Author's Note: I listened to one song on repeat while writing this: Just a Man by Jorge Rivera-Herrans. Would 100% suggest listening to this while you read this. It...adds to the ambience. Also I almost cried.

Rhysand

Velaria collapsed again just as the shield came crashing down.

Rhysand was immediately moving, readying his power to strike Tamlin. He didn't know what Tamlin had done; they couldn't hear the conversation that Velaria and Tamlin were having. All that he could see was them discussing, then Velaria helping Tamlin up, and then him siphoning her power from her and Azriel immediately running to try and take down the shield with his own power until Feyre stopped him.

With Velaria down, he was now the most powerful fae here, and he certainly wouldn't Tamlin get in the way of him making sure that his sister stayed here, with him, with her family.

Attack Tamlin. As much as you can. You have all trained for this. Rhysand's command echoed across the minds of the present Inner Circle members. Feyre glanced at him, nodding before readying her own power to strike. A silent message passed through the mating bond as she moved.

Rhysand sent his power to the High Lords next, coaxing them to withdraw their shields. He sent them the same message, then sent it to Varian, Cresseida, and Elain. Either fight with us or don't, but I am going to save the person who saved us.

Tamlin barely had time to turn as an overwhelming amount of power knocked him backwards.

Waves of saltwater kept him from getting back up, just as fire snaked its way across the ground to yank on Tamlin's ankles and fuse him to the ground. Rhysand's darkness attacked Tamlin from all sides, just as echoing blue and red from Cassian and Azriel aided. Helion winnowed behind where Tamlin was now sitting, using his own power to enforce the bonds that Eris had created.

Thesan jumped over seats, sneaking away, out of sight of Tamlin, to move and heal Velaria.

The plan was working as all six High Lords focused their concentrated power on the remaining one of them.

He wasn't fighting back, Rhysand realized with a jolt. Had they successfully tied him down? He hadn't expected it to be this easy, seeing as Tamlin now wielded his power and Velaria's.

As Eris began to scream, Rhysand realized just why their plan wasn't working.

A tendril of black power made its way up the rope of flame that had been tying Tamlin down. Tamlin bared his teeth at Eris, winnowing directly out of the bonds and behind Eris.

Rhysand turned, ready to begin striking Tamlin again.

And then Eris's pained, panicked expression turned still.

Marigold screamed.

"You're all traitors," Tamlin spat, his hands, now with claws sprouting from the knuckles, digging into Eris's shoulders.

"Let him go." Lucien's voice was utterly cold.

Tamlin raised an eyebrow. "Look. It's the fox of no court come back to play," he snickered.

"Let him go, Tamlin," Rhysand said, taking a step towards them.

"I don't think so." Tamlin dug his claws further into Eris's flesh, but the High Lord didn't make a sound.

Helion was jumping over chairs the second Marigold began to sob.

And they all watched as the color drained from Eris's face.

Terror seized Rhysand's entire body, and the tendrils released themselves, immediately going to find another target.

Rhysand snarled, releasing his wings and taking to the sky, Cassian and Feyre immediately following suit.

"Azriel!" Cassian roared at the shadowsinger, who was standing over Thesan as he worked to heal Velaria. She was still pale, a hand braced on the High Lord's shoulder. Azriel was trying to break her shackles while Thesan worked.

Cassian's roar caught Tamlin's attention, and he immediately targeted his power on Thesan.

Rhysand cursed, swerving around his General and drawing a blade, landing right in front of Tamlin.

Tamlin's eyes blazed. "Out of my way, Rhysand."

Rhysand snarled. "I'm not under your control anymore, Tamlin," he said. "You don't get to order me around."

And so Tamlin struck.

✿ ↬ - - - ↫ ✿

Velaria

Rhysand fought back against Tamlin as the two of the most lethal fae in Prythian became caught up in a beautiful, bloody dance.

Thesan tapped her shoulder. "I'm done," he said quietly. His tone was upset, his eyes downcast. And Velaria knew why.

"You can't bring it back," she replied.

Thesan swallowed. "Not without killing Tamlin."

Azriel swore. "And we can't kill Tamlin because it will kill you, Vel."

Velaria took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she tried to think.

Eris was down, collapsed onto a chair as he bled. Marigold and Helion stood over him, Helion doing his best to console her.

Lucien was helping them as well, Elain trailing behind.

Tarquin, Varian, and Cresseida worked together to strike Tamlin as he fought against Rhysand, although the blasts seemed to not do much.

Cassian and Feyre were still floating, watching everything go on as they continued to strike Tamlin from the sky.

They needed to kill Tamlin, but her bargain was keeping them from doing that.

The bargain.

Velaria knew what she had to do.

✿ ↬ - - - ↫ ✿

Azriel

His mate pressed a hand to his shoulder. "Azriel, do me a favor?" she asked quietly. Her expression was emotionless, her eyes unreadable as he turned to her.

