Hello, here is a little fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
I hope you like it! Don't hesitate to let me know if you prefer the OC to become y/n and/or gender neutral.
Also, I apologize for any mistakes you might find, I'm just a French girl doing her best with Google Translate and her average score of 5 in English classe.
Happy reading!
--> You can find the chapters on my Wattpad account if that's more practical for you.
Summary : We are just after Feyre became Fae and was able to get out from under the mountain. She tries to forget what happened by trying to live happily with Tamlin. Their wedding is also in preparation. Tamlin's spies let him know that Hybern possessed the cauldron and wanted to destroy the wall and that Rhysand was looking for the Book of Breathings to nullify the Cauldron's power. When Feyre learned it, she asked Tamlin and Rhysand to form an alliance. Then, they all find themselves heading to the Archerons' manor to organize a meeting with the human queens.
But Rhysand, Cassian and Azriel would never have thought to meet their mate in Archerons' manor and to share her with their brothers.
Luxiana is Feyre's best friend. She taught her everything, including how to hunt and survive. Luxiana has a complicated past. She seems fragile at first glance but is in fact extremely badass and powerful.
Hello, here is the epilogue of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
First of all, I wanted to thank you all.
It is with a heavy heart that I wanted to write you this little message to thank you with all my being. You are the people for whom I continued to write. You are the ones who encouraged me to continue this story. If this writing was able to be finished, it is only thanks to you and your incredible kindness. Each of your messages made me so happy, so joyful and healed unsuspected things in me.
I love you all so much and I think of you a lot for reading and liking this story. Truly, I was so surprised by your kindness. You made me so happy and encouraged me so much in my dream of becoming a writer.
I love you with all my heart and have loved reading EVERY SINGLE one of your comments and reactions.
Thank you for reading this story to the end.
I will miss talking to you and you will be missed in my heart forever.
Thank you for all the emotions you made me feel.
Thanks to Sarah J Maas for creating ACOTAR and thereby allowing me to meet you all.
Keep commenting on tons of stories and spreading love everywhere. You have no idea how much it makes the authors happy.
Take care of yourself, really. You deserve all the happiness in the world and I would pray to all the gods that you are all happy.
Forever and ever, your kindness will fly into my heart and mind, protecting and healing it.
I will never forget you.
And in any case, I know life is hard, but remember (like Luxiana did) : DO NOT GIVE UP.
Whatever happens, don't give up. Because I promise you, one day, everything will be better. One day you will be in peace. One day, you will be fine. One day, you will be happy. And I am going to wish every day for you to be. Never stop fighting for your happiness, I swear it's worth it.
Keep fighting.
THANK YOU WITH ALL MY HEART,
The little girl in me that you made happy.
! Don't forget to read the previous chapters ! : Here
Epilogue
Cassian paced the room like a caged lion. His hands were on his hips, his eyes wide and his gaze lost.
Rhysand was kneeling beside the bed, holding Luxiana's hand, squeezing it with all his might, grimacing and looking at her worriedly.
Azriel was behind Luxiana, leaning against the headboard, between the immense white wings of his soulmate, who was leaning back on his chest. He held his wife in his arms, stroking her hair and placing kisses on her head, trying to relax and reassure her. "It's going to be okay, princess, everything's going to be okay. Breathe."
"Shut the fuck up," Luxiana screamed, furious. "I'm giving birth and it's your fault. It hurts like hell." She was so angry that she was in so much pain because of a baby they'd put in her belly. It's a good thing she loved them and didn't mind going through this for them. But damn it, why shouldn't they have to suffer?
Azriel let out a small laugh, kissing the top of her head. "Sorry, Princess. I'll shut up."
"Push," Amren ordered, leaning between the blonde's legs.
Luxiana screamed at the pain ripping through her stomach as she pushed as hard as she could.
The three Illyrians were so happy, so joyful, and so excited. They were going to see their baby and find out if it was a girl or a boy. They were so ready to be dads. They had imagined so many things and ways to be with their child.
They had been living the dream life for months. Even though they were anxious every time their soulmate moved. Even though they held her arm to make sure she didn't fall. And even though they had put protection on all the furniture corners to make sure she wouldn't hurt herself, they were so happy. They were going to have a baby. A little them. A symbol of their love.
Despite their intense joy, they couldn't help but feel sick at their wife's cries of pain. There was nothing they could do about it, and it was slowly killing them. They loved her so much and would thank her endlessly for giving them this gift.
When the baby finally came out, Amren retrieved it and handed it to Luxiana as the three Illyrians looked on in wonder. "It's a girl," the brunette announced.
Luxiana picked up her little girl and placed her against her chest. Her little baby. She would do anything to protect her. She would love her with all her might. She looked up at her soulmates who had allowed her to have this child and to know this kind of love, this kind of happiness.
Cassian stood frozen in the middle of the room, facing the bed. "A little girl. I have a little girl. I'm a dad to a little girl." Large tears began to roll down his cheeks as he began to sob loudly. He fell to his knees, pressing his hands to his face. His little girl. He had a family. He had managed to make himself loved and start a family forever.
Azriel was examining his little girl's already adorable face over his wife's shoulder. She had beautiful, large, curious blue eyes like her mother's, and she watched everything around her with fascination. She was smiling and not even crying. His heart swelled with joy and tenderness. He ran his hand over the baby's head, caressing her. He smiled as a tear rolled down his cheek. "My two princesses." And he kissed his wife's forehead.
Luxiana handed the child to Rhysand. "Do you want to take her?"
Rhysand nodded and gently picked up the child. Delicately, as if fragile and breakable, he placed the baby against his chest and gently held her in his arms. He closed his eyes and began to cry. "Thank you. Thank you. So thank you." He thanked Luxiana, his brothers, Amren, the gods. Everyone. He thanked everyone for allowing him to get to where he is today. To be able to start a family and hold his little girl in his arms.
"Congratulations," Amren said, smiling, happy to see them happy. "What are you going to name her?"
Rhysand glanced at his brothers, then at Luxiana. He smiled. They'd discussed this so many times over the past few months. He stroked the small black hairs on his daughter's head, detailing her equally black wings. "Nox."
***
One night, when Luxiana woke up, she went to check on her daughter in her room. But when she arrived, she leaned on the doorframe. Cassian was already there, rocking their baby while the little one slept peacefully in his arms. She was a few months old now and had always slept well at night, but Cassian couldn't help but hold her all the time. He loved his daughter so much. With all his heart.
"I will always protect you," he whispered to his little baby, not having heard that Luxiana had arrived behind him. He stroked his child's chubby cheek. "I will always do anything for you. Everything. I love you so much."
Luxiana smiled. She knew Cassian kept repeating this to his daughter, and it never got boring for her. She appreciated it every time he did it. She felt so lucky to have three husbands who were there for their child and loving her.
***
Azriel stood on the balcony, holding his little girl in his arms. "You'll make it. I'm sure of it. You'll succeed, all you have to do is flap your wings, it's instinctive. You'll succeed. I have faith in you, sweetie."
"I'm sure I'll manage," the little girl agreed pretentiously in her father's arms. "I'm three after all. I'm a big girl now."
Azriel laughed, placing a soft kiss on her cheek. "That's true. You're right. But if you're scared, don't be. Dad will be there to catch you if you need it. I'll always be there to catch you and pick you up. But you just have to do as I showed you, and you'll see, you'll succeed."
The little girl didn't hesitate for a second and threw herself into the void in front of the balcony. Azriel's eyes widened as she jumped.
Cassian, Luxiana, and Rhysand, who were watching from a few feet away on chairs around a table, raised on their feet and ran towards the railing. Azriel jumped into the void to catch his daughter if necessary, but Nox rose back up into the sky and began to fly up to the cloud, laughing with joy.
The shadowsinger began to follow her to catch her if necessary, but all while laughing with happiness and shouting encouragement and congratulations to his daughter.
“She did it, she’s flying!” Luxiana exclaimed with shining eyes, hugging Rhysand and Cassian—just as happy as she was.
Then Cassian placed a hand on his heart, shaking his head as he remembered his daughter jumping into the void without hesitation. He'd been so scared. "Damn, she's just like her mother," he remarked, glaring at Luxiana, who was dying of laughter. "Completely crazy and oblivious."
Rhysand grinned. Her brother was right, she was like that. His daughter was the physical and mental spitting image of his wife. Only the color of her hair and wings had she inherited from one of them.
The lord smiled even more as he hugged his wife from behind, placing his hands on her already rounded belly. Perhaps this second child would look a little more like one of his brothers or him.
***
Luxiana sat on the couch, holding her two-year-old son. His hair and wings were as white as his mother's, and his eyes were a deep brown. Cassian sat beneath them, his chin resting on his wife's shoulder, studying his son with shining eyes.
Rhysand danced in the middle of the room with his little girl, who was now five years old. He finally took her in his arms. "You'll love Daddy forever, right?"
The little girl nodded, "Yes, Dad. You, Mom, Dad, Dad, and Lox." She pointed at Cassian, Azriel, and his little brother. "And..." she suddenly blushed, lowering her head. "...I like Tomin too."
The faces of the three Illyrians faded as they suddenly turned white. They gritted their teeth and rolled their eyes as Luxiana burst out laughing. She could see how much her little girl and Feyre and Tamlin's little boy loved each other. They had known each other since they were little, and no matter how hard the Illyrians tried to hide it to themselves, Feyre and Luxi had clearly sensed the bond that had formed between the two children. They were sure of it: their children were soulmates.
Rhysand pouted, capriciously. "No, just me. You can dislike them, especially Tomin, that little... not cool child."
"Hey," Azriel said, offended. "Don't listen to Dad, he's talking nonsense. Well, except for loving Tomin. You won't love any other boys than your dads, will you?" he asked, standing up and trying to hug his daughter, but Rhysand pulled away, turning to face him with his back.
Nox laughed as she curled up on Rhysand to give him a hug while taunting her other dad.
Azriel tried to hug her again but Rhysand started running with his bouncing baby girl in his arms.
"No, give me back my little girl," Az laughed, chasing them all over the house.
"Don't you want to go get your little girl too?" Luxiana laughed, addressing Cassian over her shoulder.
"Oh yes, and I'm going to cheat, I'm going to take my little warrior with me to help me," he replied, pulling himself out from under his wife to stand up and grab his son in his arms.
He began to spin around, twirling his son, who began to laugh. Then he began to run with him in his arms, looking for his daughter.
“Oh no,” Rhysand played along. “Our son is chasing us away, we don’t stand a chance.”
Azriel pretended to scream in fear, making his son burst out laughing.
Luxiana took a deep breath as she leaned back on the couch, watching with shining eyes as her three husbands and two children squabbled across the room to cuddle. It was such a beautiful sight.
Her heart resonated throughout her body with an unshakeable peace. She was so well. She was finally at peace and happy. She placed her hand on her stomach, smiling and wondering when she would announce the third birth that was coming. Especially since this one was shaping up to be special.
She smiled as she examined her children. Although the three Illyrians subconsciously ignored it, Nox was the spitting image of Azriel. Lox had Cassian's eyes, the same nose, and the same face shape. And she could already feel Rhys's power emanating from her baby inside her.
She smiled, taking a deep breath. The four of them were finally at peace and happy with their friends, family, love, and children.
She stood up and headed towards the balcony where, a few feet in the air, her family was bickering. She stretched her magnificent large white wings and jumped to join them.
Because Luxiana fought to survive. Because she didn't give up. Because she was able to resist until she found happiness, peace and healing.
Hello, here is the last chapter of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
! Don't forget to read the previous and following chapters ! : Here
Chapter 44
When Azriel woke, he didn't open his eyes right away, savoring the feelings of peace and well-being that washed over him a little longer. He felt so warm in their bed with his brothers and his soulmate by his side. He had everything he wanted, everything he loved. He stretched, turning to face Rhysand between him and Cassian, hoping to see his soulmate and steal her from his brother.
But Luxiana wasn't in the lord's arms. Az sat up suddenly to see Rhysand, who was just as asleep as Cassian. He tried to reassure himself by looking at the general and seeing his soulmate in his arms. But she wasn't there.
His heart began to race, beating as fast and fast as his breathing. His eyes widened as he scanned the room. She wasn't there. His soulmate was gone.
"She's gone!!!!" Azriel yelled to wake his two brothers. He punched Rhysand's chest before leaning against it to get up.
Cassian groaned, barely opening his eyelids as Rhysand opened them wide, frowning. "What?" the lord muttered, his voice still sleepy.
"Luxiana! She's gone!!!" Azriel shouted in panic. He was shaking.
Rhysand and Cassian then woke up suddenly, jumping up and down, leaping out of bed on their own two feet. They began to look around the room and began to panic just as much as Azriel.
"She's gone??" Cassian gasped, his eyes and chest burning. "But why?? She said she wouldn't leave us again??? What did we do wrong??" He spun around, running his hands through his hair, almost pulling them.
Azriel continued to search for her everywhere relentlessly. He ran to every corner of the room and was about to leave it.
Rhysand's breath caught in his lung as his heart squeezed the same barbed wire that was squeezing his throat. Was she gone? His eyes began to burn and his face contorted with sadness.
But he froze for a second. He had to keep his head cold. He closed his eyes and focused on the connection he had with his soulmate, which allowed him to realize that she was close to him. She was in the building. He calmed instantly, relieved, and this emotion froze Cassian and Azriel as well, who felt it through their connection.
They both made the same connection as Rhysand and without waiting, the lord teleported them straight to where he felt Luxiana was.
They landed in the kitchen of the house, directly in front of the central island, where Luxiana was behind it. She was sitting on the floor in front of the oven. She hadn't heard the three Illyrians arrive and was only watching the things cooking in the oven while muttering a song.
The three Illyrians gasped for breath as they collapsed. She hadn't left. They were almost about to cry. They had been so scared.
"Damn it," Cassian breathed, placing his hand over his heart.
Luxiana jumped in surprise, swiveling towards them with wide eyes. When she spotted them, a few feet away, she grinned broadly and jumped to her feet. "Aren't you asleep?"
She walked towards them, and Rhysand rushed ahead of his two brothers to hug her. He took a deep, comforting breath of his soulmate's scent. "We were so scared."
Luxiana stepped away from him, frowning. "Afraid of what?" she asked, uncomprehending.
Rhysand huffed again, smiling. "Nothing. Everything's fine now."
"What were you doing here?" Cassian asked, glancing out the window of the room to see that it was still the middle of the night. "And at this time of the night?"
Luxiana glanced at the oven as her cheeks began to redden. "Uh, I... Cookies," she bit her lower lip, unsure of what to say.
But Azriel pursed his lips, thinking he understood. She must have had something on her mind, and she'd wanted to clear her head by baking cookies. Like her father used to help her. He gritted his teeth a little because of the disappointment filling his heart. He walked over to her and placed his warm palm on the blonde's cheek. “Why didn't you wake me up? You know I'd be more than happy to make you those cookies anytime, princess.” He frowned, worried. “Is something bothering you?”
"Do I have to break someone's head??" Cassian shouted, clenching his fists. Even if it was him he had to kill, he would. Especially if it would ease his soulmate's mind.
"You know you can talk to us about anything, right?" Rhysand added in the same concerned tone as his brothers.
The blonde smiled softly as she blew her eyes out. She was so in love. Suddenly, everything made sense, and nothing scared her anymore. The oven beeped, she took out the cookies, and handed one to each Illyrian, who grabbed them without understanding. "You can eat it. Well, if you want..." she blushed, shyly dancing on her two feet.
The three Illyrians exchanged confused glances before Cassian shook his head and handed her the cookie again. "We can't... uh..." He looked down through gritted teeth. He wished he could taste her cookies.
Rhysand's heart ached for his soulmate. "We can't eat the food you made for us, that would mean..."
"That I accept our bond forever," Luxiana finished for her soulmate.
The three of them widened their eyes as a spark of hope rose within them, swelling their chests.
"But then why do you..." Azriel tried to speak with a throat tight with apprehension.
Luxiana blushed, biting her lower lip, her gaze shifty. "Because I love you and... Well... I just want us to love each other forever. I want to accept the bond and... Well, if you want, we can have a ceremony... or nothing at all!" she panicked, gesturing wildly as the Illyrians were lost in torrents of emotion.
"If you don't want to... bond with me, you have the right! It's just that here I am happy and I'm ready! And you have the right not to be, but know that I will make you these cookies every day until all three of you eat them. But you have time, right? You don't have to eat it right away, haha," she laughed embarrassedly, massaging the back of her neck without still looking at them. "It's just that I woke up tonight and I felt so happy, I wanted it to last forever, so I thought... Well, you know what? It was stupid, never mind..." She shook her head, cursing herself inwardly.
She reached for Azriel's cookie to retrieve it, but the Illyrian came back to him, jerking back two steps and pressing the cookie against his heart. "Don't even try," he managed through his rapid breathing and wide eyes. He gently squeezed the cookie between his fingers as if it were the most precious thing in the world. Then it dawned on him. His heart was beating so fast it slapped painfully against his ribs. He slowly began to smile broadly as his eyes sparkled with hope, love, and tears.
Cassian was completely paralyzed with shock. His mouth was half-open, his eyelids wide, but his pupils were sparkling. They shone like they had never shone before. She wanted him forever? Did his soulmate want him forever? Did she really love him? Someone was finally choosing him, and it was the woman of his dreams. A tear rolled down his cheek, then a second, and then a whole stream. He had never cried for joy, but he just didn't know how to handle the flood of happiness exploding into fireworks inside him. The cookie rested on both palms as he held his arms out in front of him as if it were the most delicate and precious thing in the world. Because to him, it was. This cookie meant everything.
Rhysand's cheeks were drowned by the large uncontrollable salty beads that dripped from his eyelids. This was the happiest day of his life. His whole body tickled with joy and pleasure. He literally felt himself vibrate. A loud sob escaped his lips; he could barely stand. Was he dead? Was this a dream? He had dreamed of this moment so many times. So many times. He observed the cookie between his fingers from every angle. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He thanked all the gods, all the heavens, all the worlds for this pure moment of joy. He was so happy and so relieved. She wanted to be theirs forever. "Are you..." he stammered. "Are you sure?"
Luxiana studied them with furrowed brows, not understanding their reactions. Were they sad that she wanted to bond with them? Didn't they want this? She looked down. She had been stupid, she shouldn't have thought this was what they wanted too. They might not be ready, or they might not love her enough... But she... She loved them so much. There was no turning back for her. It was them or nothing. So she would do anything to win them over and keep baking them those cookies until they were ready and wanted to eat them. She nodded to Rhysand determinedly. "Yes. Forever."
Rhysand looked up at the ceiling, gritting his teeth to keep from collapsing as the spasmodic hitches in his breathing shook him from all sides.
Azriel's tears silently rolled down his cheeks as he focused on his soulmate. He memorized her face, her expressions, her words. He remembered everything. Every second. He wanted to never forget the most beautiful moment he had ever experienced.
Cassian couldn't hold it in any longer. He began to sob loudly, his face twisted with tears. His eyes were tightly closed, but despite this, the water continued to flow freely. And he cried his eyes out, almost screaming through his sobs. He was so happy, he couldn't help it.
Rhysand brought the cookie to his mouth, biting off a piece and chewing. He closed his eyes, savoring the delicious texture of the dough and the melting chocolate on his tongue. It was the best thing he had ever eaten. His heart was so swollen with joy it was almost painful. And slowly, enjoying the moment, he savored the best cookie of his life.
Surprisingly, Cassian almost felt sick as he bit off a small piece of cookie with his fingers. The thing was so beautiful, and it made him a little sad to have to eat it. But it meant they would love each other forever. And so, he slowly and delicately ate the cookie, savoring the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Azriel, once sure he had memorized the beauty of his soulmate in that moment, devoured the cookie. He ate it in just a few seconds, swallowing it in a few large bites. He was so eager for her to finally be his forever. And tonight, finally, she would be.
Luxiana's eyes widened as hope and joy awoke within her. Her chest tickled as she began to jump up and down with joy. They were eating her cookies. They loved her. They wanted her forever. She took a deep breath, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. She was so happy.
And when the cookies were eaten, the bond between the three Illyrians and their soulmate became stronger, more tangible, more powerful, and above all, indestructible. They were finally bound together forever and ever. She was theirs, and they were hers. And they proved that to each other for days on end after that.
That is, until Mor, worried about not seeing them for days, showed up at their house. When she realized they'd been sleeping together for hours because they'd just bonded, she was happy. But... She had to separate them by fighting the three Illyrians. It wasn't hard for the three males to fight the blonde, as they were so jealous that Mor had looked at their soulmate.
***
Several weeks had passed. The three Illyrians and Luxiana had nevertheless held a beautiful union ceremony surrounded by all the people they loved. Of course, they had to wait a long time for the three Illyrians to get used to their possessiveness and jealousy to tolerate the presence of other people near their soulmate. They had all been so happy, and Luxiana had looked magnificent under the night sky of the sanctuary in a dress shining with a thousand stars.
Rhysand had given his wife his mother's ring as a token of their union as he worn a matching one on his middle finger.
Cassian had tattooed a red Illyrian symbol signifying their bond on his soulmate's upper left chest, near her heart. He had also tattooed the same symbol in white on hin in the same spot.
As for Azriel, he had given her a necklace. A shadow necklace that perpetually wrapped itself around the blonde's neck. It was there for all to see, as a sign of protection and possession.
And Luxiana proudly showed each of these symbols because it meant they loved each other and belonged to each other. She was so happy.
The war with Hybern had finally broken out, and everyone knew it was time when Rhys's spies noticed the advance of the king's troops. They then planned a counterattack in unison with all the other high lords. All of them and their soldiers were then in a war camp, surrounded by tents, only a few kilometers from the opposing camp. Depending on the progress of both sides, the bloody encounter should take place tomorrow.
Rhys, Cass, Az, and Luxiana had just arrived at the camp, teleporting right into the middle of it before looking at the commotion around them with a worried look. Azriel cast that same concerned look at his soulmate. He was so anxious. His wife wanted to fight, and she was going to find herself on a battlefield surrounded by enemies without even being able to heal from her injuries. "There's really no way you're staying home, is there?"
"No," Luxiana smiled lovingly.
"But you can't heal and you have no more power," Rhysand sighed, consumed by anxiety.
Luxiana rolled her eyes haughtily. "It's not like a single one of those pathetic soldiers could manage to hurt me."
Cassian huffed a small laugh. "I don't doubt that. Either way, I'll be sticking to your ass to make sure nothing happens to you."
Luxiana smirked perversely. She walked backward toward their tent, but all the while giving Cassian a provocative look. "Oh, love, I wish you'd do something else to my ass."
Rhysand and Azriel shook their heads, a little jaded but bursting into laughter all the same. Cassian raised an eyebrow before lunging at his soulmate to grab her. But he froze mid-stride when he noticed the suriel walking toward Luxiana.
The creature stopped in front of her.
Everyone froze then, including Luxiana. "Hey!!" she greeted happily. "It's been a long time!! How are you?"
The suriel didn't reply and only looked Luxiana up and down. "Hmm," he began in a distant voice before turning his eyes toward the three Illyrians, pointing at Luxiana's belly with his long gray index finger. "She's pregnant. Goodbye." Then he left, leaving those involved in a state of paralysis and total shock.
The four of them stared blankly at the place where the suriel had been before it left for several long minutes.
"Did he just say that..." Azriel managed to utter, pointing at his soulmate but with his eyes still wide.
Luxiana placed her palm on her stomach as she turned her pupils to her soulmates, her face as contorted with confusion as they were. "I'm pregnant?" she sighed. "Oh, fucking hell." She couldn't breathe, a pang of anxiety rising in her stomach before being destroyed by explosive joy.
The three Illyrians realized then. Rhysand fell to his knees and tears began to roll down his cheeks. They were in the middle of all these people who were looking at them strangely, but he couldn't help it. He was so happy. He clapped his hands over his face to hide it. He was so happy.
"You're pregnant!!!!!" Cassian yelled at the top of his lungs, throwing his hands up in the air. Then he started screaming and jumping for joy before running towards Luxiana. "You're pregnant," he repeated, grinning.
Luxiana couldn't help but feel happy. Tears began to roll down her cheeks. "I'm pregnant, aaaahh," she cried back, overjoyed.
Cassian grabbed her by the hips and began to spin her around in the air with him.
Azriel jumped as he violently came back to himself, running towards them to stop Cassian with a firm hand on his shoulder. "Easy, don't hurt her. She has our baby in her belly too now!!!"
As Cassian cursed himself aloud as he gently set Luxiana back down, Azriel realized his words. She had her little baby in her womb. His family. He turned to Luxiana with shining eyes. He gently took her in his arms before placing a kiss on her temple. "I love you so much, princess."
"I'm going to be a dad," Cassian started yelling. He lunged at the people around them, grabbing them by the shoulders and shaking them around, shouting in their ears. "I'm going to be a dad. I'm going to be a dad."
Rhysand got up to run to Luxiana, steal her from his brother's embrace to press her to his chest. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, my love. Thank you." And he began to vigorously kiss every inch of her face as Luxiana laughed.
"Wait, wait," Luxiana finally said, stepping away and calming her laughter. "But how..." She frowned, suddenly becoming serious. "How is that possible? I thought you were taking birth control. Rhys, you told me you wanted children, but not right away, not during the war..."
Anxiety then invaded all four of them, paralyzing them but unable to extinguish their joy. "And I..." She lowered her eyes, taking a step back as she began to panic. Her breathing quickened, her fingers clenched on the skin of her stomach. "I don't know if... if I'm ready for this, I... I might not be a good mother. And if I end up being like my mother at the end, mean, it will hurt our child so much, I..."
"My love," Rhysand said, cupping her cheeks in his hands and looking into his wife's teary eyes. "Calm down. Breathe. Take deep breaths and look at me. Listen. You won't be alone. We'll be here. Always. With you. And we'll never, ever leave you alone with this child. And I know you, sweetheart, you'll never hurt this baby, I'm sure of it. And the mere fact that you're worried about it tells me you'll do anything to make this child happy. Trust me. Everything will be fine. Okay?"
Luxiana closed her eyes, listening intently to Rhysand and letting him reassure her. She rested her forehead on her husband's, nodding gently. Then she broke into a toothy smile, her joy returning. "We're having a baby."
Rhys smiled back as he hugged her. "We're having a baby." Tears welled up in his eyes again. He was so happy.
"Holy shit,she is right. This isn't the right time. We're at war," Cassian panicked in turn, running his hands through his hair and undoing his bun.
Azriel crossed his arms, frowning as he thought. "We didn't take the contraceptive when Lux left. We weren't eating, and therefore we weren't drinking our tea. That's probably how it was possible."
"Holy shit," Cassian repeated, spinning around. "Don't get me wrong, I'm super happy, huh. But our pregnant wife is on a fucking battlefield."
Anxiety then gripped the three Illyrians as they glanced worriedly at their wives. Azriel shook his head, pointing at his wife. "Listen to me, there's no fucking way you're going to fight. Not with our baby in your belly. Damn it." He began to panic himself. His soulmate was pregnant and she couldn't heal even though she was the most clumsy and stubborn woman in history.
Luxiana rolled her eyes, but Azriel cut her off. "Don't even try to argue, this is irrevocable. Damn it. I'll lock her up somewhere."
Luxiana huffed a laugh, knowing full well that she'd find a way to escape anyway. But a part of her was worried too. He was right. She didn't care about her life, but she didn't want to endanger her child's. She gritted her teeth. She was bound to get hit, and she didn't want it to cause the loss of her little baby. "Okay. I won't fight. I promise." It hurt a lot to say that, but she had no choice. She would find another way to make herself useful, she was sure of it.
The three Illyrians breathed a sigh of relief. Their wife had regained her senses and was not going to put herself in danger.
Luxiana looked down, pouting in concern. "I don't even know which one of you is the father... How are we going to do this..."
"It's okay, princess," Azriel reassured her. "It doesn't matter if he has purple eyes, a negative IQ, or big wings, all three of us will be his father."
Rhysand nodded, taking a deep breath and raising his head to the sky. He was so happy, he didn't even realize it.
Cassian's big smile returned as he started jumping around. "I'm going to be a dad," he yelled, pumping his fists in the air. Then he frowned as he turned to Azriel realizing what he'd just said. "Is negative IQ for me?"
Azriel pursed his lips, holding back a laugh. “It's not my fault you feel targeted.”
Cassian pointed at him, giving him a dark look before shaking his head. “I actually don't care because I'M GOING TO BE A DAD!!!”
"I beg your pardon???" Feyre yelled as she arrived at their side with Tamlin, Keydan, Jasper, and Lucien. They were all wide-eyed.
Luxiana made a sort of grimace into a smile before shrugging. "Yeah, it's unexpected, but I'm pregnant."
Lucien was the first to emerge from his daze. He ran to Luxiana to hug her, but Azriel stood in front of him, stopping him with the tip of his index finger on the redhead's forehead. "Certainly not."
Lucien rolled his eyes. "Elain is my soulmate. I'm not a threat to you. I just wanted to congratulate her."
Azriel cast a skeptical look at his two brothers, who returned it. "No hugs, though."
Lucien raised his arms in the air in remission while laughing with Luxiana.
"Oh, damn," Keydan sighed, holding the bridge of his nose. "I wish you guys luck," he said, walking over to tap Rhysand on the shoulder. "She is going to be uncontrollable with a baby. A badass mother for sure."
He walked over to Luxiana, but Azriel stopped him by stepping in front of him. But this time, Luxiana stepped around him to throw herself into Keydan's arms. She needed a little comfort. Comfort from Keydan, and this hug provided it. "Congratulations, sweetheart," Keydan whispered in her ear. "Are you happy?"
Luxiana nodded against his shoulder.
The three Illyrians' knees grew nervous and shaky as they gritted their teeth and rolled their eyes. Azriel's nostrils flared in anger and his eyes widened like a madman. Cassian's fists clenched as something in his gaze twisted. Rhysand trembled not to intervene and wondered what was holding him back from doing so.
"I told you they were going to fuck," Jasper pointed at them. Then he started jumping up and down, pumping his fists in excitement. "There's going to be a mini Luxiana running around!!"
"You're kidding," Feyre finally realized, stunned, but marveled with a big smile. "Me too!!!!!! We're pregnant at the same time. Lux, our babies will grow up together."
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH," Luxiana and Feyre yelled, jumping for joy together and hugging each other.
"Easy, easy," Azriel said, stopping Luxiana from jumping. "Don't shake the baby too much."
Tamlin moved closer to Rhysand to stand beside him, watching his wife jump around with her best friend. "I guess we'll really be seeing more of each other then."
"Yeah, looks like it," Rhysand breathed, looking down.
"Congratulations to all four of you, by the way," the blond whispered to them. "I wanted to tell you that... I was sorry for what I did. When my father asked me for that information about... where your mother and sister were, I really didn't think he was going to kill them. I was being dumb. I know there's nothing I can say that could change what happened, but I truly apologize. It was never my intention to hurt you."
Rhysand gritted his teeth but nodded. "It's all in the past now. All that matters is our wives and future children. Congratulations to you too."
After that, they calmed down as best they could. They met with the other high lords to make a plan, trying to hide their enthusiasm and good moods as best they could. They were all so happy.
At the end of the meeting, Eris walked past Luxiana, giving her only a small smile before heading over to Feyre and asking how Nesta was doing. It was only then that Lux learned that Nesta was Eris's soulmate, and that the two already seemed to have great chemistry.
Luxiana was so happy for Eris. He deserved it, and there was no one better suited to lead the Autumn Court than the harsh, cold Nesta.
The blonde looked around at all her friends and family, talking happily among themselves, and she felt so lucky. So in love. So happy. She finally felt at peace.
***
The next morning, Cassian was still lying in the tent bed with Luxiana. He was resting his head on his soulmate's stomach, trying to listen to their little baby in her womb. "He's my son, I'm sure of it," he breathed.
Luxiana laughed, shaking Cassian's head on her stomach but continuing to stroke his hair. "If you want, can I get up now?"
"No," the Illyrian complained like a child, stroking his cheek over his wife's stomach.
"Don't encourage him, princess," Azriel retorted, standing a few feet away, leaning over a map on a table with Rhysand. "You know it's mine. And Cass, for the thirtieth time, push your big, heavy head off my baby, you'll crush it."
Cassian refused because he wasn't even resting his head on his soulmate's stomach. He was only lightly touching it. His neck was starting to hurt, but there was no way he was crushing it or moving it.
Rhysand, intent on detailing the map of the environment around them, trying to come up with a plan to stop Hybern's soldiers and avoid confrontation, smirked. "Sorry to disappoint you, but this baby can only be mine. I am the High Lord, after all."
"It doesn't matter whose it is," Cassian growled. "I would love our son with all my heart."
"It could be a girl too," Luxiana pointed out.
Cassian sat up suddenly. Azriel tensed. Rhysand's eyes widened.
"A little girl," Azriel smiled softly, his eyes shining. "I want a little girl too."
Cassian got up from the bed, frowning. "I'm going to start making a list of all the potential little guys who might be interested in our daughter. I swear, if any of them come near her, I'll crush them in half."
"Hmm," Rhysand agreed. "I'm going to create all-female schools and training centers, and she'll only go to those."
Luxiana grimaced in confusion. "She might like girls too."
Rhysand jumped. "She'll be homeschooled."
Cassian growled an animal sound. "No one will come near her."
"She won't leave the house without one of us, that's clear!" Azriel insisted, crossing his arms.
Luxiana burst out laughing, throwing her head back on the pillow. "You're crazy."
Suddenly, Lucien, Tamlin, and Feyre entered the tent with concerned looks. "They're all dead," Feyre breathed in shock.
"Is that you?" Tamlin gasped at Rhysand in confusion. "Are you the ones responsible?"
"What?" Rhysand said, casting worried and confused glances at his brothers. "Who died?"
"The King of Hybern and his army. The spies we sent this morning found them all dead in their camp. They brought back the king's body. Helion said he had been poisoned," Lucien explained. "Wasn't that you who did that?"
"No, it's not us..." Cassian began, then trailed off. He glanced suspiciously at his soulmate. Why was she suddenly so silent? Her face faded into a jaded expression. "You did this, didn't you?"
Luxiana got up from the bed, her pupils moving wildly as her face showed strange expressions. "What???? Nooooo...." she said, laughing strangely.
"Oh fuck, it's her," Azriel sighed, slapping his palm against his forehead.
"What??" Rhysand gasped. "But when? How?"
They were all so confused.
"Well…," Luxiana began, a little embarrassed, playing with her fingers. She was so worried. Her husbands were going to be so upset. "So, I know what I'm about to tell you will make you angry, but you mustn't forget that everything went well and that I'm fine. Me and the baby."
"Damn," Rhysand swooned, falling onto the table and resting his butt on it. "What did you do?"
"Well actually, hee hee," she laughed nervously. "Last night, I was worried, I couldn't sleep so I went out to get some fresh air. You were sleeping so well that I didn't want to wake you. So, I went out and there I ran into Jasper and Keydan who also couldn't sleep. They had just gone on guard duty and had found a plant. This plant is very deadly. A poison. And there were hundreds of them in the forest around the camp. So I said jokingly that we should go slip some of it into the water of the soldiers in the camp and that it might kill them. Except that Jasper didn't laugh. He looked at me. I looked at him. He looked at me. I looked at him. Anyway, we looked at each other. And without even discussing it, we understood that was exactly what we were going to do. That at least we had to try. So with Keydan and despite him, we slipped into the opposing camp incognito. Plus, they were dark, no one saw us, and we put a lot of poison in their water. Honestly, we didn't think it would kill everyone, but it's pretty good news. Haha."
"You're really sick," Tamlin laughed, shaking his head.
The three Illyrians looked at her with completely blank faces before anger surged through them. "You can't take that kind of risk anymore, Luxiana, damn it," Azriel scolded her. "You're pregnant."
"What would have happened if they had caught you, huh?" Rhysand continued. "Have you thought about that? What would we have done? What would we have become?"
"I would have escaped and still killed them, being very careful with my stomach," Luxiana shrugged.
Cassian opened his mouth to speak before closing it and grimacing. "Yeah. I mean... She's not wrong. I think she could have done that. Still, you could have gotten hurt. You should have at least woken one of us up. We are really angry."
Luxiana pouted. "Sorry." She could truly understand their concern now, but at the time, she had simply found it exciting and funny.
Azriel huffed, closing his eyes but smiling. Damn, he couldn't hold it against her for long. Not when she was this cute.
Rhysand took a deep breath. "The important thing is that nothing happened to you, but I'm still mad."
"Damn, so the war is... canceled? We won't have to fight?" Lucien finally asked.
"Oh no, everyone's dead now," Tamlin agreed, still in shock.
"Damn," Cassian growled, turning to Luxiana with a reproachful look. "You could have at least left me one or two so I could fight."
Everyone was laughing.
Luxiana watched them laugh with a heart at peace. "We can go home now then."
Luxiana was so happy. She was healed. They had cured her of everything.
So… one morning when she woke up, her body had started to heal again and her wings had started to grow back.
Hello, here is the chapter 43 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
Okay, I lied to you, it's true. The smut scene was lame and short, even though I promised you a long one, but it took me so long to write it... I'm just too useless to write this kind of scene. Sorry. I'll let your imagination run wild on this one.
Only two more chapters before the end!!! The next chapter will be published next Sunday, April 20th. But maybe I'll manage to write the last two and post them all at once.
In any case, I hope you enjoy this story until the end. Thank you for all your lovely feedback. You're so cute. You make me super happy. Lots of kisses to you. ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
! Don't forget to read the previous and following chapters ! : Here
"You could say your friends are... special," Azriel breathed, a little traumatized.
Luxiana giggled. "Yeah, I know. At least life isn't dull around them."
Rhysand nodded with a small smile, understanding her.
"But yet you decided to stay with us," Cassian remarked, walking over to take her in his arms and hold her close.
Luxiana returned his embrace, closing her eyes to savor it. "Of course," she whispered. "Life is even better for me when I have you by my side. I'm happier."
Rhysand and Azriel were able to take a deep breath at that, their eyelids closing in relief.
Cassian couldn't help but grin broadly, his heart pounding in his chest. He lifted Luxiana up in one swift motion, forcing a small gasp of surprise from her.
"What are you doing?" she laughed, wrapping her legs around the general's pelvis.
"I don't know," Cassian laughed. "I just want to keep you close to me forever."
Luxiana laughed, throwing her head back, unable to hold back the pleasure she felt. Under the shining gaze of her soulmates—who were scrutinizing her attentively—she gradually calmed down. She suddenly felt herself burning inside.
She cleared her throat, rolling her eyes. "Um... otherwise... you could take me up to the bedroom, you know, so... we can cuddle... Well, if you want, of course, I mean..." She laughed softly, poking fun at herself. "We wouldn't want to disappoint Jasper, would we?"
Azriel burst out laughing along with Cassian, while Rhysand, smiling, raised an eyebrow in pleasant surprise. The lord nodded vigorously. "Hmm, I suppose all other things can wait."
Cassian - with an already prominent erection - let out a cry of joy as he started running towards his room with a laughing and bouncing Luxiana in his arms.
The other two Illyrians followed them, enjoying the scene before them and the melodious sound of their soulmate's laughter echoing through their minds. They had missed it so much.
Once in his room, Cassian flopped down on his mattress, resting his entire weight on Luxiana. The blonde—though a little crushed—felt so good that she closed her eyes and moaned in comfort. "Or maybe we could actually sleep."
Cassian laughed, pushing himself up with his hands on the mattress and giving and horrified look at Luxiana. "No fucking way."
Luxiana burst out laughing as she rolled onto her stomach and began crawling out from under Cassian to try to escape.
The general grabbed her by the calf to stop her. "Certainly not!"
But Rhysand jumped on Cassian, crushing him with his weight and pinning him to the mattress. "Run, Luxi, run. I've got him," he laughed.
Cassian struggled, laughing, in Rhysand's grip. "Nooo."
Azriel grinned broadly as he went to the other side of the bed to grab Luxiana.
"Watch out, Luxi, he's trying to catch you," Rysand warns, trying to restrain Cassian.
The blonde rolled across the large bed, landing in the middle and away from Azriel. "Otter dodge," she teased.
But Azriel reached out, sending his power to Luxiana's wrists to grab them, pull her arms apart, and tie them with his shadows to the headboard.
Luxiana, held arms outstretched in the middle of the bed, began to make a mock-disappointed face. "Oh no," she said sarcastically.
"No! He cheated," Rhysand grumbled, kneeling beside her.
Cassian laughed mischievously as he sat up in the bed. "Mouahahha," he laughed mischievously. "You're stuck now."
"Oh yes," Luxiana said, reaching through the shadows—as if they weren't holding her back at all—to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear before placing her wrist back against the headboard in the shadows. "Poor me," she smirked.
The three Illyrians gaped, glancing at each other in surprise. She had passed through Azriel's shadows as if nothing had happened.
"Wait, but you don't have any more power? How do you pass through my shadows?" Azriel asked, taken aback.
Luxiana shrugged, smiling. "I don't know, they've never held me back. Sometimes they even talk to me."
"You can hear them? They let you hear them?" Rhysand wondered.
"And what do they tell you?" Cassian asked.
Luxiana smiled shyly. "We love you."
A silence fell over the room as the three Illyrians examined their soulmate with smiles. Of course, the shadows loved her. They were Azriel's shadows, transmitting his feelings.
"That's cute," Cassian smiled. "But I'm still going to beat the shit out of those shadows. Why do they love MY soulmate? The crazy bitches."
"Whatever," Luxiana shifted impatiently. "We have other things to do."
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Rhysand teased, tilting his head playfully.
Luxiana makes a pleading pout, blinking exaggeratedly.
🚫THERE IS A SMUT SCENE AFTER THOSE WORDS ! DO NOT READ IT IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO, IF YOU ARE UNDER THE LEGAL AGE OR IF YOU ARE JUST NOT ALLOWED TO -> Proceed to the end sign!🚫
Azriel smirked as he lecherously detailed his soulmate sprawled on the bed in front of him. "Hmm, where should we start?" He placed his hand on his soulmate's calf, running his fingers up her leg, caressing her while lifting her dress.
"I don't know where you want to start, but the important thing is to start," Luxiana encouraged them, shivering under her soulmate's touch.
Rhysand smirked as he leaned down to place a kiss on the blonde's neck. "Perhaps we can start there?"
Luxiana let out a high-pitched laugh. "That tickles."
Cassian rolled his eyes, shaking his head and laughing. His erection hurt as much as his heart was pounding like crazy.
"You're so cute, princess," Azriel assured, feeling lucky.
Luxiana's gaze flamed as she adopted a provocative expression. "You think so? Then show me how much."
Azriel gritted his teeth as he raised his head. His penis was already throbbing with excitement, and his entire body was on fire. At his silent command, his shadows tightened around Luxiana's wrists.
Cassian groaned. "Oh, we'll show you." He knelt beside his soulmate's legs and began untying the laces of her corset, trailing his fingers caressing the blonde's chest.
Rhysand's eyes lingered on her black dress as he looked his soulmate up and down with bright eyes. He leaned down to her ear to whisper, "I love it when you wear my colors."
Luxiana smiled. Her heart was pounding so hard against her ribs it hurt. She felt so joyful and excited. She nodded mischievously. "That's why I put on this dress, to please you."
Rhysand smiled. He loved knowing that. He leaned down to kiss Luxiana's lips full on the mouth, sliding his tongue around the blonde's. His whole body burned as his erection awoke. Damn, he'd missed her so much.
Luxiana could feel her entire body tickling all over as fireworks exploded in her stomach. Cassian, impatient, finally ripped off her corset and dress and threw them further into the room. Luxiana smiled against Rhysand's lips.
"I want to eat her, damn it," Cassian growled, his voice thick with excitement. He was struggling to breathe, so turned on was he by the sight of his soulmate in her underwear in front of him. Damn, he was so lucky.
"Go ahead, then," Azriel ordered, standing beside the bed watching.
Cassian didn't hesitate. He lifted the blonde's back to reach behind her, undo her bra, and remove it. He threw himself fully onto her breasts, licking and sucking them.
Luxiana moaned into Rhysand's mouth. Suddenly frustrated at not being able to touch her soulmates, she pulled one of her hands out of the shadows.
Azriel made a disapproving sound, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Don't even try to move or you'll be punished. And the punishment could be us stopping."
Luxiana groaned in frustration as she pressed her hands against the headboard, fighting herself to obey. She wanted to touch them so badly, but she didn't want them to stop. She also didn't want to upset Azriel. Not today, at least. Other times, though...
"Speak for him, I couldn't stop," Cassian assured, tracing the outline of Luxiana's breast with his tongue.
"Me neither," Rhysand said, trailing his kisses down the blonde's jaw and then down her neck.
Luxiana felt tickled all over, but when Azriel slipped his fingers under the elastic of her panties to pull them down her legs, she thought she would explode. She was so wet, she felt like she was dripping.
Rhysand moved away, passing behind Cassian - who rushed to his soulmate's mouth to kiss her in turn - while the lord grabbed the blonde's knees to spread her thighs and slide himself inside.
Rhysand placed a kiss on the blonde's inner thigh, making her muscle contract under the sensation. Luxiana swayed. Her vagina felt like it was pulsing with excitement.
Rhysand slowly moved his kisses up her thigh—pulling them a little further apart each time—before placing his lips on her clit.
Luxiana moaned, feeling electrified with pleasure as Rhysand licked up and down her slit.
No longer able to think or stop herself from touching them, she moved her arm to dig her hand into Rhys's hair. But Azriel, watching, caught her wrist before she could touch him, slamming it back onto the headboard, smiling at her frustration. "Don't anger me, my princess."
"Oh my god," Luxiana moaned, closing her eyes. Why was this turning her on so much? She bucked as best she could, trying to accentuate Rhysand's tongue movements.
Azriel continued to smile as he savored the view his soulmate offered him. He began to move his fingers—which until then had still been on his soulmate's wrist—down, caressing them along his arm. He reached her chest, drawing its contours. His smile widened even more when, following his gesture with his gaze, he noticed his soulmate's skin shivering under his imprints.
