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The girl fell too fast.
She fell like a shooting star, her long golden hair streaming behind her like an iridescent tail, straight towards the earth.
The girl blinked against the stinging air then narrowed her eyes in concentration. The wind stole her scream as she tried to use her magic to slow her descent. Her clothes, the very air around her started to turn red from how fast she plummeted.
She would hit where the sea of pine trees met the base of the mountain range, the jagged rocks and stony, frozen ground hidden beneath a deceptive layer of snow.
There wouldn’t be enough of her left to figure out where the girl who appeared in the clouds on a crisp, beautiful early spring night came from.
Elain shuddered so heavily that she stumbled into something hard and cold forcing what little breath she had out in a strangled gasp. She blinked twice and the hazy silver waves in a black river turned into the marble top of the river house’s kitchen work table.
“Elain?” Cerridwen asked, concern sharpening her tone.
The girl, no, female, had thrown out her hand as if she were asking for help.
She couldn’t have been more than 20 years old.
Elain flinched from a gentle touch on her forearm.
The female was so close to home. She had so much left to do.
With a nauseating sense of urgency, Elain pushed away from the table. She raced out of the large kitchen, her steps like crashing thunder in the quiet house as she ran to her brother-in-law’s study. “Rhys!”
In the center of the hallway black mist swirled like the snow in her vision. Elain skidded to a stop as it revealed a tall, black-haired male, his wings raised in a defensive posture. Rhysand grabbed her shoulders to help steady her, his violet eyes darkening with his power. “What’s wrong?” He demanded softly.
Feyre appeared at her husband’s side, her blue-gray eyes wide with alarm. “Elain?” She asked, her hand immediately going to her large, rounded belly.
“I had a vision of a Fae female falling from the sky. In the mountains. You have to help her.” Elain told them breathlessly.
“What –“ Feyre started.
As sudden and clear as a bolt of lightning, Elain Saw what the female was reaching for.
“A young Fae female from another world is going to appear above snow-covered mountains and fall from the sky to her death if you don’t slow her down.” Feyre gasped and Rhys’ grip tightened so hard and fast Elain knew there would be 10 yellowing ovals marking her later. She ignored the burst of pain and let the words spill out. “Both of you are there atop the mountain. Rhys, you slow her down enough so she makes it through to her world. She's desperate to get home.”
“When?” Rhys asked.
“Soon. She’ll be here soon.”
Exchanging a look with Feyre Rhys released her.
“I’ll have the shield,” she reminded him. Her focus on her mate turned intense, the look she always wore when she argued with him whether in their minds or out loud. Rhys clenched his jaw, his lips thinning into a tight line. All of his instincts - mate, father, Fae - must have been screaming at him not to let Feyre leave the warded river house. Elain hoped Feyre was reminding him of the consequences of his protectiveness.
She thought hard about the female with pointed ears and turquoise eyes rimmed in gold and felt for the tether between them and that unknowable place that let her See and sometimes understand.
“She’s alone. She did something … no one else can follow her. She’s a queen. She wants to get home to her mate and her friends.” It was all she could See.
“Where?” Feyre asked steel in her voice.
“Show me, I might recognize the area,” Rhys said.
Elain pictured the mountains that nearly glowed like beacons where he and Feyre would wait. She clenched her hands so tight they hurt then let down her mental shield. “You can look. I think it’s one of the ranges northeast of here.”
A feather-soft brush tickled inside her mind. Rhys nodded in amazement. “I didn’t realize you could isolate locations. It is northeast of the city; watchtower ruins from before it was hidden.” His eyes flicked back to Feyre, a conciliatory smile briefly lighting his handsome face. “Perfect place for stargazing actually; I should have taken you there before. Now, the vision?”
“Sometimes I can identify locations. I think you’re meant to save her.” Elain showed him what she had Seen, grateful she could help save this female.
Feyre’s tattooed fingers went to her mouth as Rhys relayed the vision to her.
“Thank you. Have you told anyone?”
“No, I came straight to you.”
“Good. Keep it that way for now.” He wrapped one arm around Feyre’s waist. “Will you be coming too?” She asked.
“No,” Elain shook her head. “I wasn’t in the vision and I know what happens. You need to go now.”
“We’ll help her,” Feyre assured her with a tight smile.
“We’ll talk later,” Rhys said.
The High Lord and High Lady of the Night Court vanished.
Elain walked slowly back to the kitchen. She knew there were other worlds but she never expected she would have true, direct contact with one outside of Amren. The girl, female she reminded herself, had looked like any other High Fae. Elain’s thoughts spun so quickly that her head began to ache. She needed to talk to Azriel. He would never let on that she told him in spite of Rhys’ decree.