"Anything."

"Lend me Truth-Teller for a little while longer," she said, a hint of a smile on her cheeks.

Azriel brought her close, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Always, Vel," he murmured. "Keep it for as long as you want."

Velaria nodded. "Go. Help Rhys out."

"What will you be doing?"

Velaria's eyes had a mysterious twinkle in them. "You'll see."

✿ ↬ - - - ↫ ✿

Tamlin

He had hesitated for too long fighting against Rhysand and the others, had allowed them too much time to get to Velaria and heal her from the physical drainage he had caused her.

But it didn't matter. He had the majority of her powers, and that was all that he needed to stop anyone from getting in the way.

Rhysand slashed at him again. This had gone on far too long.

Tamlin let out a powerful roar, arching his back as he allowed his power to come shooting out of him.

That beautiful, beautiful power anchored every High Lord into the ground where they stood. The sight of Rhysand, kneeling before his feet, provoked a wonderful feeling within him.

Tamlin reinforced a meticulously crafted faebane shield around the entire scene, knowing the insane amount of faebane laced within his own magic would nullify any High Lord's powers.

Give up control, that power within him whispered. Give up control. Give it up. All your goals, accomplished. Give up control.

The voices had been whispering to him for months now, slowly convincing him to relent all control up to the power he now held inside him.

Give up control, Lord of Spring.

Give it up.

Give it up.

And so he did. Tamlin laid down his control and relented.

The power overtook him, that reeking scent overwhelming all of his senses and flooding his mind.

Good.

He could barely feel his own limbs, could barely think for himself anymore. All he could see was his clouded rage as he stared at Rhysand, his first friend, his worst enemy.

And the Shadowsinger, the trickster, the traitor, the ever-conspirator.

His former bride watched from the sky, her ugly Illyrian wings out on prideful display, ever the portrait of a fucking savior.

Tamlin struggled to find his voice as he looked through the eyes of whatever he had become. What now?

Now, it hissed back, everything you have ever wanted comes true.

✿ ↬ - - - ↫ ✿

Rhysand

They all watched as Tamlin simply stopped moving. And then he changed completely.

Tamlin, with eyes of evil emerald and hair of golden blonde, disappeared before their eyes.

A black mist surrounded the High Lord of Spring, its metallic scent utterly nauseating him. It concealed every part of him, standing still for a second.

Rhysand barely had time to glance at his mate before Tamlin's power shot out in a cloud of blinding, suffocating darkness like he had never seen before.

Everything around them turned into black, whispering darkness. The High Lords and company were scattered across what was seemingly the floor, but all of reality was distorted in this dimension of pure black.

And at the center of it all, stood Tamlin. Rhysand almost vomited at the sheer sight of what Tamlin had become.

A figure almost completely made of blinding golden light stood, watching, its eyes pure obsidian. It wasn't the golden light that shone from Helion Spellcleaver or Thesan, but instead a piercing, sharp golden that threatened to slice through every fae in the room without a second thought, making their deaths slow and burning.

Two twisting and turning antlers sprouted from the figure's head, shining pure onyx and emanating a pulsating aura.

The voice that spoke wasn't fae, nor human, nor even god. "Welcome, powerful of Prythian, welcome," it said. "Welcome to the spectacle of your downfall, and welcome to the end of life as you hold so dear."

Rhysand had never felt more terrified in his entire life.

Tendrils of black shot out, the same as he had seen before, but this time with a different hunger within them. They pierced through the suffocating air, sharp and striking their targets.

Cries scattered as the tendrils struck.

Pain shot through Rhysand like a lance, a burning, stinging pain like he had never known before.

As his power began to leech out of him, Rhysand cried out. Velaria barely survived this. If he didn't survive, then Feyre didn't. Cassian, Azriel, Velaria. They were all here with him. Their court would leave Mor, his beautiful, brave cousin, behind to raise Nyx, to do it all on her own. And Amren by her side, their bloodline only living through Nyx.

He and Feyre had just settled into their new, beautiful world that Prythian was shaping out to be. They had just gotten to taste what freedom had to offer, and now – now it was getting ripped away.

Rhysand clung onto that bond, the only thing he could still sense, screaming down it his love, his life. He told his story through flashes of memory, proclaimed his love in bouts of furious passion, screamed of everything he had experienced, every feeling too precious to name.

And still it wasn't enough as Rhysand felt the life get ripped out of him.

Someone began screaming.

He knew that voice, that beautiful, lilting voice that had followed him his entire life. He knew the screams produced by that voice, had been at fault for some of them, had blamed himself for the reasons that voice screamed.

Velaria kept screaming.

Rhysand struggled to move through the haze, until he saw what Velaria was screaming at.

Velaria shook the fae, over and over again until the fae rolled over and Rhysand caught a glimpse at him.

The Shadowsinger's eyes were completely dim.