Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

Who would've thought that Terrasens throne would be so uncomfortable to sit on.
Definitely not me when all i've been dreaming about my whole life was sitting on that damned chair.
But on the other hand, my mother never looked like she's uncomfortable while sitting on it.
Maybe because she fought so hard to do so and I've been just sitting and smelling good in the castle.
But I knew that wasn't entirely truth.
I was the general of my mother's queens army.
And to surprise, she didn't gifted my the title.
I've deserved it all by myself by years and years of hard work.
I fought hand to hand with the bravest mans in Erilea in hardest of battles.
I knew how to fight, how to swing sword and take lives away all my life.
My mother was training me since I was 8 to be able to protect myself and the realm in case if anything happens to her or my father who was very vocal about how irresponsible was to swing swords with eight year old.
But he had soft spot for his mate, everyone in the kingdom did.
They loved her, not the cliché and fake love for your monarch but they respected her with their life for what she've done for them.
Obviously the respect had something to do with the fact that their queen was besties with the king od Adarlan, the second strongest city in the realm.
Where actually her and her husband went a week ago to visit their friend Dorian Havilliard and his wife untie Manon.
Who unfortunately with age started feeling bit off because that's what humans do.
They get old and they get sick because of it.
I remember uncle Dorian from when I was a little girl and he always read me books about our history, even romance once but mother find out about this and told him to not put this bullshit in my head.
We loved watching dogs together, playing with them and begging my parent to let me keep one of them.
He and aunt Manon were my favorite uncles next to Aedion and Lysandra who obviously went with my parents.
Leaving me, their heir on the throne getting used to speaking in front of her people, not animals on the battlefield.
I shook my head, getting rid of those thoughts and going back to where I was.
Sitting on the throne in the throne room and with people in front of me speaking to me and I wasn't paying any attention.
"I'm sorry Lord Pierce" I said with an apolegenic smile on my face. "I drifted away"
I heard quiet chuckle beside me so I looked over there and saw my brother Kai, laughing onto his shoulder.
As a younger child, he was next to the throne after me, so his duty was standing next to me and laughing his ass off hearing my mistakes.
We were very similar but with looks i went more after our father and he after our mother.
But personalities were completely opposite.
As I heard I was totally out mothers daughter.
"Princess has some better places to be than sitting on the throne" he said laughing at me and the crowd did the same.
He opened his mouth to say something probably even more unfunny but the gates opened fast almost hitting the castles walls.
People parted making a way for the pacing royal guards who I saw were holding something.
Not something.
Someone.
They stopped in front of the steps that lead to the throne and threw that being directly at my feet.
He was dressed strange, dark leather pants were ripped at some places and dirty with blood and mud, and the top that he was wearing wasn't something that people of here would wear.
Long tunic with short slevess was also partially ripped showing cut skin underneath.
His hand and arm were covered by tattoos, words which I didn't understand.
In the corner of my eye I saw Kai getting closer and looking at that strange man.
I saw that his hand was placed directly at his sword in case he has to protect me.
I would rather die than give him the satisfaction.
"What is the meaning of this?" I asked the guards who bowed at my sight.
"I'm sorry for interrupting princess" he said "but when we were patrolling we saw him fall of the sky"
I narrowed my brows looking at my brother who was confused even more than me.
"Fall from the sky?" Kai asked him with this stupid grin on his lips. "Are you sure you shouldn't go on vacation or something?"
I shot my brother a sharp look and got but closer to that unknown man.
He was unconscious, laying with a hand over his head so I couldn't see his face.
I took my hand to move his own but Kai catched my hand.
"You're more stupid than I thought if you want to touch him" he growled but I ignored him and ripped my hand from his touch.
Gently to not wake him up I put his arm to the side and could look at his face.
And that was something to look at.
Even with his eyes closed i could tell that he was very handsome.
Sharp jawline, high cheekbones and really kissable lips.
His face was very dirty but that wouldn't stop me from thinking that he was hot.
Really hot.
His body also, he was tall, i could tell that he was strong but his body wasn't bulky.