Her feet faltered. A too-familiar coldness swept through her body. She stared at the kitchen door a few feet away then leaned her shoulder and head against the wall. He was avoiding her. They hadn’t spoken in weeks beyond perfunctory greetings. Would he ever stop being the first person she instinctively turned to? How long would it take for time to smooth and dull the ache of his absence? Elain couldn’t stop hoping those days would never come. That he would come back to her.
She balled her fists to keep from touching her neck as a warm, golden feeling bloomed in her chest. It was the first vision she hadn’t taken directly to Azriel since the end of the war. She would still send him a message but Rhys would surely alert him of what she’d Seen so he could investigate. He’d probably done so as soon as he winnowed to the mountain, either telling Azriel to find Amren or to head straight to the river house from wherever he was for the debriefing.
She would see him. She’d seen him only once since Starfall.
Elain savored the feeling before it wilted. It would be easier to remove each speck of magic from each world than it would be for her to stop loving Azriel but she still knew it was safer not to get her hopes up tonight. Whatever it was that happened at Starfall hadn’t changed things between them. Nothing had changed since Winter Solstice; they wouldn’t change tonight after a breach between worlds. She should expect nothing. She should expect his face to be set in his spymaster mask and for him to question her without quite meeting her eyes. She should expect him to quietly ask if she was all right because he knew she struggled with being a seer. The most she would allow herself to hope for was a ghost of a smile before he disappeared. She collected those small moments like treasures.
Elain gave herself a hard shake. How selfish was she? It wasn’t the time to think of him. She thought of the female, the innate strength she recognized in a few seconds that reminded her of her sisters. The young queen was determined to make it home and she would. She would survive, and she would thrive.
Elain took a deep breath and went through the door. Cerridwen and Nuala’s beautiful, identical faces turned to her. Smoke and shadow flitted across their bodies, the food they had been preparing for tonight’s dinner forgotten as the twins waited silently for possible instruction.
“Is everything alright?” Nuala asked.
“Yes, it will be,” Elain said, the corners of her mouth turning up the tiniest bit. She ran a finger over her exposed collarbone like it itched.
The twins’ shoulders relaxed at the signal letting them know it was unlikely Azriel would need them.
“Are you going to let him know?” Cerri asked. Her fingers rested on a pen next to a dingy baking tray that had seen better days a century ago.
Elain felt her eyebrows raise as she reached for the pen and paper. It never crossed her mind not to tell Azriel of her visions related to the Night Court. “Yes, and I think he will be here later.”
In a hurried scrawl, she told him what she Saw; Azriel preferred having written records so she would write up a more detailed report later. Elain smiled sadly to herself. Perhaps if she didn’t write such detailed reports of her visions he would have to do more than send her a thank you note or write back with the odd question. The cold, empty feeling returned. The detailed reports hadn't stopped him from seeking her out before Solstice.
Elain’s skin tingled as a hint of chilled mist mingled with the scent of freshly cut herbs. She looked up; a charcoal wisp waited in the baking tray. It drifted backward and she had the mad thought it was trying to hide that it had been examining her.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were here.” She apologized. One of the twins must have tapped the baking tray three times to activate the enchantment informing Azriel she had a vision and the report was waiting for him. They must have added the additional two taps letting him know it was an emergency or Rhys had contacted him to have a shadow arrive so quickly. “Another moment and I’ll be done.”
The top of the shadow tilted in acknowledgment. Trying not to blush under the twin’s and wisp’s scrutiny Elain finished her message, folded the paper, and held it out. “Please tell him it needs his immediate attention. I told Rhys first; he might have already contacted him.”
Like a breeze whispering deep in the forest, the shadow murmured something that seemed to include 'yes', 'Rhys', and 'Amren'. It curled around the note. “Thank you,” she told it. Gossamer grazed her fingertip and the shadow disappeared.
“It said yes, Rhys contacted Azriel. He's getting Amren.” Nuala supplied in the silence.
“Good.” Elain cleared her throat and stopped staring at the finger that throbbed from the shadow’s refreshingly cool touch. She’d been able to glean a word or two from the shadows susurrations for a few months but they usually kept their distance if they appeared near her at all. “I wasn't certain if they were involving Amren yet. It will probably be a long night.”
Cerri studied her for a few seconds. “We should continue with dinner then.” She said decisively. Her shadows pulled close to her body, rippling like tiny waves as she returned the baking tray to its cabinet.
“I’ll put the kettle on,” Nuala said, her shadows slowly crawling up and down her emerald sweater.
Careful not to use her index finger, Elain grabbed a sprig of rosemary and began plucking leaves from the stem. The female’s face flashed in her mind again. She would be on her way home by now.
Aelin. It was a beautiful name.