Part One - Fire and Ice

Chapter Five - Goldryn

Ardere hurtled through the nothingness, seeing millions of different worlds flash by. Some grey and cinders, others bright green and pinks. Ardere looked inside herself, just as she had done last time and searched through her memories of the land she had lost Goldryn in, and there, deep within her was a rope. Ardere tugged on it gently, her mind trying to look at the midnight black tether before she was pulled in response, and began hurting through the nothingness,  into the land called Preethean.

The sky was so dark she didn't know she had arrived until wind was whipping at her face, and gravity dragged her down. Ardere cursed herself and shifted in the air as she plummeted, flapping her golden wings when they appeared to stabilise herself. Silly girl. She should of shifted before world walking.

Ardere turned around in a wide arc, the feeling of wind through her feathers sheer bliss. In her phoenix form, the princess stared up at the sky, squalling at the beautiful stars and mesmerising colours.

Nearing the building she had flew from, Ardere felt the barrier with her magic before she hit it. Tumbling backwards the female squalled in annoyance and keened at a wall of air. Flapping downwards the princess flew swiftly to a large patio, ext to a set of stairs that descended into the darkness. It looked like the front door. 

I guess I'll have to do this the hard way. Ardere shifted back into her human form as she dropped the last few feet, landing silently upon the marble. As she rose, a blonde curl of hair escaped it's knot and whipped around her face in the midnight wind. 

"Alright bat boy, time for some fun." The fae straightened her back, and gave a wicked smile before blasting the front door off of it's hinges.

~~~

Orion had been playing with his little sister in one of the many libraries in the house of wind. Artemis was gurgling in happiness as he read her children's books and levitated her off the ground with his powers. It had been relatively peaceful, his parents were upstairs dining with their inner circle for some important business and Orion had offered to stay with Artemis, until he heard a crash from the opening hall which was past a set of doors. 

The lord was instantly on his feet, magic sweeping the building to be met with a blast of power ... and underneath that, the pine and sun soaked mind of the strange fae female who had evaded him just a week ago. 

Orion whipped back to his sister who was gurgling happily and wrapped her in his arms, winnowing to his parents who were sitting on plush sofas, placing Artemis softly down onto the chair next to his Aunt Amren and then looking over to his father. 

His father, the high lord, sat on a loveseat next to his mother, beside him on another seat were Cassian and Nesta. Squished together on a sofa on Feyre's side was Azriel and Amren, who was now smiling down at her niece. Lastly, sat on a fancy chair just beside Orion was Morrigan, her long ringlets of golden hair bouncing as she turned her head towards him.

The council immediately sat up as he had winnowed in and there was a painful silence as Orion looked to his mother, "She's back."

~~~

"HEY CORPSE BREATH, WHERE'S MY SWORD?!" Ardere swung a replacement sword she was carrying at a vase and artwork in the fancy hall and kicked another door down, her eyes blazing.

Ardere barely had time to register as a figure appeared before her, arms outstretched and firing a blast of magic at her so hard to slammed back into a wall.

Screeching Ardere pulled two long knives from her thighs and launched herself forward. It was the same male who had held her down and tried to interrogate her when she had first awoken after the battle. His clean cut black hair and deeply tanned skin accented lilac eyes. Lilac eyes burning with rage, and he met her mid air and parried her attack of knives of his own. Where had they come from?

The princess twirled and slashed again, one of her blades slicing down the males arms. His ears were pointed like a fae's she noticed as they tumbled, and again those wings. Like a bat.

Falling apart, the two fae panted.

The heir to Terrasen growled, her canines long and menacing as they began to circle each other. Ardere's long knives were in her grip, but the boy -man actually looking at the five o'clock shadow- had empty hands, although they were circled inside of shadows. At first, Ardere imagined it was a trick of the light, but as they circled around into different light, they grew, swirling like smoke.

Like her Uncle Lorcan. 

A deadly grin  flashed on her pink lips as the princess' eyes flicked up to meet lilac ones and they collided once more.

Ardere's knives bounced off of the darkness, which gripped one and threw it away. Screeching she twirled at the male, the dagger she still had whizzing mere millimetres from his throat. No, not millimetres, as a small line of crimson peeked across his skin. Barely a scratch. More akin to a paper cut that the deep slash she was aiming for.

Shame.

~~~

Orion's shadows wrapped around him, and recoiled from the strange sense of the golden-haired female. Something about her was wrong, her scent was ... different.

He had been sloppy, and the graze her mighty dagger had caused was an embarrassment. He was a bred Illyrian warrior, a lord of the night court, son to Feyre Cursebreaker and Rhysand the greatest of lords. He was not sloppy. He- He had been trained all of his life, and yet this female who's eyes were so young and angry, her scent so overpowering and unearthly had gotten past his defences.

Firing a wall of black at the female, who responded with a short burst of flame tearing it's way through the dark, Orion reached for in his mind, only to hit a wall of fire and ice, so hot and cold at the same time he staggered backwards, one hand clutched to his head which felt like it was splitting, and the other yanking her dagger away with an invisible hand and making it soar through the air into a portrait of his grandparents.

Orion had barely recognised his family gathered a small distance away. Sending another blast of darkness from behind the female, he knocked her through a doorway, flicking his gaze back to the fae who had raised him. Both his mother and father who had both been staring at the girl, probably trying to work their magic, now were kneeling on the floor holding their heads. Cassian knelt beside his mother, longsword drawn, Azriel and Amren nowhere to be seen. Probably looking after Artemis.

His Aunt Mor was the only one looking aware, her long red dress spilling onto the marble floor and striding forward angrily, her long, pierced ears pointing like golden spears out of her hair. 

All of a sudden, a shriek followed by a loud explosion knocked Orion into a wall, debris falling in the air, he turned too late to raise his hands, as the strange female burst through a door, her hands wreathed in fire as she lunged for him. This was it.

"ARDERE STOP!" Mor's voice was loud and honey'd.

The female stopped, a strand of hair falling onto her face as her whole body froze, staring in shock and horror as her flamed hands, outstretched for Orion hung in the air.

Orion glanced back and forth, his heart hammering painfully as he brushed off the panic he had let himself fall into. Stupid boy, he chided, if your family was not here you'd be dead for that pause.

Taking a deep breath, he rose, brushing debris from himself and pushed passed Ardere, who's eyes were snapping at every movement in terror.

Stepping the female he waled to his aunt's side and glared at the female who even the Suriel had so little to tell them. Watching for what would happen now.

~~~ 

Ardere had never felt so terrified. Her blood moved painfully slowly, and every part of her was glued in place, breathing hard to achieve as whatever magic this strange fae had ran through her body.

"Turn to face me, and extinguish your flames."

To her horror, the princess turned, body stiff as she pulled her magic back into herself, her eyes rising to a female who actually ... looked a lot like her mother. Almost the same shade of hair, eyes golden, so shining and bright it made her flinch. Like a prince she was to be married too. The same shattering gold.

"Kneel."

Spellbound, the princess of Terrasen fell to her knees, the sound a death knell.