He was beautiful.
I wanted to brush of some mud of his surprisingly gorgeous face and then when my hand touched his face his eyes shot open.
There were violet.
Who in this world could have violet eyes?
He catched my hand very painfully but the guards were stronger than him.
They detached him from me, putting him on his knees with a knife to his throat.
He tried to fight them, breathing heavy but they were stronger.
My brother pulled out his sword and put it in front of the newcomers eyes.
But he was only looking at me.
With those weird eyes.
"Where am I?" he asked trying to look around even if that caused him pain.
His voice was wery sharp as he didn't drink a lot or just woke up.
But that even give him more charm. "Where did you take me?"
I narrowed my eyes.
"Better question is, who are you and what were you doing in here" I answered looking him straight into eyes.
I was trying to ignore this weird feeling in my head.
It was pulsing, and pulsing almost aching but I couldn't get it off.
He looked almost scared. But mostly lost.
"I don't understand, who are you?"
I smiled and bowed a little in front of him.
"I'm the future queen of the realm you just invaded" he became even more pale than before.
"Realm?"
"It's Terrasen" I said annoyed with that man.
He was found here, he got here by himself and he didn't know where he was?
He shooked his head trying to think about something so I nodded my head to the guards to let him go.
He obviously wasn't in the right state of mind.
He wouldn't have hurt me even if he tried.
"I don't understand how I got here" he said. "I was practicing fighting with my uncle, he attacked me and the next thing I saw was that forest and I never were here god dammit"
"What's your name?" I asked coming closer. "Whats your family name?"
My heart hurted a bit looking at his sorrow.
"My name's Nyx." answer came. "I'm the son of the High Lord of the Night Court"

Chapter Text

High Lord of the Night Court?
What the hell was that?
Some land in Erilea that I've never heard of?
Impossible, I've heard about every land, every household, every fucking hole in this god damn realm.
And I've never heard of something called Night Court nor someone call himself High Lord.
What name even is this?
He must've hit his head pretty damn hard to say shit like this.
I told servants to find him a room so he can clean himself, eat something, think about what shit he said this afternoon.
I remembered the cuts on his body so I quickly sended healer too.
I made sure that his room was guarded at all times.
But the worst thing was that I didn't think he was lying.
He was looking really miserable, like something bad happened to him and he didn't understand any of it.
He looked like he needed help and was ashamed of asking for it.
But he had no choice.
I was his only option at the moment because I wasn't going to let him out of my sight.
I never saw my shadows like someone.
And they didn't only liked him they wanted to touch him.
They were whispering about him.
I didn't know what it meant but I was sure I was in deep troubles.
Since I was born I always wanted to be a fighter.
I watched my father and uncle Lorcan train hand combat, Aedion and Fenrys train sword fight and my mother use rest of her magic.
And I wanted to do that too.
I spent quite some time convincing her to let me fight and she finally said yes if I earned my place and weapon of my choosing.
So I did.
I trained with Aedion, Lorcan, Fenrys and even with Manon and Dorian when I visited Adarlan.
I earned my title shadow whisperer and I earned my twin blades which I called Dark Sisters.
I was the best at combat in whole Kingdom and fought my way up to the top changing uncle Aedion when he retired from being general in Queens Army.
I never fought a war but I knew that day would come.
I just didn't know it would come so quick.
I was coming back from the training field to my home unintentionally thinking about that unknown male who was placed next to my bedroom.
Who was he really?
He didn't look like a lunatic nor some psycho.
Why would he lie?
Maybe someone sent him, to lie and kill us when we wouldn't expect it.
But...
Yeah Evie, defend him while he's plotting your death just cause he's handsome.
I rolled my eyes to my own thoughts.
Nyx.
I stopped and looked around, searching for the source of the voice.
The boy.
Nyx.
It was my shadows.
I quickly saw why they were whispering into my ear.
In front of me, there was Nyx jumping out of the window of my family house sneaking out of it.
Small smile crept on my lips.
He really thought this could work?
