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Hearing those hateful slurs hurled towards her, towards her mate made Feyre boil inside. She felt fire raging under the surface and fought to keep it in. She wanted to rage, she wanted to flinch into herself the way she did while she was wasting away after what happened under the mountain.
Only you can decide what breaks you!
And that wouldn't be Tamlin. Never would be Tamlin. Her anger boiled and erupted.
"Oh come of your high horse, Tamlin. I didn't have to do much to break your court up. You and your priestess did that all by yourself. "
She snarled at him.
"Not pulling up another shield while you threw a temper tantrum, not healing the bruises left behind- not that I could poisoned by faebane as I was by your little priestess. Being the only one to protest you lashing your own sentries after Ianthes little ploy, after everything they did for you, being the only one to check up on him afterwards. Oh no, it was way too easy.
"And I am pretty sure you were the only one that believed your friend the Hybern king broke my mating bond and not just the bargain. They knew I left you on my own and they knew why."
She took a deep breath.
"Did you even notice? Did you even notice that I was wasting away in your court after what happened under the mountain?"
Tamlin tried to interrupt but Feyre was on a run, finally she was getting it all of her chest. Vaguely she noticed the other high lords watching quietly, registered Rhys hand on her thigh. In support or to calm her down, she wasn't sure.
"Did you even notice that I couldn't sleep, couldn't keep food down, couldn't enter certain rooms, do certain things, see certain colours? Did you ever wonder why Rhys bothered to wait until our wedding ceremony to demand the bargain be paid? He came because I was screaming for help, for anyone to get me out inside my mind and down the bargain bond. And he listened. He was the only one who listened. "
Her voice got quieter now, no longer a raging almost scream.
"Under that mountain only two people here in this room helped me and none of them were you Tamlin. I wouldn't have been able to begin the first task without Lucien healing me. Would have died after the first task if Rhys hadn't healed me and struck that bargain with me. He could have asked for anything and I would have agreed and he knew that and didn't. I wouldn't have survived her second task if Rhys hadn't guided my hand to the right lever. And if I hadn't clung to the bargain bond when she broke my neck I would have been too far gone to be remade. When Rhys gave us a chance for last goodbyes, a chance to escape your only thought was to fuck me against a wall instead of finding a way out. The mate bond snapped in place for him after I was made, right there under the mountain. And he left. Left me to be happy with the man I loved, destroyed myself for, died for. And the great high lord Tamlin got what he wanted. A stupid human girl fell in love, broke his curse and he could even keep her to look pretty by his side. A pretty wife to lock away.
"You didn't care for what I wanted, what I needed. You didn't listen to the few opinions that broke through my daze, got angry when I helped your people pay you while they were starving. Wouldn't train me even though my powers were overwhelming me. Threw a tantrum that would have killed me had I still been human, would have hurt me had I not subconsciously thrown up a shield. You apologized and I believed you. Believed you when you promised to let me out more. And then you locked me in.
"Everyone in that house that day saw my panic and knew I wasn't kidnapped. Because they had noticed that I looked better every time I returned from the Night court, that I gained weight and lost it again every time in Spring. And they remembered when you returned with me from Hybern, when they had to find me new clothes because everything had been taken in too much to fit my healthy body. They remembered going out into the mortal realms to let themselves be killed by a human to break your curse. They remembered Andras. They remembered me wasting away after you got what you wanted and you not doing a thing about it. And they saw me injured and bruised by you. They remembered all of that when Ianthe caused them to be bled by you.
"And you have the guts to accuse my mate of kidnapping me, of manipulating me, hurting me when that has been what you did while my mate only ever helped and supported me. You accuse me of breaking up your court when all I did was play things up a little after you allied with Hybern. After you set a trap for us, when you sold out my sisters knowing what they meant to me, after me begging you to protect them. After you thought you had my mate bond broken and forced me to leave my mate to save us all. Forced me back to my prison to be your little wifey. When you were the only one not to at least guess whose side I was on.
"They may not have known that I was still Rhys mate, that I was the high lady of the Night court, they may have not been sure that I was a spy. But they knew I wasn't yours and they knew they couldn't trust Ianthe and the knew they couldn't trust their high lord to protect them after you brought Hybern in. So don't go blaming your actions on me and my mate."
Her voice had gotten quieter as she spoke. And only when she had finished and allowed herself to sink a little into Rhysands side did she notice how quiet it was.
The women were gazing at her in sympathy, the high lords watched with speculating eyes. Beron sneered at her to no ones surprise.
Tamlin looked stunned speechless. Some truths may have hit home but she wouldn't bet on it. The ass was stubborn.
And then the idiot Beron opened his mouth and her powers erupted into fire. No speech this time as she burned.