He slid them down her stomach, her hips, then down her thigh to her calf and feet. Her lower abdomen burned with excitement. Her skin was so soft.
Cassian devoured her by licking her everywhere, sucking her nipples or certain places on the front of her neck.
Rhysand inserted two fingers inside her and began to move in and out, curling his knuckles upward while sucking her clitoris between his lips. Luxiana, feeling overwhelmed with pleasure, spread her thighs a little wider as the feeling of well-being washed over her. She had missed them so much.
So quickly and without being able to hold back, she clenched her fists, feeling the pleasure explode in her stomach. She came as Cassian kissed her to feel her moans.
When she fell back onto the mattress after her orgasm, Rhysand sat up, licking his lips with pride.
🚫The smut scene end here🚫
Azriel, looking at her and noticing the blue gemstone bracelet on her wrist, gritted his teeth. It was this Keydan who had given her the bracelet, and he didn't like the idea that it was for hiding her. He grabbed her arm and brought her wrist to his mouth to kiss her while removing her bracelet.
Luxiana's eyes widened as she sat up and brought her thighs up to her chest. "What are you doing?" she panicked, wrapping her arms around her legs to try and hide the scars that had just appeared on her body.
"You don't need to hide," Azriel assured her, sitting down on the bed beside her.
"Give it back," Luxiana demanded, leaning toward him to try to take it, but Cassian grabbed her wrist, pulling her toward him and hugging her. He pressed her chest against his. He placed his palms on her back before sliding them over her shoulder blades, over her scars.
Luxiana tensed up, jumping in discomfort.
"Does it hurt?" Cassian asked in a small, worried voice. He felt sick.
Luxiana shook her head. "It's as sensitive as my wings were. I'm just not used to... feeling someone touch them. That's all." She looked down before shaking her head again. "Don't look at them, please, I don't like it." She leaned against Cassian's chest to push herself away.
But Rhysand grabbed her face, cupping her cheeks. "You don't have to hide your scars. They're proof that you've been through awful things and survived. They're proof that you're strong. They're beautiful for that reason. Because they're proof that you survived. They're how we got to know you. They're so beautiful. Don't ever be ashamed of them."
"Never be ashamed of ripping off your wings," Azriel continued. "Not when you did it to save your life."
"You should show them to everyone," Cassian continued, tears in his eyes. "No warrior has ever had the balls to do that. No one could give up their wings like you did. We never could. Never. You are so strong and so brave. So never hide these proofs of your strength."
Luxiana rested her forehead on Cassian's shoulder to hide her grimace of sadness and doubt. Her eyes burned. What they had just said was so beautiful. "But I don't like it," she hesitated again.
Azriel grabbed his soulmate's hand to place the bracelet in her palm.
Luxiana looked up at him with a bright look that made him wince in concern. "If you want to keep it and wear it, you can. We won't stop you. But we will always cherish your scars."
Rhysand slipped between Azriel and Luxiana, wrapping his arms between her and Cassian. He pulled her toward him, pressing her back against his chest. He placed a kiss on one of the wing-shaped scars. "Always."
Luxiana shuddered as she clenched the bracelet in her fist. Should she really be proud of her scars? She breathed out a smile. She had always hated them no matter how much the people she loved told her she shouldn't. She was so stubborn. She had never changed her mind. And suddenly, these three were telling her this, and she wanted to display her scars like trophies. What kind of impact did they have on her? She loved them so much.
She released the bracelet, letting it fall onto the sheets. She looked at the three Illyrians, who had bright, hopeful eyes. She began to blush as she looked down. "Fuck, I'm so in love with you... You have too much power over me. I'm in deep shit."
Rhysand grinned as he kissed Luxiana's temple. "We're all in the same boat, so don't worry."
🚫THERE IS A SMUT SCENE AFTER THOSE WORDS ! DO NOT READ IT IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO, IF YOU ARE UNDER THE LEGAL AGE OR IF YOU ARE JUST NOT ALLOWED TO -> Pass directly to the next chapter!🚫
Cassian laughed heartily as he picked up Luxiana and pulled her towards him. He pushed her back onto the mattress, holding himself over her with his forearms on either side of her face. "So? Where were we?" He licked his lips as he looked her up and down. "Fuck," she was so beautiful and he was so hard.
"I think we were about to get you undressed," Luxiana laughed, running her hands down the Illyrian's chest to undo his top.
"I'm not going to contradict her," Azriel smiled as he undressed.
Hastily, Rhysand took off his clothes at the same time as Cassian. They were so excited.
"I want all three of you," Luxiana begged, encouraging them to go faster.
The three of them stopped to stare at their soulmate in surprise, before glancing at each other and starting to undress even faster.
Azriel—who finished first, much to the dismay of the other two—threw himself onto the bed and lay on his back. He grabbed Luxiana and placed her on top of him. She smiled shyly, kissing him chastely.
But just as she was about to pull away, Azriel ran his hand through her hair, pressing down on her scalp and pulling her closer. He kissed her with his tongue, causing a firework of excitement to erupt in the blonde's stomach.
He broke the kiss to fist Luxiana's hair at the back of her head. He shifted her head to the side to brush his lips over her ear. "Put my cock inside you," he ordered.
Luxiana shuddered so violently at the excitement electrifying her entire body that she moaned. Without wasting any time, she ran her hands down the shadowsinger's chest, savoring the feel of his warm, firm, and muscular skin. She grabbed Azriel's penis with one hand. She stroked it once up and down, cutting off the Illyrian's breath, then placed it at her entrance.
Azriel, unable to take it anymore, grabbed the blonde's hips to push her onto his member while thrusting forward and penetrating her savagely.
Luxiana moaned in pleasure as she fell onto the Illyrian's chest. Her body was trembling and on fire as she felt herself being stretched from the inside out by Azriel's cock.
The shadowsinger groaned, closing his eyes. "Fuck, I missed you so much." His entire body tingled with pleasure as the blonde's walls squeezed around his throbbing length.
Cassian growled. "Bastard," he said, jealous of Azriel. He positioned himself behind Luxiana, straddling his brother's legs. She wanted all three of them. He grabbed his cock in his hand and rubbed it between Luxiana's ass cheeks. He leaned over his soulmate, crushing her between his chest and Azriel's, and whispered in her ear, "Can I take you from there, sweetheart?"
Luxiana nodded vigorously, without hesitating for a second. "Please."
Cassian smiled as he kissed her cheek. Then he positioned his cockhead at Luxiana's rear entrance before slowly penetrating her. He gasped at the sight of his soulmate being taken from behind by him while being on his brother.
Luxiana was so excited that she moaned in pleasure at the slight pain that shot through her at the intrusion.
Rhysand couldn't breathe. He knelt beside them, his gaze shining with desire. "Fuck," he breathed, gripping his penis in his fist. He was so turned on. "How's it feeling?"
"Fucking hell...," Cassian moaned, clenching every muscle to keep from cumming already. "It's so tight." He was able to push it all the way inside, shaking with pleasure.
Azriel stroked his soulmate's hair in comforting gestures. "You're perfect, princess. Look at you, you're taking us both so well." He grabbed her chin to tilt her head up and kiss her. "Let's start moving now, princess, okay?"
Luxiana nodded, resting her cheek on the blue-slurped Illyrian's chest. The shadow singer grabbed her hips and lifted her up as he pulled out of her at the same time as Cassian. Then they slowly entered her again at the same time. Luxiana let out a long, noisy breath as she felt herself filled and stretched from within. She wanted more. She moved her hips.
Azriel smiled at Cassian over the blonde's shoulder.
"You're perfect, my love," the general whispered to her. Then he nodded to his brother in silent agreement. And then they began to withdraw from Luxiana and thrust wildly into her. They began pounding her together with quick, sharp, synchronized thrusts.
Luxiana began to tremble, almost crying out in pleasure. She closed her eyes, enjoying the pleasure that heated her cheeks, breasts, and lower abdomen as she felt the wild thrusts of her soulmates inside her. But something was missing.
Panting, whimpering, and sweating, she opened her eyes to see Rhysand kneeling beside them on the mattress.
He watched her, grinding his member in his hand. His fist tightened around his cock, moving at the same speed as Azriel and Cassian inside her, as grunts of pleasure escaped from between his lips.
Luxiana, unable to stop herself from moaning, reached out to rest her hand on his abs. Having trouble keeping her eyes open, she fought with all her might not to close them. She caressed Rhysand's chest, moving her hand down to the V of his lower abdomen, then to his penis, which she grabbed instead of his lord.
Rhysand groaned, squinting his eyes to keep them from closing under the pleasure of his soulmate's hand around his member as it stroked it up and down.
But Luxiana couldn't concentrate properly under the pleasure of her two soulmates' thrusts. "Put it in my mouth," she breathed imploringly to Rhysand.
The high lord's heart slammed even harder against his ribs as he cursed beneath the surge of lava coursing through his veins. He stepped toward her. He gently brushed the hair hanging from the blonde's face before wrapping all of her locks around his fist. Then he guided his soulmate's head toward him, penetrating her mouth.
Luxiana tried to focus on him by squeezing her cheeks around his cock and stroking him with her tongue as Rhysand also started to move in and out of her.
With his soulmate's mouth clamped around his member, Rhysand could only close his eyes as he raised his head. He was already at the end.
Luxiana let out muffled sounds that sounded like moans. She finally felt so complete. Her soulmates were filling her more and more, pounding her harder and harder.
She tried to keep up the pace, but she was already at her wit's end. So when Cassian slid his hand down her stomach to her clit, she closed her eyes and clenched her fists on Azriel's chest.
Cassian began rubbing her clitoris, sending jolts of pleasure through her entire being. Rhysand stroked her hair and face. Azriel ran his fingers over the scars on her back, hoping to give her as much pleasure as it would give him. And it worked.
And they were penetrating her so hard and skillfully. She felt them entering and leaving her in one movement and the obscene sounds that spread through the room only made her nipples harden and accentuate the pleasure in her lower abdomen.
Luxiana's eyes rolled back as pleasure washed over her. Her lower abdomen felt as if it were imploding or as if fire consumed her. She came, tensing every muscle. Her anus tightened around Cassian's cock. Her mouth tightened around Rhysand's member, and the walls of her vagina began to squeeze Azriel's cock.
"Fuck," Cassian groaned. The sight of their soulmate taking all three of them and her clenching around them made them explode. All three of them came inside their soulmate as one.
And they could feel it in their bodies, in their hearts, in their souls. All four of them were now one.
They loved each other. Luxiana was theirs and they were hers.
They loved each other and they proved it to each other for hours afterward.
Hello, here is the chapter 42 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
The chapter I wanted to post today was too long, so I cut it in two. There's another one after this one. Enjoy!
! Don't forget to read the previous and following chapters ! : Here
Chapter 42
When Rhysand opened his eyes, his vision was blurry and his entire body was still asleep. He couldn't move and could barely wake up. He had slept really well. Gradually coming back to himself, he could feel his soulmate in his arms, resting on his bare chest and drooling on it from how well she slept.
He smiled, tightening his grip around her, running his hands in long strokes down her back and through her hair. He took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of peace that had washed over him and eased him since she had returned. A tear of pure joy and relief left his eyes as he continued to take deep breaths.
He stretched his neck forward to place a kiss on the top of her head, taking another breath, relishing her scent. He smiled again. How did she smell so good?
He had opened his eyes in the meantime - when Cassian and Azriel moved to retrieve Luxiana and take her in their arms or when he, himself, felt too much the lack of his soul mate to extricate her from his brothers' arms - he had then seen rays of sunlight penetrate the room and it was now night again. So they had at least slept 24 hours. All four of them had a lot of sleep to catch up on, but the meeting of the high lords was today and they had regained their taste for life.
Rhysand's determination and hope had returned, and he wanted to do anything to protect his soulmate and the human kingdom that had saved and sheltered her when he couldn't. He would do anything to win the war, stop the king from destroying the wall, and save the humans his soulmate cared about.
He tightened his grip around the blonde's body, taking another deep breath, as if he hadn't breathed the entire time without her. Damn it, how had he survived? He felt so good and so alive with her by his side, he truly wondered how he could have thought to take her away from them. He would never make that mistake again. He could never lose her again. He needed her to breathe, to live, and to feel happy. He loved her so much, and he thanked the gods every second for giving his soulmate the strength to forgive him and come back to them.
Azriel was on his side, facing Rhysand and his soulmate. He was having fun running his fingers through Luxiana's white locks with a goofy smile on his face. Her hair was so soft. He ran his fingertips over her face, caressing her skin. Her milky skin was so soft. And there, like that, her mouth half-open and drool dripping onto Rhys's chest, she was so cute.
God, he'd missed her so much. How had he agreed with Rhys and kept her away from them? How could he have been so stupid? God, he could never have gone on living without being able to wake up next to his soulmate every morning. He could never have borne the knowledge that she had ended up loving someone other than him. He would do anything to protect her, anything, and there was no one other than the three of them who would protect her better. Because there was no one else who loved her more than they did.
Azriel loved her so much. He felt like Luxiana was inside him, under his skin, in his soul, possessing his being. He felt like she was a vital part of him, and without her, he would die.
He examined every inch of the blonde's face and couldn't get enough of it. He wanted to see her blue eyes for the rest of his life. He strangely wanted to bite her chubby cheeks and was dying to dig his fingers into her dimples that stood out perfectly when she smiled. God, he wanted to make her smile so badly. She was so beautiful and she was his soulmate and she had forgiven them for their stupidity. They were never going to lose her again. Never again. She was theirs forever now.
He ran his index finger over her lips, wanting to kiss her. She was back. He took a deep breath, soothed. She was back with him. He couldn't believe it. He'd been so afraid it wasn't real, that it was a dream. He'd fought sleep for hours, afraid she'd be gone when he woke up, but he'd fallen asleep, despite himself. And when he woke up, she was still there. It wasn't a dream. It was reality, and he thanked every god he could.
Cassian woke with a start, bolting upright and frantically looking around for his soulmate. He'd had a nightmare about waking up, still drunk, on a street in Velaris, and none of it had happened.
But when he laid eyes on Luxiana, asleep on Rhys's chest, he fell back onto the mattress, exhaling his whole being. She was there. She was there, and it was all real. She had come back to them. He began to smile broadly, his heart dancing with joy in his chest. He was so happy. So happy.
Suddenly, he remembered last night when he'd fallen asleep with Luxiana in his arms. He sat up again, turning toward his brothers. Rhysand had taken his place in the middle while Cassian had landed on one side. "You bastards stole her from me," he said, almost shouting with disappointment.
"Shut up," Azriel snarled, glaring at her, "you'll wake her up."
Rhysand nodded. "And you slept with your arms and legs spread, you didn't even hold her in your arms while she was on top of you." She could have left at any time. "You didn't deserve to keep her. And besides, we took turns. Now it's my turn."
"No, that's not fair," Cassian complained. "I'm sure you took advantage of my sleep to steal her and there wasn't any fair time between us." He reached out to Luxiana, grabbing her by the hips and pulling her towards him. "Give her back."
"You're dreaming," Rhysand growled, tightening his grip around his soulmate to hold her back.
Luxiana let out a long, disgruntled moan, half-opening one eye. "Just shut up and let me sleep."
Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel stood there in silence, but they pursed their lips to keep from bursting into laughter. "She's always in such a good mood when she wakes up," Azriel teased softly.
Luxiana then sat up suddenly and glared at the spymaster. "Whose fault is that? Oh, you little…," she threatened before lunging at the Illyrian and biting his biceps with her mouth.
The three Illyrians burst out laughing, making Luxiana groan. "You're lucky I like you."
Now fully awake, she leaned on the mattress to push herself up and stand. But Cassian caught her mid-motion, wrapping his arms around her hips to pull her towards him. He pressed her back against his chest while turning away from his brothers, triggering Luxiana's laughter.
"Where do you think you're going?" Cassian asked, nuzzling his soulmate's hair.
"I'm hungry," Luixiana complained. "So hungry. I need to eat before I eat you."
"Oh, I'll take that as a real threat," Rhysand assured, getting up and standing in front of Cassian and his soulmate, offering her his hand. "Come on, let's eat."
"Yes!!!" She grabbed the lord's hand, and he pulled her out of bed despite Cassian.
Then the four of them headed towards the dining room. The three Illyriens were starving now too. They had eaten so little in recent months.
Azriel held Luxiana's hand as the latter jumped for joy with every step she took. She felt so good, so happy as the three Illyrians surrounded her. Her heart was beating so fast. "I'm so hungry. I want to eat a hamburger! Do you know what a hamburger is? I don't know if you've ever tried one! Tamlin and Lucien had never had one! Jasper made me try it, apparently it's a typical human thing! It's really good, it's bread with meat and sometimes vegetables and sauces and..."
And Luxiana continued to speak with joy and good humor. And the three Illyrians looked at her with shining eyes as their ears began to tickle with pleasure and their chests swelled with happiness. She had returned. They had missed the sound of her voice and her endless words so much. They could listen to her speak for eternity and never tire.
They sat around the dining table. Azriel released Luxiana so she could sit beside him, but the blonde sat directly on his lap. The blue-sipped Illyrian couldn't hide his smile or stop his eyes from sparkling with joy. He wrapped his arms around his soulmate's pelvis and held her tight while nuzzling the back of her neck. He took deep breaths, making the blonde shiver, as she gently fought with Cassian, who complained that she hadn't come and sat on him.
Rhysand detailed his soulmate in his brother's arms as well as her verbal, provocative, and smiling interaction with Cassian. And to think he'd almost missed out on that and deprived himself of it for the rest of his life. Damn it, he would never have survived it. He'd almost missed out on such happiness.
He filled a plate with food and piled some pieces onto the fork, offering it to Luxiana. His soulmate didn't even question the gesture and let Rhysand feed her. But the blonde ended up glaring at Rhysand and silently ordering him to eat too. He did so without upsetting her, but still laughing.
And Luxiana talked about everything and nothing, making lots of facial expressions and gestures in all directions, and the hearts of the Illyrians were healed a little more with each second.
They were better. So much better because of her. They were alive again and felt so happy. And Luxiana couldn't stop talking, she was having trouble managing the surge of joy that made everyone of her muscles vibrate. She felt so... happy.
Suddenly, someone nearly broke down the front door of the mansion as they savagely burst inside. "Listen to me, you old bastards," Mor's voice shouted from the hallway. "You deserve what's coming to you! Now get your asses moving. The meeting with the High Lords is in a few hours, and it's the only way you're going to help your soulmate protect the people she loves. You idiots..." She stopped abruptly when she entered the room as she saw the four of them gathered around the dining room table. Her eyes widened when she noticed Luxiana on Azriel. Then a broad smile spread across her lips at the sparkle of life and joy the three Illyrians had found back in their pupils.
"Oh," she breathed, smiling even wider as tears of joy began to well up in the corners of her eyes. "So you four made up. That's good." She sniffed, wiping away a falling tear. "That's good."
Rhysand smiled at her tenderly. "Thanks for trying to take care of us despite everything, Mor. We're back. We'll be here for the meeting. We'll take care of it."
Mor let out a sort of happy sob before turning around to hide it. She was so relieved for her family. "Excuse me," she cleared her throat. "I have to go… deal with the dust in my eye." She practically ran out of the room just as Amren arrived at her side.
The brunette watched in incomprehension as Rhys's cousin left, thick tears streaming down her face. But when she looked at the three Illyrians finally accompanied by Luxiana, she realized they were tears of joy.
"Amren," Luxiana gushed again, glancing back at where Mor had been, unsure of what had happened.
Amren—with his usual impassive face—said at Luxiana simply. "You shouldn't have forgiven them, they don't deserve it. You're worth more than that."
Azriel tightened his grip around his soulmate as his muscles tensed one by one. What if she changed his mind? He was so scared. "Amren, shut up and get out before I make you pay."
"She's not wrong, though," Rhysand murmured sadly, bowing his head.
Amren—barely intimidated—gave Azriel a bored look, raising an eyebrow. "Wretch. Only your soulmate freaks me out."
Luxiana waved her hand in front of her. "I'm not a witch anymore, Am."
"Yeah, but you're still a completely crazy psychopath. That's what freaks me out, not your powers," Amren replied in her tired voice.
Luxiana let out a sort of high-pitched chuckle, accentuating her look of madness. "You are so cute."
The brunette shook her head, fighting back a shiver. "Creepy. I love it." She turned and disappeared as quickly as Mor.
Luxiana laughed at the bizarreness of the scene, and nothing from that past mattered to Rhys, Cass, and Az anymore. Only their Luxiana's melodious laughter echoed in their minds and hearts. Everything would be so much better now.
***
The high lord's meeting was about to take place. Luxiana looked around the room where the seven chairs were arranged in a circle. She swallowed hard, grimacing in worry. She had never seen this room, yet it looked exactly like the one in her nightmare.
The three Illyrians—noticing her anxiety and even feeling it deep in their chests through a bond that was growing stronger between them and their soulmate—gritted their teeth.
Cassian crept around Luxiana's back to wrap his arms around her stomach and rest his chin on her shoulder. Then, as if he'd read her mind or knew exactly what was upsetting her, he whispered, "Nothing like what happened in your nightmare is going to happen. You're not that witch anymore."
Luxiana's eyes widened for a second, surprised that he knew. Then she smiled in relief, slumping down on Cassian. He was right. But that nightmare and that witch had hurt her so much. Her and them. It was hard to move on. But she knew that now, it was all behind her.
Azriel stood in front of her, crossing his arms and a closed-off expression on his face. "On the other hand, if Helion does what he did in that nightmare and proposes, I'll knock his teeth out."
Luxiana burst out laughing. "Then get your fists ready because he does it every time he sees me."
Azriel threw up his hands in a huff. "My God, this can't be true. Do all the men around you want to marry you?"
Luxiana was still laughing. "No, and certainly not Helion. It's just a joke between us. He loves someone else. Believe me. You have nothing to fear from him."
"Oh, because we have to fear other people?" Cassian asked, stepping back a little to get a better look at his soulmate's face.
Luxiana pursed her lips mischievously, shrugging. “I don't know… Eris maybe. You know, he was my first love. And Kayden was my second.”
Cassian froze from head to toe, even stopping breathing. Rhysand's eyes widened so hard his eyeballs could have fallen out. And one of Azriel's lower eyelids began to jump nervously as something twisted inside him. All three of them turned white at once.
Luxiana burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. “You should see your faces. I was joking.” She took back a serious expression. “Well, not really, but I wouldn't be here with you if I preferred them to you. I chose you.”
"Oh," Cassian grinned, puffing out his chest and straightening with pride. "She chose us."
Rhysand smiled, shaking his head and running a hand over his face. Despite his soulmate's reassuring words, he was still worried. He knew Eris would be at this meeting, and he now knew what he meant to her. And what he meant to his brothers and him. He had saved their soulmate's life, and that was priceless.
Rhysand finally gestured to Luxiana's throne-like seat. "Sit down," he invited her.
Luxiana frowned as she eyed the chair and the six others. There were only enough seats for the seven high lords, so this seat belonged to Rhysand. "Why? No, it's your throne," she refused with a lost smile.
"No, Luxiana, it's yours now," he assured her, stepping towards her. He cupped her chin with his thumb and forefinger before placing a quick, light kiss on her lips. He gritted his teeth at the tickles the simple touch caused in his face and lower abdomen. It had been so long since he'd kissed her, but he'd never been able to forget what it felt like. "You're our high lady now, Luxiana."
Luxiana's heart slammed against her chest as her cheeks flushed. But she rolled her eyes and smiled. "Um, no, I'll let you have the seat. I'm so much more than that anyway." With a smug air, she tossed her hair behind her shoulder. She looked haughty, but inside, she just didn't feel worthy enough compared to Rhys. This was his seat, and certainly not hers.
But Rhysand nodded to Cassian, who, laughing, grabbed Luxiana by the hips, lifting her up and sitting her on the throne.
"No," Luxiana protested, laughing and struggling without much willpower. After all, she could still overpower Cassian even though she is no longer a witch.
When Cassian let go of her as she sat on the seat, her skin burned with discomfort. It didn't feel right. She leaned on the armrests to push herself up, but Azriel placed a finger on her chest to push her back into the chair. He looked down at her with a glistening look of glee. "Do I have to tie you to it to keep you there?"
Luxiana was electrified through and through with arousal as salacious images flashed through her mind. "Oh, okay, if you insist," she joked, presenting her wrists to him, really hoping he'd tie them up. "You know I love it when you tie me up. It means you do very… fun things to me afterward."
Azriel raised an eyebrow as his gaze grew lustful. His breathing quickened, and his lower abdomen began to burn within a fire.
But Cassian and Rhysand detailed the interaction with raised eyebrows. "Excuse me? What does she mean?" Rhysand laughed, filled with doubt.
"What are you doing to her?" Cassian didn't understand.
Luxiana smirked, her provocative gaze never leaving Azriel's. "Yes, what are you doing to me, Az?"
Azriel smiled back. "I guess when this meeting is over, I'll have to show them."
Luxiana couldn't help but blush, pursing her lips to keep from smiling broadly. She was dying to. But the action brought out her dimples and made something explode in the stomachs of the three Illyriens who just wanted to see that mouth around their dicks.
Despite themselves, the meeting began, and the high lords appeared one by one. Luxiana, seated on the throne, was frozen. She clearly didn't feel comfortable, and everyone could see it, as she stood so straight, her legs pressed together.
Cassian casually leaned his shoulder against the back of the throne. On the other side, Azriel crossed his arms, like his high lady's personal guard. And Rhysand positioned himself behind the seat, resting his forearms on the top of the backrest to cross his hands above his soulmate's head.
Tamlin and Feyre teleported with Keydan and Jasper, and the three Illyrians blanched for a second. They were exactly as they'd seen them in their nightmares. God, it was crazy.
The four newcomers scanned the room and had to double-check when they saw Luxiana sitting in Rhys's place. The blonde, seeing their wide, confused looks, smiled and tried to look a little more at ease. She shrugged. "I got promoted," she laughed, trying to whisper.
Jasper and Feyre pursed their lips and shook their heads to keep from laughing, and Keydan grabbed the bridge of his nose in a bored manner.
When Helion spotted Luxiana, he gasped in surprise as he stepped forward into the middle of the room, in front of her. He was about to drop to one knee, but Azriel, already knowing what he was going to do, reacted instantly. "No. Don't even try," he hissed, grabbing him by the shoulders, pulling him up and shoving him back into his seat.
Helion, surprised, looked back and forth between Azriel, who was pushing him, and Luxiana. "But how did you know what I was going to do? And why not?"
Luxiana bounced in her chair with joy. "Because they're my soulmates, all three of them," she explained, smiling, pointing at Rhys, Cass, and Az.
A general sound of surprise rose in the room. Amid confused glances from everyone, Rhysand—happy that his soulmate had shouted it out to everyone—started the meeting.
After this revelation—which no one questioned—things unfolded almost like in their nightmares. Kallias and Viviane -in fear- assured them they would fight in the war without discussion, without even suspecting that Luxiana no longer had any power. Then the other high lords followed. Beron, Thesan, Helion, and Tarquin, who in turn bitterly confirmed their presences in the future war. They all disappeared, leaving only Eris with Tamlin and the others.
Eris just stared at Luxiana. He stepped toward her, and Luxiana stood up from her throne. But instead of lunging at Eris, she stopped. She turned to Cassian, then to Rhysan, and then to Azriel, eyeing them with concern as they all looked at her the same way. But still, she didn't move.
Eris detailed the interaction without understanding, freezing in turn. So they really were her soulmates? It was evident in the way they looked at her and the way she regarded them.
She just stared at Azriel with a face full of hope and expectation. Azriel glanced at his brothers in surprise. She was waiting for his permission? HIS permission? The Illyrian's heart began to pound wildly in his chest. He let out a small smile. Maybe she was asking his permission because she knew he was the most jealous. Maybe she was doing it because she knew he was the one she could obey for anything and everything. But it didn't matter. Not anymore. Because she was asking his permission. Because that was how Luxiana operated with the people she loved. Azriel took a deep breath. "Princess, you don't have to ask my permission for anything, but go ahead," he allowed her, pointing at Eris.
And Luxiana smiled with all her teeth as she threw herself on the redhead to take him in her arms.
Eris returned her hug with a big smile, hugging her tightly, so tightly that he almost lifted her off the ground. "Hello, kitten. I'm so happy to see you again," he whispered in her ear.
Azriel rolled his eyes, losing a few inches as his knees weakened. He already regretted not asking her to stay away.
Rhysand clenched his fists and his teeth but said nothing. He just kept repeating to himself, 'We are her soulmates, we are the ones she chose.' But despite these words, he was afraid.
Cassian took a step to intervene and separate them, but immediately took a step back. After all, he had no reason to be afraid; she wouldn't have told them she loved them if that weren't the case. But doubt was overwhelming him. What if, just with that hug, she realized that she preferred Eris to him, to them? Oh my god. It was better to be careful.
He ran to Luxiana and Eris but stopped right next to them, waving his hands in all directions, not knowing where to grab his soulmate to pull her away. Their bodies were so tight. He let out a sort of animalistic growl as he spun around. No, he couldn't disappoint his Luxiana again and prevent her from hugging one of the people she loved. But damn it, why the hell was this hug taking so long? "Uh, this is enough, isn't it?" he tried in a small, uncertain voice.
Luxiana then moved away from the redhead, but without taking her eyes off him or taking Cassian's into account. She gave the son of the Lord of Autumn a wide smile, revealing all her teeth. "How are you? Has your father been better with you, or should I go back and give him a painful reminder?"
Azriel slammed his forehead against the side of his clenched fist. Damn, his soulmate was so cute and it wasn't even for him.
"No," Eris smiled. "Don't worry, he learned his lesson the first time. Well, sometimes he's rude to me, but mentioning your name usually calms him down."
"Haha," Rhysand let out a fake laugh to make his presence known as he walked towards them. He possessively placed an arm around his soulmate's back, gripping her opposite hip with his fingers.
Eris examined Rhysand's gesture for a second before glancing at Cassian and Azriel, who were tense and attentive. "Are they really your soulmates?"
Luxiana nodded vigorously, smiling, a flush of red on her cheeks emphasizing her words. She sank down a little onto Rhys, leaning against him before wrapping her arms around his pelvis. She rested her chin on his chest and looked at him with shining eyes. With loving eyes.
And Eris noticed this with a sad smile. "I'm happy for you then."
Luxiana was about to thank him, but Rhysand reached out to Eris. "Thank you, Eris. Thank you for saving our soulmate. Without you, we would never have met her, so thank you."
Eris narrowed his eyes for a second, studying Rhys and his suspiciously outstretched hand. Then he raised his palm to take it and exchange a firm handshake. "I didn't do it for you."
"It doesn't matter who you did it for," Azriel said, positioning himself beside Rhysand and extending his hand to Eris. "You did it, and we owe you a lot for that. Thank you so much," Eris took his hand as well. "I don't know what I would have done or what I would have become without her."
Luxiana lowered her head to bury her flushed cheeks in Rhysand's chest and hide. God, when would she stop blushing so much over the little things those three said?
Rhysand's heart thudded against his ribs at his soulmate's cute gesture, and he couldn't help it, but smiled. "He's right. If you need anything. Anything, just ask me," Rhysand assured him, trying to focus on Eris.
Cassian walked past them and gave the ginger a quick hug. Eris's eyes widened as he took a step back. Cassian cleared his throat, almost blushing at what he'd just done. "Thanks, man."
Eris, still in shock, nodded. "Uh, you're welcome. I'll go, huh." He took another step back before relaxing as he looked at Luxiana. "See you soon," he said, giving her a sad wink before vanishing.
A silence fell over the room before a huge, unabashed laugh broke it. "Damn, that was both so cute and super awkward at the same time," Jasper laughed again, clutching his sore abs from laughing so hard.
Everyone turned to Jasper alongside Tamlin, Keydan, and Feyre who were still there.
Keydan drew a small knife from a sheath on his thigh before pointing it at his eyes. With his other hand, he forced his eyelids open wide. "I didn't want to see that," he said in his cold voice, pointing the knife at his pupils. He didn't want to risk seeing something like that again.
Jasper, still laughing, grabbed his boss' wrist with the knife and pulled him down without even looking at him. As if it was normal for him.
Azriel straightened, gritting his teeth. "As for you, I don't thank you." He took a threatening step toward Keydan. "You used Luxiana when she was just a child. You shouldn't have used her as a spy, as if she were just a common object when she needed the love and comfort of a home. You..."
He took another step forward, but Luxiana moved away from Rhysand to stand in front of him and stop him, placing a hand flat on his chest. "You're wrong. He gave me what I needed. He gave me a job, a purpose, a family, and most importantly, he helped me heal."
Keydan crossed his arms over his closed face. "I was the one who comforted her when she woke up screaming from her nightmares. I did everything I could to save a little girl who wanted to die. I didn't have instructions for that, and I was alone with her. You weren't there."
Luxiana turned to Keydan, her eyes filled with tears and thanks.
Cassian looked down, clenching his fists. He wanted to make the bastard swallow his tongue, but he knew the bastard was right.
Azriel took a deep breath—so hard it burned his throat. Keydan was right. He was right. He hadn't been there for his soulmate.
Rhysand positioned himself behind Luxiana, moving closer to Keydan. He nodded, fighting the bitter taste spreading across his tongue. "True. Thank you for that. But watch your words. The only reason I didn't disintegrate you is because Luxiana cares about you."
Without waiting, Luxiana elbowed him in the ribs, forcing him to double over with a strangled sound. Everyone burst into laughter, even Rhysand, who had a sort of proud smile on his face as he straightened up.
Feyre finally regained her composure and asked Luxiana, "Are you coming back with us?"
Luxiana took a breath to speak, but Cassian grabbed her hand. "Certainly not! No." Then, with a sudden, doubtful look, he turned to his girlfriend. "No? Huh?"
Luxiana gave him a confused, questioning look that made Cassian sweat. "Uh, or not long..." he corrected himself, hesitant, before giving in completely with a sigh. "Don't go," he begged.
Luxiana's eyes widened, gasping for air. She cupped her free hand over her nose and cheeks to hide her blush. She began to fidget, unsure of what to do or where to go to manage her emotions of joy and happiness. "I'm going to stay with them to, uh..." she cleared her throat, embarrassed as she tried to answer Feyre. "You know... keep an eye on them."
Jasper laughed again. "They're going to fuck."
Luxiana burst out laughing, kicking her best friend in the shin. Keydan, who wasn't laughing, walked over to Luxiana and stood in front of her. "Are you sure? We're not going to find you as sick and sad as you've been for the past few weeks?"
"We messed up once. Never again," Rhysand assured him vigorously.
"Not just once," Feyre growled under her breath.
"We'll never hurt her again. We want to make her happy," Azriel added with a determined expression.
"I'm not talking to you," Keydan cut them off with a sharp voice and a dark look.
"I'm going to beat his ass," Cassian announced, clenching his fists and clenching his jaw.
Luxiana turned to him to raise an eyebrow in a nasty glare.
Cassian couldn't hold his gaze and looked everywhere else. "She's freaking me out, damn it," he whispered to Rhysand, leaning closer.
Luxiana laughed.
Keydan took a deep breath as he examined Luxiana. She looked peaceful and happy. Something in his heart lit up. A mixture of jealousy and relief. "Are you sure this is going to be okay?"
"I swear," Luxiana promised. "I trust them."
"Good," Keydan backed away. "Then I'll see you soon on the battlefield. Then we'll go home. You'll always be welcome at my house, you know that, sweetheart."
"Oh my god," Cassian yelled. "Why does everyone keep calling OUR soulmate cute nicknames? Shit."
No one paid him any attention as Jasper walked over to Luxiana and hugged her goodbye. From his head on the blonde's shoulder, he could see the three Illyrians. He raised his eyebrows perversely, eyeing them all while moving his hands down to Luxiana's buttocks and kneading them. "Enjoy," he said, spanking the blonde before walking away, laughing.
The three Illyrians' mouths were wide open in surprise. Did that bastard really just do that??? If Luxiana hadn't been laughing so hard, they would have ripped his arms off.
Keydan leaned forward to place a tender kiss on the blonde's cheek. "If they hurt you, show no mercy," he whispered to her. And he waited for the blonde's sincere confirmation—which reassured him—before walking away.
Then Luxiana's two friends, Tamlin and Feyre, gathered together to disappear.
Rhysand - eager to leave this place and the horrible and incongruous scenes they had just witnessed - grabbed Luxiana's hand to teleport all four of them into his house.
Hello, here is the chapter 41 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
Guys, I'm sorry about the last chapter.
I shouldn't have ended it like that; it was a terrible April Fool's joke. I really didn't think it would hurt some of you.
I'm sincerely sorry. I hope everything will be clearer after this chapter.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that I was able to make amends for the previous one.
Only three chapters left for this story. In the next chapter (probably next Sunday, April 13th), there will be the real meeting of the high lords with a huge sex scene.
Lots of big kisses to you. Take care of yourself ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
! Don't forget to read the previous and following chapters ! : Here
Chapter 41
“Luxiana,” she heard a distant voice call out her name and order her to wake up as two hands placed on her shoulders, shaking her vigorously. “Luxiana, wake up!!”
Luxiana jolted awake, bolting upright, nearly slamming her forehead into Feyre's worriedly distorted face leaning over her. The white-haired Illyrian was panting and unable to breathe as her lost eyes scanned the room. Where was she? What was going on?
She felt as if an invisible hand was squeezing her throat as her entire body felt as if it were being torn apart from the inside. As if she were still pulling at her soulmate bond with Rhys, Cass, and Az to destroy them.
Suddenly, she felt her power being released within her, and then she realized her death grip on the golden threads. Her eyes widened and she gasped in surprise, clamping her hand over her mouth. She immediately retracted her power. The magic resisted her, but she forced it to obey before too much harm was done, and then she managed to lock it in a mental prison.
Good heavens. She'd almost severed her connection to her soulmates with just one nightmare. She began to tremble even more as large tears continued to roll down her cheeks. She remembered the horrific vision she'd just had: Cassian drowning in alcohol, Azriel internally half-dead, and Rhysand on his knees before her. Her stomach churned. She wanted to throw up.
“This isn't what I want.” She began to sob loudly. She had almost broken their bond. Oh my god. “This isn't what I want. Oh my god. What did I almost do? This isn't what I want.”
“Shh, shh, shh, Luxi,” Feyre reassured her, taking her in her arms and rubbing her back. “It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“No, it's not going to be okay. You don't understand,” Luxiana explained, pulling away from her embrace. “I almost broke our soulmate bond. In my nightmare, I… It's the magic… the witch… She took advantage of me sleeping. She wanted to… Oh my god.”
Feyre, kneeling on the mattress beside her best friend, frowned further. “What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
“I read her third book yesterday. I shouldn't have. She's got more power, more control, I can't handle her anymore. I can't,” Luxiana sobbed, running her hands through her hair. “She almost broke the connection I have with my soulmates. I…” She started to cry even harder. “This isn't what I want. Oh my god, I can't. I can't lose them. They hurt me so much and I'm so scared, but I can't lose them, Feyre. Not that way. I can't. I…” She pressed her hands to her face and sobbed her whole body.
Feyre grabbed her wrists, forcing her to uncover her face. “Luxiana. Luxi, calm down. Take a deep breath and calm down, please,” she tried to soothe her, stroking her shoulder now.
Luxiana tried to obey her and listen, taking deep breaths, racked by spasms of her crying. Her muscles ached, and so did her heart, as her chest burned with a fire of terror.
Feyre looked away for a second, trying to process everything her best friend had just told her and trying to figure out what to do to reassure her.
Luxiana raised her wet eyes to Feyre. She suddenly felt so lucky to have her best friend by her side. She'd been sleeping with her for weeks, waking her up and comforting her when she had nightmares. And if she hadn't been there to wake her up today, her soulmate bond might have been severed, and she wouldn't have been able to bear that. She wouldn't have been able to bear it and would have faded away, leaving the place open to that damned witch.
Feyre stopped worrying. There was only one way out of this situation anyway. “Go see them,” she finally said, looking up at her best friend with a determined, authoritative look.
Luxiana's heart had barely begun to slow down a bit when it started pumping rapidly again at Feyre's words. "What?"
“Luxi, go see them now!”
Luxiana shook her head, but Feyre lunged at her, cupping her cheeks in her hands. “Look, I know you're scared. I know you're scared to death, I can see it. You're scared to love them and give them the power to hurt you. But Luxiana, look at you, you're already half dead. This situation, away from them, is hurting you, and it's not getting better. In fact, it's only getting worse.”
Luxiana looked away, still shaking her head. She couldn't. She was a coward, she knew it, but she couldn't. She was so scared.
“Luxiana, were you happy with them before Rhysand sent you back here?”
The white-haired blonde recalled memories and her heart tugged at it, but she nodded positively this time.
“What I'm trying to tell you, Lux, is that you can be happy with them while it lasts. Maybe it will last forever, maybe not. Maybe they'll hurt you again, but then you'll have been happy before. You have to try to be happy because here, in any case, you're suffering. If you stay here and do nothing, there won't be anything that can be done to make you better,” Feyre insisted softly. “Luxiana, forgive them, not for them, but for you. To give you the opportunity to be happy and to get better.”
Luxiana's heart swelled with hope before her mind flashed back to her. “But they think I'm a monster,” Luxiana cried again, her hot tears burning the skin on her face.
“No,” Feyre exclaimed, shaking her head. “Rhysand told you, he did it to keep you away from them, to protect you because they thought you would be safer away from them. Luxi, he did it for you because he thought it was the right thing to do. Can't you feel how it hurts to be away from them? Imagine how the three of them must have felt forcing you to leave? How they must have blamed themselves, and how brave they were to do it? Do you realize? They love you so much that they hurt themselves to try to protect you. They were blinded by their desire to protect themselves that they couldn't understand that you were powerful and strong. So yes, they were wrong, they made a mistake, but just like you thought absorbing those books would help you, we all make mistakes. You have to try to forgive them.”
Luxiana's tears slowly dried as she listened intently to her best friend. Was she right? Her body was screaming at her that she was. All it wanted was to be near her soulmates. That's all it wanted, and it was screaming at her that everything would be better if she were with them. And... her mind and logic, which had previously told her it was safer not to give them the chance to hurt her again, had been so afraid of losing them tonight that they were also beginning to believe she wouldn't be able to live without the three Illyrians. "But... I'm scared."
“I know, Luxi, but you're stronger than that. You're stronger than fear. You've always been so brave and adventurous. So go ahead. Try it again. Look at you, you have nothing to lose, everything to gain.” Feyre huffed a laugh before saying, “Lux, you know I hate all three of them. I can't stand them. But facts are facts. Everything you told me about them on how they treated you… It didn't fool anyone about their feelings for you. They love you, I'm convinced of it, and I know they'll take care of you. So give them another chance. However, if they hurt you again, you'd better kill them before I do.”
Luxiana smiled softly, but inside, she hesitated. Then a wave of something bad and cold washed over her. She managed to keep her composure and her mind clear, but she felt nothing, only emptiness. She straightened up, her shoulders suddenly feeling less heavy. She suddenly wanted to say no and have no further contact with the Illyrians, as if they suddenly no longer mattered.
Luxiana frowned. Why was her body suddenly telling her it didn't want them anymore when it was screaming at her to join them two minutes ago? Something was wrong… Her eyes widened in realization. The witch. She was trying to take over her. “I couldn't,” she said, her voice calm and steady, surprising Feyre and worrying her immediately afterward. “Not while that witch tries to take over me and see my soulmates as a threat.”
Feyre's face twisted with determination as she clapped her hands together. “Good, then let's get rid of this witch.”
Luxiana frowned. “But how? And I need his power to kill Hybern and defeat his army!” She was lying to herself, she knew it, but she was so scared.
Feyre gave her a reassuring smile. “Luxi, I've known you for so long, you've always been good at handling things, even before you had that witch's power. I'm sure we'll find another way to destroy Hybern. I'm sure YOU will, right?”
Luxi smiled softly, shaking her head as her cheeks began to redden. She liked the idea that her best friend had this vision of her. “Of course I could find another way, but it would be easier with that witch's power.” Then she looked down, her expression fading. “Everything would be easier if I let the witch take control. And besides, I don't even know how to annihilate the witch's power inside me.”
“But you wouldn't be there to defend those you love from her anymore,” Feyre explains. “You wouldn't be able to stop her if she decided to hurt me. Is that what you want? To let her hurt the ones you love without doing anything? Without a fight?”
Luxiana's eyes widened. “No. Of course not,” she exclaimed as a wave of determination washed over her.
“Good,” Feyre smiled. “Then I'll leave you no choice. You're going to get a grip on yourself, and it's going to start now. You're going to summon the magic of that witch you absorbed to recreate the books and send that damned old bitch back inside those damned writings.”
Luxiana's eyes widened a little. She hadn't thought of that.
“You can do that, right?” Feyre asked skeptically.
Despite a storm of icy wind and magic rushing through her, making her feel as if glass were flowing through her veins, Luxiana nodded. She could do it.
“So do it,” her best friend ordered, crossing her arms, leaving Luxiana no other choice.
So there, in the middle of the night, Luxiana did it. She reached out to recreate the books and release the magic she had stolen. Three evil books had finally appeared, levitating between the blondes. The pages turned on their own and filled with strange writing as Luxiana seemed to be fighting for her life. She had trouble sitting still, and her eyelids felt heavy as her hair plastered to the sweat on her face.
She was trying hard as the witch's magic and her will held on to Luxiana, but she was stronger than that. So, thanks to Feyre's encouragement, she managed to extract all the witch's power from her body, which still left a sharp cold scar in her heart and soul.
Feyre quickly wrapped the three books—now filled with evil power—in Luxiana's sheets, ran to the door, and threw them into the hallway. Then she turned to face her best friend, who had fallen helplessly onto the bed.
Luxiana had become so weak again, but suddenly she felt so much better. So relieved. She took deep breaths as if she had been deprived of air for too long. Then she began to cry and laugh at the same time as her body felt a whole host of emotions she hadn't been able to experience in recent years.