"If you want to escape unnoticed, you should really add more of unnoticing into it" I said loud enough so his fae ears could hear me.
He stopped, slowly turning my way.
"I mean no harm" he said. "Just let me go and I won't hurt you."
Laughter escaped my throat when I was walking towards him.
"You won't hurt me?" I grinned. "You don't know who you're dealing with"
His expression quickly changed.
Smile, dark smile crept on his lips while he drew a sword from his back.
I raised my brow, curious from who he stole it from.
But then emeralds flicker in a little light and I saw curved blade.
Anger flashed through me.
"How could you steal from me while I gave you a place to stay?" I groaned walking towards him, pulling out my long dagger.
Suprise flashed in his eyes when he looked at the sword, turning the nahdle in his hands.
"I didn't know." he said and stretched out the hand with the sword towards me. "Forgive me and take it back."
I didn't let him see how much he surprised me.
"Where are you going?" I asked actually curious.
He hid sadness creeping into his eyes but I was quicker than that.
"I need to go back to my home."
"There's no such thing as the Night Court in here" I told him trying to stop him from trying something stupid. "I can show you maps if you want. I don't know where you heard that name but It does't exist here"
He shook his head and I knew he didn't believe me.
I knew it by the way he was holding my sword.
"It's impossible." he said taking step towards me. "I was there just yesterday. You're lying"
"We can talk to someone else, who knows these lands and cities. We'll figure this out but you need to stop trying to escape alright?"
I had my answer when I looked at him.
Big sigh escaped my lips when he threw dagger hidden underneath his clothes in my direction.
My shadows quickly caught it
"That was really ungrateful you know" I said kinda upset about that.
Even if he looked like a filthy drunk i let him stay at my house and that's what I get for having gentle heart.
It did upset me but it really made me furious.
And they say I have bad temper.
He took away the hood of the cloak and took a step forward.
Clean and all he was really even more beautiful than I remembered.
He was looking at me with guilt and sorry in his eyes but by his body language I could tell he just wants to escape.
I knew that fight with him wouldn't be the easiest but I knew I'd won.
He laughed.
He laughed?
But that was really unpleasant kind of laugh.
He laughed me out.
And I really didn't like that.
"You're serious right now?" he must've saw something in my face cause he explained quickly. "I don't know what you all are doing but I know you did something to take my powers away and I can't trust you"
"You have magic?"
He laughed again and my grip on the dagger tightened.
"Don't act stupid I feel you have it too. And you took it away from me"
"I really have no idea what shit they gave you but you're a lunatic" I said kinda annoyed with him.
And even more annoyed with the fact that I still thought he's hot.
Maybe even more now.
His brows narrowed as he took step forward.
"Let me go"
"I really can't do that" I answered "and I'm not going to do that"
Sword he stole from me hit me really fast making me jump back surprised.
He was hitting back and fourth making me run away instead of fighting back.
I damned myself for having dagger instead of sword.
But I got to say, he really did know what he was doing.
His body looked like fighting was his life and did that everyday.
Swings of his sword were perfectly balanced, aiming not to hurt, but to kill.
But he was still dumber than me.
I sended one of the shadows behind him so when he took a step back he fell down to the ground.
I didn't hesitate and jumped on him, throwing his heavy sword far away and holding his hands above head and pushing my dagger to his throat.
He tried to get out but his tiredness made him weak and me stronger.
"I said you're not going anywhere" I snapped at him. "And you're going to do as I say"
He breathed very heavy and when I saw our position I kinda started too.
You're sick.
He became quiet when I took the dagger of his throat and put the tip of the blade next to his cheek.
My mother once told me, that your body was your weapon if you know how to use it.
I could at least take advantage of that.
I slid the blade down very slowly and my hightend hear catched the way his breathing stopped.
I pushed the dagger bit too hard and he hissed quietly.
A little bit of blood started running on his neck but his eyes were still locked on mine.
Like he could ever only look at me.
It was really strange, I never behaved like this.
Never with strangers I guess but I didn't see him in my mind like a stranger.
