouth.

'I was thinking,' Rhys began as Celeste sat and drank from the mug of hot chocolate that had appeared by her plate before her. She looked up at him expectantly as she sipped from the steaming mug. He took a too-casual bite of his toast before continuing.

'How would you feel about training with Cassian?'

~~~~~

A/N:

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I love writing the slow mornings Celeste has before the action starts, where we can delve deeper into her own patterns of thought and feeling. I hope you loved reading it just as much!
I'll see you all next Chapter!
Charlotte 🤍💫