“Can you walk?” Feyre asked her.
“I think so,” Luxiana hesitated, trying to calm herself and gather her wits. “Why?”
“Because you’re going to get up and go see your soulmates.”
Luxiana's eyes widened, then a wave of emotion hit her again, forcing a surge of adrenaline through her. Determined, she stopped thinking and stood up. She ran as best she could toward the door while her muscles ached like crazy. Then she stopped abruptly like a stake in front of Feyre at the half-open door. “But it's the middle of the night… what if… what if they don't want me anymore. It's been two months already, maybe…”
“Luxi, stop thinking and go for it. Trust me, I'm sure they'll be very happy to see you. And if not, then you've tried. You have nothing to lose.”
Luxiana took a deep breath, deciding to trust her best friend. So, Feyre went to wake Tamlin and ask him to teleport Luxi to Velaris.
***
The three Illyrians had been trembling and panting for hours.
Rhysand, lying in a fetal position on his cold wooden floor, was scared to death. Azriel, floating in his darkness, was struggling to recover, even though even his shadows had stopped hitting him—as terrified as he was. Cassian had woken up, his back lying on the floor of a lost alley in Velaris. He stared up at the starry sky as tears silently rolled down his cheeks.
They just had the worst nightmare of their lives. The meeting with the lords was tomorrow, but they had a nightmare that they were already there and that Luxiana had decided to destroy the bond between them. They still felt pain everywhere, in their souls and in their hearts, as if it had really almost happened.
Terror gripped them even more now. This nightmare could really happen. Their soulmate could really decide to break this bond if she wanted. Perhaps this nightmare was even premonitory?
My God. No, they would never recover.
There was already no escape from the situation they were in. No solution. They were so bad. They were in so much pain, and it was only going to get worse and worse. Nothing would ever be okay again. Ever. They needed Luxiana, and she had rejected them. They could never be happy again. They never wanted to be happy again, not without her.
While they were thinking about this in a common thought, they suddenly felt the presence of their soulmate in Velaris. They sat up suddenly, their eyes widening, just long enough to check with their power that it wasn't their minds playing tricks on them. But no, she was there. In Velaris.
An explosion of hope revived their hearts and gave them back their colors as a whirlwind of anguish, fear and panic invaded them.
Cassian got up, toppling sideways as his head spun. He managed to fly away and head straight for where he sensed his soulmate.
Rhysand struggled to his feet, his weakened muscles struggling to move. Then he opened his bedroom door and began running down the hallway as if a beast were chasing him. He raced down the stairs to his front door. Because that's where he felt her. She was right there. At his front door.
Azriel didn't waste any more time. He tried to pull himself out of his darkness, but it did everything it could to keep him inside, obeying Azriel's unconscious fear. The Illyrian refused to lose himself in the darkness, not when his ray of sunshine had just reappeared. He grabbed the golden link that bound him to his Luxiana and used it to follow it and teleport to where she was.
Luxiana was so anxious that she thought she might pee herself at any moment.
To his surprise, Tamlin hadn't even grumbled when Feyre woke him up. He'd only given his wife a bored look and rolled his eyes before teleporting Luxiana to Rhysand's door.
This was where she'd been for several minutes now. Hesitant, she held her fist in front of the door, waiting for her to work up enough courage to knock. But she was simply frozen, feeling so doubtful and cowardly.
Except that suddenly - and at exactly the same moment - the door flew open on Rhysand, Azriel teleported to her side and Cassian landed heavily behind her.
She gasped in surprise, quickly lowering her fist and giving each of them a glance. Under their bulging, tear-stained stares—which were, incidentally, only a reflection of Luxiana's—the blonde took a step back, intimidated.
But the gesture shocked Rhysand with fear. Electrified, he lunged at her, grabbing both her arms. “No, no, don’t go.” The touch of his soulmate’s skin warmed him in a way that felt so good before painfully compressing his heart. “Please.”
Luxiana, for her part, shuddered. Why did this simple contact and seeing them again feel so good? She opened her mouth several times to speak, but no sound came out. She didn't know what to say or where to begin, so she just nodded.
Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel exchanged hopeful glances before Azriel frowned in panic. “Why are you here? Did someone hurt you? Are you hurt?” He lunged at her, grabbing her shoulders, turning her toward him, and looking her up and down.
Luxiana's heart swelled. Despite everything that had happened, he was still worried about her. “No,” she breathed with a small smile that made the three Illyrians swoon.
Cassian stopped his strangely scrutinizing of his soulmate when the cool wind hit him and brought him back to reality. “Let’s go inside,” he ordered Rhysand. “It’s cold out there, she could get sick.” He reached out to grab Luxiana’s hand but froze mid-movement, his eyes fixed on his fingers. She surely wouldn’t want his touch. But just as he was about to drop his hand, the blonde’s frail palm rested in his.
Cassian and the other two stared up at the blonde's face, but Luxiana's head was bowed. Only her flushed cheeks could be seen in the darkness of the night. The three Illyrians were able to take a deep breath filled with hope that made them want to cry. But Cassian gritted his teeth and moved further into the house, gently guiding his soulmate inside.
The four of them headed into the living room where Cassian gestured to the sofa for Luxiana to sit down. She did so timidly. She placed her hands on her tightly packed legs and began to nervously fiddle with her fingers while staring at the floor. She realized she was still in her white nightgown that reached mid-thigh and that her hair was probably all messed up as she also probably looked tired from the nightmare she just had. She must have looked pathetic so then she began to blush even more. She hadn't thought of that before coming here. She should have at least taken the time to make herself a little prettier.
Rhysand sat down on the little table in front of her, unable to stand. Cassian sat down on the sofa beside her, his head spinning. Azriel crouched on Luxiana's other side, feeling weak.
The shadowsinger placed his palm on Luxiana's frail hands, then placed his other hand under his soulmate's chin to lift her head towards him. She looked at Azriel with watery, shy eyes—which turned him on in many ways. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice soft yet hopeful. “Don't think I'm not overjoyed to see you, on the contrary,” he added as his eyes filled with tears. “But I just want to make sure you're okay.”
Luxiana pursed her lips as her chin began to tremble and her face contorted with sadness. Then she began to cry. “No, I’m not okay. I’m sorry. So sorry.” She clapped her hands over her face to hide, feeling ashamed. “I need you. I need you. I need you.”
The air caught in the three Illyrians' chests as their hearts began to race again and their surroundings filled with color once more. A warmth filled with hope and a host of other emotions exploded in fireworks throughout their bodies before their faces contorted in grief.
Rhysand threw himself at Luxiana and hugged her. “You don’t have to apologize. I’m the one who messed everything up. I should never have sent you away, especially not like I did. When you told us that you couldn’t heal I was just so worried about you. So worried that I thought the best way to protect you was to keep you away from me. But it didn’t work out for us. None of the four of us. I was wrong, so wrong.”
Azriel placed a comforting hand on his soulmate's thigh and another on Rhys's shoulder. "We're all responsible."
Cassian nodded, rubbing Luxiana's back in an attempt to comfort her. It hurt so much to see her sad. “He's right, we all did something wrong, no one is really responsible. We just have to move on.”
Luxiana nodded, stepping away from Rhys but unable to stop sobbing. “I had a horrible nightmare, and the witch wanted to use that moment to break our bond. When I woke up, her magic was still wrapped around our bond; she was going to break it. So… I had to give it up. I had to give up the powers. I have no powers anymore. I'm not a witch anymore.”
The three Illyrians' faces contorted with horror as they realized they hadn't been having a nightmare, and it could have happened. That it really had almost happened. They paled as they fell backward. Cassian flinched, Rhysand fell heavily onto the coffee table, and Azriel's legs buckled, knocking him onto his butt. They had almost lost her.
Rhysand frowned, shaking his head in confusion. He didn't understand how this was possible. "What do you mean, the witch? Who are you talking about?"
Luxiana tried to breathe, to calm herself. She had to explain to them. Explain everything. She took a deep breath as silent tears burned her cheeks. “When I wanted to please Kayden, to make him proud, I started researching how I could become stronger. And always wanting to do better, one thing led to another, I went from combat technique books to dark magic books.”
“It started with a simple legend about a powerful witch who had gathered all these spells into several books for anyone to find and reuse. So I started researching. It took years, but it was the books I stole from the private libraries of human queens that taught me everything. By gathering the legends and information I could find, as well as solving the riddles this witch had left as clues to discover her first book, I found it.”
“It had landed on Stryga’s hand, who had coveted it for a long time for the power it contained, and that was why she had kept it. In case one day, she would need it. One day, I went through the wall to steal it from her. Of course, she caught me trying, and as she was about to tear me apart, I grabbed the book to leave. But when I laid my hand on it, I entered a kind of dream where the witch made me pass several tests. When she judged me worthy of receiving her power, the book entered me.”
The three Illyrians who were listening to him attentively, exchanged glances filled with surprise as their brows furrowed a little more.
“Magic unleashed itself around me to protect me from Stryga and, without me being able to do anything, made her endure a thousand sufferings as punishment for having imprisoned her book for so long. I ended up regaining control over my body and my powers, so I fled. But I realized that I had inherited all of the witch's memories and even a piece of her will. So I knew where the other books were, I felt them, they were calling me. And I didn't even need to ask myself how to use magic; it had become innate. As if the witch had become me and I had become her. I knew how to use magic without even thinking.”
“It was by studying her memories that I understood that she was the first witch. She was born without powers while her parents were fae endowed with magic. So she did everything to make them proud by trying to master magic. She first noticed that certain elements of nature were imbued with it and that by consuming them she could steal their reserve of magic and have a little power for a limited time. So she always consumed more until she thought that perhaps it was a powerful fae that she should eat.”
Cassian grimaced, his eyes widening. “She started eating faes?”
Luxiana nodded. “She benefited from their powers then. But it was only temporary. So she consumed more and more of them. Again and again. That's why the fae with powers became high fae and why they are so rare. Because this witch committed a veritable genocide over several millennia.”
Rhysand placed his hand over his mouth as he stared into the space ahead. “My God,” he realized. He’d heard a similar story before, which only made Luxiana’s words seem more and more true.
“The witch eventually came to understand that magic had its own will, that it was its own entity that surrounded every being in the world. And unconsciously, she was giving gifts to magic. She was killing fae who had stolen the power from magic, and when the witch, after absorbing them, lost that power, it went right back into the magic, feeding it. So, as if receiving gifts, magic ended up forming a kind of friendship or love with the witch. Magic had regained so much power thanks to the witch that it ended up bending to all of her will. All.”
“The witch, understanding that magic was a being in its own right, ready to do anything to serve her, asked her to infuse her cauldron to allow it to have its own will, its own earthly entity and to be able to manipulate the world and beings without the need of a channeler. The magic, although partly imprisoned in the cauldron, had gained so much power thanks to the witch, that she did not hesitate before diving into the cauldron to help her. After all the gifts she had given her, the witch had become its master, its love, its everything. The witch could then use magic through the cauldron just by asking it with precise formulas that told the magic exactly what to do. And the magic always performed without asking anything in return, after all, for magic, the witch had already more than paid the price by killing all the faes and by giving back the power they had stolen.”
“But all the murders she had committed and her horrified parents who had rejected her had finally driven her mad, cold, and heartless. So she continued to kill again and again, finding only refuge in magic. But there was one thing magic could not stop, and that was old age and death. She had lived far longer than she had been allowed—over two thousand years—but magic could no longer save her. So, sensing her time had come, and wanting at all costs to survive, she sacrificed herself by writing books and transferring her life, her will, and her knowledge into them. Hoping that one day someone would be worthy enough to make her live again through their magic.”
“In total, she wrote four books. I've absorbed three of them. The more I absorbed, the more she took over me. Her madness, her coldness, her will, her desire to rule the world and kill everyone. I changed when I absorbed the first book. I became colder, more distant, meaner, and more wicked, but it was manageable. I just became a little more of a badass.” Luxiana breathed a smile through her endless tears.
“But since I wasn't entirely his beloved witch, sometimes magic made me pay for its use. Of course, I knew how to limit the price, but it still demanded a small fee. Sometimes it was in the form of a horrible nightmare that lasted days. Other times, it was a horrible pain in my muscles as if my body was burning for hours while being stretched apart. The magic made me regret every second not getting the other books and reviving its witch. But it was limited to the kind of thing I could handle, and it still allowed me to call upon a huge dose of power. That was enough for me.”
She looked down, unable to hold Rhysand's horrified gaze. “But when I had to absorb the second book at Hybern Castle a few months ago, it became increasingly difficult to deal with. I felt myself becoming a little emptier and colder, and I had only one obsession: finding the last two books. I was only half myself anymore. So I rushed to the humans. I was worried about my friends, Keydan and Jasper, and above all, I needed them to try to reason with me. But when I found them, they had been injured by the King of Hybern's soldiers and had barely survived trying to protect Elain and Nesta. I was so scared and felt so bad that… I thought maybe it was better not to feel anything anymore. And the more I thought about you, the more my heart ached, and the more the witch's will used this opportunity to encourage me to silence my emotions by finding the last two books.”
Luxiana's tears fell a little more as her chin trembled and her nose burned, forcing her to sniffle. “I took Keydan and Jasper with me, took them back to Tamlin's, and retrieved the third book. I only had to follow my instincts, and they led me straight to where the book was. That was two days ago, and ever since, I'd felt so bad and yet so much better. So cold and empty that it gave me a kind of peace. Finally."
The Illyrians swallowed hard, gritting their teeth as they realized they had caused all this. They had almost lost her because of their decision.
“But the witch's will wanted only one thing: to find herself back completely by making me absorb the fourth book so that I would lose everything I was and she could be reborn through me. But there was one thing her coldness could not silence: the emotions I felt for you. So…” Luxiana began to sob again, remembering the horror she had felt that night. “She decided to destroy our bonds so that it wouldn't hinder my desire to find her last book. So that you wouldn't have power over her. That's what happened last night. If Feyre hadn't woken me up and allowed me to regain control, I fear she would have succeeded. Feyre then asked me to give up the witch's powers. It was hard, the witch fought with all her might, but I managed to recreate the books and give up the powers. I'm just an Illyrian now. I have no more power.”
The three Illyrians were completely paralyzed, even down to their hearts, which had stopped beating. Damn it, they needed time to assimilate all this information. Their eyes gradually bulged as their panting breaths slowly resumed. She no longer had power? She was no longer a witch. That witch was no longer inside her to hurt her and make her cold. They breathed in a mixture of relief and worry. She no longer had power, but this time, they wouldn't push her away. They would protect her and keep her close to make this right. Selfishly, they couldn't do without her anymore, and in any case, this distancing hadn't worked for any of the four of them.
Luxiana began to sob even more, her shoulders heaving violently. “The nightmare I had was awful. She was the witch, and she had become me. She was hurting you, and there was nothing I could do to stop her. I had become nothing more than a voice in her head… In my head.”
Azriel's face contorted with sadness at seeing his soulmate so sad. He pushed himself up from the floor where he was sitting to get up. He placed his hand on Luxiana's opposite shoulder and pulled her towards him to press her head against his stomach. And he began to stroke her hair, trying to reassure her. To try to be a pillar she could rely on.
And it worked. The warmth Azriel brought her allowed Luxiana to close her eyes and dry her tears. She could take deep, calming breaths.
“We had the same kind of nightmare you had, I think,” Cassian assured sadly. “Actually, we could see it but not really do anything about it. I mean, we definitely wouldn't have done anything like the things we have done in that dream, right ? Haha,” he tried to put it into perspective.
Rhysand gave him an uncertain sideways glance. In truth, he knew he might fall to his knees before his soulmate if she threatened to destroy their bond. He had no doubt about that. “We were at the High Lords' meeting and you were so cold. Helion proposed to you…”
“That bastard,” Azriel growled, reining in Rhysand’s words and assuring him that he had the same nightmare.
But Rhysand continued, ignoring him, “And you and Eris…”
“Oh my god,” Luxiana nearly screamed, wrenching herself free of Azriel’s grasp. “You had the same nightmare I had,” she widened her eyes, feeling herself whiten with worry. What she had done to them in that nightmare… What the witch had done to them was so horrible. She looked down as tears welled up in her eyes again. “But how is this possible?”
“Our soulmate bond, I presume,” Rhysand explained, lowering her sad gaze.
After a silence, where everyone tried to assimilate what had just been revealed or what had been done, Azriel finally spoke, “And what you said about Eris in that nightmare, about him saving your life when you…” the words caught in his throat. “ripped off your wings, was that true?”
Rhysand and Cassian looked at their soulmate with questioning, apprehensive eyes.
Luxiana nodded softly. “That's why… Well, I don't know what happened between him and Mor, but I'm convinced that Eris is a good person and that he helped Mor precisely by refusing to help her. After all, if he had, her parents would have considered him accepting her in marriage, and she would have had to spend the rest of her life, unhappy, with him.”
The three Illyrians felt a pang of jealousy as a sharp dagger in their chests and a bitter taste on the back of their tongues. She truly loved Eris, and she had every reason to.
Azriel placed his large, warm hand on his soulmate's cheek, rubbing the traces of her tears on her cheekbone with his thumb.
Luxiana looked up at him, her eyes shining with tears and hope. Weren't they pushing her away? As she looked at him, she noticed and absorbed his crumpled cheeks and sad expression. She lowered her eyes. She had caused all this. “Forgive me. For everything I've done to you and everything I've hidden. Forgive me for being your soulmate and for being a monster.”
Rhysand's heart shattered. He took a deep breath before kneeling in front of Luxiana. He took her hands tenderly as Azriel slid his fingers under the blonde's chin, tilting her head up and forcing her gaze into Rhys's.
“Luxiana,” the lord breathed. “You don’t have to ask for forgiveness. You haven’t done anything wrong. Ever. I’m the only one who has to beg for your forgiveness. I said awful things to keep you away, because I wanted to protect you.” A tear rolled down his cheek. “I was wrong. So wrong. I thought I could live without you, but I can’t, Luxiana. I need you to breathe, to live.”
Azriel smiled softly. “And anyway, we sent you away to protect you, but you seem to have a knack for putting yourself in danger no matter where you are, or who you are with.”
Rhysand and Cassian smiled with him before the lord grew serious again. “You are not a monster, my love.”
Cassian placed a gentle kiss on Luxiana's temple. “And if you're a monster, then I don't care. I'll become the most monstrous monster to please you, to make you feel comfortable, to support you, to help you, to make you feel better.”
Luxiana couldn't help but her heart swell with happiness and relief as it lightened her entire body, almost making her float.
Rhysand nodded. “But you’ll never be a monster, not in our eyes.”
“You're an Illyrian,” Azriel added, sliding his hand over her ear, then up the back of her head and through her hair. He couldn't stop touching her, not after being deprived of it so much these past few weeks. “You're a warrior, such a strong, beautiful, gentle woman, yet so tough and completely crazy.” He breathed a laugh with his brothers. “You're all we need. You're the only one we need. The only one. And we made a grave mistake sending you away. Please forgive us.”
Cassian placed his hand on Luxiana's thigh, squeezing it in a comforting gesture. "For the record, I didn't want to send you away. I fought both of them to keep you."
Azriel and Rhysand turned a dark, bored look on their brother as Luxiana let out a soft chuckle.
“What?” Cassian defended himself. “Assume I’m better than you.”
Azriel growled. “I’ll knock your teeth out.”
Cassian smirked, “You're funny, as if you could.” He turned to Luxiana. “He thinks he's better than me.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear, “He's not.”
“You’ll see, bastard,” the shadowsinger growled, taking a threatening step towards Cassian, still unable to hide the smile on his lips.
Luxiana made a mock sound of offense. “No,” she almost screamed, grabbing Cassian’s head, pulling him towards her and shoving his face into her chest to protect him. “Hands off my baby,” she ordered, gently killing Rhysand and Azriel with her eyes.
Cassian smiled with all his being, feeling his heart slam against his chest as he took a deep breath of his soulmate's vanilla scent. This was the best day of his life. "Yeah, don't touch her baby," he repeated, his voice muffled by the blonde's breasts, sinking even deeper into them.
Rhysand and Azriel burst out laughing without feeling a hint of jealousy. Only tenderness. “The bastard,” Azriel fumed nonetheless, still laughing.
Luxiana released Cassian with a laugh, but the Illyrian didn't move. He even grabbed the blonde's hands and placed them back in his hair, accentuating the laughter of the others. But Cassian wasn't laughing anymore. He closed his eyes and let himself fall further against his soulmate, fully enjoying the contact and the feeling of serenity spreading through him, something he had missed so much in recent weeks.
He wrapped his arms around Luxiana's pelvis and pulled her towards him, holding her tightly. He nuzzled his face into the blonde's neck. "Please forgive us. I can't live without you anymore."
Luxiana hugged him even tighter, her heart swelling painfully as silent tears streamed down her cheeks. “I don't want to live without you either. You're my soulmates. I've missed you. I need you. I've fallen in love with all three of you. I love you so much.”
The three of them fainted as one at the words of their soulmate.
Cassian leaned further against her, squeezing his eyes shut to keep from crying at the immense joy warming his chest. She loved him. She loved him. His soulmate loved him. He felt as if all the alcohol had left his body, making him suddenly feel so much better and alive. As if Luxiana had pulled him out of a dark hole and brought him light. “I love you, Luxiana. Forever.”
Azriel fell onto the couch next to his soulmate, exhaling—through his breath—a weight he had in his stomach. He suddenly felt so light as his heart finally began to beat again. He placed his hand on the side of Luxiana's head, pulling her closer and placing a kiss on her head. “You are the love of my life, princess. MY princess.”
Rhysand had dropped his forehead to Luxiana's knee as his tears streamed down. He pinched his forearm to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He'd dreamed of this moment so many times when he managed to fall asleep, and he was so horrified and disappointed when he woke up that he didn't want to be fooled again. So he pinched himself as hard as he could. But instead of waking up, Luxiana's hand grabbed his fingers to stop him, squeezing them tightly. Rhysand looked up at her as she looked at him with a worried frown. "I'm so scared this is a dream. So scared I'll wake up and find you're gone," he explained.
Luxiana let out a small smile as she continued to cry. “I don't think this is a dream. It seems like one, but if you don't tell me that you love me too in the next five seconds, this might turn into a nightmare.”
Rhysand burst out laughing along with his two brothers before turning serious. “I love you, Luxiana. Never doubt it again, no matter what I tell you or if one day I assure you otherwise, it will only be a lie. I love you and I could only love you for the rest of my life.” He smiled. “And even afterward, when I'm surrounded by stars, I'll still only see you. You are the woman of my dreams. My high lady.”
Luxiana smiled as she took a deep breath. All three of them loved her. They didn't reject her? They really didn't think she was a monster. She cried with relief as her entire body vibrated with joy and relief. Her shoulders relaxed as the weight on them lifted. Was this really a dream? Then she never wanted to wake up again.
Azriel grabbed Luxiana by the hips, pulling her out of Cassian's grip—who grumbled in response. He pinned her to his chest, standing up as she wrapped her legs around his pelvis. She buried her face in her soulmate's neck, savoring his scent as they both took pleasure and happiness in the feeling of their soulmate's body against them.
Cassian fell face down on the couch before he began to ripple and kick his body like a fish out of water, convulsing with disappointment at the absence of his soulmate. Rhysand stood up, glaring angrily at Azriel. “What are you doing?”
Azriel headed out into the hallway. “Look how tired she looks. She needs sleep, and so do we.”
“Oh fuck,” Cassian yelled, getting up, realizing his brother was going to take his soulmate to bed. He started running, opening all the doors for Azriel as Rhysand followed them, laughing.
Cassian opened the door to his old room, but at the last moment, Azriel spun around to open the door to his own room and enter.
“No,” Cassian yelled, starting to run to join them. Rhysand then sprinted toward the large bed—which he had changed before sending Luxiana away—and threw himself into the middle. Sensing Cassian coming up behind him, Azriel ran to reach the bed too. He landed next to Rhysand, placing Luxiana between them.
“No!!!!” Cassian yelled, pouting and stopping in front of the bed. What was he going to do ? He wanted to hug her too. He made a croaky sound. “Too bad for you.” He gained momentum and started running towards the bed at full speed.
“Cassian, no,” Rhysand shouted, raising his hand to stop him, but it was too late.
Cassian jumped and crashed down on the three of them with all his weight. Rhys and Az were wider and taller than Luxiana, so they took Cassian's full weight on them, groaning in pain as Luxiana laughed heartily.
The three Illyrians relived in the sound their soulmate was making. Cassian wrapped his arms around Luxiana, turning his back on the mattress to place her on his chest while pushing Azriel and Rhysand away. The night lord remained on his back but grabbed his soulmate's hand, pressing it against his heart and holding it tight. Azriel turned toward them and placed his hand on the back of Luxiana's neck, gripping it possessively. He wanted to hold her and make sure she never left him again.
And all four of them fell asleep with smiles on their faces as their hearts began to beat again, as the world began to color again, and as their souls were finally united.
Hello, here is the chapter 40 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
I really enjoyed writing this chapter and finishing it like this, lmao. Am I a bitch? Yes, and I'm really enjoying it. 😈😈
The next chapter will be published on Wednesday, April 9th. Or maybe Sunday, April 6th? I don't know if I'll have time. However, I won't tell you what will happen in this next chapter, mouahahaha. 😈😈
In any case, I hope you're still enjoying reading it. Only 4 more chapters to go. Thank you for everything. ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
! Don't forget to read the previous and following chapters ! : Here
Chapter 40
Rhysand lay on his side on the cold floor of his room. He wasn't sure how long he'd been there. Minutes? Days? Months? An eternity?
Mor came to feed him from time to time and tried to get him up. But he didn't eat anything and didn't move.
His gaze was empty, lifeless. He had lost the boldness, the determination, the hope, and the confidence that so suited him. He no longer had any desire. He wanted only one thing: his soulmate, Luxiana. But she didn't want him, and it was his fault.
He had caused all this, he knew it. He deserved for her to reject him, but... He had made such a mistake. His skin itched, his chest burned, his stomach felt heavy, and his eyes were watery. If she didn't want him anymore, what was the point of doing all the things he did? What was the point of saving the world of Hybern if she didn't live in it with him? What was the point of living? Of breathing? If she wasn't by his side when she was his breath of air, his lifebuoy. Because without her, he was drowning.
He was drowning
Cassian had to keep going. He couldn't stop. He ran, he fought, he went out, he drank. He wanted to sleep with other women to take his mind off things, to make Luxiana pay for her rejection, but he couldn't. Every time he got near another woman who wasn't Luxiana, he wanted to throw up. He grimaced and hated himself so much for trying that he shuddered with horror and disgust.
He, too, had lost track of time. His days were now too much alike. He would wake up and fight everything he could while drinking alcohol until he fell into a coma. Then he would wake up hours later and do it all over again. Over and over again.
Alcohol helped silence his thoughts. It kept him from having his soulmate's face constantly in his head. It kept him from hearing her rejecting him over and over again even though he'd told her he loved her.
He had never told anyone. He had never been able to. He was too afraid that if he did tell someone, then they would abandon him. Like his mother had done even though he loved her.
Why was his love never enough? Why was he never good enough for the people he loved to stay by his side? Why did he always screw everything up? What had he done wrong to deserve this? This pain? Why were his eyes watering?
No. No. Alcohol, quickly. He had to drink. He had to drink to stop thinking. He never wanted to think again.
He wanted to turn off.
Azriel was rooted in darkness. Surrounded by it, he never left it. Either way, whether he was there or outside, everything he saw was just as black and dull. And here, in this darkness, he felt better. He was gone, and that was what he wanted. To disappear.
His shadows swirled frantically around him. They had become as mad as he was. They threw themselves at Azriel, striking him everywhere and with all their might. They hated him. How could he let her go? Their soulmate.
Azriel felt himself vibrate all over. He was trembling. He had his fingers in his hair, pulling at it, trying to hurt himself and distract his thoughts from Luxiana. He was walking everywhere, in all directions and on all sides in his darkness. He was walking almost running and hadn't stopped walking since he arrived here. For two months, twelve days, five hours, thirty-two minutes, and fifteen seconds exactly. He was even counting the milliseconds since that day in Hybern's castle. Since she had rejected them.
He couldn't cope, couldn't calm down. He cried, he screamed, he gritted his teeth. He didn't know what to do.
He couldn't take it anymore. He could feel his muscles burning from the trembling he was experiencing, his lungs ached from his spasmodic breathing, his lips were dry from the sheer amount of tears he'd shed. And his heart... His heart felt like it was constantly tearing itself apart.
She rejected him. His soulmate didn't want him. Should he go find her? Should he try to make amends? But Azriel understood that his presence was hurting her too.
His body was racked by a storm. He didn't know what to do. He was in so much pain. He couldn't take it anymore.
He couldn't stand it anymore.
One day, Mor came to pick up all three of them.
She had found them even in the deepest darkness. She had shaken them and forced them to take a shower. She had forced them to eat something when she noticed their pale and thin skin, but they hadn’t been able to swallow anything.
Rhys's cousin was panicked by the situation.
Her friends, her family, were letting themselves die, and she knew there was nothing she could do about it. She was trying to run the court for Rhys, and she'd had to manage Cassian and Azriel's affairs, too. Because they'd simply stopped working. As if they were already dead.
She had then organized, on behalf of Rhys, a meeting with all the lords of the courts to fight in the future war against Hybern.
She'd tried to plan everything, but she wasn't Rhys, and she knew the other lords wouldn't listen. Not her. Rhys had to do it himself, and she hoped that maybe it would take his mind off things.
At first, the three of them refused to budge. They didn't see the point. Why fight?
"So that Luxiana doesn't suffer more by losing the people she loves in a war," Mor had said then, managing to motivate them enough to dry their tears and get up.
They were in pain but they would fight for their soulmate's happiness even if they weren't part of it.
The time for the meeting with the other lords had arrived. Rhysand sat wearily on one of the seven large chairs placed in a circle around the room. His back was hunched, his gaze vacant, and his skin dull.
Cassian leaned casually, shoulder against the back of Rhys's chair, a bottle of alcohol dangling from his hand. And he took swigs often. He needed it to keep from collapsing.
Azriel was standing on the other side of Rhys, completely surrounded by his shadows, so much so that he looked like nothing more than a ball of darkness with two dull brown pupils emerging from it.
They didn't even know how they kept from running away as terror and anguish ate at every inch of their souls. They were so scared. What if she were here today?
A destructive spark of hope reawakened their bruised hearts a little, hurting them. What if... she had changed her mind about them?
They were lost in doubt, fear, hope, and many other emotions. They couldn't take it anymore. They felt like they were constantly exploding.
They cowardly wanted to run away, but they no longer had the strength. They could barely stand.
Then the meeting began. The high lords appeared one by one in the circle, each in front of a chair. Kallias and Viviane, Helion, Thesan, Beron and Eris, and Tarquin, who glared resentfully at Rhys.
Everyone greeted each other quickly and curtly as they sat down on their chairs.
Then Tamlin and Feyre appear.
Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel were caught in a whirlwind of emotions, between relief and disappointment. She wasn't there. Their shoulders slumped, but... She wasn't there. The flicker of hope fading in their hearts made them die a little more.
A different kind of anxiety from the past few weeks filled their stomachs. Where was she? Why wasn't she there? Was she with someone else? Was she hurt?!
Rhysand vaguely and distantly explained to the other high lords what was happening, that war was near and they needed them to fight against Hybern. But with these two brothers, he only glanced anxiously at Tamlin and Feyre, hoping to get a clue about Luxiana.
They had none.
The other High Lords refused to fight for and alongside humans. Despite the powerful and vigorous arguments of Feyre, Tamlin, and Rhys, they would not change their minds.
Rhys ran a hand over his face. He didn't know what to do. He had no strength left for anything. He thought only of Luxiana and barely saw the grimaces of disgust and incomprehension of the other lords who stared at him, noticing his pitiful state. He was pitiful. He had failed again. He had failed with Luxiana and then here, trying to protect the people she loved.
He glanced at his two brothers, who were as sad, hurt, and anxious as he was. They had to find a way to convince the others, but first they had to know where Luxiana was and if she was okay. They couldn't think of anything else and couldn't focus on anything else.
Rhys then asked the other lords to wait while he and his brothers, Tamlin, and Feyre, left to discuss. They left the meeting room and walked along the long corridor almost to the other end.
"What?" Feyre spat coldly, stopping and crossing her arms as she turned to face them.
"Where is she?" Azriel asked, his voice dull and sad, almost imploring.
Feyre grimaced in anger. "Away from you, and that's what matters. Now we need to convince the other lords." Sharply, she pivoted toward the meeting room door to return.
But Rhysand stepped in front of her, cutting her off. "Please," he begged, his expression infinitely sad. "At least tell us if she's okay. We need to know." Rhys shed a tear in spite of himself. And he fell to his knees. He couldn't take it anymore. "I need her."
Feyre's eyes widened as she took in Rhysand kneeling before her. She glanced at Tamlin, who seemed to realize as much as she did how destroyed he must be to be seen in this position. She then took in the pale, usually dark, skin of the three brunettes. Then she saw their crumpled cheeks, the bottle of alcohol in Cassian's hand, Azriel's low, dull gaze, and the tear on Rhysand's cheek. A hint of pity rose in her. They really did look messed up.
Feyre then remembered that Luxiana had been hurt too, and that it was their fault. However, she couldn't help but feel that pity, but she couldn't push it away. "She'll come," she conceded, her voice softening despite herself.
Cassian, reeling, froze. Azriel looked up as his pupils began to glow with hope. Rhysand sat up abruptly as a mixture of stress and hope washed over him.
"When?" Azriel pressed, grabbing Feyre's arm.
Tamlin reacted instantly, grabbing his wife and pulling her towards him, forcing the Illyrian to let go. "We don't know, so don't touch her."
"Why isn't she here already? Where is she?" Cassian asked, his voice hoarse and burnt with alcohol. He was dying of worry now.
Feyre breathed sympathetically. No matter how hard her best friend tried to hide it, she was unhappy. And while it was their fault, the Illyrians were just as unhappy. Still, things weren't getting better. "She..." she hesitated. "She left with Keydan, Jasper, and Jurian."
The three Illyrians' hairs stood on end as they stretched out to their full length.
“Where?” Cassian insisted curtly.
Feyre and Tamlin exchanged doubtful glances. Feyre shrugged. "She..."
"It's none of your business," said a cold voice from down the hall.
Everyone jumped when they recognized the voice.
Luxiana.
They turned away from the meeting room to see her walking towards them, surrounded by Jurian and two men the three Illyrians didn't know.
“Luxiana,” Rhysand breathed almost inaudibly as she arrived in front of them.
Cassian took a sip from his bottle, studying the cold, expressionless face of his soulmate as she looked at them. His heart ached. She had rejected him. He didn't want to think anymore.
Azriel clenched his fists and clenched his teeth until his bones were breaking. Jurian and the one she wanted to make proud, Keydan, were there. They had gone off to who knew where with HIS soulmate. It should have been him, but they had messed up, and she didn't want them anymore. He shook his head, trying to come to his senses, and then finally noticed the scratches that covered HIS wife's cheekbone, forehead, and jaw.
His eyes widened. She was hurt.
Instinctively, he examined her completely in panic and jumped when he saw scratches on her bare arms and legs. She was wearing a black lace skirt, short in the front and long in the back, and a black leather corset. Azriel's blood boiled. One, if she had been better dressed, she could have avoided these kinds of scratches, and two, she was beautiful. She had made herself beautiful, and it wasn't even for him. Because she didn't want them anymore.
He looked down again. His body ached with the desire to heal her, the need to hold her, but he couldn't. She wouldn't want to. He took a step back, ducking his head to hide his trembling chin.
"Where have you been?" Cassian growled, his face contorted with anger.
Luxiana could barely concentrate. She had just absorbed one of the last books she
had written. She was far too busy trying to manage the surge of power flowing into her, eating away at her heart and soul even more.
She quickly noticed the state of the three Illyrians, emaciated and tired, but she felt almost nothing. A mixture of stern satisfaction, sadness, and regret seized her heart. But it was only a glimmer. A faint glow surrounded by a shell of ice and struggling not to go out against the gust of frozen wind that was battering her.
Only one more book before she felt nothing. She closed her eyes, relieved as much as she could. She wasn't going to be in pain anymore.
Jasper began to look back and forth between the three Illyrians and Luxiana. They looked exactly like the image they had of themselves. And judging by Luxiana's suddenly closed face, these guys were indeed his soulmates who had abandoned her. He turned his eyes to Keydan and, judging by his tight face and tense muscles, he understood this too.
“She told you,” Keydan growled, his voice deep, gravelly, and dry. “It’s none of your business.”
Cassian tightened his grip on the bottle he was holding. He gritted his teeth, making his voice sound like a hiss. "Who do you think you are, talking to us like that?"
Without waiting, and with a quick and sharp gesture, Keydan threw his folded fingers at Cassian, striking the Illyrian's throat directly with his knuckles.
Cassian stepped back, dropping his bottle, which clattered to the ground as he brought his hands to his throat. Choked sounds escaped his mouth as his throat felt as if it had landed deep in his neck.
"Hey!" Rhysand tried to intervene, advancing on Keydan with Azriel. But without flinching or moving, Keydan delivered the same blow to the throats of the other two Illyrians—who were far too weak and exhausted to see it coming or stop it.
They had the same reaction as Cassian, stepping back and widening their eyes.
"POUAHAHAHAHAH," Jasper mocked heavily, pointing at them and laughing heartily. "This is so embarrassing. Boohoo, the losers."
Feyre clapped her hand over her mouth to keep from bursting out laughing. Tamlin, however, didn't hesitate to laugh, while Jurian pursed his lips and looked away.
Tamlin laughed again. "This is Keydan…," he said, pointing to the short-haired man with light blue eyes and a sculpted face on his athletic body. "…and Jasper." Then he pointed to the man with beautiful, glossy black skin, dark brown eyes, and curly black hair. He was thinner than Keydan but just as muscular. "They've been living with me for a while now. I love them."
The three Illyrians' nostrils flared, and their faces flushed with the sudden surge of anger and shame they felt. How dare this man ridicule them in front of their soulmate?
Rhysand eyed the two men with an angry grimace. Should he unleash his power to show them who they were dealing with? No, they were someone close to Luxiana. He didn't want to intimidate them. And besides, he didn't even know if he was capable of it anymore.
Azriel clenched his fists and his teeth, his temples pounding with tension. His soulmate must have found these two men attractive. His soulmate was surrounded by three handsome males, and he wasn't even a part of them. He was still clutching his throat but did nothing but stare viciously at this Keydan. He just wanted to slit the bastard's throat. For what he had just done, for using his soulmate all her life, but especially for the fact that she loved this Keydan and not him.
Cassian couldn't think. He couldn't anymore. He let his anger take over. He walked quickly toward Keydan with a threatening look on his face. Everything was a blur, and his body felt heavy, slow, and painful, but he was going to kill him.
But Luxiana stepped between the two.
Cassion froze under her dark gaze. Then she shifted her gaze to Feyre, ignoring him completely. “How did the meeting go?”
Feyre lost her smile. "It's not over. They're still here. They refuse to fight alongside us for the humans. They don't want to risk losing their soldiers to humans they don't think are worth it."
Jasper grew serious again, letting out a muffled sound of offendedness. "Don't they understand that it will be their world that will be disrupted, and possibly even annihilated, if Hybern succeeds in destroying the wall?"
Jurian took a deep breath, crossing his arms. "The high fae are pretentious and think they can protect their courts if necessary. And they don't care about defending the human realm if it doesn't benefit them."
Feyre grimaced in worry. "We can't convince them. I don't know what to do."
Luxiana felt her heart ache at the sight of her best friend's anguish. She turned her eyes to Keydan, seeking approval in his gaze—as she always did when he was by her side.
Keydan nodded his head up and down once to indicate to her to do what she was thinking.
The three Illyrians' gaze lingered, taking in the interaction between the two with clenched jaws, their pupils flickering furiously between their faces. This Kayden acted as if Luxiana was at his command, and she obeyed him without batting an eyelid or even questioning it. Worse still, they both seemed to understand each other without even speaking, and that had the power to infuriate the three brunettes.
They wanted to kill him. Destroy this man. But they did nothing. Nothing at all. Because Luxiana loved him and not them, and they didn't want to hurt her. Not again.
"I guess I'll have to deal with it then," Luxiana said curtly, stepping around the group to walk purposefully towards the meeting room door.
The three Illyrians glanced at each other before following her with the others, almost running to catch up. What was she planning to do?
Once in front of the door, she raised her leg to crush it with her foot and break the lock. The double doors burst open with a loud noise, crashing against the walls that held them in place.
Every high lord in the room jumped from their seats. But their most intriguing reaction came when they noticed their new guests. Well, one in particular. Luxiana. All of them turned white in one swift, violent motion at the sight of the witch. Every single one, except Eris, whose eyes began to sparkle.
Luxiana glared at them one by one. "You're all going to fight in this war against Hybern because I order you to, is that clear?"
"But…," Beron tried, his face furrowed and twisted with anger.
Except Luxiana immediately interrupted him, giving him the same cold stare she'd given him the last time she'd made him endure a thousand sufferings. The glare was so violent that he paled even more, falling backward in his seat. "All right," he said shrilly, raising his palm in front of him. "I'll see you at war."
Then he teleported away, leaving Eris behind. Eris pursed his lips and lowered his head to hide his smile. But he said nothing and didn't move.
Luxiana then looked at him and something pure awakened in her chest. Something that almost managed to fight against the rain of ice unleashed in the blonde's heart.
Kallias nodded vigorously with wide eyes, his skin even paler than usual. "Of course we're going to fight." He turned to Viviane, who nodded with him. "That's it. Goodbye." And while avoiding Luxiana's gaze, they teleported elsewhere.
Thesan smirked at Luxiana before leaning forward. "I suppose you leave us no choice, witch. My court will fight by your side. Especially since with you, we can only be victorious."
Luxiana nodded to Thesan, silently thanking him before he too fled.
The three Illyrians scrutinized each other's expressions and reactions with furrowed brows and wide eyes. Just by ordering them, she could force them to fight alongside them. Did they know her? Did they know she was a witch? To be so afraid of her, it seemed like they did.
Tarquin regained his senses as he examined Luxiana. Anger rose in his chest. "What does all this mean?" he asked, pointing at the high lords' reactions. "Did you betray them and steal from them too?"
Luxiana gave him a dark look. She had felt friendship, empathy, and gentleness for him before. She could feel none of that anymore. "I am a witch," she announced without precedent, making the High Lord's eyes widen. "I am the first of the witches and the powerful one among them. I killed every single person in the Winter Court and then brought them back to life to make them understand who I was. I burned Beron inside and out, healed him, and did it again, all without him being able to do a thing. Just to make him understand that he was nothing but a miserable mosquito. So, Tarquin, do you want to remain on the list of High Lords I can tolerate, or do you want to be part of the ones I can't love?"
Tarquin felt the blood drain from his face. They glanced at the three Illyrians who were looking at Luxiana with brows furrowed in a sort of concern. Then he looked at Helion, who had casually sat back down in his seat.
The Lord of the Court of the Day nodded. "Yeah, from what I remember, she didn't know Rhysand, Tamlin, and you, but the rest of us..." He burst out laughing. "...she's traumatized us all in one way or another. Me, for example, she resists me and constantly rejects my advances. Still, you shouldn't make her angry."
Then he returned his eyes to Luxiana, looking her up and down lecherously. He stood up from his chair before walking towards the blonde. He leaned forward, took her hand, and kissed it before looking up at her. "If this is to fight for you, then you know you can count on me." He knelt before her. “I ask you the question as I have before and as I will for the rest of eternity: Will you marry me?."
The Illyrians' eyes widened and their blood boiled. He knew they had no right to be jealous, but they couldn't bear the sight. Cassian threw himself beside Luxiana and violently slapped Helion's hand away from his soulmate, forcing Helion to straighten. "Don't touch her, damn it."
Azriel positioned himself between her and the high lord, clenching his fists at the ends of his arms stretched out at his sides, so much so that they turned white.
Rhysand positioned himself next to Luxiana and crossed his arms to try to hide his ragged breathing.
Luxiana gritted her teeth. Why was it still hurting? It hurt less, but she still felt something. That said, she was a little relieved. She felt less and less emotion.
Helion examined the three Illyrians' reactions with visible curiosity and a wry smile. "Why not?" he asked mischievously.
Rhysand tensed a little more. "Because she's the three of us soulmates." Fuck, he wanted to shout it to the world, and saying it in front of all these people felt so good and so bad at the same time. She was their soulmate, and she didn't want them.
Helion gasped in surprise as Tarquin and Eris widened their eyes and took a step back.
Everyone then turned their eyes to Luixiana to see, with some apprehension, her reaction. But she only looked at Eris with a concerned expression.
With a concerned look? The three Illyrians were looking back and forth between him and her. Why were they both looking at each other like that? Why was even Eris still here when his father was gone?
Azriel could feel his heart pounding wildly in his chest. He didn't like it. This regret they both had on their faces. He didn't like what it might mean. He didn't like it at all. He wanted to kill Eris and Helion. "She's ours, damn it, so don't even try to approach her and get out!"
Luxiana tensed so much that the tension could be seen in her shoulders and on her face.
Helion gave a huge grin. "Wow, I'm jealous. Of you and her. But then... one doesn't preclude the other. I can take all four of you."
"Helion, go the fuck away, now," Rhysand spat viciously.
Helion let out a small laugh before raising his hands in remission. "I'll see you on the battlefield then." Then with a final blink, he disappeared.
Tarquin cleared his throat, trying to recover from what he had just learned. "So I was truly deceived to the end," he said under his breath. "I would fight by your side, without conviction, but I would." Then he left with a sad, downcast look.
And Luxiana felt nothing. She just kept looking at Eris.
A heavy silence fell over the room as everyone detailed the exchange between Luxiana and Eris—who had resumed a simple expression.
"What are you still doing here?" Cassian snarled at the redhead in his raspy voice.