My shadows almost recognized him too.
They didn't tell me to kill him, stay away from him.
In fact the opposite.
They liked his company, liked me touching him.
Right now they were even more excited than me.
"Why are you doing this?" his voice was shaky but I knew it wasn't fear.
I felt it was devotion.
One of his hands slipped away from my hold and he slid his fingers from my cheek down to my side.
I stopped the shivers observing him but then he catched the hand that I was holding the dagger with and flipped us changing our positions.
My own dagger pushed on my throat so I bent my neck and his grab tightened.
Something in his eyes has changed.
He wasn't fearful anymore but powerful.
It emaneted from him and I could feel that.
Maybe what he said was true, he has lost all his powers but with that look I believed that he once had them.

Chapter Text

He agreeded.
Like he had a choice.
Nyx decided that my offer was far more intresting than wandering alone in some land that he doesn't know and let me help.
Me and Kai.
Who to be honest, couldn't yell at me even more. I've heard how irresposible and careless am I obviously I was my mother's daughter.
But ending his monolog with "of course I'll help you I don't want to see my sister getting killed" he agreed to help us.
Help him.
It all happened two months ago and we still were in the same dead end.
We worked on it almost every day, talking and meeting with a lot of people that even I didn't know but all we got was "he is not from here".
Yeah, thanks.
Our connection grow stronger every day.
From strangenemies we became friends, or at least tried to be.
We fought like siblings when our rights didn't match but knew how to made up afterwards.
I caught myself thinking about how pretty his eyes are when he's focused on reading some ancient book or that his hair falls nicely on his face when he carelessly brushes it away.
I thought that was pathetic.
I couldn't let myself develop feelings for someone who anytime soon will go back to his land and I'll be alone again feeling something for someone who isn't even there.
And obviously I still didn't know how my parents would react after seeing him here, in our home, smelling that he is different than us but not different at all.
Uncle Dorians sickness got worse so they decided to stay there bit longer to take care of him and help rule the kingdom cause they had more experience than Manon who asked them for help in this tough time.
I was actually scared of their meeting, I knew my mothers short temper and definetly know how short tempered was Nyx. I was sure that their meeting could end really really badly.
But I grow to know him enough to know he wouldn't do anything to harm people I care about.
We spend a lot of time talking about his home, a snowy, gorgeous city named Velaris.
About his family, father who is High Lord - I still don't know who the hell would call himself that way - and his mother High Lady Feyre. He told me about his uncles, funny warrior Cassian and quiet spymaster Azriel and he thought that me and him would actually get along because we had some in common. I didn't know what he meant.
His closest seemed actually really similar to how I saw my family, he loved them very much and missed them as much.
When I heard how he speaks about them, I felt weird warmness inside. Just like I already knew them all, or at least heard about them. The same feeling was hovering around me when I was looking inside Nyx' eyes. It was really weird and I really needed to get over myself.

The day in Terrasen was really warm and peacefull.
We were sitting on a blanket next to the castle as always with a bunch of books thinking that whatever is in them will help us.
"I really still cannot believe you live in a deadass castle" he said as he streached out, putting his arms under his head. I tried not to look at the piece of skin that showed after that movement. Instead I smiled a little at him.
"You don't? You're the son of a king"
He laughed.
"My father is not a king" he tried to take book out of my hands but I put it behind my back.
"That's really weird cause you act like a spoiled little princeling" I teased and with a laugh he launched himself on my trying to rip he book out of my hands.
I landed on my back holding the book above my head and watched as his hands slid across my waist.
"I don't think I have book in there" I said quiet and he chuckled.
It wasn't necessarly righ to do that all flirting, he was going to find his way out of Terassen and I'd probably never see him again. But when I looked into his eyes, that deep purple hypnotizing color I could not stop.
His hands trailed the curves of my body, delicately touching my cheek now.
I could tell he hesitated but a small smile forming on my lips was like a welcome to him.
So he lowered his head and his lips only brushed mine.
And then I felt frightening cold and I was falling.