Eris didn't even notice, but Luxiana did. Her blood boiled as she instantly froze Cassian's body with her cold stare. "Watch how you talk to him or I'll rip your tongue out," she threatened so fiercely that Cassian, Azriel, and Rhysand had to take two steps back, their eyes wide.
They were speechless in surprise. She had spoken to them with a malice and coldness they had never heard before. Every time they thought she couldn't seem any colder, she would do something to prove them wrong.
Eris took a slow step forward, then another, and finally came closer to Luxiana, standing in front of her. Gently, he placed his hand on the blonde's cheek.
"Don't..." Azriel tried, moving closer before being silenced and stopped by Luxiana's dark, deterrent stare.
So none of the three said anything and had to watch Eris place her hand on their soulmate as if he were used to doing so. As if he had the right to do so. As if the sudden slight blush on the blonde's cheeks indicated that she preferred his touch and not theirs.
They wanted to rip their hearts out of their chests because it hurt so much. So much.
Eris began to stroke Luxiana's cheekbone with her thumb, and he frowned as he studied her carefully. Her eyes were less bright, her dimples hadn't popped out, she wasn't smiling, her blush was less intense, and she didn't shiver at his touch like she usually did. But most importantly, when he listened closely, he could hear her heartbeat. It was slow, whereas whenever she was with him, it beat strong and fast. He winced his nose slightly. "How many other books have you absorbed?"
Luxiana looked away. "It doesn't matter."
"Luxiana," Eris hissed in a commanding tone that made the three brunettes grit their teeth. "That means something to me. How much?"
Luxiana looked back at the redhead, expressing the little regret she could feel anymore. "I only have one more to obtain before I regain my full power."
Eris's eyes widened as he took a step back, his hand letting go of Luxiana's to fall limply back to his side. Then, after examining her for a second, he closed his eyes, his face twisting in sadness.
The three Illyrians didn't know how to react. They had a hard time believing that it was really Eris in front of them. He had never shown so much emotion as now, in front of THEIR soulmate.
"Can I ask what you're playing at?" the redhead asked, suddenly confused. "You told me you'd stop at one, and now I hear you've absorbed two more since last time. Why?" He took a step forward, grabbing the blonde's shoulders. "Luxiana, if you continue, you'll lose everything you are. You'll lose your emotions, your heart, your..."
"It's necessary. I need all my power to defeat Hybern," the blonde interrupted.
"Oh, come on," Eris cried in sarcastic protest. "For one, you and I both knew you could have beaten him with just one of those books, so why absorb them all except to lose your humanity? You promised me you wouldn't do that, damn it."
Something exploded in the chests of the three Illyrians, sending molten lava coursing through their veins, making their breathing quicken, and their muscles tense. But they said nothing. They were only plunged into a permanent state of confusion. What was he talking about? What did he mean by she was going to lose her humanity? They were starting to panic. And above all, how dare Eris yell at their soulmate like that? As if he had any say in what she did.
"And two," the redhead continued, still shouting. "Stop saying it's your power. It isn't. You're not that witch." He lunged at Luxiana and cupped her face with his hands. "You're my Luxi. You're my Luxi, and you're not going to care once you've absorbed this book. You already don’t care too much."
Luxiana's face contorted with a mixture of regret and sadness. But... she simply wanted to reassure him, because deep down, she already didn't feel as much emotion anymore.
Except she couldn't say anything as Eris was pulled away from her by a blast of Rhys's power. "That's enough, damn it," Rhysand yelled, surrounded by his unleashed power.
Eris managed to stabilize himself and not fall by taking a few steps back.
"We're not allowing you anywhere near her, damn it," Cassian growled with a bloodshot look. "We told you we were her soulmates, damn it."
Eris frowned in a mixture of sadness and incomprehension. "Are they really your soulmates?" he asked Luxiana.
"They are nobody to me," she replied sharply in a cold voice.
The three Illyrians tried not to show anything, but their lips curled and their hearts sank a little more.
Eris then let out a mocking laugh before calming down and adopting a mischievous smile. "Does that mean you love me more than them?"
"Yes," she answered without hesitation, killing the three brunettes who felt faint from the inside.
Rhysand was frozen with shock and pain. He wanted to fall to his knees. He was going to fall.
"How the hell do you two know each other?" Azriel yelled with a dark look. "Who do you think you are to claim her for yourself? To claim you're better than us for her??"
Cassian grabbed his hair, pulling it. His heart hurt so much. He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't take it anymore. Everything was blurry, he wasn't thinking clearly. He couldn't take it anymore. He needed to hurt someone. He exploded and lunged at Eris, fist raised. He was going to smash him to bits.
Luxiana couldn't stop him, not without hurting him, and despite herself, she didn't want to hurt him. She didn't want Eris hurt either. So she spoke, slowly, sharply, hoping to stop Cassian. And it worked. "Eris was the one who found me after I ripped off my wings and ran away."
The three of them's breaths caught as they froze from head to toe, scrutinizing Luxiana. Noticing no sign of lies on her expressionless face, they turned their eyes to Eris to see his gaze. It was bright with concern and truth. He had helped her when THEY hadn't been there. He had saved their soulmate. Yes, he was better than them.
"He took care of me, healed me physically, and helped me recover. He cheered me up and literally saved my life. He kept me warm in his own room, in his own bed, for months while he slept on the floor. He had to hide me from everyone, especially his father. He took an enormous risk to help a simple, unimportant stranger," she continued to speak faster and louder.
Her heart still ached from the memories, the sight of her soulmates, and everything else. She couldn't take it anymore. She wanted it to stop. Why wouldn't it stop? Why couldn't she stop talking?
"He was the first to save my life, the first to show me affection after hundreds of years. He's as important to me as Feyre, Jasper, or Keydan. So I forbid you to mess with him because yes, he's better than you, because he's never hurt me!!"
She finally stopped, out of breath.
The three Illyrians bowed their heads, chins trembling, eyes watering. A lump in their throats and in their hearts made them want to scream and cry so much. They didn't even know how they were still standing. She was right. She was right. They weren't worthy of her.
"But..." Cassian said softly, his voice low, almost a whisper. "We're your soulmates. We're your soulmates."
Luxiana couldn't take it anymore. She didn't want to feel this way anymore. She didn't want this anymore. She didn't want them to be her soulmates anymore. She couldn't. "Yes, that's precisely the problem." She straightened up, calmed herself, adopting a cool expression. Then she deployed her power. Not in a broad explosion outside her, but in a sharp, honed knife inside. In a precise segment, in her soul.
She reached out and grasped the three frayed, tattered golden threads that connected her to her soulmates.
At the contact of Luxiana's fists on their bonds, the three Illyrians widened their eyes, gasping in surprise as they could feel a tugging in their bodies, in their hearts, in their souls.
"Luxiana," Rhysand called breathlessly with pure terror on his face and in his stomach.
Azriel began to shake his head frantically. "Luxiana," he begged, scared to death. "Please, no. Please."
"What are you doing??" Cassian shouted, raising his hands between them as his eyes bulged.
Luxiana rejected their words and her pain by shaking her head. A tear rolled down her face. How could this be? She shouldn't be in this much pain anymore. She had to break this bond. It was the only way to find peace. "I'll fix us," she explained to them, her lower lip trembling.
She tightened her fist around the golden ties, suffocating the three brunettes. Then slowly, she began to pull, fighting the pain in her being, the hesitation in her mind, and the deadly sadness in her heart. It would get better afterward, she was sure of it. So she kept pulling.
Feeling torn apart from the inside, their bodies, hearts, and souls, the three Illyrians began to cry and sob. Their bodies were on fire, their hearts felt as if they were being ripped from their chests, and they could literally feel themselves being torn in two as a piece of their soul was being lost.
Cassian began to scream, grabbing his chest and leaning forward. Big, hot tears streamed onto the floor as he began to vomit the contents of his stomach, choking. He loved her. He loved her so much. "No," he tried to stop her between sobs. She was his woman, his heart, his soul, his everything. He loved her so much. So much. He couldn't lose her. He couldn't. How would he survive this?
He couldn't.
Azriel sobbed loudly as he stumbled backward and fell heavily on his butt. He was crying so hard as he continued to shake his head furiously. "Please, please, please." He began to pound his fist against his chest. His heart. Because that was where Luxiana was, in his heart. In his chest, in his being. He remembered her laughter, her blushes, her jokes. He couldn't lose that.
He wouldn't stand it.
Rhysand threw himself on his knees in front of Luxiana, grabbing the blonde's calves in his hands. "Please, please," he pleaded, crying his heart out, his face twisted with tears and death. "Please, Luxiana. Don't do this. Forgive me. I'll do anything you want, anything. But don't do this. Not this. Luxiana, please." His wife, his high lady, his heart, his love. She was the most precious thing he'd ever been around, and he'd lost her because he was such an idiot. "No, please. Please, please, please. Luxiana, don't do this, I beg you." He felt like he was dying.
He was going to die.
Luxiana looked down on him, trying unsuccessfully to hold back the tears as she felt the same horror and pain as her soulmates. She hesitated. A voice in her head and every particle of her being begged her along with Rhys not to do this. But she couldn't take it anymore.
Hello, here is the chapter 39 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
A short, not-so-great chapter, but somewhat necessary to understand how Luxiana feels and that she won't forgive the Illyrians so easily.
Finally, the next chapter will be on Sunday, March 30th. In this chapter, there will be the gathering of the high lords. We'll see the latest revelations about Luxiana, who will explain everything to the Illyrians, as well as their pure jealousy of Eris. Mouahahahaha, I can't wait to write it and show it to you.
I know I tell you this all the time, but thank you for all your love. You are the best. ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
! Don't forget to read the previous and following chapters ! : Here
Chapter 39
Time stood still in the great throne room.
The three Illyrians, Feyre, Tamlin, and Jurian, were paralysed by surprise or admiration.
They all stared at Luxiana, who was watching at the spot where the king had been before disappearing. She was breathing rapidly—her chest rising and falling in time with her breathing—and her jaw and fists were clenched.
Feyre widened her smile, placing her hands on her hips. She turned to Tamlin. "I told you she was super strong."
"You told me so, yes," Tamlin laughed, his eyes still a little wide but a broad grin on his face. "Wow, she's freaking me out even more now. And I didn't think that was possible, that's saying something."
Rhysand glanced at Tamlin and Feyre in confusion, then he looked at Cassian's healed wings and Azriel's arrow-less chest. He spun around, scanning the burned corpses around them. "What just happened?" he whispered under his breath. Then he focused his eyes on Luxiana, who hadn't moved. "What just happened?" he repeated, louder this time.
Cassian shook his head, trying to clear his mind, without much success. "How did you do that?" he asked his soulmate. Then he blanched a little more as he realized what had just happened. What she had done. He shook his head again, his breathing rapid with shock. "Tell us it's not what we think, Luxiana." A witch. She was a witch.
Azriel felt like he was in a nightmare. Everything around him and in his mind was blurry as his eyes watched in horror as his soulmate entered the room and was injured. Everything she had done didn't matter, at least not right now. Not when she was injured and she wasn't healing. His soulmate was injured and she was bleeding everywhere.
He winced in realization and slowly came back to him. He took a step forward, reaching out his hands towards Luxiana. He had to stop the wound on his thigh from bleeding so much. "You're hurt," he said before closing the distance completely.
He placed his hands on Luxiana's thigh to compress the wound, but the contact was enough to bring the blonde out of her thoughts.
She came back to herself, but seeing Azriel's hands on her skin, trying to stop the bleeding, a spark of hope ignited in her heart. Her chest swelled with tenderness before she pushed the emotion away, burying it under a layer of anger.
She certainly wasn't going to trust them again. She wasn't going to fall into their trap again. She refused to suffer again. Only Feyre mattered now.
She let her anger overwhelm her, almost grimacing in disgust as she eyed the three Illyrians. She slapped Azriel's hands away and then turned to Rhysand. "Do you really want me to tell you what happened?" she spat at him.
She took a heavy, threatening step toward him. "What happened was you messed up and I had to clean up your mess."
"You shouldn't have come," Azriel said through gritted teeth. She had pushed him away as if she hated him, and now she was bleeding everywhere and refusing to let him apply pressure to her wound. A ball of anxiety rose in the Illyrian's chest. She was going to bleed out and die. "You put yourself in danger, and now you're hurt. We have to..."
"Whose fault is that?" Luxiana yelled, glaring at him before letting out a fake laugh. "I put myself in danger?" she repeated, laughing madly. She took a step back, shaking her head in disbelief. Her face fell from anger to a serious expression. Hadn't they seen what she'd just done? She was going to show them.
While she still had her energy, she exploded. A shockwave of power and might rippled out from her, striking everyone in the room and oppressing them.
The magic made them feel as if they were surrounded by death, as fear swept through them despite themselves. The invisible power crushed their shoulders, forcing them to their knees. Then the growing dome of power crashed into the walls of the throne room, shattering them into a thousand pieces. The roof, the walls, the pillars, the windows—everything shattered, but the pieces of stone and glass remained suspended in the air. As if they were afraid to move, to fall, to make noise, or to anger Luxiana.
The blonde took a step toward the three Illyrians, kneeling before her, oppressing them even more with her power. "I am the danger!" she shouted. "I saved your fucking lives. So I don't allow you to patronize me like that!"
The three Illyrians' eyes bulged, shocked by the mass of power crushing them. They had to summon all their strength to keep from falling face down. They had never met anyone so powerful. And that someone was their soulmate. They couldn't believe it. They needed time to process the information.
"Luxi," Feyre moaned, wincing, crushed by her best friend's power.
Luxiana turned her gaze to Feyre and, noticing her struggling, bent under her power and almost in pain, she gasped, her eyes widening. She retracted her power in one swift motion.
The walls, windows, pillars, and ceilings reassembled as if nothing had happened, sticking back together as if they hadn't been broken. Then Luxiana's power returned to her body, freeing those in the room.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they stood up, except for Cassian, who remained on his knees, staring into space straight ahead. Elain was able to sob loudly again in Nesta's arms.
Luxiana glanced at the two sisters and Feyre, cursing herself for a second for letting her anger at the three Illyrians affect everyone else. She took a deep breath. "Go back," she said to Feyre and Tamlin, pointing at Nesta and Elain, silently indicating they should take them with them.
Tamlin nodded, leaning toward Nesta to grab her arm. He reached out to his wife, and she went to take his hand, but she froze, turning to face her best friend. "And you?"
"I have things to do here, I'll join you," the Illyrian assured her in an authoritative voice.
Feyre hesitated for a moment, worried nonetheless.
Luxiana softened at the apprehension in her best friend's eyes. "It's dangerous here, Feyfey. The king could return at any moment with an army, and I'm not powerful enough to stop him. Not while protecting you at the same time," the white-haired blonde explained. "So go."
Feyre huffed with a serious expression before nodding. She took Tamlin's hand and they teleported to the Spring Court.
A heavy, long silence fell over the room, lasting several minutes. Luxiana's eyes were lowered to where Feyre had disappeared. And the three Illyrians were frozen beside her, able to see only her profile.
Azriel finally reacted by running his hands through his hair and spinning around. She had said she wasn't powerful enough to stop the king. So she really did have powers. But she didn't radiate any power. The power didn't come from her and it wasn't in her blood, in her body. And so she was using the magic around her to convert it and use it. That only meant one thing: that she was just one thing.
Azriel was about to ask him, to make sure he was wrong, but he stopped when he saw her give him a cold, sideways glance. He gritted his teeth.
"Go away too," she spat sharply, looking at them haughtily.
Rhysand slowly found his senses. He stood up, trembling. He couldn't comprehend everything that had just happened. In his field of vision, behind his soulmate, he saw the cauldron.
He gave it a long look, feeling the book in one of his inside jacket pockets burn his skin. "The cauldron," he said vaguely. "We can't leave it there. The king might take it and…" He stopped, unsure of what to say. Unsure of what to do, unsure of what to think. The only thing he knew was that they had come here for a mission. "We can't leave it here."
Luxiana felt sick for a moment. She wished he had told her something else. She fixed her eyes on the lost ones of the night lord. She raised her hand to the cauldron, without taking her eyes off him. Then, without emitting any power—she didn't need it to control the cauldron anyway—she commanded.
The cauldron rose into the air to everyone's surprise, and with a gruesome crack, it crannied, exploding into several large pieces. A shockwave of power erupted from the dying cauldron as it breathed its last. The three Illyrians were struck hard and reeled backward from the shockwave that hit them.
They stared wide-eyed as they watched the scene before Luxiana –completely disintegrated the cauldron, reducing it to ash.
She let her arm fall heavily, smiling slyly as the three Illyrians began to stare at her with a sort of terror on their faces. Part of her was hurt to realize that she frightened them, that they truly thought she was a monster. But she pushed that emotion away. They no longer mattered to her.
Cassian quickly jumped to his feet. He pointed with a trembling finger at the spot where the cauldron had been. She had just destroyed the cauldron. Their soulmate was powerful enough to destroy the cauldron. A cold sweat slid down his forehead. "How... How did you do that?"
"It's impossible," Rhysand remarked with a startled face. "It's creation. The very origin of magic. No one can destroy such a magical object."
Luxiana smiled mischievously. "I can. After all, it was my cauldron. I created it. I filled it with magic. It's not the origin. I am."
The three of them gasped in surprise, turning even whiter. Everything that was happening was far-fetched. It was insane.
A laugh echoed from the corner of the room. All four of them turned to Jurian in surprise, having forgotten he was there.
The human soldier walked up to the blonde. "Well, Luxi, it seems like you're full of surprises for everyone, even for the Lord of the Night."
The three Illyrians frowned, their astonishment suddenly returning. Jurian knew their soulmate? And he'd called her by a nickname? What the hell was this all about?
Luxiana turned fully towards Jurian, giving him a small, shy smile. "As much as you, it seems, Jurian. May I ask what you're doing here?"
Jurian stood in front of the blonde, crossing his arms. "I'm here to get answers," he replied gravely.
Luxiana tilted her head, raising an eyebrow. "Working for Hybern? The enemy of the men you fought for in the war."
Jurian grimaced before shrugging and smirking. "At least your magic didn't touch me." He leaned toward Luxiana, bringing his face closer to hers. "Which means you don't consider me an enemy."
Luxiana smiled, blushing softly despite herself.
But before she could answer, Azriel grabbed Jurian with a firm hand on the shoulder, pushing him back a few steps away.
The Illyrian said nothing, but crushed Jurian's shoulder with his fingers, glaring at him with his pupils. How dare he make his soulmate smile and blush?
Jurian tilted his head, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "Are you still mad at me for shooting an arrow in your chest, or are you mad at me for something else?"
Luxiana immediately twitched in Jurian's direction. "Are you the one who shot him?" she asked in surprise.
Jurian grimaced in regret before exhaling. "I didn't know you were..." He pointed at the space between Luxiana and the Illyrians. "Well, whatever you are or your relationship, I didn't know you... cared about them? I would never have hurt them otherwise, you know that. Forgive me."
"I don't care about them, they're nothing to me," Luxiana replied almost immediately in the coldest voice she could muster.
The three Illyrians felt as if they had been stabbed in the heart with such force that they had to take a step back—Azriel letting go of Jurian.
As they looked at Luxiana to detect any trace of doubt, of lies, their eyes began to burn at the sight of her stoic expression.
“You're my friend, Jurian, you know that.” Luxiana took a threatening step toward Jurian. “But Feyre, Nesta, and Elain are my friends too, and they ended up here because of the king you decided to work for. If I hadn't arrived in time, a lot of things could have gone very wrong. And knowing that it's partly your fault makes me very... very angry.”
Her face turned cold and hard as she took another step toward Jurian. "So tell me, Jurian, are you my enemy?" She looked him up and down. "And believe me, you don't want to be, because what I will do to you if so, will be far worse than what Amarantha did to you."
Jurian swallowed hard, knowing full well that she could make him suffer for an eternity. He huffed a laugh. "Trust me, I know that very well, and that's why I don't want to be your enemy. I didn't know you were involved in all this. You can count on me to help you stop Hybern if that's what you're here for. I'll fight by your side. Forever."
The three Illyrians gritted their teeth. Rhysand let out a fake laugh. "Did you suddenly forget about Myriam?"
Jurian wasn't looking at him, just staring at Luxiana for a long time, his expression thoughtful, which only made the three Illyrians more nervous. "I just want answers, nothing more. It can wait." Then he looked at the three Illyrians and their tense expressions, narrowing his eyes before focusing on the blonde. "I need to speak to you in private, Luxi, We..."
"Don't call her that," Cassian growled.
Luxiana felt herself swoon inside and showed nothing without even looking at the Illyrian. "You can call me whatever you wish," she told Jurian. Then she smiled wryly. "Either way, I'd like whatever name you give me."
At the sight of the three Illyrians and their faces, Jurian laughed. Something strange was definitely going on between these four. "Well, you know where to find me. Join me so we can talk," he said, walking towards the door to leave.
"Certainly not," Azriel hissed. "She won't come."
Jurian burst out laughing, still walking. "Well, that would surprise me." Then he disappeared down the corridor and walked away, ignoring the three murderous looks directed at him.
Azriel turned sharply to Luxiana. "How do you know him? Where did you meet him?"
Luxiana gritted her teeth as tightly as her heart sank. "Why do you care? Go away!"
She started to walk out of the room, but as she passed Cassian, he grabbed her arm to stop her. "We're not leaving without you."
Luxiana's heart ached so much, and she was surprised she didn't collapse and cry when her throat felt like it was being crushed. "You'll have to, because otherwise I'll be the one sending you somewhere else, and you might not like where I'm sending you."
The three Illyrians closed their eyes, saddened to see her speak to them like that. Two of them thought their soulmate had never truly appreciated them, but Rhysand knew how bad she felt.
Azriel felt anger rise within him. She had lied to them and kept so much from them. "Oh yeah, you're going to teleport us away with your witch powers," he shouted, walking slowly towards Luxiana. "Because that's what you are, right? A witch!"
Luxiana tilted her head as her pupils began to sparkle with coldness. They thought of her as a monster even more now, she was sure of it. "Yes. Are you scared?" She glared at them with a wicked smile. "You should be scared."
Cassian slid his grip up his soulmate's arm to her hand, gently squeezing it between his fingers. "You have no idea the forces you're playing with," he said, eyeing the blonde with concern.
Luxiana laughed dryly, but Rhysand shook his head. "He's right. Calling upon more magic than you're allowed to use comes with a price. And the price witches pay is their hearts. Their emotions."
Luxiana laughed even harder but pulled away from Cassian's grasp wildly. "I know perfectly well what price I would have to pay. You certainly aren't going to be the one teaching me how to be a witch when I'm the first person to have ever manipulated magic in this way and on such a level."
Rhysand flinched along with her brothers as they exchanged questioning, worried glances. So she wasn't denying it? She really was a witch. They couldn't even begin to believe it.
Rhysand shook his head as he took a step back, fainting. "Why... Why didn't you tell us?"
Luxiana glared at him haughtily, raising an eyebrow. "Because it doesn't concern you. Now get out of here before I get you out myself."
Then she started walking again towards the demolished door of the throne room, leaving the three Illyrians there, arms dangling.
Rhysand squeezed his eyes shut as he remembered what Tamlin had shown him. The pain they had caused her by taking her away from them. His heart and stomach ached. "You know very well this concerns us," he whispered to her without turning to face Luxiana, who had her back to him.
Luxiana froze from head to toe in her walk, ignoring the pain from her injuries that was growing more intense with every second. She didn't turn around, and without even glancing back, she said, "If there was a time I wanted this to concern you, it's no longer the case. You mean nothing to me."
"I forbid you to say that!" Azriel yelled, guided by his bruised and terrified heart. "You know that's not true. That it's not possible. No matter who you are or what you're capable of, you're ours!"
Luxiana turned around immediately, red with anger. "I'll never be yours again," she screamed through her shattered heart.
The three Illyrians' breaths caught in their throats as their chests truly ached.
“Don’t say that,” Azriel begged almost inaudibly.
Luxiana took a deep breath, trying not to let them see how affected she was by the situation. She tried to calm herself down. "You are nobody to me and I am nobody to you, so what I am or what I do is none of your business. Go away."
"Stop saying that!" Cassian exploded, taking a step towards her. "That's not true, damn it."
"It is!" Luxiana yelled back. "You are nothing to me, I don't love you!"
"Stop! It's not true!" Cassian shouted, his face flushed with anger but his eyes fading with sadness. He couldn't hear this. He couldn't bear the thought of her not loving him.
"No, but I'm dreaming. Because now you think you know better than me what I think and what I feel?" Luxiana laughed falsely, believing she was hallucinating.
Cassian couldn't help himself. "We know it because we're your fucking soulmates!" Then he gasped in surprise before closing his eyes, realizing the bombshell he'd just dropped. But when he opened them again, he saw Luxiana's cold, unsurprised expression. The general's face fell.
Rhysand finally turned to his soulmate. "But you already knew that, right?"
Luxiana's face was cold and expressionless. "Yes. At least, I suspected so." She giggled more calmly. "Do you really think, after seeing what I'm capable of, that under different circumstances, I wouldn't have simply decided to wipe you off the map after interrupting my best friend's wedding to demand payment of a debt?"
She let out a fake laugh, even louder. "And do you think I'm the type to sleep with three Illyrians like that... especially the three faes my best friend hates the most?"
Azriel and Cassian's eyes widened, but Rhysand lowered his head. This was what he feared. This was what he'd been afraid of ever since Tamlin had shown him Luxiana's suffering. She felt like she was rejected by her soulmates. He put his hand over his mouth. My God, what had he done?
Tamlin's words echoed in his mind. He had to fix this. She had to understand that they weren't rejecting her. That they had sent her away to protect her. And yet, she was a witch, she was powerful, and despite being sent away, she had found a way to endanger herself and hurt herself. And it had to be said that without her, who knew what would have happened to them.
"Luxiana, listen," he tried.
"No," she cut him off sharply.
"You need to know why we sent you away..."
"I don't care!" she screamed, interrupting him again. Her eyes burned, her throat felt like barbed wire. She wanted to cry.
“I beg you,” Cassian tried sadly in return. “Let us explain.”
"I don't want your explanations. I don't want anything to do with you. Never again. It's too late. It's too late. I don't care about you! I don't love you," Luxiana spat, wincing, the words burning her tongue. She felt like she was suffocating.
"I love you!" Cassian finally cried after all this time as a weight lifted from his shoulders. He gritted his teeth as a tear rolled down his cheek. "I love you, Luxiana. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
Luxiana shook her head like crazy, taking a step back as tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes. "You have no right," she told him in a shaky voice. "You have no right to say that to me now."
Azriel couldn't breathe anymore, he wanted to cry, but his eyes were drawn to his soulmate's blood pooling on the ground at his feet. "You're hurt. Let's go home. Please, let us explain and heal you." He held out his hand. "You can leave afterward if you don't want to see us again, but please, give us a chance."
Luxiana continued to shake her head negatively as she took a career step. "No," she breathed, her mouth dry. "I have things to do. Go away."
She turned and started running. She could have teleported, but deep down she wanted them to catch her and at the same time, let her go.
The three Illyrians began to run after her, following her out into the corridor. But they froze in space, their eyes wide as they took in the bloody corpses stretching along the length of the corridor. Some had their throats slit, others had been stabbed, while ancient magical symbols were drawn on the floor around them in their own blood. These symbols were the work of a witch.
The three Illyrians realized that it was their soulmate who had done this and that she was still running down the corridor to get away from them. She owed them an explanation, and so did they. But most of all, they needed her. They weren't going to let her be away from them anymore. Never again.
Rhysand teleported them right in front of her, so close that she couldn't stop herself before crashing into his chest. The lord tightened his arms around her, holding her tight as Luxiana struggled to get away, pushing him away. "Let me go! Let me go." She began to cry despite herself as Rhysand's embrace felt good and bad.
Rhysand leaned his face toward his soulmate's ear. "Forgive me, Luxiana. My love. We didn't want you to leave. I thought it was best for you to be away from us. I was wrong. So wrong. Forgive me, I beg you."
Luxiana cried her eyes out, hating herself for not being able to hold it back. Her heart was wrapped in an iron vine. She was in so much pain. No, no. She didn't want to be hurt anymore. She leaned on Rhysand to push herself away from him, and this time, he let her.
“Please,” Azriel begged, placing his warm palm on Luxiana’s cheek while rubbing her tears away with his thumb. “Princess, come home with us.”
Luxiana's face contorted a little more with the sadness her heart felt at the Illyrian's touch.
She forced herself to step away quickly, shaking her head. She rubbed her tears angrily with the back of her hand. "No," she managed to say.
Rhysand closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. He was shaking with stress, and his heart was wracked with sadness. He had screwed up. He had screwed up so badly.
Azriel's face contorted in sadness for a second before a small smile appeared on his lips. His soulmate was so stubborn.
Cassian couldn't bear the pain in his heart. He'd told her he loved her. Why then wouldn't she stay with him? "You're hurt. There's no way we're leaving you here alone anyway, not here and not without making sure you're healed. You may be very powerful, but you're also very fragile. You don't heal, and... and you're our soulmate, damn it." It made him feel a little better to be able to say it out loud, but he was so sad that she wouldn't accept it. "We just can't leave you alone without making sure you're okay."
Luxiana stopped crying completely, giggling a sad, evil laugh. "You didn't mind that a few weeks ago when you sent me away without a care in the world about what I would do or if I would get hurt," she turned her cold eyes to Rhysand. "Have you forgotten that I'm a monster?"
Rhysand could feel his stomach ache with guilt. "Luxiana, I said that to get you to leave."
Luxiana shook her head, trying to move away, but Rhysand grabbed her face, placing both hands on the blonde's cheeks. "I didn't mean a word of it." He pulled her closer, pressing his forehead to hers. "Not a word."
Luxiana was in so much pain. So much pain. She grabbed Rhysand's wrists, fighting back tears. Then she forced him to let go of her and lower his arms as she stepped away from him. "You don't understand, it's too late. I was so stupid to let myself go, to let you have this power over me, this ability to hurt me. But it won't happen again. It can't happen again. I won't let you do to me again what you did," she spat with burning eyes and a grimace.
"What?" Cassian panicked. "No, wait. We're sorry. Don't do this to us."
"We won't hurt you again. Never. I promise!" Azriel insisted, gasping for air.
Luxiana raised her head, trying to stop her chin from trembling. "It's too late. You've made me realize that I don't want to risk suffering like this. Never again. It's too late. I don't care about your excuses. I don't want you. I don't want you anymore. There will never be anyone but Feyre who matters to me from now on."
Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel began to tremble. They eagerly examined their soulmate's face, searching for any trace of doubt, but she felt none. She didn't want them anymore. She was sure of herself. She didn't want them anymore.
Cassian was breathing faster and faster, harder and harder, yet he felt like he was gasping for air. His vision was beginning to blur as he had to take a step back. His soulmate was rejecting him. She didn't want him. Why? What had he done to deserve to feel such horror? He was loving her, wasn’t it enough ?
Azriel could feel his chest literally ripping in two. He felt like his skin was too much and it was burning him while his stomach was being pummeled. Why were things so complicated? He wanted Luxiana and he knew she did too, but she wanted to protect herself after they had hurt her. And this was all their fault. It was their fault. She didn't want them anymore.
"Luxiana," Rhysand breathed, raising his hands to her. He couldn’t lose her. "Please don't do this. We'll never hurt you again." he sobbed. "You're our soulmate. We'll talk at home. Come home with us. Forgive me. Forgive us."
Luxiana looked at all three of them one last time as their faces were plunged into a mixture of pain, sadness, and hope. Something purely wrong and evil stirred in her chest when she saw that she was making them suffer almost as much as they had made her. But she wasn't doing it for that. She was doing it to protect herself. To stop suffering. "No," she said coldly before using her magic to teleport the three Illyrians to Velaris in the House of Wind.
Arriving then in the middle of their living room and understanding that their soulmate had definitively rejected them forever, because they had made her suffer, the three Illyrians collapsed.
Hello, here is the chapter 38 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, which reveals a lot about who Luxiana really is, but at the same time doesn't really reveal that much.
I have an exam on Friday, so I think I'll only be able to post one chapter next Wednesday, but maybe it'll be two.
In any case, in the next chapter, there will be a little discussion between Luxiana and the three Illyrians, but she's going to make them pay for certain things as they grovel before her to try to win her back.
Next chapter Wednesday, March 26th!
Thank you for following that story, angels, I love you so much. ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
! Don't forget to read the previous and following chapters ! : Here
Be careful what you read ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
TW : Injury, Blood, Fire, Burn, violence,....
May you love and survive this chapter ! ❤️🩹
Chapter 38
Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel looked at each other in confusion and widened their eyes, praying for a second that Feyre had multiple best friends.
But a second later, the large, closed wooden door of the throne room exploded into a thousand pieces with a tremendous, dull thud. As the pieces of wood froze in mid-air, a figure appeared at the entrance to the room.
Luxiana.
She wore a light blue corset and a simple white dress underneath, the end of which appeared to have been ripped off to make a mid-thigh length skirt.
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise, but it was in the gaze of the three Illyrians that it was most pronounced. How had she blown that door open? What was going on? The two injured Illyrians thought they were hallucinating for a second, but it was when they watched the horror and fear turn Rhysand pale that they understood they weren't having a nightmare. Their soulmate was indeed there. Their soulmate had just thrown themselves into the lion's den.
"No," Rhysand managed weakly. Now it was his turn to live through the nightmare Feyre had just experienced a few moments ago. The King of Hybern was going to use her to make him suffer.
Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel didn't understand what was happening. They could barely make out the corpses of the soldiers in the corridor behind her, which had previously guarded the door.
No matter how hard they tried to find explanations, they couldn't find any that made sense. She knew how to fight. Maybe she could take on soldiers and infiltrate here, but she certainly couldn't compete with the power of the high fae in this room or the might of the king who could disintegrate her in the blink of an eye. At this thought, the stomachs of the three brunettes turned. They shook their heads as one. It was a hallucination.
Yet she began to move forward, slowly entering the room, as if she were an animal approaching its prey. They didn't know how she did it. She emanated no source of magic, no power, and she didn't seem to be carrying any magical artifact that would allow her to keep the pieces of broken door suspended in the air. Was it the king who was preventing them from falling? Yet when Luxiana moved a little further, the pieces of wood and dust moved out of her way to avoid touching her. As if she were their master. Or as if they were afraid of her.
Luxiana walked slowly, staring only at the King of Hybern seriously, her muscles tense, ready to react if he tried anything. He was the only person who could even minimally threaten her here. She gritted her teeth a little more as she approached. This room was large and long. Oversized for a pathetic king like him.
As she walked forward, she could see Elain in her field of vision. She froze for a second in her tracks, her eyes widening. What was she doing there? She continued on her way, frowning. She was being held by soldiers frozen two steps from the cauldron, ready to be thrown inside.
Then a muffled moan of relief to her right made her look around, and when she noticed Nesta, gagged and bound, in the same state as Elain, she understood. He had captured them.
But Luxiana had left them in the care of Keydan and Jasper, her best friends. They would never have let the two sisters be kidnapped of their own free will... not without losing their lives.
Luxiana's heart clenched as her breath hitched. Her eyes burned with worry and anger. They were dead?? No, no, no. A shred of hope remained in her chest. She wanted to hope they had found a way out. She had to believe it. They always did. She had to ask the two sisters what had happened to make her heart relieved, but first, she had to get everyone out of here.
But why had the King of Hybern wanted to kidnap the two sisters? What did he want to do to them? She turned her dark gaze on the queens in the corner of the room. She worriedly furrowed her brows to watch back at the king, wondering what the cruelest spell she knew to cast on him.
The closer the blonde got, the wider the Illyrians' eyes grew. It was really her, she was there. No, no, no.
"Go away," Cassian gasped, the pain in his wings almost disappearing in surprise. "Go away!!" he yelled this time with all his might so Luxiana could hear him.
The blonde turned a cold stare to the far left, towards them, but her eyes widened when she saw them. It was her turn to go white and faint as she stopped and took a step to the side. Rhysand was pale, looking terrified. Azriel had an ash arrow embedded in his chest and could barely stand upright on his knees. And Cassian. His wings hung miserably on his back and were bloodied, filled with wounds, as he lay face down on the ground.
Her soulmates. Her soulmates. He had dared to hurt her soulmates.
Luxiana flew into a rage. Her body was so full of anger that her muscles began to tremble. She feverishly raised her index finger toward her soulmates while continuing to scrutinize them with wide-open eyes. "Who did this to you?" she managed through gritted teeth.
The three Illyrians didn't even understand the words coming out of their soulmate's mouth, still too horrified and shocked by the sight of their wife in the most dangerous place she could currently be. How had she gotten there? No, no, she had to go.
Cassian began to crawl toward Luxiana. He needed to get closer to her to reach her and be able to protect her by shielding her with his body when the king would attack her. But he was so slow, he was in so much pain. He gritted his teeth. He needed to go faster, but he was so slow. So slow. He couldn't go any further. He couldn't. He gripped the ground with one hand, digging his fingers into a seam in the stone to try to pull his body up, but it hurt so much. He couldn't move; it hurt even more to crawl. He couldn't do it anymore.
A tear rolled down his cheek. "No," he let out an inaudible whimper, dropping his forehead to the cold ground. He had to move on. He had to reach her. She shouldn't be here, he was so scared. He couldn't lose her. He couldn't watch her being tortured in front of his eyes. No.
Azriel gritted his teeth. He tried to stand but immediately fell back to his knees. His legs no longer supported him, and it wasn't even because of the ash arrow in his chest, but because of his anguish and fear eating away at his body and mind. His soulmate. They were going to hurt her. She had to go. He had to make her go. He tried to send his shadows, but they refused to obey him, they refused to answer him, they refused to hear him. The ash arrow prevented him from using his power. He couldn't send a shadow to his soulmate to tell her to run away. To explain to her that they had walked into a trap. He wanted to scream, but his throat was compressed from the inside by the enormous ball of anguish in his stomach. No, he couldn't see the woman he loved suffering. He wouldn't be able to.
Rhysand's eyes burned as tears began to blur his vision. He shook his head frantically. This was a nightmare. A nightmare. This was horrific. No, he couldn't survive this. He could have survived anything like he had before, but not the thought of his soulmate suffering. The king would learn that she was their soulmate, and he would torture her as punishment for opposing him. Rhysand couldn't survive this. He was so scared at the mere thought of what he would do to her. He was so cruel. This was a nightmare.
"Run," he commanded breathlessly before realizing his voice was almost a muffled, inaudible sound. "Run!" he yelled in panic, beginning to cry. "Go away, I beg you, run!"
Luxiana let her arm fall limply to her side, gritting her teeth as her eyes narrowed, giving her a cold, serious expression. Her trembling hands clenched into fists. She raised her chin, almost looking down on the three Illyrians. She was so angry she felt like flames were consuming her from the inside. Her soulmates were crying. The king had made them cry. He had hurt them. She was going to make him pay. "Fine, that'll be everyone then," she hissed, bringing a murderous glare to bear on the king. "I'm going to make everyone suffer."
The king burst out laughing, gently leaning his hands on the armrests of his throne to stand up. Once he was standing, and as his laughter echoed beneath the high ceilings of the room, he calmed down, unable to hide his smile and his pretentious, haughty air. "You're only human? Really?" He began to laugh even harder.
He felt no power in her. He didn't know how she gave off that strange aura or how she had blown the door open, but he could sense her fragility. Her round ears told him enough. She was only a miserable human who dared to challenge him. He lost his smile, grimacing in disgust. How dare she? "Who do you think you are? Do you really think you can do anything against me? Against my power?" He opened his arms wide, showing the room filled with his soldiers. "Against my soldiers?" He laughed again, but more fake this time. "You're nobody. You're just a miserable human."
His power rose within him, allowing everyone to feel the extent of his power.
The three Illyrians, understanding the situation and what was about to happen, widened their eyes a little more as their balls of anxiety exploded in their stomachs, making them tremble. Cassian moaned in pain and fear. Azriel tried to get up, gritting his teeth so hard they were about to break. Rhysand called on every part of his being to awaken his power, to break the glass ceiling that prevented him from using it, but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything. They couldn't do anything.
The king smirked as he raised his palm to Luxiana. He was going to send her the same beam of light he had sent to Cassian. He was going to show her how pitiful and worthless she was. "You're nothing but a filthy insect."
His power focused in his hand and exploded to send a beam of power at the blonde.
Cassian summoned all the strength he had left to try to get up but couldn't.
Azriel grabbed the ash base of the arrow at chest level and was about to pull it out, hoping to have enough time before dying to skewer the king and save his soulmate.
"Nooo," Rhysand screamed at the top of his lungs, getting up and running towards his soulmate to stand between her and the king's magic.
But with a simple, weary wave of her hand to the side—as if she were chasing away the king's power as if it were nothing more than an insect—Luxiana made the ray of light disappear.
Everyone froze, including Rhysand in his tracks, as they all gave the master of the house strange looks. Had he stopped? Why?
Luxiana still didn't radiate any magic, nothing to suggest she could have done this. Yet the king's eyes widened and he had to take a step back as he fell onto his throne as his power had been cut off at its core. He even felt as if his throat had been slit by Luxiana's movement, and he even had to place his fingers on his neck to make sure he wasn't hurt.
The king's eyes were still wide open. What had just happened? She had done this? How? He narrowed his eyes. He took in the room and the confusion of everyone in it, making her realize that no one else had done this. Was it this human who had done this? It was her. But how?
Then suddenly, he understood. His eyes widened even more as an intrigued smirk lit up his face. He inclined his head as he rose from his throne, looking Luxiana up and down with a wicked flash.
The three Illyrians—and no one else in the room, for that matter—didn't understand what was going on. Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel looked back and forth between the cold, almost superior look on Luxiana's face, who hadn't been afraid and hadn't moved an inch, and the intrigued, pleasantly surprised look on the king's face.
The king shook his head in admiration. "You're the second one I've met."
The three Illyrians frowned even more. The second? The second what? They didn't understand.
"And I'll be the last," Luxiana threatened gratingly as her nostril flared once with a surge of hatred.
The king burst into laughter. "You may be very powerful, but..." he said, pausing to examine her and leave his sentence hanging.
Powerful? What does he mean by powerful? Cassian, Azriel, and Rhysand had their brows furrowed so tightly that their entire faces were distorted, and their necks were starting to ache from turning their heads toward the king and then toward Luxiana.
"What is he talking about?" Rhysand managed to ask.
But neither Luxiana nor the king was looking at him or even heard him. Both were far too focused on the other, paying attention and tensing up to be ready to react if one of them decided to unleash a spell.
The king tilted his head to the other side, smirking even wider. With a wave of his hand, he drew forth the spellbook that Amarantha had stolen from him, floating in front of him. With a twist of power and mind, he turned the pages to reach a specific spell, dictate it, and set Luxiana ablaze.
After all, that was how he had killed the first of her kind he had encountered. That was how they all must die. He looked down at the spell written in a dead language in weathered black ink on yellowed, ancient pages. This book was so old it dated from a time before the cauldron. It came from the creator herself, the first to call upon the world's magic and convert it for her own use.
The book had been very difficult to decipher, but the king had succeeded, and the power it had given him had been unmatched for centuries. His smile turned carnivorous. No one could protect themselves against the spells in this book. At least, the one of his kind he had encountered centuries ago hadn’t been able to do anything. No one had been able to do anything against these spells, and there was no magic capable of countering them. There was nothing in this world, or any other, capable of countering the dark magic written between these pages. "...you will be unable to do anything against the power of this spell. Against the power of this book."
Rhysand whirled around to face the king, raising his palms toward him. "No, wait," he tried to negotiate, making him stop, but Luxiana burst out laughing, interrupting him.
Luxiana was laughing. She pointed at the book. "This book?" She tried to calm herself with great difficulty. "I will be unable to do anything against this book?" she repeated, laughing again for a few long seconds before returning to a cold, hateful seriousness and her smile suddenly fading. "I wrote this book," she assured her in a hissing voice, yet with a flash of pretension in her eyes.
Everyone's eyes widened in a mixture of a frown and a look of surprise. But no one believed it. This book was powerful and ancient. It was impossible. What was she saying?
And the king believed it even less. He began to laugh, to mock. "But of course. Try to save yourself and stop yourself from burning first." And then he began to speak in a language almost as old as the world while reciting the formula written on the book.
"Noooo," the three Illyrians yelled.
Rhysand threw himself at his soulmate, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and behind her back, holding her close. No matter what happened, he would experience the same thing she did. He would suffer with her. He would die with her. He would burn with her.
Azriel leaped to his feet as the pain in his chest destroyed him. But it wasn't the arrow that hurt the most, it was the fear and terror. His soulmate. He fell to his knees before Rhysand and Luxiana, leaving them at his back and facing the king as he opened his arms. He would protect her at all costs. He couldn't let the king hurt the woman he loved, not before he had done everything to stop him, to protect her.
Cassian, hit by an immense, overwhelming wave of adrenaline, managed to get up and run towards Luxiana. He stumbled several times but got back up each time. He fell flat on his face a few inches from the blonde and could do nothing but reach out to grab her ankle. He tried to pull her, to push her, to make her move, but she was firm on her feet and he had no strength left. He was in so much pain in his wings, in his body, in his heart, and in his soul. But he would be with her. He would be there for her with his hand, with his heart, with his soul.
Then, when the king finished incanting, he smiled wickedly. "Burn," he nodded to Luxiana, commanding the magic to transform around her, setting her ablaze as he eagerly anticipated the sight of her burning.
Rhysand tightened his grip around Luxiana. He will burn with her. Azriel screamed, turning to face the blonde and lunging at her. He will burn with her. Cassian closed his eyes, forcing himself to crawl closer to his soulmate. He will burn with her.
But after a few seconds, nothing happened. Cassian opened his eyes, Azriel froze mid-stride, and Rhysand pulled away from her to look her up and down. Neither of them saw the blonde's cold, blank stare, too focused on her body, surprised not to see her burning.
The three Illyrians turned to the king, not understanding what was happening. Not understanding why he had stopped. But the king looked as confused as they did. He looked back and forth between the book and Luxiana.
Luxiana stared at the three Illyrians in front of her, expressionless. They had tried to protect her. Were they ready to die with her? But why? They thought she was a monster. But they seemed so scared, so scared for her. Did they... Did they love her a little?
Luxiana didn't know why they had done this, but the spark of hope that lit up in her chest, warming her, made her feel alive again. But that spark only made her anger explode a little more. This king had hurt her soulmates. Surprisingly, her muscles stopped shaking, and her burning anger froze to ice her. To chill her entire body, her heart, her soul. She was going to destroy everything.
The king shook his head in incomprehension. "How?... Why..."
But he couldn't finish his sentence before he jumped at the cold, menacing look Luxiana gave him. "Because magic knows its master," answered Luxiana.
She snapped her fingers, the book vanishing from in front of the king to appear in front of her. Rhysand's eyes widened as he took a large step back in surprise at the book appearing between him and his soulmate.
The king jumped as he watched the scene with wide eyes. He reached out to try to call it, to retrieve it, but the book no longer obeyed him.
Luxiana reached out to the book and touched it, placing her palm on one of the pages. And then, the book melted into a misty black light that wrapped around Luxiana's hand, climbing up her arm and penetrating her skin. The blonde closed her eyes as she raised her head and took a deep breath, finally feeling a little more complete but a little colder, her heart darkening a little more, and her soul losing a little more of the brightness of its life.
Everyone was captivated by the scene. She had just absorbed the book.
And that was exactly what Luxiana had just done. She had regained her spells, her knowing, a part of her power. But she had once again lost a piece of herself, another part of her emotions, another piece of her heart.
She opened her eyes a little colder and more violent than before to look at the king, who then understood. She had really written this book.
Luxiana smiled, tilting her head to the side, not even seeing her soulmates before her, who were still looking at her in pronounced shock. "Burn," she mimicked, repeating what the king had said. Except this time, every soldier in the room, absolutely everyone Luxiana considered her enemies, began to burn. Flames emerged from their bodies, melting their skin, consuming their flesh, and making them scream in pain. They all began to run in all directions, trying to escape, extinguish the flames, or save themselves, but nothing worked. They were all burning.
The room filled with screams and a sickening, unbearable smell of burning pork.
Rhysand took another step back as he and his brothers took in the soldiers burning around them. Their eyes bulged and their breaths caught in their throats. The horrible smell churned their stomachs as much as the shock they felt. Was this their soulmate doing this?
The king, whose legs were burning while he stared at them in surprise, finally reacted. A burst of power surged out of him to protect him. He managed to break the spell with the help of a white cloud that fell on him to extinguish the flames and soothe the burns on his skin.
Luxiana still looked at him with the same smile, ignoring the burned corpses piling up around her or the screams finally ceasing in the room. She was a little surprised without showing it. The king had managed to stop the flames on him and counter his spell. She grimaced in spite of herself. He was powerful, and she hadn't regained all her power. Perhaps she wasn't strong enough to kill him yet.
Elain was on her butt and still screaming as she had been all along. She crawled back along the ground as best she could with the restraints to get away from the burned bodies around her. Nesta joined her, equally terrified but wrapping her arms around her, trying to protect and reassure her. The smell was so strong, the sight so horrible, that Elain managed to remove her gag and vomit, spilling the contents of her stomach onto the stone floor.
The three Illyrians looked at each of the corpses of everyone in the room who was now dead. Only the three of them remained, their mouths wide open in the middle of the room right next to Tamlin and Feyre, who had a relieved smile.
Jurian was in a corner of the room and hadn't been burned. He seemed pleasantly surprised as he eyed Luxiana up and down. The human queens, on the other hand, had been reduced to ashes.
Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel couldn't believe their eyes. Their soulmate had killed everyone? They looked at Luxiana. Their soulmate had killed everyone. Their soulmate had done this.
The king understood. He had no chance, and he was injured. He had to flee. Without waiting, he tried to teleport, but when Luxiana sensed him, with a strange word she spoke, she stopped the king's teleportation. She hit him with a wave of power that made him fall, sitting on his throne.
He then reacted immediately and unleashed his own power, launching it at Luxiana in a beam of light. The blonde couldn't stop such a burst of power, but she could deflect it.
This is what she did then with a swift swing of her arm to the side, sending the discharge of power into the large windows on the wall to her right, shattering them and leaving a gaping hole that looked out onto the immensity of the void outside.
When the light faded, Luxiana unleashed her power by reciting a spell in her head. A spell from one of the first books she had written and previously absorbed.
A burst of power ripped out of her in a crushing wave of invisible magic.
The shockwave first hit the three Illyrians, who gasped and widened their eyes. Rhysand felt the magic was compressing his shoulders as if forcing him to his knees, and he didn't know how his legs held firm. Then the magic hit Feyre and Tamlin, who grinned wider but could only fall to their knees under the overwhelming force of power spreading through the room.
Then, almost at the same time, the wave of force hit the king and would have disintegrated him if he hadn't had the reflex to convert all of his power into a shield around himself.
Luxiana smirked. It was a magical shield that only stopped magic. And he was too focused on trying to stop her power to stop anything else. Without further ado, she teleported in front of Hybern, drawing the knife from its sheath on her thigh. With mad speed, she threw it at the king, aiming for his neck so she could slit his throat.
The king had the almost impossible reflex - Luxiana was so fast - to lean back, enough so that the knife only cut one part of his throat, nothing fatal.
He tried to teleport again, but Luxiana clenched her fist in his direction as if to catch the king in her hand before propelling him to the side. And as if she had thrown the king in that direction, he unwittingly teleported to the corner of the room. He fell to the floor on his side, as if he had really been thrown.
The king quickly got up and grabbed one of the swords from one of his dead soldiers at his feet while reactivating his power shield. "Did you think you could slit my throat that easily?" he yelled angrily, breathing heavily. "I'll rip your head off!"
He launched yet another beam of magic at her, using the blinding light to hide behind it and lunge at Luxiana. But the blonde emitted a burst of power that reduced the king's power to nothing and even pushed him back a few meters, making him fall backward onto the ground.
His eyes widened as Luxiana laughed. "You think my goal was to slit your throats?" Luxiana clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth in disapproval. "No, no." She raised her knife in front of her face, squinting at the king's blood still dripping from the blade. Her smile widened. "I just wanted your blood."
She brought the blade close to her mouth and ran her tongue over it, licking the king's blood. Then she began to recite a formula in her ancient tongue.
The king didn't know what was happening, and although he was overcome with anxiety, he knew she was going to cast a spell on him. He then got up quickly and started running towards Luxiana again.
The three Illyrians didn't understand, but Rhysand tensed his muscles. He was about to throw himself between the king and his soulmate to intercept her, but the blonde twisted the knife in her hand to grip the handle firmly. Then she plunged the knife deep into her own thigh.
The three Illyrians gasped as they saw her stab herself and wanted to jump on her to stop her, but it was the king who screamed, falling to his knees as his thigh began to bleed and a wound appeared in his skin where Luxiana had just injured herself.
The blonde took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, raising her head and moaning as if she were enjoying it. "I love this spell... I invented it one night when I was bored after realizing that I liked pain and that I liked making others feel it."
The king raised his hand to throw yet another beam of power at her, but Luxiana let out a small, mad laugh as she violently pulled the knife from her thigh. Then she drove it into the palm of her hand, making the king cry out in pain and forcing him to stop his magic. She pulled the knife out and then clapped her hands together, laughing, as the king grabbed his palm, gritting his teeth in pain.
"What the hell is going on?" Azriel managed barely to say audibly, paralyzed by complete shock.
But it was loud enough for the king to hear it. He looked up at him and noticed the arrow in his chest. Then he remembered how the three of them had thrown themselves at Luxiana to protect her. As if they loved her. No, much more. As if she were their soulmate. The king understood then that this was Luxiana's weakness. It was them.
The king smirked as a plan emerged in his mind. "Try to save them," he said, throwing his sword at the fallen Cassian and then extending his palm towards them to fire a powerful beam of light, nearly all of his magic, while focusing on Azriel to spread the poison within him and kill him.
Luxiana's smile faded as her eyes widened. She reached out to deflect the spell, shielding and healing the three Illyrians—repairing Cassian's wings in a microsecond, restoring Rhysand's power, and making the arrow and poison in Azriel's chest disappear.
But out of fear, she had acted without thinking, focusing all her attention and spells on her soulmates. Sure, she was powerful, she had done all that in a few seconds, but those few moments had been enough for the king of Hybern to call upon all the rest of his strength. He launched his power at Luxiana, who took the full force of it. She was thrown far across the room and crashed against one of the windows, which shattered into a thousand pieces and grazed her entire body bloodily as she passed through it. She was thrown out of the room and began to fall into the void.
The three Illyrians experienced a microsecond of surprise when they realized they were being healed before seeing Luxiana take a blast of magic and be thrown outside. She was about to crash to the ground hundreds of meters below. They screamed her name as they got up and rushed towards her, adrenaline burning inside them. They had to be fast. They had to catch her.
But they froze when they saw Luxiana teleport to the center of the room and throw her knife at the king who was teleporting away. Her knife went straight into the king's eye, but she couldn't stop him from leaving this time, and she swore that he had disappeared.
Luxiana was gasping for breath; several of her ribs had surely broken, puncturing one of her lungs, and every wound on her body was bleeding. But it was the amount of magic she'd used that was tiring her the most. She was going to have to pay the price for that. Especially after absorbing another one of her books. Except that didn't matter to her. Just knowing that those she loved were okay was all the comfort she needed.
Regaining some kind of emotions, a flash of anguish electrocuted her as she turned her eyes to her soulmates, her best friend, her best friend’s sisters and Tamlin to examine them and make sure they weren't hurt. She froze in the middle of the room, closing her eyes and exhaling in relief as her heart stirred with now less intense emotions.
As for the three Illyrians, fear, panic at seeing her injured when she couldn't be healed, and the incomprehension of what had just happened gnawed at them from the inside. But they couldn't move. They wanted to react, to go and heal her, but they were paralyzed. There were dozens of corpses around them, and the king of Hybern had to flee from their soulmate.
He had been afraid and had to run away from their soulmate. Because their soulmate was more powerful than him. Than them. Than everyone else.
Hello, here is the chapter 37 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
I'm posting a chapter today a little early and I'll post the second one tomorrow.
It was way too many words in one go if I had posted both at once and then I had to admit that I was too eager to post this one and leave you with a thrilling ending.
I hope you liked this chapter. Get ready for the completely crazy one tomorrow!!
Love you, ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
! Don't forget to read the previous and following chapters ! : Here
The next morning, the three Illyrians waited for Tamlin and Feyre at the meeting point with a huge ball of anxiety. They stared at the horizon stretching as far as the eye could see, barely seeing the King of Hybern's home in the distance or barely feeling the soft texture of the mud and wet grass beneath their boots. Although they should be stressed about their upcoming mission, which could go very wrong, the only thing worrying them was Luxiana.
Was their soulmate going to come with Tamlin? If so, what would they do? Were they really going to have to abandon the mission like they'd promised? Yes. Because there was no way they were going to risk endangering their soulmate by taking her directly into the enemy's jaws.
It was a certainty for them and although it worried them to think that she could come here, so close to the king and the danger, what disturbed them even more was what had happened yesterday.
The way Luxiana had already moved on... The way she had held Lucien and had looked at him. The way she had spoken to them. The way she had assured them she had never loved them. They were heartbroken.
Cassian was sore all over. He'd spent the rest of yesterday, and even all night, hitting a wooden training dummy, hoping to clear his mind and release all the sadness and anger he felt. But it didn't help. All he'd done was think about Luxiana. All he'd done was remind himself that she'd never loved them. She'd never loved them. She didn't want them. And he'd replay the images of his soulmate with Lucien, imagining the things she'd do with the redhead and not him. And he'd hit even harder until his knuckles were bleeding, and even after that, he hadn't stopped hitting.
He wanted her. He loved her. But not her. She didn't want them. She didn't love them. His heart ached so much. So much. He wanted to cry. He wanted to sob. He hated himself. Why wasn't he worthy of her love? Why was it so complicated? Why was it so painful? And he kept hitting because he needed to hurt himself to calm the pain inside.
Azriel's shadows swirled around him in a cloud of darkness. They were as angry as the Illyrian was. He had spent the time since they had returned arguing with Rhysand nonstop. He had insisted time and time again the lord to allow Luxiana to return to their side, but Rhysand had not given in. "She is too weak and fragile to be with us. It is for her well-being and safety. She will be happier away from us," the high fae had repeated to Azriel over and over again.
So the shadowsinger was furious. He was furious because either way, even if it meant having to abandon his family, he would end his life by Luxiana's side. He was going to join his soulmate's side and do everything he could to make her fall in love with him. But there was no way she was going to end up with someone else, to love someone else. He was scared to death. Terrified. No, no, no. He refused. He didn't want to be hurt like this. He couldn't bear it. She had to love him. Because she was HIS soulmate. Because she was the love of his life.
Rhysand stood with his back straight, his chest out, and his chin high. He looked confident, at least, he had to look like it. But he was consumed by sadness and anguish. The heavier and more painful the absence of his soulmate felt around him, the more he regretted sending her away. He couldn't bear the absence of his other half any longer. He couldn't. It hurt so much. So much. Didn't she want him? She didn't love him. Good. It was the right thing to do. But it hurt so much. What was the point of doing all the things he did? What was the point of living if she wasn't there to live with him?
No matter how much he told himself it was for her own good, his body, his heart, his soul, his everything, all he wanted was to be with her. And now, standing alone against Azriel and Cassian, it was even worse, and he found it even harder to resist. He wanted so badly to be selfish and have her by his side, especially after what she had said to them yesterday. It enraged him and it hurt so much. Had she never loved them? It wasn't possible. Not when he loved her with his whole being.
The three of them looked at the King of Hybern's castle, which stretched far away, nestled in a vast gray rock that almost resembled a mountain. But they couldn't see it. They saw only Luxiana. They smelled only her perfume. They heard only her laughter. And they felt only pain, self-loathing, physical and mental fatigue, and a gnawing anguish in their chests.
To ease their suffering a little, Tamlin and Feyre teleported to their side. They were so relieved not to see their soulmate with the two that they fainted for a second, closing their eyes and exhaling.
Feyre, noticing their relief, frowned. This whole thing between the four of them was so weird. "She really wanted to come," she said as the first thing while she approached them with Tamlin. "She's furious with you."
Rhysand cleared his throat and regained his cold expression. Tamlin was his enemy. He had to be careful how he reacted, especially around him. "You were right not to take her. She would have put us all in danger."
Tamlin let out a long, hard laugh, earning the dark looks of the three Illyrians. "Yes, yes, of course. That's totally why you didn't want her to come," he mocked, now knowing full well what the situation was.
Feyre pursed her lips to keep from laughing at them too. But she snapped back into a serious mood when she saw their expressions, a mixture of anger and pain. "You underestimate her way too much. You have no idea what she's truly capable of. She really could have helped us."
"Not here, it's too dangerous," Cassian insisted dully and tiredly, still staring into the void ahead.
Azriel shook his head. "You're the one who overestimates her. She can't heal if she's injured, and the people around Hybern are too powerful for her, even for us. She's safer with you, and I refuse to..." He stopped, realizing he was saying too much. He gritted his teeth and bowed his head. He refused to put her in danger because he loved her.
Feyre and Tamlin exchanged understanding glances. They no longer had any doubts. All three of them loved her and refused to put her in danger. But then why hadn't they kept her with them?
"We're not here to talk about her," Rhysand spat coldly, shooting at Azriel a disapproving look. "We don't care about her."
Feyre giggled. Then a wicked idea came to her. "She likes you."
The three Illyrians flinched, raising their hopeful eyes to Feyre.
"Yeah," Feyre continued, her tone suddenly nasty, "she told me you've been a good source of entertainment for her. She finds you super cute and naive." She placed her index finger on her chin to give herself the impression of thinking. "Well, that said, other than that…" she grimaced as if she felt sorry for them. "I think she kind of disliked you, though. She kind of feels sorry for you, you know. I mean, anyway, we had a good laugh talking about you," she lied, unable to hide her wicked smirk at the sight of the three Illyrians melting on the spot.
The three brunettes felt like crying. They could feel their hearts tightening even more and had to grit their teeth to keep from bursting into tears as their throats tightened.
Rhysand shook his head. This wasn't the time for that. They had to stop Hybern first to protect their soulmate. No matter how much she hated them, he couldn't bear to see her hurt.
He then tried to ignore the pain in his heart and Feyre's last words to focus on repeating his plan to them as dawn crept a little further.
Cassian tried to listen to Rhysand's commands to regain his composure and try to concentrate, but he could barely breathe. His heart was in pieces. Had his soulmate mocked him? Did she really not love him? His chin was trembling. He was in so much pain.
Azriel turned his face toward the sun, now whole in the sky. He closed his eyes, enjoying the rays gently warming his skin. He thought even more of Luxiana. She was like the sun. A light perceived by everyone as warm and alive, but so burning when you got too close to her. He couldn't believe she didn't love them. She was their soulmate, she necessarily felt something for them. And then, after everything they had been through together... He refused to believe she didn't love them. And in any case, he was going to accomplish this mission and he would go find her. He would go find her and he would make her fall in love with him. Even if it took centuries, he would succeed.
After Rhys reiterated the plan and everyone's missions for the thousandth time, he handed Feyre the Book of Breathing. The young fae reached for the book and grabbed it, shivering all over, the hairs on her arms standing on end as the book seemed to whisper things into her mind.
Then Cassian held out his hand as they flew toward the king's castle. But—as Feyre took a deep, anxious breath and grabbed the Illyrian's fingers—Tamlin savagely grabbed Cassian's wrist. He glared, cold and authoritarian, at the two brothers who were about to enter the king's mansion with his wife. "If anything happens to her, I will make you suffer in every way imaginable and destroy everything you hold dear."
Azriel gritted his teeth as one nostril flared in anger. That filthy fae was lucky to be the husband of his soulmate's best friend, otherwise he would have broken every bone in his face by now.
Cassian looked into Tamlin's eyes with sincerity and truth. He hated the bastard and the way he spoke to them, but by the cauldron, how he could understand his concern. By the cauldron, he understood it. He would have been so worried about Luxiana. He was so worried. And he would protect Feyre with all his might, knowing how important she was to his soulmate. "We'll look after her, I can promise you that with everything I hold dear."
Tamlin nodded slowly, though surprised, reassured by the truth in the Illyrian's pupils. "You'd better." And after all, he knew they wouldn't let anything happen to Feyre. Not when she was their soulmate's best friend. Good heavens, who would have believed that?
Then he released them. Azriel and Feyre, in Cassian's arms, flew off on their mission. To the King of Hybern's home to nullify the cauldron's power, hoping that Feyre would be able to control the Book of Breathing.
Rhysand turned toward the horizon where the castle stood. He shoved his trembling hands in his pockets as he watched his brothers fly away toward danger. It was killing him with worry that he wouldn't be able to keep up with them, but he would join them at the first sign of trouble.
Tamlin positioned himself beside him, crossing his arms and looking at the same thing Rhys was looking at.
A silence fell between the two lords for several long minutes. Then Tamlin exhaled a deep breath. "Luxiana is the soulmate of all three of you."
Rhysand shifted sharply to the side, turning to face Tamlin, his eyes widening. But the spring fae just stared at the horizon without looking back at him. Rhysand could have denied it or even asked him how he knew, but it didn't matter. Besides, he probably suspected that his previous behavior towards Luxiana had been more than a little strange and must have pointed Tamlin in the right direction.
He repositioned himself right next to the blond, pushing the surprise off his face and putting his serious expression back on. "If you dare hurt her, I swear I..."
Tamlin raised his hand between them to interrupt him. Though half-surprised by the fact that he wasn't denying it, he quickly corrected himself. He didn't have much doubt left anyway. “Feyre would kill me,” he said with a short laugh. “And it's not like I could hurt her anyway.” From what Feyre had told him about her and what she was like, he'd be ground to dust before he could even think about hurting her.
Rhysand frowned questioningly and suspiciously as he turned his head back to the blond. What did he mean by that?
But Tamlin continued without looking at him. "And anyway, even though she is a pain in the ass, I still ended up liking that little brat."
Rhysand's jaw clenched as much as his fists returned to his pockets. "Be careful how you talk about her," he spat coldly.
Tamlin gave a short laugh. "Yeah, she's the one for you."
Silence fell between them again for a few minutes, as Rhysand looked down sadly. He thought she was the one for him? Was she really? Did she see it that way? He didn't think so.
"Why did you send her away so violently?" Tamlin finally asked after hesitating to speak. "Why did you send her away at all, anyway? She's your soulmate, after all. Didn't you want to keep her close?"
Rhysand closed his eyes, trying to ignore his aching heart. It hurt to talk about her, to think about her. "None of your business," he hissed.
Tamlin bit his tongue to keep from saying anything Feyre had forbidden him before giving in, far too attracted by the idea of making Rhysand swallow his tongue. "At a time when my wife has to wake up every night to comfort your crying, screaming, skin-tearing soulmate, I consider it my business."
Rhysand's eyes widened, turning fully toward Tamlin as the blood drained from his face, turning him white with concern. His stomach suddenly burned with anxiety as his heart contracted and his air caught in his lungs. "What are you saying? What are you talking about??"
Tamlin gritted his teeth, cursing himself for talking too much in anger. He hated Rhysand; he'd killed his family. But he also knew Feyre had strictly forbidden him to talk about it. She didn't want the three of them to know how much they'd damaged her best friend. Still, maybe it could help move the relationship between the three of them and Luxiana forward. Maybe things could work out between them if they learned that she actually loved them. And maybe then, Luxiana could feel better, and therefore Feyre could be happy.
Rhysand couldn't breathe anymore. He was shaking and gasping for breath, his eyes still wide open. Overcome with fear and anxiety, and unable to bear the silence any longer, he grabbed Tamlin by the collar of his white shirt, turned him in his direction, and shook him. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"See by yourself," Tamlin finally answered, lowering his mental shield to invite Rhys into his head and see the memory he was presenting.
Rhys understood what he wanted when he felt Tamlin's shield lower. Warily, he flinched, but still managed to enter the blond's head to grab and claim the memory he was showing him.
Rhysand then began to see through Tamlin's eyes. The blond man was running after Feyre in her nightgown down a dark corridor as horrible screams echoed within the castle walls.
Through Tamlin, Rhysand followed Feyre into a large bedroom. They both froze at the entrance as they focused on Luxiana, who was screaming and sobbing, kneeling at the foot of her bed. She was trying to tear the skin off her neck, grabbing it and pulling it, leaving bloody marks on her pale skin. Feyre lunged at her, grabbing her wrists and trying to stop her, but Luxiana was struggling.
Rhysand wanted to move, to get closer, to help his soulmate, but he couldn't because Tamlin hadn't moved at this time.
Feyre called Luxiana and begged her to stop, but Luxiana's gaze was blank and absent. Tamlin, noticing this, said, "She's still asleep."
Rhysand propelled himself out of the memory. He couldn't see any more. He opened his eyes even wider as he came back to himself. He let go of Tamlin to clamp his hand over his mouth. But the blond wasn't finished. He threw another memory, which Rhysand's mind grasped despite itself.
The memory was almost similar, but it had been the night after. Then another similar one. And another... and another. Luxiana's words now echoed in Rhysand's head as they had in Tamlin's: "They think I'm a monster."; "I want to die."; "I want to die."; "I want to die."; "I can't take it anymore."
As images of his soulmate screaming and hurting herself lingered in Rhysand's eyes, he automatically deployed a shield and retracted his power as far away from Tamlin's mind as possible. He couldn't see any more of this. The blonde raised back his shield not to give him more information, but Rhysand doubled over to the side and vomited with all his might.
His throat burned, his nose ran, and his eyes watered. His stomach and body were twisted in spasms as he continued to hear his soulmate's voice. "I want to die." He had made her want to die. He screamed.
Once the contents of his stomach had spilled onto the floor, he fell to his knees, doubled over and clutched his aching chest. He began to cry profusely as he could no longer breathe. He sobbed loudly as he gasped for air, his shoulders heaving in time with his labored breathing as he screamed in pain.
He cried for what seemed like an eternity, shaking and clutching his shirt over his heart with all his might. It hurt so much. He wanted to rip it off his chest. What had he done? He felt like he was dying, unable to breathe even as his heart continued to tear. Only the horrible images and the awful words of his soulmate that Tamlin had shown him echoed in his head like an axe coming down harder on his heart.
Tamlin surveyed him for a long moment, but while part of him was pleased to see him like this, another part understood his pain. He wasn't doing this to hurt Rhysand; he was doing it to make Feyre happy by helping Luxiana. The blond's empathy fully took over at the Night Lord's umpteenth heartbreaking sob.
He leaned down toward him, dropping one knee to his eye level. Then he placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
Rhysand, barely aware that he was collapsing in front of one of his enemies, was still surprised by the contact. He managed to raise his drenched pupils to the blond's face and was even more surprised to see only empathy in his expression.
"You can fix this," assured the High Lord. "You can fix her and make her happy. She fell in love with you and now she feels rejected. But make amends. Make her happy. She needs you. No matter how hard she pretends, you are her soulmates; she only needs you to be happy. You can undo all the harm you've done to her by explaining yourself, by making her happy."
Rhysand shook his head, sobbing. "We just wanted to protect her. We didn't mean to hurt her this much." He cried even harder, falling face down on the ground. "We didn't mean to hurt her this much. We don't deserve her. We're hurting her as much as everyone else. We don't deserve her. We didn't mean to hurt her. We didn't want to."
Tamlin huffed before grabbing Rhysand's arm, pulling him up onto his two feet. He gave him a wild shake to try and get him to think straight. "Get a grip on yourself, Rhys. Now's not the time. You know you hurt her, and now you have to fix that. But right now, you need to stay focused on your brothers, who are also his soulmates and who are in danger."
Rhysand was electrified by Tamlin's words. Damn it, this was Tamlin reassuring him, telling him what to do, and being right, too. He had to pull himself together; now wasn't the time.
He forced himself to take deep breaths, trying to calm his panic and tears.
Fortunately, ever since he'd sent Luxiana away, he'd blocked the connection with his brothers to prevent them from feeling what he felt. And now, it could have disturbed them and even cost them their lives if they knew what Tamlin had just shown him.
Despite his tight throat, his shattered heart, his burning eyes, and his trembling muscles, he managed to feign a semblance of calm. He finally straightened up and collected himself.
Tamlin punched him roughly on the shoulder in an almost friendly gesture before nodding to Rhysand.
Rhysand tried to focus and deployed his power towards his two brothers and Feyre. And he could immediately sense that something was wrong. He instantly regained his composure, angrily rubbing his wet cheeks to dry them.
Connecting with his brothers using his power, he could see through their eyes that Feyre was unable to resist the power of the cauldron and the book. She had entered a sort of trance, from which Azriel tried to shake her in an attempt to snap her out. But it was too late as they were surrounded by enemies.
Rhysand barely had time to see Jurian shoot an arrow straight into Azriel's chest before he didn't wait to teleport himself and Tamlin to the middle of the room where his brothers were. Tamlin immediately transformed half into a beast, preparing to pounce on the enemies.
But Jurian raised his hand to interrupt him. "The arrow is coated with poison, which circulates through your friend's body at the king's will. Move or try to run away, and the king will release the poison."
Cassian spat out a curse as he rushed over to catch Azriel, who was reeling. He cupped his hand around the arrow, trying to apply some pressure to the wound, which was bleeding excessively.
"Jurian," Rhysand remarked, his chest still heaving with emotion. He was still having trouble breathing, and while it was due to anger at Jurian's betrayal, it was mostly due to panic. How was he going to get everyone out of there? Luxiana. She would be so mad at him if anything happened to Feyre. He glanced at his brothers, trying to come up with a plan, and finally noticed the arrow in Azriel. "Fuck," he said, rushing to Azriel's other side to support him with Cassian's help.
Tamlin positioned himself in front of Feyre to protect her before snatching the book from her hands to bring her back to her senses. He threw the book at Rhys, who barely caught it and grimaced as he analyzed the situation.
Tamlin had heard and understood Jurian's words, but he didn't care about Azriel. And although he thought Luxiana could do something to save him if they teleported quickly enough, he just wanted to save his wife first. Without waiting, he tried to teleport everyone back to his palace, but his power refused to activate.
His eyes widened as Jurian snorted. "Yeah, I was just creating a distraction while the king cast a spell on you to nullify your powers. You know, Rhys, the same one Amarantha cast on you, but even more powerful. Amarantha stole the king's spellbook to take your powers, so..." he shrugged. "...I simply made sure the book was returned to him. And to think that dirty bitch didn't even know how to use or decipher the cruelest spells in that book. Your agony will be long and painful."
Rhysand's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. No matter how hard he tried to use his power, nothing was working. They were stuck here, and Luxiana was alone, far from them.
"You traitor," Cassian spat with a grimace of disgust at Jurian. "Do you even have any idea what he wants to do to the human realm? Yours!"
"I don't care about men!!" the former general of the human armies almost yelled. "Only Myriam interests me! Where is she?"
"She's dead!" Rhysand replied simply.
Jurian's facial features contorted in violent anger. "You're lying!! Where is she, Rhysand??"
"We'll never tell you," Cassian assured through gritted teeth as he worriedly tried to keep Azriel upright.
Jurian's face filled with a creepy, monstrous cold. "Well, then I guess I'll have to make you confess it when I go find your soulmate."
The three Illyrians whitened, even Azriel lost another shade as he looked up at Jurian, his gaze suddenly less tired.
The human burst out laughing. "I'm going to be delighted to find her and torture her in front of you. And to think she's the soulmate of all three of you. What better way to make my job easier? The latest information our spies have is that she's at Tamlin's, right? She's going to be so easy to catch."
Azriel suddenly stood on his feet and took a step forward as if he hadn't just been shot in the chest by a poisoned arrow. He no longer felt the pain, and the arrow no longer mattered. He took another threatening step toward Jurian, wildly freeing himself from his brothers' grasp. "Come near her, and I swear, whatever I do in revenge will be far worse than what Amarantha did to you."
But he wobbled, weakened, and was about to fall just before Rhysand and Cassian caught him, putting one of his arms around their shoulders to support him.
Jurian smiled. "The spies told me she had long, almost white blond hair and was very attractive. Knowing you, that doesn't really surprise me," he laughed. "But maybe I should have some other kind of fun with her, and that will be far from pleasant for you... It might be a little more so for her, though."
The three Illyrians had a huge ball of anxiety compressing their chests at the thought of seeing Luxiana in the hands of Jurian or the king. How had his spies been able to obtain so much information? How had they known that Luxiana was their soulmate? They were paralyzed with fear. This would be their worst nightmare. And there, alone at Tamlin's, she had no chance of being properly protected. The three Illyrians were trembling all over.
Cassian growled a beastly sound that sent chills down everyone's spine in the room. "You bastard. I'll make you pay."
"Please," Feyre begged, clutching Tamlin's arm. She had finally come back to herself and understood the situation with horror. She felt so guilty for putting everyone in this situation. For putting everyone in danger because she hadn't been able to resist the book's power. "Go get her."
Everyone turned to her as one in surprise. Had she just said she wanted them to fetch her best friend and bring her back here? To where she would be tortured? No one could believe their ears.
"What?" Feyre said, taking in their shocked faces. "She'll be able to beat the shit out of them," she said, pointing at all the soldiers around them.
Tamlin grimaced in agreement as he nodded his head positively.
"Don't listen to them, they've lost their minds," Cassian hissed, glaring at them.
Rhysand turned his attention back to Jurian, ignoring Tamlin and Feyre's mad words. They had lost their minds. "Don't even try to approach her, Jurian."
"Unfortunately, it's not up to me to decide; that will be up to the king. But knowing him, don't get too much hope," he assured with a wicked smile. He turned and walked away, motioning for everyone else to follow him.
So in a heavy, oppressive silence, he led them to the throne room, where the king was, while Azriel's blood dripped and left a trail behind them.
When the huge doors opened before them and the King of Hybern sat on his throne at the back of the room, everything suddenly became even more real for the three Illyrians. They had failed in their mission and Luxiana was now in danger. They would never recover from seeing her tortured because of them. The three Illyrians panicked a little more. They had to find a way out of this.
With a wave of his hand, the king summoned the cauldron before him, but he never took his eyes off his guests, whom he regarded with a sly smile. The three Illyrians, Feyre and Tamlin, were further stunned when they noticed the queens of the human kingdom in the corner of the place. They had truly betrayed their country.
As they were forced to kneel before the king by soldiers, the king laughed proudly. "You fell into that trap so easily," he mocked.
Everyone grimaced.
Cassian analyzed the situation and the number of soldiers and powerful high fae with terrible reputations surrounding the king. They didn't stand a chance. He clenched his fists on his brother's suit, still trying to keep him upright. He couldn't bear to see Luxiana brought here, and he could do nothing but pray with all his being that it wouldn't happen.
Azriel was semi-conscious. He tried to stay awake even though his body felt heavy and the pain of the arrow in his chest was killing him. They had to find a way out of this and get Luxiana to safety, especially now that the king knew she was their soulmate. But he couldn't focus on a plan; he could barely stay awake.
Rhysand concentrated with all his might on deploying his power, even trying to pull on that tiny soulmate bond he had with Luxiana to tell her to run away and go into hiding, but he couldn't. He glanced at the ancient and cursed spellbook floating in front of the king with a grimace.
This book was old and powerful. One of the books written by the first witch, collecting some of the most powerful and unnatural spells she had created. It is said that only one of her books had ever been found, and that no one had ever managed to decipher it. That no one had ever succeeded in creating spells as powerful as those this witch had invented.
But the king had apparently managed to find one of his books and decipher some of its pages.
And to think Rhysand had had this book in his hands after Amarantha's death. Why hadn't he destroyed it? How could he have made such a mistake? He had failed miserably, and now that Luxiana was his soulmate, she was going to pay the price for him. He was going to collapse.
"Finally," the king continued with an evil smile. "I brought you up here to show you something you might enjoy."
He jerked his head toward the room's large, solid wooden door, which, as if on silent command, opened to let in soldiers dragging Nesta and Elain bound and gagged.
"No!!" Feyre screamed, her eyes widening in fear as her heart skipped a beat. She was living a nightmare. Her sisters. He had captured her sisters. Her eyes filled with tears at the sight of Nesta's furious face and Elain's sobbing one. She shook her head hurriedly, unable to believe it.
Cassian, Azriel, and Rhysand's eyes widened in shared fear. They were Feyre's sisters, and their soulmate wanted to protect them at all costs, too. And now, because they had failed, everyone their soulmate cared about was in danger.
"You see, our dear queens here made a deal with me in exchange for me using the cauldron to make them immortal fae," the king explained, pointing at the queens with a smirk. "Of course, they're not confident and asked me to prove it was safe. So I thought, what better way than to make your two sisters immortal, Feyre Cursed Breaker, so I can torture them in front of you a little longer and make you pay for my general's death."
"No! Please!" Feyre begged, shaking her head like crazy. It was a horrific vision. A nightmare. She was going to wake up. She had to wake up.
The King of Hybern laughed heartily, openly mocking the horror-filled and frightened faces of his guests.
Then he pointed at Elain. "That one first," he ordered, then indicated the cauldron. "Throw her in."
"Nooooo," Feyre screamed at the top of her lungs. She began to cry with guilt, fear, and sadness. She wanted to throw herself at the soldiers who were grabbing Elain by the arms and dragging her toward the Cauldron, but Tamlin caught her.
He pinned her back to his chest and wrapped his arms around her to hold her as she struggled with all her might. "You can't do anything. Stop, he'll come after you. He'll hurt you."
As Elain was carried to the cauldron, the hearts of the three Illyrians tightened a little more, knowing that because of them and knowing their soulmate, she would feel guilty. Their faces twisted in sadness. Luxiana was going to feel so bad for not having been able to protect Feyre's sisters when she had made it her duty. She was going to blame herself. She was going to feel so bad. None of them wanted this.
Cassian didn't think twice as he let go of Azriel to rush toward the soldiers holding Elain and try to save her for his soulmate. But he only managed two steps before a beam of white light shot out of the king's hand, directly toward Cassian, striking him head-on.
When the blinding light faded, Rhysand and Azriel were horrified to discover Cassian on the ground, covered in blood from his damaged wings.
Rhysand rushed to his brother, picking Azriel up and pulling him with him. They both fell to their knees beside Cassian as they studied in horror and dread the catastrophic state of his wings. He would never be able to use them again. He would never be able to fly again. Azriel and Rhysand were horrified, their breaths frozen in their throats.
Cassian moaned in pain, holding back tears. His wings. Her wings. He had touched his wings. His wings. But also his soulmate's wings. He had promised her. They were her wings too. And he hadn't been able to protect them either. A tear rolled down his cheek as he still cried out in pain, trying not to faint. But he had to save Elain. For his soulmate. So as best he could, he began to crawl again towards the soldiers who were dragging the Archerons sister. But he couldn't. He couldn't.
He couldn't move fast enough as the soldiers dragging Elain were now in front of the cauldron. They picked up the Archerons sister and were about to throw her inside.
"Nooooo, please," Feyre screamed, thrashing like crazy in Tamlin's arms.
But suddenly, everyone froze as a strange aura surrounded them. Cold sweat trickled down their backs, and an impending fear gripped them all as they felt as if death were standing beside them.
The soldiers holding Elain violently threw her back to the ground, turning completely white with terror and looking around in panic.
Everyone in the room turned to look at the King of Hybern. Such a feeling of horror and cruelty could only come from him. But he was as pale as the others, and his furrowed brows and lost gaze made it clear to everyone that this strange sensation was not coming from him. He tensed up on his throne, scanning the corners of the room without understanding. Then he glanced at the book floating in front of him. He had felt that evil aura before... through the book.
Feyre, for her part, had already felt this strange sensation. She understood. Then suddenly, relieved by an infinite power, her shoulders and her entire body slumped onto Tamlin. Then, unable to stop herself, she burst out laughing.
She was laughing like crazy and she was well aware of it - especially when she felt the questioning looks of the people around her - but she felt so reassured.
She finally regained her composure slowly before casting a confident look at the king. "You're dead. You're all dead," Feyre chuckled again. "She's going to make you pay." Everything was going to be okay now. Everything was going to be okay.
The king—along with everyone else in the room—frowned a little more in the young fae's direction.
"Who are you talking about?" the king asked, looking at Feyre with incomprehension.
Feyre smirked. "About my best friend," she replied slowly.
Hello, here is the chapter 36 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
I'm back, guys!!
I'm sincerely sorry for the huge delay, but I'm going through some pretty uncool stuff down here. But I'm getting back on track. Thank you for sticking with it these past few weeks and for continuing to ask for more. I love you guys. ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
Well, I'm also sorry, I think this chapter is so bad, really not great, and I'm only posting one. But It's for posting two incredible ones next week so I don't leave you wanting more!
Yeah, so in the next chapter, we're going to see Luxiana badass and super powerful, and I think you can already imagine how it's going to go.
Anyway, I'm back.
The next two chapters on March 19th!!
! Don't forget to read the previous and following chapters ! : Here
It's been 3 weeks.
It's been three weeks since she wasn’t with them anymore. It's been three weeks since Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel last heard the sweet voice of their soulmate. It's been three weeks since they took a deep breath when they heard her laugh. It's been three weeks since their hearts ached.
They'd been missing their soulmate for three weeks. Three weeks since they'd had nothing to live for.
Azriel cursed himself. The nights were now sleepless for him, spent regretting having left. Spent regretting not having kept her by his side. His anguish, his fear, his jealousy, his pain, and his longing ate away at him painfully from the inside. He wanted her. He missed her, and he was so afraid she would forget him. He knew she would be happier away from them, but selfishly, he still wanted to keep her for himself.
Cassian had a dull, sad look. He wandered the corridors like a lost soul, and despite his large frame, no one noticed him anymore. He kept his head down, his attention immersed in his mind, in his memories of his soulmate. Sometimes a smile would appear at the hollow of his lips. It was when Luxiana's laughter echoed in his mind. But otherwise, Cassian no longer spoke. He no longer laughed. He no longer had the desire to. He lived only for her, and she was no longer by his side.
Rhysand immersed himself in his work. He didn't take a second to sit down, to think, to breathe. He knew that if he didn't keep his mind occupied, his thoughts would take great pleasure in hurting him by imagining scenarios, each more horrible than the last, concerning his soulmate. He couldn't bear the thought of something bad happening to his Luxiana, and that was why he had sent her away. But not being close to her to protect her if necessary was killing him with anxiety. If he didn't keep his head occupied, his vision would blur, his throat would tighten, his breathing would catch, and he would be in pain.
So the three of them would immerse themselves in their work so as not to dwell on the absence of their soulmate by their side. They would drown themselves in their work, hoping to forget how their hearts and souls were being torn apart every second they were away from their wife.
But in truth, they were mainly focused on finding the Illyrians who had tortured Luxiana when she was a child. They monopolized every resource at their disposal. They called upon everything they could. But they were never able to find any of these Illyrians.
When they met in the hall of the Wind House, it had been three weeks since they had really spoken to each other except to discuss the progress of their research. But otherwise, they only glimpsed each other briefly in the hallways. They didn't even look at each other anymore. They didn't even eat dinner together anymore. Azriel had moved back to the Wind House, far from Rhys in the Town house. And Cassian now lived elsewhere essentially in places where he could get drunk.
They couldn't see their brothers anymore, otherwise they knew the anger and pain they were keeping from feeling would eventually explode. And they also knew that their brothers would undoubtedly remind them of Luxiana.
But today, they had no choice but to meet. Today, they had to go to Tamlin's house to share their plan. They needed Feyre, and although they were already scared to death of seeing Luxiana again, they had made a promise to her. They had to keep them informed of what the translation of the book of breathings had revealed.
So that was why they joined.
They glanced at each other quickly without even greeting. They hated their brothers and they hated themselves for letting her go.
But they were strangely relieved, with a pang in their heart, to see that their brothers were as tired and sad as they were. All three of them looked pitiful and it was fully deserved.
They hadn't seen Mor again either. Cassian had insisted—when she'd returned from dropping off his soulmate—to know what had happened and how Luxiana had reacted... If she had been happy to see Feyre again... But Mor hadn't said anything and had just insulted him copiously. But Cassian would have liked Mor to tell him that his soulmate had smiled broadly as she threw herself at Feyre to take her in her arms. But Cassian reassured himself, thinking that was surely what had happened, so everything would be fine for her.
Without further ado, Rhys teleported them to the front of Tamlin's manor, stirring their anxiety and fears a little more. What if she was here? What if she wasn't here? What if she was in danger or hurt? What if... what if she'd found someone else?
Trembling, they walked up to the front steps of the manor, ready to climb them and enter the house, but Feyre flung the front door open.
She ran down the stairs two at a time, her face furrowed in anger as Tamlin ran after her with a panicked expression.
Feyre couldn't believe her eyes. Today her best friend was feeling better, and finally went out of her room, but that was when they decided to show themselves.
She hated them. She hated them so much. She remembered those last few weeks of watching her best friend suffer, cry, scream, and feel so bad that she wanted to tear her skin off. Luxiana no longer ate, no longer drank, no longer laughed. She was no longer living. They had killed her best friend.
Feyre's tears welled up in her eyes when she remembered that particular night a few days ago. It had been Luxiana's screams that had woken her. So, like every other time, like every other night, she had rushed to her.
But she had found Luxiana's balled-up body—emaciated—kneeling on the floor in a dark corner of her room. She no longer slept, and when she did, she was always awakened by painful nightmares. And that was what had happened that night. She had had some kind of night terror and had actually still been sleeping—like a sleepwalker—when Feyre had arrived beside her.
Luxiana was screaming, crying. But mostly, she was trying to tear her skin off. She was asleep, but she had grabbed the skin on her throat, shoulders, thighs, and arms, and she was trying to pull it off. She was clawing at herself with all her might, creating deep wounds in her body to grab pieces of skin and tear them off.
It was at that precise moment that her best friend's suffering had become so evident to Feyre. It was at that precise moment that she understood the magnitude of Luxiana's words. "They are my soulmates and they think I'm a monster." It was at that precise moment that she understood the extent to which they had destroyed and killed her best friend. It was at that precise moment that she realized that Luxiana could not be saved. That it was too late.
That night, Feyre had taken her in her arms and held her tight, knowing full well that nothing she did would make her feel better. That night, Feyre had understood that nothing could save her best friend. That night, she had thought that maybe... maybe... the only way to stop her best friend's suffering was to let her do what she was begging to be let do. That maybe, the only way Luxiana could stop hurting and finally have peace was through death.
Feyre knew that letting her best friend go—as she sobbed in her ear, “I want to die. I want to die.”—was the right thing to do. That she was too broken to live. That every second of life was now nothing but pain for Luxiana. But selfishly, Feyre could do nothing but cry and repeat, “I need you. I need you.”
And Luxiana was suffering. She was suffering, but Feyre needed her. So the day after that night, she got up, put on her smiling mask, and disinfected the wounds she'd made that would leave scars. She even forced herself to drink and eat, hiding from everyone the fact that she'd thrown up right afterward. But Feyre needed her. So Luxiana had to try to stay for Feyre.
And Feyre felt so bad for inflicting this pain on her best friend who was now desperate to find peace. And she hated herself so much for not being able to let her go. Because in the end, maybe it was the three Illyrians who had destroyed her, but it was she who forced her to suffer every day.
The three Illyrians froze at the foot of the stairs, frowning and asking why Feyre was charging at them with such a hate-contorted face.
They tensed with crushing anxiety in their stomachs. Was Luxiana okay? Had something happened to her? Their hearts began to beat even faster as their chests burned with anxiety.
But the young fae lunged at Rhys and he couldn't even react as she slapped him with all her might, sending his head flying to the side.
"You bastard!" she screamed at the night lord at the top of her lungs. Her fists were clenched at her sides, and her heart was as hot with anger as her eyes were with tears.
She turned to Azriel, eyeing him with a grimace of pronounced disgust before hitting his torso with her two fists and with such a strength he was forced to take a step back. The Illyrian let her push him, uncomprehending, while trying to analyze Feyre's expressions to find an answer to his questions.
"How dare you come back here? Go away, you sons of rats!" Feyre ordered, yelling at them.
Rhysand gritted his teeth as a flash of fake anger crossed his eyes. He had to pretend. Well, he didn't even really have to pretend because he was angry. Angry at himself, at the Illyrians who had hurt his soulmate, at Luxiana who had seemed happy to leave them, at his brothers, at Feyre, at Tamlin, at the whole world.
He fixed cold eyes on Feyre as Tamlin finally reached them. The blond grabbed his wife's arm and pulled her behind him protectively.
"How dare you…," Rhys hissed, staring coldly at Feyre.
"Don't talk to her like that!" Tamlin interrupted, growling an animal sound.
Feyre shifted to the side to avoid Tamlin's imposing stature. Her fists squeeze at the ends of arms stretched out at her sides. She was so angry, she felt like she was burning and couldn't breathe. They had broken her best friend's heart. "How dare you be here after doing that to Luxiana?"
The three black-haired faes flinched, throwing confused glances at each other. "How so?" Azriel asked worriedly, taking a step forward.
"She seemed quite happy to leave," Rhys remarked with a sarcastic grimace, almost in disgust.
"You're assholes," Feyre gasped, unable to believe her eyes. How could they be so stupid? So mean?
Cassian was worried sick. What did all this mean? Was Luxiana okay? His heart skipped a beat in worry. "Is she okay?" he asked, his face scrunched up with stress and his voice a little too high. He shifted a step to the side to look toward the mansion and try to catch a glimpse of his soulmate.
"What do you think? Asshole! You used her and threw her away like an old sock," Feyre insulted again, glaring at him in disgust. He turned to Tamlin with a mixture of surprise and anger. She couldn't believe it. She pointed at the Illyrians. "I'm hallucinating, you're right, they are completely stupid."
A wave of anxiety rippled through Cassian, making his chest ache unpleasantly hot even though he hadn't even heard Feyre's last words. Did that mean his soulmate wasn't okay? Maybe what Rhys had said had hurt her? But she looked so happy to be back with her best friend. She didn't look particularly sad three weeks ago. The last shred of hope he'd fueled these past few weeks by telling himself she'd been happy to be back was completely shattered when he remembered how good his soulmate was at hiding her true feelings. He whitened.
Azriel's throat tightened painfully like in barbed wire. He looked down, trying to hide his rapid breathing in repercussion to his bruised heart. Had they hurt her? Was she unwell because of them? He hated himself. But they had done it to protect her. She would eventually forget them and no longer suffer being away from them. She had been through worse anyway, and besides, she wasn't in love with them yet, so it was the right thing to do. She would get through this and move on.
Rhysand gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. Their soulmate was safer here, and at least, this way, they couldn't hurt her. She wouldn't be physically or emotionally tortured by being with Tamlin. The thought tore at his heart. She would be safer and happier away from him. It hurt so much. He couldn't make his soulmate happy. But it was true. So he lifted his chin. He had to focus on the objective. "We're here to..."
He could no longer finish his sentence before a burst of laughter echoed through the garden around them.
The three Illyrians were electrified by a paralyzing shock. That laugh... They could have recognized it among a thousand. It was the one of their soulmate.
They all turned to the right—where the sound was coming from—to see Luxiana and Lucien walking towards them.
Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel felt their hearts sink.
Their soulmate clung to Lucien's arm, holding him close to her chest. She was laughing, and so was he. But the way they were looking at each other... with eyes shining with tenderness and... love.
They were walking towards them but didn't even see them, too absorbed in each other's gaze.
Cassian had to take a step back as the blood drained from his face, turning him ominously white. His expression faded further, and his already bruised heart felt like it was being stabbed a thousand times through and through. She'd already replaced them with that damned carrot. He clenched his fists, trying to replace his endless pain and grief with anger so he wouldn't drown.
Rhysand's chin trembled for a second before he recovered. But his eyes still burned. He looked away, unable to bear the sight that turned his stomach and tore at his heart. Except his pupils rested on Tamlin's beautiful flowering garden, the blue sky, the birds singing, and the sun warming them. It was a beautiful morning, and Lucien must have taken advantage of it to take his soulmate for a walk. He closed his eyes; he couldn't see this. He couldn't know this. He couldn't bear it. He couldn't breathe. But it was better this way. She'll be happier with that bastard than with him, than with them.
Azriel's entire heart burned with rage. His breath caught, and every muscle tensed. He was about to explode. This son of a bitch had dared to approach his soulmate. And she had dared to fall in love with him!? They were in love?? His soulmate was in love with someone else. He couldn't breathe, his throat was tight, his chest was burning, and his eyes were wet. She had already moved on. She had forgotten them. She had played them, him. In fact, she had never loved them or even appreciated them.
Tamlin glanced sideways at the three Illyrians, and a wave of surprise ran through him for a second. Seeing their reactions, he understood that all three of them really were Luxiana's soulmates, and that they hadn't manipulated him into believing that. Not when they themselves now looked like they were being violently tortured right there.
Feyre followed Tamlin's gaze and understood his thoughts. But as for her, a smile emerged at the corners of her lips. The three Illyrians looked like they were in pain, and that was exactly what she wanted. They deserved it after making her best friend suffer so much. But she frowned. Why send her back here and tell her they didn't like her when they reacted like that to seeing her near Lucien? There had to be something behind it, and Feyre intended to unravel this ball of mystery to help her best friend. In the meantime, she still wanted to make the three brunettes suffer.
Approaching them unknowingly, and feeling piercing gazes on them, Luxiana and Lucien finally turned their heads in their direction.
They both froze in their steps, losing their smiles and fading their cheerful expressions.
Luxiana had to cling to Lucien's arm a little tighter to keep from falling to her knees, crying, or running, even though her heart was aching. Her three soulmates, who had rejected her and thought she was a monster, were just a few feet away. Rhysand wasn't even looking at her. Azriel stared at her with disgust, and Cassian with sadness, surely disappointed that his soulmate was such a monster.
Luxiana began to tremble as her eyes burned. She couldn't breathe. Why were they here? To come get her? A spark of hope ignited in her chest before being swept away and extinguished by a cold wind of sadness and anger. She was in too much pain. Her heart.
Only Feyre hadn't hurt her. Only Feyre mattered. She had to pretend only for Feyre. She needed her. There was only Feyre left who mattered. No matter what her soulmates thought of her and no matter how much it hurt that they rejected her. No matter how much she wanted to die, she had to stay for Feyre.
She lifted her chin and smirked haughtily so as not to show them how destroyed she was and how much she wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. She tried to move forward, but her body refused to. She could only dig her fingers deeper into Lucien's bicep.
The redhead, turning his gaze towards her, noticing her confident and haughty air in contradiction with her muscles tensed against his body and her fingers dug into his arm, understood that she was not well but that she was forcing herself not to show it. His heart ached for her. She did not deserve to suffer like this because of them. He knew what it was like to lose a love, he could not even imagine what she must feel having lost three loves, who were also her soulmates. She must feel so bad that they rejected her. He sighed as he forced her to let go of his arm to place his hand on her back and push her towards them as he walked beside her. He leaned towards her to whisper inaudibly to the others: "You can do it. It's going to be okay. I'm here."
Luxiana looked up at him, and his reassuring smile comforted her a little. They were the only ones left who mattered. She didn't care about her three soulmates. She owed it to herself. They had rejected her. Her heart ached so much she wanted to vomit. Her soulmates had rejected her. She wanted to cry. She clenched her fists. She wanted to cry like she had these past few days, but she had cried enough for them.
Today, she had managed to get out of bed and agreed to go for a walk with Lucien. Today, she had decided to get up and continue pretending for Feyre. She had seen how unhappy Feyre was to see her unhappy, so she had managed to decide to pretend to pull herself together.
But she hadn't expected to see them again. Except now, it didn't matter. Only Feyre mattered, and Luxiana didn't want to show her that she was still unhappy.
So she let herself be dragged towards her soulmates by Lucien, trying not to appear forced or too rigid in her gait.
"What are you doing here?" Lucien spat in a sharp voice that hardly sounded like him as they arrived in front of them.
Azriel had barely heard what the son of a bitch had said. The closer they both got to him, the more concrete it became. He was seething with rage, so much so that he was shaking. He took a step forward, pushing between Rhysand and Tamlin and standing in front of Lucien. "You son of a bitch, how dare you..."
Luxiana was electrified through and through. First, by a mixture of sadness and realization: They clearly weren't there to apologize, and she felt stupid for even thinking it. Then she was overwhelmed by hatred. They dared to insult Lucien, while he had tried to help her up after they had thrown him into a dark, damp hole filled with pain and suffering. "Watch how you talk to him, or I'll beat the shit out of you so much you'll have to feed yourself out of your ass," she exploded, interrupting him, her voice, though low, filled with hatred.
The three Illyrians were surprised for a second by her tone, their eyes widening. It was the first time she had spoken to them like that, with such anger and resentment. She made them feel as if she hated them, and it made their hearts feel as if they were being stabbed.
Azriel almost jumped at the angry electricity that violently shot through him. She was defending him as if she loved him. She had never loved them, and they were being played. His chest burned with hatred. He took a step forward, towering over Luxiana menacingly. "Oh, you're defending your boyfriend because he can't defend himself?" He didn't wait for a response as he began to stare at her in disgust. "And you said you were falling in love with us, I see you've moved on quickly. So you're just a little bitch after all..."
Rhysand grabbed his arm savagely, almost hitting him to make him stop talking, but he couldn't move anymore or even speak. His heart was being trampled on. But this was what he wanted. She had to hate them, right? She had to find someone else and love someone else, right? That was what was needed... But then why were his heart and body punishing him by hurting so much?
Luxiana let out a small laugh. She didn't even know how the adrenaline pumping through her body kept her upright and not let her collapse, but she was really acting well because of it. "Yeah, I've already moved on. Well, it wasn't really complicated, you know, it's not like I've actually fallen in love with you," she smiled almost pityingly for them. But it was all fake. She was hurt so much, and part of her hoped she could repay them with her words.
Cassian couldn't believe his eyes or his ears. She only got so angry when someone touched the things she loved, like Feyre and now... Like Lucien. She loved Lucien. He wanted to double over, his heart ached so much. She'd moved on so quickly. And now she was telling them she'd never loved them? But she'd told him she loved him. She'd lied? She didn't love him? She couldn't do this to him. "So everything you told us was a lie?!" he snapped, despite himself. He was disgusted.
"Oh, because you believed it?" she mocked. "Oh, sorry, you're so cute." Then she went seriously cold, slowly losing her hilarity. "You were never anything to me, and now that the favor Feyre owed you is gone, I don't have to pretend anymore. So don't think I ever liked you. You were always just a chore."
Cassian took a step back. He was in agony. He was in so much pain. Had she never loved them? Had she pretended with them because she had to?? Had she never loved him? Never? His eyes burned, his chest felt like it was tearing apart. She had never loved him. He hadn't been able to make her love him.
Rhysand didn't know how he was still standing when he just wanted to collapse. He wasn't even looking at her. He couldn't. He didn't want to believe what he was hearing while his brain kept telling him it was a good thing. That what she was saying was a good thing. That she must not have loved them anyway. That the further she was from them, the safer she would be. The happier she would be. But his heart ached and seemed to push against his ribs, only to crash into the arms of his soulmate.
Azriel didn't want to believe it. He couldn't believe it. How dare she say that? How dare she think that? How dare she love another when she was his? She was his. Why did his chest hurt so much? He couldn't breathe. By heavens, how could he have let her go? How could Rhysand have convinced him it was a good thing? When she was his and when she belonged by his side. He gently lifted his arm to gently place his hand on Luxiana's throat possessively. "How dare you say that?" he asked in an almost inaudible whisper. His throat was so tight that his voice was soft, almost high-pitched. "You're ours. Have you forgotten that?" His voice was pleading.
Luxiana's heart filled with life and swelled with hope as she took a breath. She was theirs? She was theirs! Her eyes sparkled. But it only lasted a moment before she recovered. Her heart and her expression faded. He was playing her again. They had made it perfectly clear last time that they thought she was a monster. She wanted to move, to push him away, to spit in his face, but she was just paralyzed by sadness. She could only hold herself back with all her might from breaking down. The lump in her throat only grew bigger. She wanted to cry so badly, but she wouldn't. She was now only here for Feyre.
Fortunately, Lucien reacted. He pushed Azriel away with all his might, forcing him to let go of Luxiana. "Don't touch her, you bastard, and don't even talk to her."
This was too much for Azriel. How dare that son of a bitch claim their soulmate? HIS soulmate. She was his! His shadows raged around him. He was about to lunge at the redhead to kill him, but Rhysand, still holding his brother's arm, violently yanked him back to place him by his side.
"We're not here for that," the lord managed to utter dryly, giving his brother a warning glance. He felt as if he were out of his body. As if he were now on automatic mode. He felt nothing anymore and didn't even feel himself trembling under the adrenaline rushing through his blood vessels. "She can do what she wants, we don't care," he tried to remind his brothers, and himself, why they had sent her away. To protect her. But he bitterly regretted every second.
Luxiana felt as if her heart was being ripped out all over again. And when Tamlin noticed the faintness in her eyes and the sadness in Feyre's as a reflection, he growled heavily. "That's enough, tell us why you came or leave before I tear you to pieces."
Rhys was violently propelled back into his body at his enemy's words. He hated him. He wanted to kill him. His fists and teeth clenched even tighter, but he held himself together and said nothing. His anguish, sadness, and anger boiled inside him, but he had deserved to feel this bad. He swallowed his resentments and tried to breathe.
He curtly explained to them about the book, that Amren had finished decrypting it and that to neutralize the cauldron, they needed Feyre. He quickly spoke of his plan to infiltrate the King of Hybern's castle without even giving anyone time to interrupt him.
"We need you," he repeated to Feyre. "Are you in or not?"
"Of course," Feyre assured without even thinking twice. If she had a chance to save her sisters and the humans on the other side of the wall, she had to take it. Even if it came from the bastards who had hurt her best friend.
Rhysand nodded and wanted to end the discussion to leave as quickly as possible, but Tamlin interrupted him.
"I'll come with you," the blond growled, shooting a disapproving look at Feyre, who had made this decision without consulting him, before looking up at Rhysand with dark eyes. "And it's final."
Rhys gritted his teeth, but he'd expected it. "Fine, but you won't be able to follow her inside. You're a high lord; he might detect you."
Tamlin gritted his teeth. He didn't like this, but at least he'd be closer to intervene if necessary. He nodded, but his throat tightened. He was so worried about his wife, and she had made this decision without asking his opinion. He groaned again. He hated this, damn it.
Luxiana had tuned out and was only just managing to stand as her mind and heart went blank. But suddenly, thanks to Tamlin's worried grunt and the realization that this could only concern Feyre, she came back to herself. She realized everything that had been said and everything that was about to happen. It was far too dangerous. "I'm coming too, and I'll go inside with her," she said suddenly, her voice worried.
"Out of the question," Azriel replied sharply. There was absolutely no way she was putting herself in danger like that. He would be completely distracted by the anxiety and worry of knowing she was by his side in that castle.
"I wasn't asking for your opinion," the white-haired woman countered, glaring at Azriel.
"It's no," the night lord hissed, his voice cold and his gaze cold and authoritative. The thought of his soulmate in Hybern's grasp made him tremble as anxiety echoed in his chest. What he might do to her simply because she was his soulmate... he shuddered. It was far too dangerous.
Luxiana took a step toward Rhysand, her gaze shining with threat. "I wouldn't leave Feyre alone with you for a second in enemy territory, in danger."
Cassian grimaced in empathy and sadness. He understood her concern for her best friend; he felt it fourfold at the thought of her soulmate in Hybern's hands. But selfishly, he couldn't take the risk of knowing his soulmate was in danger, even if that was what she wanted more than anything. And Luxiana was a free spirit. She was unpredictable and always seemed to have a knack for getting into trouble. He grabbed his soulmate's arm and turned her toward him. "Lux, we'll protect her," he insisted with all the sincerity he could muster.
The blonde gritted her teeth as she violently pulled away from his grasp. "Don't call me that," she spat disdainfully. Her heart ached so much at the nickname. It had brought back so many memories. So many feelings. "And what tell me you won't abandon her at the first sign of trouble?"
Cassian was overcome with a mixture of hurt and anger. How could she think he would do this to her best friend? "We wouldn't..."
"I don't trust you!" Luxiana interrupted, almost shouting. She was breathing fast because of the adrenaline that was burning her blood vessels to keep her from crying.
The three Illyrians felt as if they had been struck through the heart by a sword.
Cassian had to take a step back, his eyes wide. She definitely couldn't trust them after what had happened, but he'd hoped so much that that was still the case. He'd hoped that despite everything, she'd still be able to believe they were good people.
Azriel was breathing quickly and his fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. His stomach felt like it was being squeezed by a thousand hands. Why did it hurt so much to hear that? Damn it, she was their soulmate, she should trust them. She should know she could count on them. None of this should have happened like this. He was going to have to talk to Rhys. She had to get back to their side. He took one look at Lucien and wanted to throw up. There was no way she was staying with that redhead for another second.
Rhysand remained frozen, impassive. He hated that she couldn't trust him. He hated himself. But they didn't deserve her. It was for her own good. She would be happier away from them. He turned to Tamlin, completely ignoring Luxiana. "We'll meet at the meeting point tomorrow. If she's there," he spat, pointing at Luxiana without even looking at her. "We'll cancel everything and leave. We won't do anything, and Hybern can do whatever he wants."
"What?" Luxiana yelled in shock. She turned to Feyre with a fake laugh. "It's a bluff!"
“Don't make us do it, because we will,” Rhysand said, but he still wasn't looking at her. Then he blinked his attention back to Tamlin and Feyre. “Then you'd better leave her here.”
"Rhysand!" Luxiana called out, stepping in front of him so he could look at her, but the night lord turned his head to the side so he wouldn't see her.
He knew that if he laid eyes on his soulmate's face, he would give in in every way possible. He knew he would fall to his knees in tears, begging her to love him.
"You have no right to do this. You..." Luxiana continued in a panic. She paused to take a deep breath and steady herself so she wouldn't cry as her throat tightened. "I can't let Feyre go there alone," she continued more calmly. She swallowed her pride. They had hurt her and she wanted to hate them, but for Feyre she had to take it upon herself. "Please. Please, Rhys," she tried, her voice pleading with a last hope.
And the hearts of the three Illyrians were torn apart.
Azriel couldn't take it anymore. She was theirs. She had to come back to their side, and forever this time. No matter what Rhys thought, he needed to have her with him. When he returned from Hybern, he would rush here and take her in his arms, and he would never let her go again.
Cassian had to close his eyes and turn away from the others. He had to hide the tear that rolled down his cheek. He missed her so much. He wanted to reassure her, but he couldn't; she probably wouldn't want to. And that was destroying him. He needed her so much.
Rhysand gritted his teeth until they almost broke. They thought for a second about giving in, but it would be too dangerous for her. His body was urging him to look at her—imagining her pleading, sad face that ripped his heart out even more—and it took all of his being not to give in. "No," he said coldly as his last words before teleporting all three of them to Velaris, leaving Luxiana there with a gaping hole where her heart should have been.
Hello, here is the chapter 35 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
Hello, I hope you are well! It's a not so good little chapter today, I apologize especially since the next chapter(s) will only be published on Sunday, February 23rd.
In the next chapters, however, we will see our little Luxiana being a powerful bad ass who will finally reveal her true power and her true identity to her soul mates.
The fiction is almost finished. Only a few chapters left.
In any case thank you for all the love you give me. Love, ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
! Don't forget to read the previous chapters ! : Here
Luxiana had been awake for hours but was sitting on the edge of her bed. The sun was rising and when she noticed its rays warming her through the bay window, her heart broke a little more.
They hadn't come.
Cassian, Rhysand, and Azriel hadn't come.
She had waited for them all night with hope, but they had not come.
She had tried to rest and cried so much that she had fallen asleep almost immediately. But she had woken up screaming, crying and sweating an hour later. She had had a nightmare.
She had a nightmare.
The same one she always had. The one where she saw her mother trying to kill her. The one where she killed her parents. The one she did every night. But that she didn't do anymore since she slept with the three Illyrians.
But that night they didn't come.
She ran a hand over her face. She had to pull herself together and stop moping. Cassian had told her they would join her anyway. And despite Azriel and Rhysand's reaction —Cassian had stayed with her and comforted her. And for that reason, she wanted to believe him.
She believed him.
He had told her that all three of them would join her, so they would. It was probably because they had to be busy that they hadn't joined her yet. If Cassian had told her that all three of them would come sleep with her, it meant that despite their reactions, she didn't disgust them.
A smile emerged on her lips and a blush appeared on her cheeks.
Cassian had told her it wasn't her fault. He didn't think she killed her parents. He didn't think she was a monster.
That probably meant Rhysand and Azriel didn't see her that way either.
She was a monster but she was so relieved that they didn't see her like that. She would never have gotten over it otherwise. She didn't want to lose them. She loved them.
She loved them.
She smiled even more as she jumped up on her two feet. She felt so relieved and lightened to have told them about it.
She grimaced for a second at the things she was still hiding from them, but she had already won a big battle.
She shook her head to get her smile back.
She missed them. They might be busy so it will be up to her to go and join them.
She skipped to the shower where she washed herself with blushes as she imagined the things she could do in this room with the three Illyrians. She would have to share her ideas with them.
She quickly put on a simple red dress and pulled her hair into a quick ponytail. And she ran down the stairs at high speed, jumping with excitement. She was so eager to see them again. Her heart was pounding and swollen with such hope, joy and relief that she felt light as a feather.
She was so happy.
They didn't push her away.
They didn't think she was a monster.
She intended to search every room in the house to find them, but she froze and lost a little her smile when she entered the dining room.
The three Illyrians were there, sitting around the table. Rhysand was at the end facing her and the entrance of the room and his brothers on each side around him. They had their eyes downcast and hadn't even looked up when she entered.
Luxiana felt a pang in her heart when she saw the three of them there. They didn't seem particularly busy so why hadn't they come to join her in her room?
She took a deep breath. She was probably worrying for nothing. They probably had their reasons.
And she loved them. She loved them. She wanted to believe them. She trusted them. So, so much.
She regained her smile as she put her hands on her hips in an attempt to look intimidating. “Where were you?” She made a disappointed and sulky face in spite of herself. “I waited for you in my room but you didn’t come. I didn’t sleep well without you.”
Azriel, who had his hands flat on the table, suddenly clenched them into fists, so hard that his knuckles turned white. But he quickly hid them under the table by placing them on his thighs. He couldn't. He couldn't do this. He couldn't. His princess.
Rhysand's muscles tightened as much as all the pieces of his broken heart compressed in his chest. How? How could she be so cheerful and smiling after what she had been through? He didn't deserve her. He didn't deserve her. He didn't deserve her. He didn't deserve her. He didn't deserve her.
Cassian couldn't take it anymore. His teeth were clenched and his chin was shaking. He had cried all night and wanted to cry again. That's why he hadn't managed to join her in her bed. And now Rhys wanted to... But she loved Cassian. She loved him and Cassian loved her too. He hadn't been able to tell her yesterday and wanted to yell at her today but Rhys had forbidden him.
Luxiana frowned as they still didn't notice her but grew worried as she saw Azriel's clenched fists. What was going on?
She hurriedly rounded the table to crouch down next to Azriel, placing a loving hand on his shoulder. "Is something wrong?" she asked softly.
Azriel felt his heart tighten in his chest, sending a pang of pain through him. He couldn't do this to her. He couldn't do this. He knew Rhys was right but he couldn't lose his princess.
He stood up abruptly, knocking his chair over and jumping away from Luxiana. “I can’t,” he shouted, backing away without looking up or looking at his soulmate. He couldn’t. “I can’t, fucking hell, I can’t.” And he teleported away, fleeing the conversation that was about to follow.
Luxiana sat up with eyes wide with surprise and worry. She ran to where Azriel had been a few seconds ago knowing full well that it wouldn't change anything.
She didn't understand. He looked so bad. What couldn't he do?
She turned to Rhys and Cassian who still weren't looking at her. She walked over to stand next to Rhys. "What the hell? What's wrong with him? What's wrong with you? Is he okay?"
Rhysand leaned on the table to slowly stand up, the feet of the chair squeaking on the floor. He lifted his head, puffed out his chest, and kept his chin from shaking as his eyes burned and his heart ached like hell.
He turned to his soulmate and his jaw tightened, clenching a little more as he saw her flinch under his cold gaze.
Luxiana's breath caught and her heart filled with confusion. Rhys had never looked at her like that. So... coldly and meanly. Never. Her heart pinched so much that she had to take a step back to keep from fainting. Had she done something wrong?
“It’s none of your business,” Rhysand spat coldly through gritted teeth. He hated himself so much.
Cassian gripped the armrests with all his might. He would have made eaten their teeth out of anyone who dared to speak to his soulmate like that. But today, he couldn't. Today, he had to play Rhys' stupid game because the lord was right. Because they didn't deserve her. His mind knew it, but his heart, selfishly, hesitated.
They loved each other, why wouldn't that be enough?
Cassian closed his eyes. It wasn't enough because he hadn't saved her. It was Keydan she had to end up with. He had saved her life and made her happy after all.
Luxiana had to blink several times, not believing it. It was the first time he had spoken to her so curtly. Her heart clenched and it showed on her face. It didn't concern her? She had thought they were close. But why did he say it so meanly.
Something was wrong, she was sure of it. She frowned and opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. She didn't know what to say.
Rhys noticed his soulmate's confusion and sadness and his stomach churned. His breathing quickened but he hid it. And he forced himself to shove his hands into his pockets and clench his fists so roughly that he nearly broke his bones. He hated himself.
He sat back down in his chair. He couldn’t look her in the face. He couldn’t stand. “You can go back to Feyre.”
“What?” Luxiana cried in confusion. She shook her head in confusion. “Amren finished translating the book?”
“No.” Rhys grabbed the fabric from inside his pockets, tightening it. “We’ll let Tamlin know when it’s done, but we don’t want you here anymore.”
Luxiana's eyes widened as she took another step back. She felt like her heart was being stabbed. They... They didn't want her to stay with them anymore... “What? But? Why? You were the one who asked me to stay until the book was translated in the first place. Why the sudden change?”
Cassian clapped his hands over his face. He didn't want her to leave but he was alone against Rhys and Azriel's arguments. And he had to admit that they were right. But he was selfish. He wished she would stay. He remembered the conversation they had had just an hour ago. If only he had insisted a little more.
“We can’t keep her here,” Rhys had cried when he’d called his brothers together at dawn. “We can’t protect her from us, from the danger we’re putting her in. We couldn’t save her wings. We couldn’t.”
Azriel still had the traces of his tears on his cheeks and had his shaking hands pressed to his face. “She will be in danger because of us. She does not deserve to suffer. She has already suffered too much.”
“But we love her,” Cassian had tried weakly.
“We couldn’t save her wings,” Rhysand repeated, staring into space. Another tear fell from his eye. “We don’t deserve her.”
“She was tortured for 100 years while we enjoyed our lives, I…” Azriel began, pausing for a second to take a small breath and try not to throw up. “We don’t deserve to be happy. We don’t deserve her. She’ll be better off away from us. She’ll be better off with Feyre. She saved her life, at least.”
Rhysand’s eyes darkened and his breath hitched at the fierce hatred that bubbled inside him. “We now have only one goal.” His voice was filled with anger. “Find the 8 Illyrians who did this to her and torture them for centuries. We will destroy anyone who gets in our way. She better not be here to see it,” his fists clenched on his thighs. “Azriel,” he called out in his high lord voice. “Find those sons of bitches.”
“I’m already on it,” Azriel had assured weakly, partly explaining why his shadows were undulating frantically around him.
“So, are you really going to send her back to Tamlin?” Cassian had asked with concern and sadness. “To Tamlin? Our sworn enemy!”
“She'll be happier and safer there, away from us,” Rhysand had confirmed with a bland look.
“What if she loves us?” Cassian had struggled.
“She can’t love us. We don’t deserve it, and she’ll be happier away from us.” Rhysand repeated as if to convince himself. “Better she go now, before she gets too attached.”
“What if she doesn’t want to leave?” Azriel had tried in a last spark of hope.
“Then we’ll force her to leave,” Rhysand had cried over and over again.
And that's why Cassian cursed himself for not insisting on keeping her close to them. Because his brothers were right. And that's also why he didn't run away like Azriel -even though he was dying to so in pain he was- because he wanted to make sure Rhysand didn't force her to leave by hurting her.
But Rhysand rose from his chair to finally turn to Luxiana and give her a cold look. “We don’t have to give you a reason. You’ve done the service Feyre owed us. You have no business here anymore. Mor is waiting for you in the entrance hall to teleport you to Feyre.” His tongue burned and he had to force himself to speak. “Go away.”
“No, I won’t leave without a reason!” Luxiana insisted, crossing her arms and screwing up her face in a mixture of anger and determination. “You owe me an explanation. I need an explanation and I won’t leave without one!”
Rhysand gritted his teeth in self-loathing at what he was about to say. “I owe you nothing, I am the high lord here and you are lucky I don’t disintegrate for your disobedience,” he spat as sharply as he could as his heart ached.
Luxiana raised an eyebrow in surprise. So he was threatening her now? It was funny that he thought he had enough power to disintegrate her but she didn't like his tone and threats. Not after what they had been through together. “You may be the high lord but I remind you that we slept together so I deserve an explanation!”
Rhysand forced himself not to close his eyes. Why was she making this so complicated and difficult? She needed a reason. He had to make her go away. He hated himself. “Exactly. We only kept you here to fuck you.” He wanted to throw up.
“Rhys!” Cassian called out with a glare. How dare he? He reached out to him in his thoughts. “You’re going too far!”
“She has to go,” Rhys simply answered privately in their minds.
“But she didn’t do anything that deserved you hurting her!” Cassian almost screamed in his brother’s head.
But Luxiana let out a small, condescending laugh without showing any emotion on her face other than hilarity. “Okay, if you want. But that doesn’t explain to me why you want to stop suddenly. I want a reason and I won’t leave without one!”
Then she looked down, losing for a second the superior air she always adopted to not show when she was hurt. She let her fears invade her in spite of herself. “Is it because of what I told you yesterday?”
The hearts of the two Illyrians - and the one of Azriel far away and to whom his shadows showed him what was happening - gave them the impression of breaking for the umpteenth time after this night.
“Don’t even try,” Cassian threatened his lord in his head.
But she had to go. 'She had to go,' Rhysand repeated to himself, unable to listen to his brother, too immersed in his self-loathing and sadness. “Yes. You are an Illyrian without wings. You…,” he choked on his words and his self-loathing, but his stream of words escaped him nonetheless. “You killed your parents. It's your fault. You're a monster.”
“Rhys, damn it!” Cassian slammed his hands down on the table violently as he propelled himself upwards onto his feet. How dare he say that to her? Talk to her like that? Hurt her. He was going to throw himself at him and the shadows of Azriel who were watching the scene were going to throw themselves at the lord as well.
But Luxiana burst out laughing. She had to double over and hold her stomach from laughing so hard. She slapped Rhysand's shoulder in a friendly manner. "You're so cute. You think I'm a monster just because of that? Poor you, you have no idea of all the other horrible things I've done. You have no idea what I'm truly capable of and yet you just think that makes me a monster? You're so cute. How did you survive this far as a high lord and be so kind?"
Cassian's expression faded a little more under the sadness as he stared at his soulmate. She must have suffered so much to be able to not show anything of what she felt after what Rhys had just told her.
Rhysand's chin quivered as his soulmate closed her eyes in laughter. He was so sad that she thought of herself as a monster. He hated himself for making her believe that she really was. "Go away," he repeated in a small voice. "You disgust us. Go away!"
“Holy cow,” Luxiana calmed down gradually, her smile still. “Okay. Okay, no need to be rude. I’m leaving.”
She turned to walk around the table, letting out small giggles as she walked towards the exit of the room. “Oh my.” She quickly turned back to them without stopping. “I had fun with you during this time anyway. It was a pleasure.” But her heart was compressed in a barbed wire.
As she reached the exit of the room, Rhysand was overcome by a wave of horror and sadness. He dropped into his chair and curled up, his hands over his eyes. He didn't want to see her go. He couldn't. He hated himself. He hated himself. But he deserved to be in this much pain.
A flash of adrenaline shot through Cassian. He ran towards his soulmate to stop her by grabbing her arm. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead before moving his mouth to her ear. “I am your wings. Forever and ever. Anywhere, anytime. Don’t forget that.”
Luxiana's heart clenched a little more at Cassian's words and as she watched him leave the house almost running.
She took a deep breath. She had to hold on. She couldn't give in. Not here. And without a backward glance at Rhysand, she set off and joined Mor in the entrance hall.
The second blonde had a sad look and a frown on her face. She grabbed Luxiana's hand in a reassuring gesture. "Come on, let's go. They don't deserve you," she shouted to make sure Rhysand heard her.
She grabbed Luxiana's hand and -although she was a little surprised to see her face so smiling and light- teleported them quickly in front of Tamlin's palace.
Mor huffed as he turned to Luxiana to grab her other hand. She squeezed her 10 fingers, sympathetically. “I’m sorry. He’s too stupid. Don’t listen to what he said to you, he didn’t mean a word of it. I promise.” She couldn’t believe what her cousin had decided. He was just an asshole.
“Thanks, Mor. But don’t worry, it’s okay. I wasn’t here to get attached anyway,” Luxiana replied with a forced smile.
But Feyre and Tamlin appeared before them.
“Luxi!” Feyre cried, running towards her best friend with open arms. “Are you okay?”
No, she wasn't okay. But as if everything she had prevented herself from feeling in front of the three Illyrians, came back to her face at once when she saw her best friend, her heart broke. She fell to her knees as big tears began to flow down her cheeks. She put her hands on her face in shame. "They think I'm a monster," she sobbed with all her body and while her heart and soul felt like they were tearing themselves apart from the inside.
She was hurting. She blamed herself. She shouldn't have loved them. She shouldn't have fallen in love.
Feyre threw herself on her knees in front of her, taking her in her arms to try to comfort her. "What happened?" she tried to find out worriedly.
Luxiana was crying so hard. She shouldn't have. It hurt so much. "They're my soulmates. They're my soul mate and I fell in love with them. They're my soulmates and they think I'm a monster."
And Luxiana was for the second time in her life, completely destroyed and broken.
Hello, here is the chapter 34 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
Luxiana still hides a lot of things but I hope you liked this chapter and appreciated the revelations of the beginning of her past.
Next chapter, Sunday 16 and the three Illyrians will not bear not having been able to save Luxiana's wings.
Thank you again for all your love. I love you !!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
! Don't forget to read the previous chapters ! : Here
🚫 This chapter contains some Trigger Warnings like: vomiting, crying, panic attacks, violence, mention of rape, mention of suicide, torture, blood, and maybe more.🚫
Be careful what you read so you don't hurt yourself.
Chapter 34
Time froze around them as the three Illyrians' breaths caught in their throats.
Her body had been traumatized and injured??
A terrible fear rose in their chests as they widened their eyes a little.
"How so?" Cassian trembled in confusion and apprehension as he took a step towards her. His breathing became rapid.
Rhysand had seen it. He had felt it. He had known from the start that something bad had happened to his soulmate.
Luxiana took a very deep breath before letting it all out. "I'm not human."
The three Illyrians winced, narrowing their eyes. They looked at each other in confusion.
“Excuse me?” Rhysand asked in a whisper.
“I’m not human. I’m fae,” Luxiana assured, fiddling with her fingers in stress.
Azriel's eyes widened. She was telling the truth, and for the first time, his shadows confirmed something about his soulmate. "Fae, fae, fae," they repeated. "You…," he tried to speak but had to pull back as if struck by realization. "You're not human?"
"No."
The sincerity in her pupils struck Rhysand who flinched. She wasn't human. "Are you serious?"
“Yes,” Luxiana agreed sadly.
"What?" Cassian yelled. "But how?" He shook his head. He couldn't believe his eyes, his ears.
The three Illyrians, lost and confused, looked at each other and then suddenly, they realized. Everything made sense. That was why she resisted Rhys' power so well, that she was so strong, that she knew so much about their world but above all, that was why they had immediately felt their soulmate bond clearly from the beginning.
Hope welled up in all three of their chests, exploding in a firework of relief. She was a fae! Their soulmate wasn't human. So her days weren't numbered. She wasn't going to age quickly. Their days with her weren't numbered.
A wide smile emerged on Rhysand's face as he fell to his knees in front of Luxiana. He grabbed the blonde's hands. Her eyes were bright with joy and tears but his relief faded as he noticed the sadness in his soulmate's gaze.
Cassian let out a burst of laughter. He spun around, running his hands through his hair. He was shaking with relief. He suddenly felt so light. He was going to be able to spend centuries with his soulmate. "But why didn't you tell us right away?" he laughed, turning to Luxiana. But he too lost his smile. Why was she sad?
Azriel kept his brow furrowed. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. This didn't make sense. "And why don't you heal yourself then? A fae should heal."
Luxiana's throat was tight. "Because I'm half high fae and half… Illyrian."
Cassian's eyes widened as he found his smile again. "You're Illyrian?!" he exclaimed, overjoyed at what it meant. She was just like them. He lunged toward her to hug her. She was just like them. But he stopped halfway, his expression turning white and faded as his eyes fell on the void in her back where wings should have been.
All three of them tensed up as they stopped breathing as they all realized the same thing. Their chests compressed again. They remembered her words. Her body had been traumatized.
"Please Luxiana," Rhysand pleaded as he realized a little more. "Please tell me you were born without wings."
Luxiana's chin twitched in sadness. A tear rolled down her cheek as the look she gave Rhysand answered him silently. "I ripped them out. I had to rip them out."
The world felt like it was collapsing on the three Illyrians, their shoulders hunched.
Rhysand fell onto his butt as fear gradually took over his face.
Cassian had to take several steps back, shaking his head. "What?" he managed to say. He had misheard. He had misheard.
Azriel was completely frozen. He felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing. He didn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. He couldn't believe it. It would destroy him. It was a nightmare.
Luxiana lowered her eyes as large tears began to flow down her cheeks. "It's my fault you know?" And she couldn't hold back the flood of words from her heavy heart anymore. "My mother was Illyrian. She had her wings clipped when she was young so when she had me, with my father, they decided to move away from the Illyrian camps. My father was originally from the Winter Court. They met in a trading town by chance and they had been soulmates. They had known it right away. But my father was a high fae so their relationship was not very well seen by the Illyrians and the other fae. And there was no way their child would suffer from it. So when my mother found out she was pregnant, they isolated themselves in a small house in the Illyrian mountains. They built a house with their hands and had me. I had skin as pale as my father's. I had hair as white as his. And my wings…," She blurted out
a sad little laugh. “They were just as white.”
“My mother gave birth during the night and with all that white I had on me, she felt like I was lighting them up. That's why they called me 'Luxiana', it means light."
The three Illyrians were completely still, eyes wide and breathless. They could barely hear what her soulmate was encountering, yet their brains memorized every word she said. She had wings. Something horrible like pure terror rose in their stomachs.
Luxiana looked at them with her eyes blurred with tears and she didn't know what to think of their reactions. Did they hold a grudge against her? "I didn't really lie to you when I told you about my parents, you know. My mother was overprotective of me and wouldn't let me go out too much to protect my wings. Hers had been cut off so she kept telling me that my wings were the most precious thing in the world. But I didn't understand. I hated that she only let me fly for a few minutes, tied to a rope so that I wouldn't run away. I didn't understand so I really ran away when I was 8 years old. I flew for so long and so far. I just wanted to fly and see the world. I finally felt so good and so free. So much."
Then her little smile faded. "I flew over the next town and I wanted to see it so much as there was a bustle in the streets. People were laughing and having fun. So I landed. I wandered around in wonder for a bit, maybe for hours just looking at everything."
She paused, taking a deep, shaky breath. “Then I ran into a group of Illyrians. And when they saw my white wings... Disgust and fear ran through them. But I was too young to understand what it was. And... that’s when my parents found me. And when the group of Illyrians realized my parents were bound... They..."
She started crying even harder. "There were 8 of them, they jumped on us. My parents couldn't do anything. They broke my dad's neck because of me. Because I ran away. I still remember the sound his neck bone made when it broke. I still remember his eyes clouding over when the life left his heart. And I remember my mother's piercing scream."
And Luxiana sobbed. “And they took my mother and me away. They locked us in a dark, damp cave. I was tied by the wrists and ankles and by my wings with big stakes in them and chains embedded in the stone wall. They...”
She spoke fast. Very fast. She didn't want to remember this. She wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Why was she telling them this anyway? She didn't want to talk about it. She let out a loud, violent sob. Her face was filled with tears and contorted with sadness and guilt. "They... They said I was a monster with my white wings and my mixed blood. They visited us almost every day, and..."
She couldn't breathe. "They broke all my bones and my wings over and over and over again. They put them back in place so they could heal properly and so they could break them again. And you'd think you'd get used to the pain but you didn't. It hurt so much more each time. And my wings," she couldn't breathe. "They would rip my wings off my shoulder blades leaving just a little inch of skin attached. And they would glue them back to my back so I would heal and when it did, they would rip them off again. I was in pain. So much pain all the time. And I was screaming my eyes out but no one would help me. No one ever came to help us."
Cassian was shaking so much he was vibrating. Azriel was shaking his head vigorously refusing to listen. Rhysand moved a little away from Luxiana, sliding to the ground.
They couldn't believe it. They didn't want to believe it. Their stomachs were so upset they wanted to throw up. Their hearts hurt. So much that they couldn't breathe. They couldn't think of anything because they were in shock but they were in so much pain.
Their faces were full of horror and fear but they were in so much pain in their hearts, muscles and souls. They were in agony and felt like they were being torn apart from the inside. But they were just completely paralyzed and unable to move, speak or think.
Luxiana began to cry even harder. She clenched her fists on her thighs, clutching her dress in her hands. She felt like she was suffocating. Her heart was in pieces with the memories. It was so long ago and she could usually talk about it without crying, without feeling anything anymore, but there, in front of them, she felt so worthless, so weak, so disgusting. In front of them, her wounds seemed to reopen and make her suffer martyrdom.
“But what they did to my mother,” she tried to resume. She had to clamp her hand over her mouth to stop herself from throwing up. “They raped her to ‘teach’ her. They broke her and in the end, she couldn’t take it anymore. In the end, she…,”
Luxiana cried even louder, almost screaming. She felt like she was dying, again. "She had come to hate me. I had killed my father, her soulmate. She cried all the time and she kept telling me it was my fault. And it was my fault."
Luxiana put her hand on her heart that was hurting her as she leaned forward to try to get air. She felt like she was dying. Her body hurt everywhere. She couldn't breathe anymore. She was in pain. "It lasted for years. I counted every day to try not to go crazy. But..."
She shook her head, closing her eyes. “On the day of the 100th year, I quit.”
The three Illyrians' eyes widened a little more. Cassian fell onto his knees. Rhysand stood up suddenly and stepped back sharply, placing his two hands on his mouth. And Azriel let out a tearless sob, putting his hands on his thighs to keep from falling. "You were tortured for 100 years?" the spymaster managed to say in a strangled voice but without really realizing.
All three of them were in complete shock and it was the only thing keeping them from completely collapsing.
“I stopped counting after 100 years,” Luxiana replied, sobbing. “I don’t know how long it lasted in the end. I don’t even really know how old I am. They broke my bones so many times that I couldn’t grow in that time. I was still a child physically.”
“But one day... One day, I couldn't take it anymore. I... They had broken my wrists and ankles in such a way that the chains had slipped from it. I was now only attached by my wings and it had been a few days since they had visited us so I had been able to heal my bones a little. So I…”
Luxiana raised her head, trying not to regret her decision, trying to look proud. But her chin was shaking, her body was broken, and her hot tears were burning her cheeks. “I took one of my wings in my hand. It had healed completely and reattached itself to my back in just a few days. So I… I had to rip it all off again myself. I pulled and pulled, screaming in pain. It took me hours, maybe days, to completely remove both of them…”
"I think that with all the times they had torn off my wings a little, my body had healed in a certain way so that I would not bleed out. I was bleeding a lot but much less. I was exhausted, I had so much pain in my body and my heart. And I screamed and cried looking at my beautiful bloody white wings, attached to the wall, hanging there vulgarly like a vulgar garment.”
A tear rolled down Cassian's cheek as his entire body was paralyzed with fear, horror, and dread. Rhysand clamped both of his shaking hands over his mouth to keep from screaming. Azriel swallowed the bile rising in his mouth. He was going to throw up. His heart was breaking.
“But I managed to crawl to my mother. I untied her but... but she had gone completely crazy. She hated me so much... The mad look in her eyes... She threw herself at me and strangled me to try to kill me. And I was crying and I let her do it. But at the last moment, she... She stopped. She got up and grabbed one of the knives they had left there. She told me one last time with disgust that it was all my fault, that she hated me, and she slit her throat in front of me.”
Luxiana couldn't breathe anymore. She was crying so loudly that she almost shouted her words.
And the three Illyrians couldn't breathe either. Their faces were now twisted with sadness and horror as tears silently streamed down their faces.
“I... I didn’t know what to do. I was all alone. I was all alone. My parents died because of me.” She clutched the skin on her neck, making red marks. She hated herself. She wanted to tear her skin off. “So I finally got out of the cave and ran. I ran for hours until I collapsed somewhere in the middle of a gloomy forest. I had lost so much blood. I was so tired. I was in so much pain everywhere. I thought I wasn’t going to wake up and I finally felt the peace I had in a long time knowing that it was going to end. I was so relieved to die.”
“But when I woke up, I was still alive.” Surprisingly, Luxiana calmed down a bit. Her tears became less frequent and she was able to breathe again as she remembered. “Someone had saved me and spent months trying to heal me naturally since my body wouldn’t heal anymore and his magic wasn’t healing me. He healed me physically and a little mentally too.”
She took deep breaths, her heart healing like HE had healed hers. "But he couldn't keep me around, it was too dangerous for me. So he dropped me off on the other side of the wall with the humans. He gave me money and explained what to do, but I was still eight years old in my head and I was only just starting to grow physically. Since I wasn't healing anymore, he figured the human realm was safer, so he left me there. All alone. But..."
“But I had no reason to live anymore. My body was almost completely healed but it still hurt so much. I couldn't walk straight and stand for long without my wings and most importantly, I didn't have my wings anymore. I didn't have my parents anymore. I had nothing left anymore. No reason to live anymore. I... I just wanted it all to stop.” Big silent tears ran down the cheeks of the four. “I just wanted to die.”
“So I headed straight. And I walked aimlessly. Then I came to the top of a huge cliff where powerful waves from the sea were crashing a few meters below.”
“I walked towards the edge. The fall would have been fatal. And I started to smile a little while taking a deep breath. I was so relieved. It was going to be over. And I jumped. But someone grabbed my arm and pulled me up. Feyre. She was crying. She was as small as me and she was yelling at me that if I jumped then she would jump too. That she couldn’t take it anymore either but that there were people who were counting on her to live. She was as unhappy and sad as I was. So, I… I don’t know, I told myself that my death could
waiting and that... No one had come to save me... But... maybe I could be that person for Feyre. I knew what it felt like to be sad. It hurt so much and I didn't want her to feel like that.”
“So I helped Feyre. I taught her what my mother had taught me. How to hunt, how to skin, how to pick the right plants… And I tried to find a job to give her the money, during the time I taught her all that, and the time to finish it all. And that’s when I met Keydan, Jasper and all the others. I got attached to them and I got a little taste for life again. With Feyre, they helped me, soothed me and made me happy. Keydan…, "
Luxiana had stopped crying as she looked down at her silver bracelet with blue stones. She took it in her fingers and stroked it. "To make me feel better and to forget a little... Keydan gave me this. It's a magical artifact that hides what you want to hide."
She gripped the clasp and opened the bracelet to remove it. A blistered scar appeared on her thigh, another on her stomach… Deep wounds that had been burned. But it was the one on her back that hurt the most.
She turned around to kneel on the bed and turn her back to the Illyrians. She passed
her hair on her shoulder and the hearts of the three males were permanently torn apart, creating a horrible, deep and unhealable rift in their souls.
Two scars - surprisingly wing-shaped - disfigured both of their soulmate's shoulder blades.
She had had wings. She had had wings and she had to tear them off. She had been
physically and mentally tortured for over 100 years.
Luxiana put her bracelet back on and the scars disappeared.
Azriel couldn't take it. He was going to throw up. He was in so much pain but he didn't want her to see him so weak. He couldn't be strong for her. He couldn't. He was in so much pain. He had to throw up.
So he started running. He stormed out of the room and into his own. He threw himself into his bathroom, onto his toilet, and started throwing up.
Images of her soulmate as a little girl screaming in pain as her bones were broken or her wings were torn off bloomed in his mind. Her face in tears as they raped her mother in front of her eyes. The horrible guilt that had probably destroyed her because of her mother's words that had failed to keep a cool head.
He had been locked up for a few years, he had felt so bad, so alone. And then his soulmate had lived much worse than what he had lived. She had been tortured for so long. By the gods. Why??
And he threw up even more with all his might. He threw up everything he had violently while his heart felt like it was being torn apart. His chest was on fire, his body was shaking and he was crying. My god, for over 100 years.
Her little, sunny, cute, adorable soulmate had waited over 100 years for someone to come and save her. But no one had come. No one.
Azriel hadn't found her. Azriel hadn't known. His shadows knew everything but they had never told him about her soulmate.
Her little princess. She had to tear off her wings.
Azriel was sobbing violently and loudly over the toilet. And he was crying even harder. His eyes had never cried so much. He had never been in so much pain. Why was life so unfair? Why had it been so cruel to his little soulmate? She was just an innocent child.
An innocent child.
Azriel was still throwing up. And he was crying and he was screaming. He hadn't been there for her.
He felt bad about it.
He hated himself.
And Azriel was crying. He was crying.
When Cassian saw the scars on his soulmate's back, everything became more real, more tangible. Everything. His soulmate had lost everything and she felt guilty.
She had to tear off her wings to save her mother. She had to be so brave. So strong. Cassian could never have. He could have torn off an arm but not his wings. Not his freedom. Not his ability to fly.
As Azriel left the room, Cassian noticed the sad look on his soulmate's face, who now felt like crying again. She needed them. She needed help.
Cassian glanced at Rhysand but the lord was crying, his eyes wide, his hands over his mouth as he stood there pinned in the middle of the room. He wouldn't be able to help Luxiana.
As a bolt of adrenaline shot through Cassian, he helped himself up. He was shaking but clenched his muscles and gritted his teeth to keep it from showing. He took a deep breath and stopped crying to angrily rub his tears away. He had only cried a few times in his life but never this much.
He approached Luxiana with a heavy, rigid step to grab her arm and slide his hand to the blonde's.
Luxiana stood up on her two feet, looking at Cassian with intrigue and confusion, but the Illyrian pulled her to the balcony. He turned her around, wrapped his arms around her stomach to stick his torso to the young woman's back. And Cassian flew into the starry sky.
Luxiana let out a small cry of surprise as she tried to cling to Cassian's arms as best she could as the void and town spread out beneath her. She glanced over her shoulder at him. "What are you doing?"
Cassian pulled her a little tighter against him. "I'll be your wings." He looked calm but his heart was beating fast and painfully in his chest as he saw adrenaline burning throughout his body. But thanks to that at least he was standing. For now.
Luxiana's eyes widened at the Illyrian's words. Her heart skipped a beat. "What?"
Cassian landed on the square concrete roof of one of the houses. He set Luxiana on her feet and released her.
She turned back to him with her eyebrows furrowed but the traces of tears on her cheeks struck Cassian with sadness.
He cupped his soulmate's face to wipe her tears with his thumbs. "I'll be your wings, Luxiana. No matter the time, the moment, the place, if you ask me to take you flying, I'll do it. No matter if we love each other, if we hate each other. No matter if we blame each other for something or if we argue, if you ask me to take you flying, I'll do it. Even if I don't agree on where you want to go, even if it's dangerous, even if we could die. Even if I lose my wings too, I'll take you there, Luxiana."
The blonde gasped. Her eyes widened and her heart began to beat for Cassian at his words and the sincerity in his irises.
"I will be your wings forever and ever," he whispered to her. Despite himself, a tear fell from his eyes. He gritted his teeth, cursing himself for not being able to hold it back, but the sadness he saw in his soulmate's eyes hurt so much. "Forgive me," he asked, placing a kiss on her forehead.
Luxiana frowned. "Why?"
"Forgive me for not being there. Forgive me for not coming to save you. Forgive me for not being able to save your wings. Forgive me for not knowing what to do to make you feel better."
Luxiana wanted to speak, shaking her head, but Cassian put his thumb on her lips to stop her. "In any case, my heart, it's normal to break down after what your mother went through, but you weren't wrong. It wasn't your fault," he assured her, shaking her gently to emphasize his words.
Luxiana's face contorted further and her chin began to tremble as tears began to stream down her cheeks again.
“It’s not your fault,” Cassin repeated. “You were just a child with wings, locked in a cage and couldn’t fly. You couldn’t predict what was going to happen. You had every right to want to leave and be free and fly. It’s so cruel to lock up a being with wings.”
Several people had said that to Luxiana before, but it had never impacted and soothed her as much as when it was Cassian who told her. The bruised heart inside her exploded as much as she burst into tears. She threw herself at Cassian to bury her face in his chest and take him in her arms.
Cassian hugged her tightly. "I'll never let anyone hurt you again. Ever. I promise."
And he reassured her and soothed her for several minutes, stroking her back and her hair. And Luxiana calmed down to breathe deeply as she had never breathed before.
But Cassian was just waiting to collapse.
Then the Illyrian took her flying. And he did everything she asked him to do.
Luxiana was testing him to see if he was truly sincere, if he would truly be her wings until the end. She asked him to fly high into the sky, very high to reach the stars. Then she asked him to let them fall.
And as she and Cassian fell heavily towards the ground, Luxiana closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling of peace and freedom that invaded her. She opened her arms and cried out a laugh, which didn't even make Cassian smile.
He felt so bad.
He held her tight against him but the closer the ground got, the more surprised Luxiana was to see that Cassian wasn't flapping his wings to save them.
And Cassian wouldn't, not until Luxiana asked him to. He had failed to save her, he wouldn't fail to be her wings. Even if it meant they both crashed to the ground.
But at the last moment, Luxiana asked him to straighten up and he did so. And Luxiana understood, shedding tears. She understood that she had just found her wings back.
Suddenly, a shockwave hit her as a huge explosion of dark power erupted into a large ball of darkness miles away from where they were. As they looked towards it, they could see a dome of power unleashing itself and destroying everything miles away from where they were.
"What is this?" Luxiana asked as she felt a cold sweat run down her spine at the immense power she could feel that was destroying everything.
Cassian tensed a little more and gritted his teeth. "Nothing. It's nothing, don't worry about it."
He continued to fly Luxina but he knew it was not nothing.
It was something because it was Rhysand.
Rhysand had vaguely seen Cassian take his soulmate out onto the balcony and into the air. But when his brain had realized that Luxiana was gone, his body had given out.
His power was raging inside him. He couldn't stay there. He was crying and sobbing so much that he couldn't breathe. He was dying.
He teleported far away. Far away in the middle of an area he knew was dry, fertile and uninhabited for miles. He fell to his knees.
He was shaking, his heart feeling like it was really going to tear apart. He grabbed his chest, pinching his bare skin between his fingers and marking it with a red mark. He wanted to tear the skin off.
He hated himself. He was suffocating. He doubled over, putting his forehead on the ground. He cried and screamed. He wanted to hurt himself. As much hurt and pain as his soulmate had felt.
His soul mate.
He didn't deserve her. His little, adorable, tender, sunny and joyful soul mate.
That was why she talked so much, to not give herself time or opportunity to think about what had happened to her. How horrible.
He screamed through gritted teeth, tensing every muscle in his jaw and neck. He was crying so hard, he felt like he was drowning. His power was surging through him, burning his soul. He tried to focus on it to control it, but he couldn't.
He could only think of his soulmate and the wings she had to tear off to save herself. All because Rhysand had failed to save her.
He hated himself. He had been locked up in the mountain for 50 years, but she had been locked up over 100 years ago. If he hadn't spent his time frolicking and having fun, he could have looked for his soulmate. Maybe he could have saved her.
By heavens, he was having fun, living, and sleeping with other women while his soulmate was being tortured for years.
He put his hand over his mouth, his stomach was so destroyed that he wanted to throw up. He was crying so hard that his body was shaking.
He vaguely noticed the bands of his power swirling around him in a tornado of darkness.
He begged the heavens to calm down but he couldn't.
He felt so sad. The horror he had lived through for fifty years was nothing compared to what his soulmate had lived through. And she had only been a child. Just a child and he had not been able to save her.
His power expanded a little more as did the anger that emerged in his body along with his sadness.
He slammed his forehead on the ground repeatedly. How could he have let her down like that? He had failed her. His soulmate.
His horrible asshole father had saved his mother's wings, his soulmate's, but he, he hadn't even been able to. He hadn't even been able to when they hadn't cut his soulmate's wings. No, they had done much worse. They had forced her to rip them off. What kind of monster was he then compared to his father?
What kind of monster was he to his soulmate?
He didn't deserve her. He had betrayed her.
He grabbed one of his wings in his hand and began to pull with all his might. He screamed and stopped. God, it hurt so much. So much. But he should tear them off. He had to! He didn't deserve to fly when his soulmate couldn't.
He didn't deserve to have wings when he failed to save her. He didn't deserve them when he failed to change the Illyrians' mindsets about women and half-bloods.
My god, the Illyrians hated him so much that maybe they took out their hatred of him on Luxiana since she was like him. Maybe she suffered so much because of him.
Because of him.
It was all his fault. He strained his arm muscles and fingers against his wings, nearly breaking his bones. He should pull. He should rip them off. But he let go of his wings abruptly. He couldn't. He was such a coward compared to her.
She had to tear off her own wings.
He wasn't breathing anymore. They had forced her to rip off her own wings and tortured her just because she was half-fae, half-Illyrian. She had committed no crime. None, and these Illyrians dared to torture her.
These Illyrians.
Rhysand's eyes turned black as his power exploded in a tidal wave of darkness that annihilated everything for miles around into dust.
He screamed at the top of his lungs as his power exploded, propelling out of himself to destroy everything.
These Illyrians.
The Illyrians.
He hated them all.
But those who had dared to touch his soul mate, he was going to find them.
And what he would do to them would be far more terrible than the worst torture this world had ever seen. He was going to make them suffer so much that it would traumatize the world for centuries. He was going to hurt them so much. So much.
The world went black around Rhysand and in his heart. He was going to destroy everything. He was going to get revenge.
But his soulmate, he didn't deserve her. They didn't deserve her and there's nothing they can do to change that.
It was too late.
He could never look her in the face again. He didn't deserve her. He had failed her.
Cassian dropped Luxiana off on her room's balcony after she asked him to. After they had been flying for hours.
Luxiana hugged him with all her strength and Cassian hugged her twice as hard. His muscles were contracting on their own and he was shaking. His body was going to give out on him.
"Cassian," Luxiana called, lifting her head slightly from the Illyrian's chest to look him in the eyes.
Cassian forced himself to smile at her gently. "Yes, my dear?" he asked, trying not to make his voice shake as his throat felt like it was being held in barbed wire.
She didn't break the embrace to look at him with shining eyes as she rested her chin on his chest, her neck bent in two to look at his eyes.
His brown eyes were so beautiful... “I love you,” she confessed.
Cassian's eyes widened as the racing beat of his heart stopped entirely. His already short breath caught in his throat.
"I fell in love with you. I love you," she buried her face in Cassian's chest as her heart lightened. She had managed to tell one of them. After all, she had loved them for a long time and she hadn't told them because she was afraid of what they would think of her after she revealed her past to them. But Cassian hadn't left her. Cassian had become her wings. She was in love with him.
Her heart pinched as she thought of the other two. But Cassian had stayed. “I don’t expect an answer. I just wanted to tell you.” She pulled away from him and he couldn’t even hold her back.
Cassian was completely still, paralyzed.
No, no, no.
She couldn't love him. Not after he had failed to save her. Save her wings. He didn't deserve her love. He had failed to save her wings. God. He couldn't take it anymore. He was going to break. He couldn't stay here.
“Thank you for what you did. Thank you for being my wings. It felt so good,” Luxiana admitted with a smile and a blush.
Cassian managed to lean down and place a kiss on his soulmate's cheek. He barely heard her. "Go to sleep."
He took a step to the side, turning towards the emptiness of the balcony, but Luxiana grabbed his arm. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concern in a pleading, cute pout. "You're not sleeping with me?" She glanced inside her room, disappointed not to see the other two there.
"We'll join you," Cassian assured simply. "You've cried a lot, you need to rest. We'll join you," he repeated automatically before flying away and leaving his soulmate there, arms dangling.
He flew at full speed to the House of Wind, shaking more and more with each passing second. He nearly broke down the front door to run and throw himself at the mini bar. He uncorked a fresh bottle of their strongest liquor and downed it in one gulp.
He grimaced at the acrid taste of the liquid sliding down his throat. He dropped the empty bottle to the floor and drained another and another.
He needed to forget. He didn't want to think about it. No, no, no. His soulmate. Her wings. Her wings. Shit.
He ran to the roof of the house, fleeing his thoughts. He threw himself on a wooden dummy that was normally used for handling weapons. But he started hitting the wood with his fists directly.
He was hitting with all his might, with all his might. The pain in his fists and on his torn knuckles couldn't even distract him from his thoughts.
They had taken her wings. It’s the most important thing for an Illyrien. They had taken the wings of his soulmate. His soulmate.
He remembered her face when she told him she loved him. She loved him.
She loved him.
He smiled as he let his arms fall to his sides. But his smile faded. She loved him even though he had failed to protect her. Save her.
They had tortured a child, her soulmate, for centuries. She had been waiting for someone to come and save her and no one had come.
The adrenaline he could feel pounding through his veins, burning him, stopped suddenly.
And Cassian collapsed. He collapsed.
He fell to his knees, as big tears flowed from his eyes. He cried silently, placing his hands on his face.
Knowing that his soulmate had been tortured, broken. Literally. They had broken every single one of his bones for no reason. None. They had destroyed her.
She must have suffered so much. She must have been in so much pain to feel at peace as death approached.
She must have felt so bad to want to die.
He was crying with all his body. My god. His soulmate had wanted to die. My god. She had wanted to die and if that person hadn't saved her, if Feyre hadn't saved her, she would have killed herself.
He could never have met his soulmate. He could never have known her. He could never have loved her.
My God what would he have done if he hadn't known her. He couldn't have lived without her.
By the cauldron, if she hadn't torn off her wings, she might still be down there.
It was only 10 years ago. My god. 3/4 of his life, maybe even more, had been nothing but physical and psychological torture.
No, no, no. She didn't deserve this.
Cassian couldn't breathe anymore. His heart hurt so much.
When his mother had abandoned him, he had felt so bad, so disgusting, so alone, so guilty. So Luxiana must have felt all of that amplified.
She had suffered more than him for so long. Why?
For what?
For what?
She must have felt so bad, so alone, so guilty. His soulmate. She must have always been in so much pain. And no one could ever save her enough to stop her from hurting. She will always be in pain. Her soulmate. He was crying so much.
Cassian's soul felt like it was being torn apart along with his heart.
He grabbed his hair in his fists. He was in so much pain. He felt like he was going crazy.
Hello, here is the chapter 33 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
Luxiana still hides a lot of things but I hope you liked this chapter and appreciated the revelations of the beginning of her past.
Next chapter, Sunday 16 and the three Illyrians will not bear not having been able to save Luxiana's wings.
Thank you again for all your love. I love you !!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
! Don't forget to read the previous and following chapters ! : Here
Chapter 33
The three Illyrians were stationed in the great reception hall of the House of Wind. People were bustling around them dancing, talking and laughing as they waited for the Starfall.
But Rhysand, Cassian and Azriel were just waiting for their soulmate. They were so impatient to see her arrive and to show her the Starfall. She had spent the day with Mor and Amren because they had to prepare the reception and do other things but they had missed Luxiana terribly.
And when, at last, she entered the room - accompanied by Mor and Amren and as she talked and laughed with them - the three Illyrians gasped.
It wasn't because Amren was also smiling and responding to their soulmate as if they were best friends that the air was no longer entering the lungs of the three males.
No, it was because their soulmate was the most beautiful woman they had ever seen.
They knew they thought that every time they saw her but now she was even more beautiful. They felt so lucky.
Luxiana wore one of the most beautiful dresses that Rhys' mother had created. A black silk dress. The flowing fabric hung loosely on her legs and around her. Her low-cut made the three Illyrians’ heads turn. When she turned around in circles to admire with wonder every corner of the room, they could see her magnificent bare back completely exposed and where only silver straps criss crossed to hold the front of the dress.
Her hair was curled and pulled into a sophisticated bun. But it was the way her eyes were made up in black -making her blue pupils shine a little brighter- and her gorgeous red-painted lips that were already making the three Illyrians hard.
When she laid eyes on the three of them, their hearts melted in their chests as they saw her jump for joy and bring a radiant smile to her face. She rushed towards them, leaving Mor and Amren behind and almost pushing people out of her way.
Luxiana threw her head into Rhysand's chest, opening her arms wide to grab Azriel and Cassian at her sides and hugging them close to Rhys.
The three of them laughed tenderly and were about to return that strange hug but she was so excited she already straightened up and took a step away. "I missed you today!" she confessed with an adorable and slightly sad pout.
Azriel smiled, running his finger under Luxiana's chin. "Sorry, princess. We had things to do."
"We had to prepare all this," Cassian said, pointing to the celebration around them. "But it was worth it if it allowed us to see you like this." He leered at the blonde's body, licking his lips. He wanted to make love to her in that dress.
"He's right," Rhysand confirmed, leaning forward to kiss her. He groaned as he placed his lips chastely on hers as his mouth tickled at the touch and as he had been thinking about nothing but kissing her since he had seen her lips painted red. "You are... the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," he assured as he straightened up.
Luxiana's cheeks were flushed red as she smiled with wide, bright eyes as she looked at the lord. Her heart was racing in her chest. She brought her fingers to her lips. "In front of everyone?" she asked as she looked around at the people who were giving her surprised glances as they spoke in hushed tones about the relationship she might have with the lord.
"It's no secret that we care about you, princess. And we want to show it," Azriel breathed, leaning forward to kiss the blonde in return. Then he whispered to her with a smile. "You're ours, anyway."
Cassian smirked as he leaned down to Luxiana to kiss her lips as well. "Everyone needs to know," he confirmed his brother's words.
Luxiana blushed so much that she couldn't breathe because she was so hot. Her heart swelled pleasantly in her chest. The three of them had kissed her in front of all these people without embarrassment, without shame, to prove to everyone that she was only theirs. Luxiana's body vibrated a little too much knowing that.
At her head, the three Illyrians laughed tenderly.
Rhysand calmed down to give her hand to her. "Come on, it's going to be time for the Starfall. I know a more private balcony to watch it."
The blonde grabbed his hand and followed them upstairs, talking happily about the events they were about to watch and what it was. She had read so many books about it that she knew a lot about its history and what it was and she wanted to make sure that the Illyrians did too so they could enjoy it to the fullest. And then, her parents told her about this Starfall every time the three of them watched it.
The three Illyrians couldn't help but feel their chests swell with joy and a sense of peace as they heard their soulmate speak cheerfully and display her knowledge. How they had missed her today, damn it. They would never get tired of hearing her talk for hours on end.
They guided her to a balcony away from the others and the hustle and bustle, leaving the four of them under the starry sky.
Luxiana's eyes were as bright as the sky she was looking at. She threw herself onto the barrier to grab it. She started jumping up and down, grinning with all her teeth. "I'm super excited." But she couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia and sadness deep in her heart that she did everything she could to hide. The last time she had seen this Starfall was with her parents. "It's going to be beautiful!" she shouted to stifle her thoughts.
“It couldn’t be as beautiful as you,” Cassian whispered to her, coming up behind her to wrap his arms around her. He placed his palms on her stomach and pulled her close, pressing her back to his chest.
Luxiana threw him a blushing glance over her shoulder but ended up slumping into his arms, enjoying the well-being that was taking hold of her.
Rhysand positioned himself beside them, placing one hand on the railing and the other on Luxiana's hand on the metal. She then turned her palm upwards to wrap her fingers with the lord's.
Azriel then placed himself on the other side and grabbed his soulmate's free hand to bring it to his lips, kiss it and keep her hand in his while caressing it with his thumb.
“It’s about to begin,” Rhysand signaled, pointing the sky to Luxiana with his eyes.
And when Luxiana set her eyes on the starry sky, the falling of the stars began. The blonde's eyes widened as her breath caught at the beauty of it all.
The three Illyrians glanced at the sky but, unable to resist, they lowered their pupils towards their soulmate to look at her and delight in her expressions. For them, she was a much more beautiful sight than the rain of stars after all.
It had been fifty years since Rhysand had seen that Starfall and only the cauldron knew how much he had missed it. But now that he was here, it didn't really matter anymore. Because what he wanted to look at more than anything else now was his soulmate.
"It's so beautiful," Luxiana managed to breathe as she took in the flying souls in the sky. Then she looked down at the memories that flooded her. Her parents could have continued to see this beautiful spectacle if she hadn't killed them.
Azriel and Rhysand frowned as they noticed her sudden sadness.
"Why do I think this makes you sad?" Rhysand asked, letting go of her hand to place his own on his soulmate's cheek.
Luxiana bit the inside of her cheek as her stomach twisted. She hesitated. Should she tell them? She really liked them. She wanted to tell them so much. For them to know everything about her. Without being able to think about it anymore, she opened her mouth to speak, to tell them everything. "Because..." But she was interrupted by a piece of star that crashed into her face with all its strength.
She cried out in surprise as she stepped back, forcing Cassian to release her. Luxiana's eyes widened and she brought her hand to her cheek before looking at her fingers and seeing silver stardust there.
The three Illyrians now in front of her, their backs to the barricade, gasped at the beauty of their soulmate with a piece of star on her cheek. They burst out laughing as they felt so happy. She was so beautiful.
She then burst out laughing with them. "I think the stars are trying to kill me."
“Oh no,” Cassian laughed, “I think they’re trying to make you even more beautiful.”
"It makes your freckles shine," Rhysand assured him with a glint in his eye.
Luxiana shook her head, smiling. She was about to rub the powder on her face with her hand but Azriel grabbed her to stop her.
"No wait, don't do this," he begged. "Give me time to memorize this moment forever in my memory first."
Luxiana could still feel her heart exploding in her chest. But suddenly, star projectiles machine-gunned the three Illyrians, making them retreat under the blows.
Cassian got hit in the ass by a gust of dust. Azriel was hit in the face and hair, as if he had done a brilliant gray coloration.
Rhysand managed to deploy his power to form a shield around himself but when the attack stopped and he lowered his shield, he got a trail of dust directly between his eyes.
He froze for a second as he realized that the stars had waited until he stopped protecting himself to attack him. He burst out laughing.
Azriel looked up at the sky and the stars with a jaded look. His hair was full of them. "Really?" he asked the sky.
“They shot at my ass!!!” Cassian huffed, trying to see his silver dust-filled buttocks by glancing under his arm and under his wing. “My ass, damn it.”
Luxiana burst out laughing, forcing the Illyrians to look back at her. She openly mocked them as she could barely breathe from laughing so hard. "Okay, I get it now," she said, holding her stomach. "I want to etch this moment into my memory too. I'll ask Feyre to paint it."
The three of them couldn't believe their eyes. They froze. She was so beautiful and she wanted to etch all three of them into her memory.
Rhysand felt his heart explode. "I love you," he confessed to her suddenly.
Cassian and Azriel gave him a wide look filled with surprise before understanding. They understood. They too wanted to shout that they were madly in love with her and had a hard time not doing it but it was much too soon. They then turned their eyes to Luxiana to see her reaction.
She stopped laughing gradually as she straightened up and adopted a slightly surprised and confused look. She glanced behind her, towards the inside of the building, as if she might think Rhysand was talking to someone else. She was out of breath but it wasn't because of her laughter, it was because of what Rhys had just said. It made her body tremble, it shook her heart and it burned her eyes. "What?" she asked in disbelief.
Rhysand smirked, his eyes never leaving his soulmate's. "I've fallen in love with you, Luxiana," he repeated softly, shrugging.
Luxiana gasped, her eyes widening a little more. Her heart began to explode in all directions in her chest, making her whole body tickle while butterflies gave her the impression of walking in her stomach. She couldn't help but have a big smile on her face as she felt pure happiness invade her.
He was in love with her? Luxiana couldn't take it anymore. She suddenly felt so happy as she had never been before.
She took a deep breath. She loved him too. She loved them too. She opened her mouth to tell them but she stopped in her tracks before a sound could come out. She looked down, frowning as she realized that, in the end, he knew nothing about her. He didn't know who she was, what she was, and all the horrible things she had done.
Could they then truly love her knowing everything she was hiding? She would love to so much. But it was not possible. However, a sliver of hope awoke in her heart. She then seized this spark with all her strength to cling to it and feed with it. She opened her mouth and went to reveal everything to them, hoping that Rhysand would still love her after this, but the lord interrupted her by raising his hand between them.
“Don’t say anything, please,” he begged.
“What? But... Why?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
Rhysand felt so anxious. He didn't want to know what she thought. Maybe she could tell him she loved him too but… what if she didn't? What if she told him she didn't love him? He wouldn't be able to get over it. It was cowardly, he knew that. But he didn't want her to tell him anything. He was too afraid of the answer. He wasn't ready yet. "I just wanted to tell you, Luxi. I just wanted you to know. That's all."
"But..." Luxiana tried, so Rhysand threw himself on her to kiss her full on the lips.
Although she was surprised, she still ended up kissing him back. Rhysand was a little calmed down. She wasn't pushing him away despite what he had just told her. She wasn't rejecting him.
They eventually broke apart and Luxiana was out of breath. "Can I talk now?"
Rhysand smiled. "Not if it's about what I just said."
“But…,” Luxiana tried pleadingly.
"No, or I'll have to make you forget what you want to say."
"Let me help you make her forget, brother," Cassian assured, taking Rhys' place and pushing him by the shoulder to kiss Luxiana.
The blonde laughed under Cassian's kisses feeling -although frustrated at not being able to answer Rhys- happy. Rhysand loved her and Cassian and Azriel didn't move away from her so maybe they loved her too. She loved all three of them.
Azriel rolled his eyes and grabbed Luxiana's hand, pulling her out of Cassian's grasp and into the building as everyone looked at him in confusion. "Let's get back to the party before it gets out of hand on that balcony."
Cassian growled in frustration and disappointment. He had wanted this to escalate on that balcony. He had wanted to pin her against the barricade, lift up her beautiful dress and take her from behind.
Rhysand slapped Cassian’s shoulder, laughing. He knew full well what his brother was thinking because it had crossed his mind too.
They then set off to catch up with Azriel and their soulmate.
The four of them walked towards the reception hall, at first in an uncharacteristic silence with Luxiana looking a little preoccupied. But they were relieved to see that -after Rhysand asked her how she had found the starfall- she had started talking cheerfully again in response.
She had then continued to talk about everything and nothing but Azriel gritted his teeth. Now that he knew her well, he could clearly see the difference between how she was when she was really happy and how she was when she was pretending. And there... She was pretending. He could clearly see it in the back of her pupils and in her smile a little less bright than usual that what Rhys had told her had disturbed her.
But why? Rhys should have let her talk, let her say what she had to say.
They reached the reception room and - hearing the lively music - Luxiana grabbed them by the arm to drag them onto the dance floor.
They talked, laughed and had fun while drinking alcohol throughout the night. And the hearts of the three Illyrians were filled with more hope when they saw Luxiana being even more tactile, cute and close to Rhysand during the evening.
She had fixed his hair, she blushed whenever he spoke to her, she took his hand whenever she could and she often cuddled him.
And Rhysand's heart swelled with hope, happiness, and peace a little more each time. She didn't push him away even though he had told her he loved her. That could only mean she loved him too. Damn, she loved him too. He felt so happy.
Of course, Azriel and Cassian had been jealous to see her suddenly closer to Rhys. They had also sought contact with their soul mate by kissing her, dancing with her, taking her hand.
And innocently, she had smiled pleasantly and reacted.
But Azriel could see the different way she looked at all three of them now. With a mixture of fear and apprehension well hidden behind that mask of sparkling joy.
But, if she was afraid of Rhysand's feelings, she would seek to distance herself, not to get closer to him like this. Azriel did not understand. But he was afraid of what it could hide.
Luxiana had been dancing and drinking all night. She tried to think about something else and forget by drinking alcohol. She hoped to ease her anxiety. What if they don't love her anymore when they know who she really is?
That was why she had been so tactile with Rhysand. Because she was so happy that he loved her and she was afraid he would change his mind when he grasped what she was. She was so afraid of losing them.
But maybe they didn't need to know. Maybe she could never tell them and keep hiding it from them for as long as it lasted. But how long would it last? And Feyre? What was Luxiana supposed to do?
Throughout the night, her brain kept pestering her with words and questions, giving her a horrible knot of anxiety in her stomach.
It was to try to calm herself down and ease her fears and thoughts that she threw herself at Cassian to kiss him when all four of them entered her room to sleep.
Azriel was reluctant. He could see that she wanted to sleep with them because she was anxious. He didn't like it, but he liked it even less when she wasn’t okay. So for now, he let her do it, but he intended to make her tell him what was wrong.
And as they had spent a wonderful night drinking, dancing and laughing, and as the sun rose, the three Illyrians made love to Luxiana for hours. Until early afternoon, when Luxiana fell asleep once soothed.
Before she fell asleep, Luxiana realized that her heart was beating incredibly fast with love. Because the way the three Illyrians had just made love to her was filled with feelings… of tenderness and love.
For now, she felt good with them and that was what mattered.
She would never tell them anything about who she was unless she had to one day. And that way, they could continue to love each other.
And it was with this last thought that she fell asleep in Cassian's arms with a smile on her lips.
***
Luxiana shifted in the sheets. The fabric caressed her bare skin pleasantly as she stretched and rolled around in bed.
Cassian -while Luxiana was until then in his arms- tried to catch her but Rhysand, on the other side of Luxiana and in the middle of his two brothers, took advantage of it to catch his soul mate.
The lord pressed her chest against his chest before turning with her to move her away from Cassian. He put her back to the bed by landing on her and crushing her with all his weight. He buried his face in Luxiana's neck who began to laugh in a gravelly voice at the tickles that Rhys' breath caused on her neck.
Rhysand took a deep breath of the blonde's scent, savoring her bare skin against his.
"Hey, it's my turn," Cassian protested, trying to slip his hands between Rhys and Luxiana's bodies to grab the blonde and retrieve her. "You had her just before, Rhys."
Rhysand let out a sort of growl as he grabbed Luxiana to roll again and put his back to Cassian, taking his soulmate with him. She was now back glued to Rhys and right next to Azriel.
"He's right," Azriel pointed out. He removed his hands from behind his head to grab Luxiana by the hips - taking advantage of Rhys' attention on Cassian. He pulled the blonde towards him. "You both just got her, it's my turn."
"No!" cried the other two Illyrians, trying to get their soul mate back but Azriel did as Rhys did.
The spymaster turned his back to them, wrapping his arms around the blonde who was laughing heartily. She loved this too much. She loved this too much. She loved them too much.
The blonde pulled herself out of Azriel's arms to sit on the edge of the bed. "What time is it?"
Cassian groaned as he admired his soulmate's gorgeous backless figure. She was so beautiful and he was hard again even though he had cum inside her at least four times just a few hours ago. She would kill him, he was sure of it.
"It's early evening. You've only slept a few hours," Rhysand replied, falling onto his stomach and resting his cheek on his crossed forearms to continue to greedily examine his soulmate.
Luxiana glanced at the bay window in surprise, her surprise heightened when she saw that it was already dark. She let out a small laugh. Another day goes. As much as she enjoyed her days with these three, she couldn't spend them making love. She had things to do. But first, her stomach was growling. She let out a groan of displeasure. "I'm starving."
The three Illyrians let out a small laugh of tenderness as they heard the blonde's stomach protest loudly.
Azriel, lying on his back behind his soulmate, ran his hand along the blonde's figure, from her rib to her hip. He smiled proudly as he saw her shiver at the contact. "Want me to make you cookies, princess?"
Luxiana turned her head sharply towards the Illyrian with big eyes filled with hope. He would really make her cookies again? She wanted to cry. She looked at all three of them in bed and realized that she loved their tender looks and the bright way they were watching her a little too much.
She swore in her head as her heart raced and suddenly the thought, the feeling, the instinct came to her. She really was in love with them.
She shouldn't. This couldn't lead to anything good. She would definitely end up hurt, she knew that. But instead of looking down at the realization, she smiled. She loved them and she just felt happy and excited.
Surprisingly, she wasn't afraid to get attached to them. She didn't really know why but she trusted them. She wanted to trust them. She felt so good, at peace and alive with them. She wanted to try with them. She wanted to entrust her heart to them. She was a little afraid but she really felt more confident than ever.
She nodded shyly at Azriel in response. "Please."
But the blush Cassian could see on his soulmate's cheeks, as well as her cuteness, finished him off. He positioned himself on his knees on the mattress and leaned forward over Rhysand and Azriel to grab Luxiana.
But in the movement Cassian's penis touched Rhysand's buttock who began to scream to death in a grimace of fright.
The lord leapt to the side, as far away from the Illyrian's sex as possible. But as he fled, he stuck himself entirely to Azriel.
Feeling Rhysand's cock pressed against his thigh and the lord's entire body moving closer to his side, Azriel's eyes widened. He began to scream as loudly as Rhys. He got up, stood up in the bed to jump down and run to the other side of the room. "No, no, no, no, fuck, I wasn't ready."
Cassian burst out laughing as he grabbed Luxiana and lifted her over a pale, traumatized, and screaming Rhys.
The blonde burst out laughing at the scene. She let herself be pulled by Cassian as he pressed her chest against his chest, hugging her tightly.
She was laughing so hard that tears came to her eyes, she couldn't breathe and her abs hurt. She felt happy for the first time in years.
Their soulmate's laughter immobilized the three Illyrians who began to examine her with shining eyes. She had already laughed in front of them but the way she laughed there seemed very different. She seemed happy.
The Illyrians' hearts swelled with love and they were able to take a deep breath. They loved her so much. They felt so good. So happy. They needed nothing else but her and her happiness to be happy.
They all gave each other a knowing look. She hadn't pushed them away after Rhysand told her she loved her. She was happy with them. This was the moment. They had to tell her she was their soulmate.
So when Luxiana calmed her laughter, Rhysand straightened up into a sitting position, legs crossed, with a sudden serious look that took the blonde aback. Her face fell as she realized something was wrong.
Cassian released her to sit down as well. Azriel joined them, standing in front of the foot of the bed.
Glancing at each of them, she noticed the sudden change in atmosphere and the way their brows were slightly furrowed. They were suddenly worried.
Luxiana sat between Rhys and Cassian, eyeing them apprehensively. "What's going on?"
Rhys smiled for a second as he placed his warm palm on his soulmate's cold cheek. "We need to tell you something very important."
Luxiana frowned. "Okay…," she said slowly as a lump of anxiety formed in her stomach. She glanced at Cassian who smiled reassuringly at her.
The red-sip Illyrian brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Please don't hold it against us. Remember, we couldn't really talk to you about it before. We were afraid of your reaction."
Rhysand nodded and Azriel swallowed hard. Cassian retrieved his hand to press it to the sheets and squeeze them to hide his trembling.
All three of them were so worried and anxious. They were going to tell her that she was their soulmate. Their chests felt unpleasantly tight. They didn't feel very good. What if she didn't want them as her soulmate? What if she rejected them? After all, there was a big difference between sleeping with all three of them and accepting them forever as her soulmate.
They could hardly breathe as their throats were tight.
But suddenly, Luxiana's stomach cried out with all its might. She also blushed suddenly, feeling herself heated up entirely with embarrassment and shame.
The three Illyrians widen their eyes at the loud sound before bursting into laughter.
Cassian laughed so hard he fell onto his side, clutching his stomach. Rhysand threw his head back, laughing heartily. Azriel shook his head fondly.
"After cookies," he said in a laughing voice. "We'll tell you after cookies." He walked to the side of the bed and held out his hand to his soulmate.
"But..." she hesitated, still blushing and glancing at Cass and Rhys. They had to tell her something important.
"You'll probably be more receptive after eating anyway," Rhysand assured her, calming down.
Cassian nodded. "She gets angry when she's hungry," he managed to say, catching his breath with difficulty.
“Come on,” Azriel ordered.
Luxiana timidly took Azriel's hand which helped her get up from the bed. She let go of it when she saw her dress on the floor to throw herself on it and put it on quickly.
Rhysand let out another small laugh. "We're alone in this house. You can walk around the house naked."
“No,” Luxiana blushed even more shyly.
Azriel and Cassian laughed when they noticed this.
The spymaster walked up to the bedroom door to open it. Then he held out his hand to the blonde again. There was no way they were both walking in the same direction without holding his soulmate's hand.
Once she had her dress on and noticed Azriel waiting for her, she rushed towards him. But she didn't pay attention to balancing herself properly - no longer thinking about it - and instinctively she leaned too far forward and as she was unbalanced, she fell. She fell with all her might onto her knees with a little high-pitched cry before sprawling face down on the ground.
A powerful dose of adrenaline shot through the three Illyrians as they widened their eyes at the sight of her falling. "Luxiana!" they shouted as they ran towards her.
The young woman remained face down in starfish mode. There was no way she would ever recover from the shame she felt at that precise moment. She had fallen in front of all three of them. She would never recover from it.
Azriel grabbed her arm and gently straightened her torso, placing her on her knees. "Are you okay?"
Luxiana nodded, red with shame, placing her palms on her face.
Rhysand crouched down, almost sliding in front of her. "What happened?" he almost shouted. He grabbed her arms to pull her hands away from her face and eye her with concern.
"Are you hurt?" Cassian almost yelled, eyeing her up before leaning over to grab her by the ribs and lift her up.
"No, it's okay, it's nothing," Luxiana assured in a high-pitched voice of embarrassment. Despite everything, her heart was slamming against her ribs. They weren't making fun of her and they looked so worried.
"She's hurt," Cassian gritted his teeth as he pointed to his soulmate's scraped knees.
It wasn't bleeding and it wasn't anything serious but it was enough to make the three Illyrians wince. Their soulmate was so fragile. So human. This kind of wound would have healed on a fae by now. And on top of that, she was falling. She had fallen and they hadn't even been able to catch her. Could they really protect her? A ball of anxiety exploded in their stomachs.
“Fuck,” Azriel cursed. “Come here,” he ordered, pulling her towards the bed and sitting her on the edge. “It doesn’t hurt too much, does it?”
Luxiana felt her embarrassment ease into tenderness. They were so cute. “No. It’s really nothing.”
She tried to get up but Rhysand came to her side to push on her shoulders and make her sit back down. "Wait, I'll heal you."
Luxiana tensed all her muscles, trying not to widen her eyes. "No need," she assured with a small laugh to hide her panic. "Really, they're just scratches, don't waste your magic on that."
She tried to get up again but Azriel placed his hand firmly on her shoulder to sit her back down, giving her a stern and authoritarian look.
Rhysand crouched down in front of her. "I would never waste my magic when it concerns you." He shifted her black dress to the side to reveal both of his soulmate's legs. He brought both of his hands to the blonde's injured knees and a bright light of magic escaped from his palms.
But the blonde's wounds did not heal.
Luxiana gritted her teeth tightly and closed her eyes fiercely.
Rhysand pulled his hands away, stopping and frowning in the same way Azriel did.
Cassian stepped closer, his eyes wide. "What the hell?"
“I don’t know,” Rhysand breathed in confusion. He tried again but it still didn't work.
"Heal her!" Azriel ordered, not understanding what his brother was playing at.
Rhysand stopped trying again. He glared at his spymaster. "I'm trying but it's not working."
"Are you having trouble with your magic?" Cassian asked, confused and worried.
"No!" Rhysand replied in confusion. "I feel it spreading and I feel it trying to heal Luxiana but nothing is happening."
"You won't succeed to heal me," Luxiana admitted, opening her eyes sadly. It was bound to happen. They would have realized it sooner or later anyway.
The three Illyrians frowned at her. "What? Why do you say that?" Rhys asked.
Luxiana let out a fake chuckle. "Because I don't heal and you won't be able to cure me with magic."
Azriel shook his head. "No, you can heal humans with magic too," he explained. "Try again!" he ordered Rhys, who didn't bother to understand before complying.
Luxiana had a knot in her stomach. Her eyes burned. Would she lose them by telling them this? But they were so nice. Suddenly, she calmed down a little. She trusted them. She loved them. She took a deep breath, but couldn't relax her face completely. "Not me."
She grabbed Rhys's hands as he desperately tried to heal her. "Not me," she repeated.
Rhysand stopped his magic and when he looked at his soulmate's face, he knew she knew what she was talking about.
“What do you mean ‘not you’?” Cassian asked, his entire face scrunched up.
Luxiana looked up at him. "I'm not healing. I'm not healing anymore. Not at all."
Azriel frowned a little more. He didn't understand. What was she talking about? "You heal slower because you're human but you heal. And Rhys' magic should be able to heal you instantly."
Luxiana shook her head slowly. “No.” She looked down. “These kinds of scratches take months to heal. But when it’s a bleeding wound, it doesn’t clot fast enough and close up fast enough before I bleed out to death. So usually I have to burn them to close it up and stop the bleeding.”
Azriel took a step back. "What?" He didn't understand. "But humans heal better than that normally. And Rhys should be able to heal you anyway."
"Yes, but not me," Luxiana repeated, her gaze glistening with fear locked with Azriel's. "Other faes have tried to heal me without success."
The Illyrian took another step back as he noticed the distress in the blonde's pupils. He was afraid of the fear in her eyes. He was afraid to ask the question. He was afraid of the answer she would give him as his instincts screamed that he would hate this. But the word came out alone. "Why?"
"Because my body has been so traumatized and injured that it now refuses to heal itself or be healed."
Hello, here is the chapter 32 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
It's way too calm. They're way too happy into the last chapters. I need to fix that. 😈😈😈😈
On Wednesday, February 12th I will be posting the next chapters. 2 chapters. The first will be all four of them cute and doing dirty things at the starfall. The second will be a chapter full of revelations about Luxi's past, and therefore sadness and anger for the three batboys. With a sad sad sad and terrible end of chapter. 😈😈😈😈😈
Love you all guys !!!!!! You make my heart BOUM BOUM ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
! Don't forget to read the previous chapters ! : Here
Chapter 32
When Luxiana woke up, it was the middle of the night. She opened her eyes with difficulty but frowned when she saw Cassian sleeping in front of her while someone else hugged his body.
She had spent the day and evening with the Illyrian with the red siphons. She had waited impatiently for Rhysand and Azriel to return but according to Cassian, they had been held up by their work. Of course, that hadn't stopped Luxiana and Cassian from having a good evening and a good dinner under the laughter and endless words of the young woman.
Then the blonde had decided to go to bed, a little disappointed not to have seen the other two Illyrians and cursing herself for feeling this kind of emotions - which could lead to nothing - for them.
She had headed to her room and had been surprised to see Cassian following her, and even more so when he had simply answered that he would sleep with her whenever he could.
But what was her surprise when she entered her assigned room and saw that her bed had been replaced by a bed even bigger than Cassian's. "It's so that all three of us can sleep with you," Cassian had simply answered, shrugging his shoulders as if it were normal.
But it was strange according to Luxiana. Why did they want to sleep with her? It could be just to fuck her but they had already spent several nights with her just to sleep. So what were the four of them? What was she to them? What were they to her?
It was while asking herself lots of questions that she had fallen asleep in Cassians' arms and that was now why she was surprised not to have woken up in his arms and to feel someone else behind her holding her pelvis.
She turned her head and glanced over her shoulder to see that it was Azriel holding her. He was sleeping just as deeply as Cassian and had placed one of his wings on her to cover her under the blanket. The shadowsinger's face was buried in her white hair and his arms were tightly wrapped around the blonde's pelvis as if he had clung to her urgently before falling asleep.
Luxiana smiled as her heart pumped fiercely to send blood to her cheeks and warm them. Azriel must have joined them during the night and had grabbed her to cuddle and fall asleep with her. She felt so happy to understand that. He had wanted to sleep with her and hold her in his arms. She loved it so much when they held her.
She fidgeted a little, glancing left and right past Cassian and Azriel to find Rhysand. But the lord wasn't there with them…not in bed with her. Hadn't he wanted to sleep with her?
She looked around the room in a last hope of seeing the high fae but she didn't notice him.
Instead, she tensed up all at once, frowning, ready to react if necessary, noticing a sort of shadow trail entering through the half-open door of the room.
Luxiana was going to get up in a hurry to defend Cassian and Azriel if necessary but she understood before moving. She realized that this black streak was part of Rhys' power.
He was reaching out with monstrous slowness towards them, towards her. As if he was desperately trying to reach her but something was holding him back.
Luxiana's heart skipped a beat. Was Rhys in danger and calling for help? No, his power wouldn't react like that if that was the case. But worried and curious, Luxiana decided to go see what was going on to make sure the lord was okay.
She struggled out of Azriel's tight arms - who groaned in his sleep but didn't wake up. Then she crawled on her knees to the end of the bed where she jumped to her feet and rushed toward the door and into the shadows.
Without waiting, she began to follow the black trainer filled with power into the corridor, hoping that it would lead her to Rhys. She ran down the stairs and through the hallways before reaching a door that was open just a tiny inch.
Luxiana could feel Rhysand's power rippling through the room. She smiled a little for a micro second when she noticed that he was one of the most powerful fae she had ever met.
She pushed the door open slowly and frowned as she saw the High Lord's power fill the room in a whirlwind of darkness, pain, and power.
She didn't know where she was or what this room was - she had never set foot in here - but it was so dark that she couldn't see inside, not even where Rhys was.
She felt from the surge of power that was spinning in all directions in front of her, making her hair - surely untied by Azriel during the night - fly in all directions, that whoever entered this darkness would be torn to pieces and reduced to ashes.
What was happening to Rhys? Luxina felt her chest vibrate with worry and her stomach tighten with anguish. She didn't try to understand then and entered the black cloud of violence slowly, not seeing where she was putting her feet.
But her, the power of the high lord did not touch her. He circled all around her without touching her, without approaching her and in fact, he even fled from her.
Luxiana could have smiled seeing that Rhys' power feared her just as much as Azriel's shadows but she was far too preoccupied.
Luckily, like a light in the night, the glow that Luxiana gave off allowed her to see barely two meters around her. So, when she arrived in front of what seemed to be a huge desk with piles of paperwork on it, she gasped.
Rhysand was slumped over his desk, his cheek on his forearms as he sat on what looked to be a luxurious velvet chair. But his face... it was twisted with pain and sadness.
Luxiana's blood boiled as she realized. He must have dozed off while working and was now having a nightmare. "Rhys," she yelled urgently, but he didn't move an inch.
The blonde's heart broke. She knew what he was feeling and how real and painful this kind of nightmare felt.
She ran around the desk to put her hand on the lord's shoulder. "Rhys," she called out to him, shouting. She began to shake him awake, but he was still sound asleep.
She placed her hand on the brunette's cheek and winced as her skin felt incredibly cold. It was because of his power. "Rhysand ! Fuck!" She began to slap him gently and quickly several times but still no movement.
So, panicking a little more, knowing that he was suffering, she grabbed his shoulder to lift him a little as she could and slip under him, between his chest and the desk. She hugged him with all her strength, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Rhys, please, wake up."
Maybe it was the desperate voice of his soulmate echoing through his nightmare. Maybe it was the comforting vanilla scent he now smelled. Maybe it was the tickle of his soulmate's cheek on his own. Or maybe it was the feeling of peace that suddenly washed over him. But the swirl of darkness around them began to calm down gradually.
The cloud of darkness even ends up freezing entirely and disappearing all at once, collapsing abruptly on Rhys to regain his body while waking him up suddenly.
The high lord jumped back to press his back against his seat as Luxiana had to release him while remaining crouched beside him.
Rhysand's breathing was rapid and his gaze was clouded by the confusion while moving all over the room as he tried to get his thoughts in order. Then the blonde raised her hands between them and spoke in a soft voice. "Rhys."
He jumped again and his hands transformed into black clawed paws as he slapped the blonde's hands away with his forearm, raising one of his claws in the air to gain momentum. Luxiana didn't even react, not feeling even a little threatened and knowing that she could stop him from hurting her anyway.
But when Rhys laid eyes on Luxiana and recognized her, his eyes widened and his shoulders sagged suddenly. He was able to take a deep breath and his heart calmed as he came back to himself completely. And suddenly, he realized the position of his claw and winced at the guilt that was pinching his heart and at the fear that he could hurt his soulmate that turned his stomach. He brought his hand down fiercely to his side as he transformed it back. “I’m sorry,” he managed to breathe out as he ran his palms over his face.
"It's okay," Luxiana reassured, her eyebrows furrowed in concern. "You had a nightmare, but you're okay now." She placed her hand on his cheek and Rhysant leaned his head into her palm to deepen the contact while closing his eyes to savor it better.
But his heart was still hurting so much so he grabbed the blonde by the arms to pull her towards him. She had to straddle his thighs but she didn't struggle to wrap her arms around the lord's neck, sticking her body to his.
Rhysand rested his face on his soulmate's neck to breathe in her scent deeply. He needed the hug. Needed that scent. Needed her. He gradually relaxed thanks to Luxiana's caresses in his hair and her sweet words. "It's going to be okay," she repeated. "It's going to be okay."
Rhysand wanted to nod and believe her words. Believe that it was going to be okay, but he couldn't. He was so scared to death.
"Did you have a nightmare?" the blonde asked with sadness and empathy.
Rhysand nodded once, keeping his face in the blonde's neck.
Luxiana's heart tightened a little more. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Rhysand shook his head negatively so Luxiana didn't say anything else, understanding. He already had to deal with all of this in his nightmares, he didn't want to deal with it while awake too.
A few minutes passed where she waited for the lord to calm down while continuing to reassure him.
Then finally, completely at peace, Rhysand straightened up. He looked at Luxiana with such tired and sad eyes that her heart split with a sharp, painful blow.
She took a deep breath. She understood that he didn't want to talk about it, but if she could help him, at least just a little, then she didn't hesitate. "You know, if you're having nightmares about what happened under the mountain..."
"No, I didn't have nightmares about that," he interrupted in a broken voice.
Luxiana tilted her head with a frown, waiting for him to elaborate if he wished.
Rhysand lowered his pupils into the void. "At first, yes, I had nightmares about it. They were memories most of the time. But not anymore." He raised his blue irises to Luxiana's face and placed his large hand -now burning- on her cheek. "Not anymore."
"So what are you having nightmares about?" Luxiana asked with a pleading voice and a sad face. She couldn't help him if she didn't know what was bothering him.
A muscle twitched at the corners of Rhysand's lips as he noticed her concern for him. He studied her face with bright eyes to make sure he memorized every inch of it. "In my new nightmares, I see someone I love leaving me, being hurt, tortured, or dying because of me. Because I am a high lord. Because the world is dangerous and I have failed to make it safer. And because time will eventually run out and take her away from me and there is nothing I can do about it. Nothing. And no matter what I do in my nightmares, I can never save her. Never. And it terrifies me, it kills me with fear knowing that my nightmares could come true at any time and I might not be able to protect the person I love."
Luxiana's heart felt like it was being stabbed savagely several times. She didn't show anything on her face but a wave of pain and jealousy strangely invaded her. She would like to be loved by someone like that. She would like Rhys to love her like he loved the person he had just told her about.
She took a deep breath, putting her bad feelings aside to place her hands on Rhysand's shoulders. She looked into his eyes with an intense gaze. "Rhys, you are one of the most powerful fae in this land. But most importantly, you are the most selfless, caring, generous, intelligent, and altruistic high lord this land has ever known."
Something sparkled in the lord's pupils but Luxiana continued, "That's not even an understatement. Trust me, I... I've met High Lords and I've read a lot of books about the old High Lords,... about your father too... and you're so, so much better than all of them. Rhys, you have no idea what an extraordinary fae you are. You sacrificed yourself for your people, for Velaris, for your friends and family. No other High Lord has done it and no other High Lord would have done it."
She slid her hands from Rhys' shoulders to his neck and then to his cheeks to cup his face and emphasize her words. "So, trust me, if there's anyone who can protect the person they love, it's you."
Rhysand took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, enjoying the words of his soulmate that lightened his chest and made him feel so good. He felt so happy that she said that to him, that she thought that of him. "It makes me feel so good to hear that, Lux. Especially, coming from you. You have no idea."
He opened his eyes again but frowned. His heart was still bruised with worry and fear. "But there are some things I can't do anything about. Like time..."
Luxiana tilted her head curiously. She didn't understand, but in the end, it didn't really matter. Rhysand had earned her loyalty and more. "I could do something about it."
Rhysand chuckled softly as he looked at her fondly.
Luxiana got a little annoyed as she crossed her arms. "I swear. You may not believe me but I'm super strong. And you won my… You won me, Rhys. I would protect, I would fight, and I would sacrifice myself for you and the people you love."
Rhysand was electrified through and through with panicked fear. He shook his head hastily, frowning and grabbing Luxiana's face in his hands. "But that's not what I want, Luxi. I don't want you to sacrifice yourself for me, that's exactly what terrifies me. I want you to be safe, I want you to live long, I want you to be happy."
The blonde's breath hitched in her chest as her eyelids fluttered open. Her heart pounded strangely in her chest, making her cheeks heat up. Was he afraid for her? Did he want her to live long and be happy? He was so kind. Her heart suddenly beat faster for the lord, almost asking to come out of her chest to go hug the fae. She made a sad pout.
Rhysand frowned at her reaction. "What's wrong?"
The corner of Luxiana's lips lifted for a second. "I'm falling in love with you," she said simply with a shrug.
Rhysand moved back suddenly, his eyes widening as his breath hitched. But his heart… his heart swelled so much that it felt like it was going to explode, only to reform and re-solidify like a new one. Like it had never been damaged.
His soulmate's words echoed in his mind as a wide smile spread across his face. She was falling in love with him? His soulmate loved him. She was falling in love with him. His eyes began to shine with tears. A flash of joy passed through him. He felt so lucky.
He threw himself at Luxiana to press his lips to hers and beg for a fiery and passionate kiss with his tongue. A kiss to which she responded by silently exchanging with Rhys their feelings for each other.
He pulled away from her to rest his forehead on his soulmate's as they both gasped for air. "Perfect. Fall completely for me, love, I beg you."
Luxiana felt vibrant with joy and hope. He wanted her to be in love with him? She smiled with all her teeth, with all her heart. “Kiss me,” she demanded in a breath.
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🚫THERE IS A SMUT SCENE AFTER THOSE WORDS ! DO NOT READ IT IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO, IF YOU ARE UNDER THE LEGAL AGE OR IF YOU ARE JUST NOT ALLOWED TO -> PASS DIRECTLY TO THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER !🚫
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Rhysand growled and lunged for her mouth. While kissing her, he grabbed her hips to lift her up and get up from his chair with her. He placed the blonde's buttocks on his desk while slipping between her thighs to stick his erection to her crotch.
He lowered his lips to the blonde's neck to place a trail of burning kisses there. He ran his hands over his soulmate's bare thighs to slide them over her skin and under her nightie. He moved them up again along her hips and her belly, taking the dress with him. Luxiana raised her arms as Rhysand pulled it off her.
He threw the piece of cloth further into the office and then with a movement of his arm, he swept everything that was on his desk to push Luxiana by the shoulders and make her lie down on her back on the piece of furniture.
He ran his palms and fingers over Luxiana's bare breasts, enjoying her soft skin. He kissed her mouth again to lower his lips to her neck then to her cleavage, to the base of her breasts. He placed a kiss on one of her nipples which hardened under his lips before licking the curve of her chest.
He moved his mouth down her stomach, licking it up and down with his tongue until he reached her hip, biting it gently, grabbing a piece of skin between his teeth and pulling it gently. He kissed her stomach again and even sucked on some places.
Then he lowered his mouth to her already soaked panties. He grabbed the elastic of the underwear between his teeth to pull her back and slide her panties down her thighs and remove them with his mouth while staring at his soulmate.
Luxiana's breathing was rapid at the sight of Rhysand's intense gaze as he removed her panties. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly and she didn't know if it was from lack of air or if it was her heart slamming against her chest with force.
Her underwear hit the floor and Rhysand grabbed her thighs to pull her pelvis to the edge of the table. He knelt down in front of her to place a kiss on the inside of one of her thighs. “You’re my favorite job to do on this desk.”
Luxiana stood up a little, leaning on her elbows to look Rhys in the eye. She raised an eyebrow, unable to hide her smirk. "Am I a job for you?"
Rhysand let out a small chuckle as he placed another kiss on the inside of her thigh, higher this time, which made Luxiana shiver. "You are my everything, Lux. You are my work," He placed a kiss higher still, maybe a few inches from her part. "My title," He placed a kiss barely two millimeters from her crotch. "My body," he placed his lips on her pubic bone. "My heart," he kissed her lower lips.
Luxiana moaned, shivering violently under the butterflies tickling her lower belly. "My soul," he growled with conviction as he licked her slit from bottom to top. "My everything." He kissed her clit, sucking on it before nibbling it gently.
Luxiana was already trembling with excitement and when Rhysand amused himself by pushing his tongue into her hole while placing his thumb on her clitoris to play with it, she couldn't help but move her pelvis back and forth. She gripped the edge of the desk with one hand and ran her other through Rhys' hair to grab his locks and press on his skull to accentuate his tongue strokes.
She moaned, arching her back as Rhys rubbed her clit and licked almost everywhere, savoring her. He reached up to kiss her hip. "Do you know how jealous Az and I were today?"
Luxiana frowned, out of breath. "Why?" she managed to say as Rhysand ran his index and middle fingers down Luxiana's slit, slowly penetrating her.
The blonde let out a long, loud breath, closing her eyes as fire pulsed through her body.
Rhysand looked at his soulmate's face as it filled with pleasure with a smile. "Because Cassian had fun telepathically sending us his memories with you all day."
He placed a kiss on her collarbone and began to slowly and deeply move his fingers back and forth while at the same time placing the bottom of his palm on her clitoris to rub it in time with his fingers sinking inside her. "You have no idea how much we would be dying to be in his place."
He kissed the blonde on the corner of her mouth. "How much we wanted you to fight with us too and bring us to our knees like you brought Cassian to his knees."
He kissed her on her other cheek. "How much we wanted to take you from behind like he did."
He growled, biting her shoulder. "You have no idea how hard Azriel got in the middle of talking to other spies and how I couldn't control myself on my papers while we heard your moans in our heads and saw you enjoying yourself through our brother's eyes."
Luxiana moaned and gesticulated a little under Rhysand as he sped up his fingers thrusting into her.
"And when you had dinner alone with him and you were laughing and talking with him without us, do you know how much we gritted our teeth? How we were dying of jealousy that we weren't there?!"
He bent his fingers upwards, pressing his palm a little more on the blonde's clitoris while making rapid movements inside her. Luxiana was so wet that the obscene noises that came from her part -due to the friction of Rhys' fingers inside her- increased the excitement of the lord whose entire body was on fire while his penis pulsed in his pants. "You have no idea how much I had to demand, threaten and insist with Azriel so that he finishes what he was doing and how much I wanted to give up everything, even my position as high lord, when you asked Cass where we were and we saw your adorably disappointed face when he answered that we still had work and that we could not be there."
Luxiana's heart electrified with happiness from top to bottom. They had wanted to stop everything just to spend the evening with her? She felt so happy.
Regaining her confidence, she grabbed Rhysand's wrist to push him away and make his fingers come out. She stood up, placing her other hand on Rhys' chest and lifting him up with her, pushing him away.
The bright pupils of trust and desire she placed on Rhys made him smile, raising an eyebrow as it awakened something warm in the brunette's chest.
Luxiana nudged Rhysand with her arm toward the blue velvet sofa that sat on one of the walls on the side of the room. She rolled her hips as she walked confidently, like a predator toward its prey.
When the back of Rhys's legs hit the front of the couch, he flopped down onto it, bouncing into a sitting position on the cushions. He leaned back as he took in the full, naked body of his soulmate with a biting gaze as she straddled his thighs.
She ran her hands up and down his chest before grabbing the buttons of his shirt and starting to undo them.
She unbuttoned it one by one and slowly removed his shirt, running her fingers over the brunette's skin following the fabric.
When his garment was removed, Rhysand placed his hands on his soulmate's hips and wanted to pull her closer to him but Luxiana slapped his fingers away. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," she refused him with a sound of her tongue on the roof of her mouth. Then she grabbed his wrists to pin them to his sides on the velvet.
Rhysand's eyebrow rose even more before he chuckled as he gave in. He placed his palms behind his head as he leaned back against the couch completely to let his soulmate what she wanted.
She ran her fingers over the lord's pecs and abs, following the curves of his tattoos before moving up to his shoulders, and pressing on his biceps to make him lower his arms. Then she deflected both hands to the bony curve at the top of his two wings.
As soon as his soulmate's fingers made contact with his sensitive skin there, Rhys closed his eyes with a groan and let his head fall back.
She moved her caresses down his wings, in the same places on both sides. Luxiana knew where to touch to make it feel the most good and it worked. Rhysand almost jumped at the electric current that was fighting all over his nerves and throughout his body in repercussion. The bulge in his pants doubled in size as his blood flowed almost entirely to it.
“Luxiana,” he moaned, grabbing her wrists to stop her caresses. He was losing control. He loved it and he hated it at the same time.
He tried to regain the upper hand but Luxiana rolled her wrists to escape his hold. "Shh," she said, placing her index finger on the high lord's lips. Then she placed her mouth there in a soft kiss before deviating to brush her lips against his ear. "Let yourself go. Trust me." Then she placed them on the salty skin of his neck, kissing and licking it, sliding her hands over his chest and then his pants.
She undid his laces before removing his pants, helped by Rhysand, and pulling them down to his ankles.
As Rhysand's cock stood proudly between her thighs, Luxiana knelt down in front of him. She wrapped her hand tightly around the fae's member, making him groan as she leaned down to place her lips around his glans. She amused herself by running her tongue over his tip, wrapping it around while sucking it. Then she joined her other hand around his cock to start making small rubbing movements up and down.
Rhysand felt himself pulse with desire and pleasure as he could only devour his soulmate with her mouth around his cock. She gave him a dark look of trust and want that made him moan as he squinted at her dimples. "Fuck," he cursed.
Luxiana released him with one hand, still gripping Rhys' member at its base to grab the brunette's wrist with her other hand and bring him towards her head. She separated her mouth from his penis to demand, "Hold my hair."
Rhysand didn't try to understand, he obeyed. He planted both hands in his soulmate's white locks to free them from her face while she threw herself full mouth on Rhysand's sex, pushing it entirely into her throat.
She began to move her head back and forth to rub the lord's cock in her throat, sucking and caressing it with her tongue. With one of her hands, she kneaded his balls, accentuating Rhys' pleasure and sometimes she put her lips there to lick and suck them too.
Her second hand slid up to his wing which she stroked at one spot while pumping his cock with her mouth.
Rhysand felt like his body was going to implode as his nerves pulsed with pleasure everywhere and fireworks exploded in his stomach.
“Do you like it?” Luxiana asked, eager to know if it felt good to her.
“Fuck, yeah,” Rhysand agreed, gritting his teeth to hold back his unmanly moans.
He couldn't hold back any longer. A wave of pleasure surged through him, completely overwhelming him. His wings jumped, his muscles clenched, and his cock began to pulse. He moaned in a hoarse sound as he came into his soulmate's mouth.
Luxiana swallowed, licking the entirety of the lord's member before straightening up to pull Rhys out of her mouth with a 'plop'. But this action had the effect of instantly making the lord's cock harden again and making his arousal skyrocket again.
He growled as he grabbed Luxiana by the hips to lift her up and make her straddle him. He pulled her to him and kissed her. But after their kiss, the blonde grabbed his wrists again as she pulled back a little. "I'm not done," she insisted with a predatory smile.
“How pleasant it is to know that,” the lord smiled as his desire tingled in his chest.
“Lay down,” Luxiana ordered—pointing to the couch seat—in an authoritative tone that pleasantly turned Rhysand inside.
He let out a full-throated laugh before obeying, lying down on the couch with his back, taking Luxiana with him. "At your command, ma'am," he mocked gently.
Luxiana smirked as she leaned over him to lick his lips up and down without breaking eye contact. "Good boy," Luxiana teased, unable to help her smile.
Rhysand growled, tightening his grip on her hips as his chest filled with tickling butterflies. "Fuck, this kind of thing apparently turns me on a little too much."
Luxiana raised her eyebrows in surprise before bursting into laughter.
Rhysand rolled his eyes. "And that laugh. What couldn't I do to hear that laugh for the rest of my life?" He devoured her with a glare so intense it immediately calmed Luxiana. She swallowed hard. He wanted to hear her laugh for the rest of his life?
She kissed him with such power that it surprised Rhysand a little before he kissed her back with the same intensity.
He wanted to touch her, to caress her whole body, but Luxiana grabbed his hands and pinned them to his chest. "Don't touch," she demanded, smiling with all her teeth.
“Or what?” Rhysand taunted with a smirk.
“Or I should go sleep with Cassian or Az instead of you,” she made a mock-apologetic and disappointed pout. “That would be terrible, wouldn’t it?”
Rhysand burst out laughing again. “Terrible,” he agreed. “Almost as terrible as not being able to touch you.”
"Perfect then," the blonde smiled mischievously.
She grabbed Rhysand's penis, lifting her pelvis a little so she could position it at her entrance. But she only penetrated the tip of Rhys' penis, making small movements of her pelvis on it.
Rhysand growled, struggling to keep his eyes open from both pleasure and frustration. "Are you teasing me?"
“Maybe,” Luxiana laughed softly. “You don’t like it?”
"I hate it," he growled, but damn maybe he liked it, actually. "And I love it. What are you doing to me?"
Luxiana smiled proudly before pushing Rhysand's penis fully inside her. Both of them let out a long sigh of satisfaction at the pleasure that spread through them. Then she mounted him, thrusting her hips back and forth, slowly.
Rhysand clamped his fingers on his abs. "Let me touch you, fuck," the frustration building inside him surprisingly heightened his pleasure.
Luxiana nodded negatively, taking the opportunity to caress Rhysand's chest and arms.
To get a better position, she straightened up, leaning her hands on Rhys' thighs and starting to bounce up and down, moaning at the friction of the lord's cock inside her.
Rhysand couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't breathe as his muscles pulled and burned with frustration and pleasure. He had to touch her. It was a vital need now. "Please, Luxiana. Let me touch you," he pleaded.
The blonde couldn't take it anymore either. She was shaking and her muscles were already aching even though she wanted so much more. She wanted him to touch her so hard. Cheeks red, her eyes as veiled with pleasure as Rhys's, she nodded, panting.
The lord then wasted no time, growling he hurriedly ran his hands all over her body to caress her breasts, pinch her nipples before grabbing her hips and helping her movements by making them faster and deeper.
They savored each other, touching, caressing, kissing. Then Rhysand pulled Luxiana on top of him, pressing her chest to his torso to wrap his arms around her back.
Then, relying on his heels on the sofa, he began to thrust powerfully and quickly into Luxiana, pushing his cock deep into her.
Luxiana moaned and almost screamed as her clit was stimulated as well by the lord's pubic thrusts. He pounded her hard so something exploded in their belly and when Luxiana came as she tightened her walls around Rhysand's cock, he also moaned as he came inside her.
Luxiana fell and collapsed further onto Rhys' chest, her muscles unable to hold her up as Rhys struggled to breathe and recover.
A huge smile appeared on Rhysand's lips as he began to stroke her back. She was falling in love with him. He was so in love with her and she was falling in love with him.
But actually, she was already so in love with him too.
Hello, here is the chapter 31 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
I hope you liked it. Feel free to tell me what you thought about it so I can improve because I don't feel like I write very good smut scenes.
The next chapter is Rhysand's smut and will be published on Wednesday, February 5th.
I send you lots of big kisses and thank you again for all your love. Love, ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
! Don't forget to read the previous chapters ! : Here
Chapter 31
"We should get up," Cassian mumbled, stroking the hair of his sleeping soulmate who had landed in Rhysand's arms during the night.
It had been hours since all three of them had been awake while the sun was now high in the sky. But they couldn't bring themselves to leave their soulmate to get up and didn't have the heart to wake her up to take her with them while she was sleeping peacefully.
They just passed her around every hour so they could hold their soul mate close to them equally.
Rhysand, still in the same spot in the bed, turned on his side, his back to Cassian, while taking his soulmate with him. "No, we're good here." He tightened his grip a little more around Luxiana, placing his nose on the top of her head. "The world can wait."
Feeling the blonde's bare chest on his, the lord frowned as he cast a narrowed glance over his shoulder at his brothers. "Wasn't she in a nightie last night?"
Azriel on the other side of the bed smirked. He had his hands behind his head and his gaze fixed on the ceiling. "Yes, but tonight she wanted cookies. I had to keep her busy while they baked."
Cassian, understanding his brother's words, gasped in offense. "You, you bastard. Without us?"
Azriel burst out laughing, "I don't regret anything, it was the best sex of my entire life."
A bitter taste of jealousy electrocuted the other two Illyrians but at the same time, the joy their brother felt was so contagious that they couldn't help but feel happy and smile.
Suddenly, the bedroom door opened with such violence that it smashed against the wall that held it.
All four of them sat up in surprise. Even Luxiana had her eyes wide open and were now fully awake.
"Amren," Rhysand cried, glaring at the fae who had just woken his soulmate again. "That's twice, there won't be a third, I warn you."
“Like you could stop me from doing anything,” Amren replied nonchalantly, not even a little intimidated. “Besides, it wasn’t my idea this time.”
Luxiana looked around. How had she ended up in Rhysand's arms? It didn't matter. She lay back down, dragging the high lord with her to wiggle in his arms while repositioning herself properly.
"It's mine!" Mor shouted at the top of her lungs as she entered the room, smiling. "You must get up!" she demanded, bending down to grab the Illyrians' clothes from the ground and throwing them in their faces. "You have things to do, duties and obligations to fulfill."
Cassian sighed loudly as he lay back down while Azriel groaned as he reluctantly got up to get dressed.
“Where is the book? I have to translate it,” Amren asked, looking around the room.
Rhysand pointed to the leather square on the bedside table before planting his face in Luxiana's neck to breathe in the scent of his soulmate deeply.
“Rhys, I said get up,” Mor demanded, grabbing the high lord by the ankle and jerking him out of bed.
He let out a sort of grunt of refusal as he struggled with all his weight to stay in his place.
Luxiana whimpered a sort of sob "Oh no, I don't want to get up."
Rhys' cousin let out a small laugh. "Oh but you can keep sleeping," she assured, "but not them. They have work to do!"
“Oh!” Luxiana said in realization. “Yessssss,” she finally cried out in joy. “I’m going to have the bed all to myself.”
She extracted herself from Rhysand's arms to pass over him and arrive between the lord and Cassian. Then she got on her knees to push the two Illyrians with her hands trying to roll them to the edge but they were too heavy. "Aren’t you ashamed?" she teased them all smiles. "Come on, get up, you have work to do."
Cassian laughed as Luxiana tried with all her might to make him move. He looked her up and down, savoring his soulmate's naked body next to him. Which, of course, awoke his erection even more - which never slept in the presence of the blonde, by the way...
Luxiana, following his gaze, realized that she was naked. She gasped in surprise, covering her breasts with her arms and squeezing her thighs.
She glared accusingly at Azriel -who was smirking- before turning her gaze back to Mor. A wide grin spread across Luxiana’s face as she turned around to stand on the bed, stopping hiding. She put one hand on her hip and the other on the back of her head. "How do you like me, Mor?" she asked, raising her eyebrows repeatedly in a perverted manner. "Please, stroke my ego. Do you find me hot?"
The three Illyrians tensed, freezing and widening their eyes at once, but Mor could see enough before they realize and react. She looked her up and down hungrily, nodding. "You're really hot."
“Luxiana!” Azriel cried sharply, running to the bed and erecting a wall of black shadow between herself and Mor.
"Mor!" Rhysand growled at the same time, leaping onto his two feet to glare at his cousin.
Cassian threw himself at Luxiana to grab her by the hips and pull her towards the bed, pinning her to the mattress in his arms but giving her a dark look.
Luxiana was dying of laughter as the army commander began to wrap her in the bed blanket like a sausage.
Rhysand walked over to his cousin and Amren, pushing them by the shoulders and getting them out of the room. "We're coming, it's okay," he growled before slamming the door in their faces.
Luxiana was still laughing, wrapped in her blanket but she was so warm and comfortable that she eventually calmed down. Her eyelids grew heavy again. "Have a nice day," she said vaguely with a big smile before falling back to sleep.
***
A few hours later, and as Luxiana had woken up alone in bed with a feeling of emptiness and coldness in her heart, realizing that she already missed the three Illyrians. She had then gotten up, showered and dressed in a pretty long dark blue dress with silver sequins.
She had braided her hair, blushing at the memory of the punishment Azriel had given her that night. Although a part of her had been dying to walk around with her hair down every day to receive the Illyrian's punishments, another part of her had been so exhausted by that night -despite the incredible final orgasm- that she wasn't ready to do it again just yet.
She went down the stairs and reached the dining room where she was surprised to see the three Illyrians around the table with serious and worried faces.
Rhysand sat at the head of the table facing an open brown wooden box in front of him and a cold, dull look on his face. Cassian sat next to him with his arms crossed and Azriel was on the other side of Rhys but standing. They all three looked up at her.
“You look like you’ve seen a dead person,” she mocked as she approached. “What is that?” She pointed at the box with her chin as she sat down next to Rhys and Az, facing Cassian.
Rhysand turned the box towards her. "These are Blood Rubies sent by Tarquin declaring us mortal enemies of his court."
Cassian gritted his teeth. "There's five of them, one for each of us. I guess they found out about the book eventually."
Luxiana burst out laughing. "Tarquin sends rubies to his enemies?" She shakes her head, pouting fondly. "He's so adorably cute, I'm dreaming."
The three Illyrians stared at her with dark looks and narrowed eyes.
Luxiana gradually lost her smile as she flicked her pupils between the three. She grimaced. "Ah yes, bad audience, my fault."
Azriel huffed, closing his eyes wearily as he grabbed the bridge of his nose. "That's not cute, that's a death threat. If we set foot in his yard or if he finds us, we're dead. We're in danger now. YOU are in danger now."
Luxiana rolled her eyes with a smile. Was that why they were so worried? They were so cute too. "Oh if you knew the number of death threats I've received or the number of places I risk being executed if I set foot there... I even think there's a price on my head in the Winter Court and that I'm public enemy number 1 in the Autumn Court. Yet, no one has ever sent me a ruby. I assure you, it's cute."
The three of them widened their eyes as their lower jaws nearly dropped. Cassian laughed, "damn, I'll never get used to it."
Luxiana smiled before reaching out for a ruby. She wanted to grab one to study it. It just seemed surreal to her to send a precious stone to his enemies. Was Tarquin so intent on showing off his wealth? She was going to grab one but Azriel grabbed her wrist to stop her as Rhys slammed the box shut with a burst of his power.
“Don’t touch them,” the spymaster ordered, releasing his hand.
“They might be trapped,” Rhys explained, pulling the box back towards him.
Luxiana's heart was beating erratically and forcefully in her chest. "Own, you're too sweet, stop," she whined, placing her palms on her face to hide her blush.
The three males laughed tenderly, but Rhysand suddenly became serious again. "Besides," he hesitated, clearing his throat and casting quick, fearful glances at his two brothers who returned them. "Cass, Az and I were wondering if you might want to stay with us a little longer," he said in a serious voice.
Azriel clenched his teeth and fists as he eyed his soulmate with apprehension and even fear. She was his. She no longer had the right to leave. Not after giving herself to him entirely. She had no right but he was so afraid that she would want to.
Cassian swallowed hard as he looked up at the ceiling. He didn't want to see this and he was forcing himself not to put his hands over his ears and prevent himself from hearing an answer that could break his heart. What would he do if she wanted to leave? He couldn't even breathe properly if she wasn't near him.
Luxiana dropped her arms to her sides, taking on a serious look. She frowned in thought. Stay? What does he mean by 'stay'? They wanted her to stay? Forever? Did she want to stay? But what about Feyre ?
Sensing his confusion, a flash of panic shot through Rhysand. "Until Amren translates the book, I mean. That way we can come up with a plan and tell Feyre everything in one go," he improvised, waving his hands around.
Cassian was tense all over. He uncrossed his arms to rub his palms on his pants. His hands were sweaty. Since when did his hands get sweaty? "We'll take good care of you," he assured her, trying to sound confident with a smirk and winking at her.
Luxiana relaxed a notch as she couldn't help but blush and smile slightly. "Oh," she simply breathed. Was she disappointed? Did she wish they'd asked her to stay longer?
Azriel's jaw was clenched so tightly it hurt as a sort of disappointment and fear washed over him. He could have trembled if he hadn't focused on tensing all his muscles. "So what do you say?" he asked in a dry voice, despite himself.
Luxiana looked down, pursing her lips to think. She shouldn't stay. She was already too attached to them but they made her feel so good. It wouldn't hurt anyone if she stayed a little longer, right? Besides, she was dying to. She raised her pupils shining with determination towards them, "If you still want me, then I'm willing to stay a little longer."
Rhysand closed his eyes, breathing an almost imperceptible sigh of relief.
Cassian took a deep breath, relieved. This woman had too much impact on him.
Azriel leaned toward Luxiana, placing his index finger under her chin and holding her head up toward him. “We will always want you, Luxi. When we tell you that we are yours and you are ours, we mean it.”
Luxiana blushed even more as she smiled at the wave of pleasure that washed over her but Azriel eyed her lips and dimples. His erection woke up in his pants at the memory of what that mouth had done to him that night.
He ran his thumb over his soulmate's bottom lip, growling. He was about to say something, but Rhysand - sensing his brother's excitement - stood up and pushed him by the shoulder. "Okay, no, not now, we have things to do."
The lord took his brother's place in front of Luxiana. "Az and I have... obligations..."
"Like what?" the blonde interrupted him with a curious and innocent face.
Azriel smirked, "Things," he said mysteriously.
“Huuum,” Luxiana complained slowly, almost pouting.
Rhysand laughed as he gave in. With that face, he could tell her anything. "I have some boring high lord stuff to do and Azriel has to check on Hybern's movements with his spies. We'll be back tonight for dinner. In the meantime, you'll spend the afternoon with Cassian, is that okay?"
Luxiana nodded vigorously as she turned to the red siphons Illyrian. "What are we going to do?" she asked in a slow voice with a perverse air.
Cassian raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Oh whatever you want, sweetheart, but know that I have a preference for what you're thinking about."
"No," Rhysand stopped them authoritatively, casting a dark look at Cassian before turning him towards his soulmate. "You're going to spend the afternoon training with him. We need to gauge your fighting skills and know what you're capable of. We need to make sure you can defend yourself."
Luxiana tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. "Why?" Why did he want to make sure she could fight?
Rhysand looked down. "Because it's dangerous to be close to us."
Luxiana tilted her head to the other side, accentuating her expression. "Am I close to you?"
Rhysand only gave a small smile as he leaned down to the blonde and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "You have no idea how much," he whispered before kissing her again. "See you tonight," he straightened up and walked away.
Luxiana was frozen, her mouth hanging open as her heart slammed against her ribs, but Azriel, smirking at the sight, leaned down to kiss her just as chastely as Rhysand. He groaned, closing his eyes. How he loved kissing her. "Have a good afternoon and be careful, princess!"
He smiled even wider at the sight of his soulmate confused and lost then walked away with Rhys.
"Um, I..." Luxiana stuttered, blinking her eyes several times quickly to try to get her thoughts back in order. "What do these kisses mean?" she asked, placing her fingers on her lips, but the two Illyrians didn't stop walking towards the exit of the room. "What are we?"
The three of them burst out laughing but didn't answer and the two continued to walk away.
“But,” Luxiana begged for an answer she didn’t get.
She knelt down on her chair, grabbed the top of it with her hands and shouted to them, blushing and stuttering. "Uh, good afternoon to you too! Good luck! See you tonight!" her whole body and especially her cheeks heated with embarrassment.
"Fuck, she's so cute," Ariel growled through gritted teeth and turned around in order to go back to kissing her soulmate, unable to resist any longer.
But Rhysand grabbed his arm to stop him and pull him with him. "No," he forbade him. "And the sooner we leave, the sooner we come back."
"But look at her!" Azriel shouted, pointing at her. "She's so cute."
Rhysand shook his head. He wasn't going to look at her because if he did, he knew that, like Azriel, he wouldn't be able to resist his soulmate. "I know, I know," he breathed almost in exasperation before teleporting him and his brother away to make things easier, but reluctantly nonetheless.
Luxiana was breathing quickly and her lips were pursed, trying to calm the pleasure that was overwhelming her.
Cassian behind her was dying of laughter and even had to hold his sore abs. He hadn't seen Rhysand and Azriel this close in a long time and it was all thanks to her. And she had wanted to stay with them. She had chosen them for a few more days. She had chosen them instead of her best friend and they were so happy about it.
All three of them were bubbling with such joy that they couldn't help but smile even though they felt like jumping around.
***
Cassian and Luxiana were on the roof of a building called House of Wind where Cassian had flown him and where a training ground was located. The Illyrian was facing his soulmate with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. "I insist, you should change. Put on pants and armor," he said for the eighteenth time since they had decided to come here and Luxiana had refused to change.
The blonde rolled her eyes. She had only answered : 'No' and 'I don't need it' to Cassian but her answers didn't seem to be enough for the Illyrian. "I prefer to fight in dresses," she explained, hoping that it would be enough for him. "Long dresses, like this one, are a bit more problematic, though, they allow me to move my legs more freely than pants. Besides, my mercenary outfit is a short, flared skirt. And for armor..." She smirked pretentiously as she leaned towards Cassian. "I don't need protection. It's not like anyone could manage to reach me. Besides, I'm not afraid of injuries anyway."
Cassian tilted his chin up with a smirk. "One, as much as I'd like to see you in your mercenary outfit, I refuse to let anyone but the three of us see your little pantie while you fight them, even if you kill them afterwards."
Luxiana straightened up with a frown but Cassian grabbed her chin in his hand. "And two, I fear you have injuries."
Luxiana could barely contain her blush. She smiled. "So? What do you propose to protect me, oh my hero?" She raised her hands to the Illyrian's head to pinch both of his cheeks. "You're going to show your beautiful face to my enemies to dissuade them from harming me?" She ran her fingers down his muscular arms to feel them as her hands were barely half the size of his biceps. "Although, your muscles alone could surely deter any enemy."
She licked her lips as she looked him over in one go with lust. “Could you, um,” she cleared her dry throat as she searched for words, “take off your armor real quick, so I can, um, analyze your musculature more closely. You know, to, um, make sure everything’s in its proper place.”
Cassian laughed proudly, his ego hurting right in the heart.
He brought his soulmate's face closer to his but gritted his teeth as he held back from kissing her at the last moment. If he gave in to his urge now and kissed her, he wouldn't be able to stop and he'd want more.
He growled as he pulled away and released her. "You, evil creature who does everything to lead me astray. But I've seen through your little game, you won't escape training that easily."
Luxiana laughed in a soft mockery but Cassian took a step back, his expression serious. "I think Azriel is already working on it but we're going to build you an armor like ours so you'll be better protected. You'll have to wear it all the time."
Luxiana crossed her arms. "All the time? And why would you do that for me?"
Cassian smirked. “You should stop asking questions like that.”
Luxiana pouted. "It's not my fault you treat me like…," she froze, blushing. "Like…," Their girlfriend. Their words, their attentions, their kisses. It was like she was their girlfriend. But that wasn't it, was it? It couldn't be that, not to the three of them… She was probably imagining things.
“As our precious little treasure?” Cassian completed, placing his large hand on her cheek. “Because that’s what you are to us.”
She wanted to ask him 'Why?' but Cassian cut her off by leaning down to place a kiss on her nose. “Stop wondering, Lu.”
Then he straightened up and took a step back to get into a fighting stance, his legs spread on his foot and his fists raised in front of him. "Come on, let's fight. I need to know what you're capable of."
Luxiana was tired of blushing almost every time she was there with them and her heart was exhausted from beating madly like that because of them. She then did not seek more answers to her questions by shaking her head and trying to pull herself together. She smirked as she detailed Cassian's position almost with contempt. She was going to break him in two. She grimaced. "I don't want to hurt you."
Cassian raised an eyebrow at first before bursting into laughter. "I can't wait to see it then, show me."
Luxiana could see that he didn't believe her for a second and that he was even making fun of her. "Are you sure? Because I'm going to tear you to pieces."
Cassian continued to laugh as he motioned for her to come towards him and attack him by opening his hand and moving his fingers back and forth. "Show me, baby. Don't worry I'll go slow."
Luxiana shrugged. "Not me."
She spun around to deliver a spinning kick to his face, which the Illyrian dodged just in time by leaning back.
Cassian's eyes widened as he realized with surprise that she was really fast. She threw several punches and kicks at him that the Illyrian dodged with great difficulty. "You're doing well," he exclaimed a little in astonishment.
"I'm waiting for you to feel confident enough to hit me back," Luxiana chanted pretentiously. "I'm not even at a quarter of my abilities. Fight seriously, and I'll do the same."
Cassian was even more surprised by the serious and cold air filled with confidence and power that remained behind the playful and provocative pupils of his soulmate. He decided to trust him. "Very well."
Without warning, he threw his fist at her ribs - slowly so as not to hurt her too much if she didn't dodge it. He didn't want to hurt her. But Luxiana stopped his fist by catching his wrist with only two fingers.
She gave him a bored, half-lidded look. "Please, make a little effort."
Cassian smirked as he retrieved his arm. Then he started throwing punches at his soulmate again, which she dodged all of them. He was going faster and faster, harder and harder, and his smile became admiring as he began to run out of breath but his soulmate didn't even have a drop of sweat on his forehead.
The Illyrian punched him as fast as he could in the throat and Luxiana dodged it this time narrowly with her forearms, taking the fist there. She smiled at the pain. "Here we are. We're finally going to be able to fight properly."
She began to hit him back and threw punches and kicks at him, dodging the ones the Illyrian threw at her.
As the minutes passed, Cassian's smile grew more and more amazed. She was strong. They were evenly matched.
But they weren’t really. She was much stronger than him. She smiled as she noticed an opening. She grabbed Cassian’s fist to go under his wing and behind his back while taking his arm with her to put him in an armlock. “On your knees,” she ordered in his ear as she stood on her tiptoes. She tapped both creases of his legs with the tip of one of her feet, forcing Cassian to fall heavily onto his shins. She ran her index finger over his throat to mime slicing it. “Boom, you’re dead. I win.”
Cassian's eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and awe as he used all his strength to try and get his arm back but couldn't.
Luxiana leaned over his shoulder to see his face, still not letting go of his arm. "Don't force yourself too hard. I'm turning your strength against you in this position. If you keep struggling, you might break your arm."
Cassian looked up at his soulmate with a bright gaze of adoration and wonder as he stopped struggling. He didn't want to hurt her but he had still given it his all. Yet, she had brought him to his knees. And that, without even hurting him, which told Cassian that she too, had not given her all. If he had been an enemy, he would be dead.
Luxiana, seeing him stop moving, smirked as she ran her index finger under his chin. "Good boy," she congratulated him dominantly.
Cassian raised an eyebrow before raising his free hand to grab her throat and pull her forward, lifting himself up a little to sweep her with his leg.
Luxiana, not wanting to drag Cassian's arm with her and break it, released him with a cry of surprise as she landed on the ground. Cassian's hand was on her throat and he pinned her to the ground with it loosely.
The Illyrian mounted Luxiana, straddling her hips, while immobilizing the blonde's thighs with his shins.
Luxiana grabbed his arm that was holding her throat but Cassian, with his other hand, grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them above her head. "So," he smiled pretentiously, "you can't do anything now?"
Luxiana laughed despite herself as she felt a wave of excitement run through her at their positions. "Oh, I could escape but," she looked him up and down, licking her lips. "I'm quite comfortable here."
The tension between them became palpable. A glow of desire lit in Cassian's eyes as he brought them to his soulmate's lips. He let out a guttural sound as he dropped onto her to kiss her.
She responded to the kiss with her entire body, intertwining her tongue with the Illyrian's. She moaned at the heat of excitement that settled in her lower abdomen and Cassian groaned in response.
Electrified and disturbed by the kiss, he loosened his grip on the blonde's wrists a little, which allowed Luxiana to roll her hands and escape his grip. With a blow of her knuckles in the commander's armpit, she hit a nerve in his arm that made him numb, forcing him to release her.
Cassian groaned in pain as he pulled away from the blonde's mouth to look at her and see what was wrong with her but she gave him another quick jab in the hip that forced him to release his grip on her legs.
She was then able to wrap her shins around the Illyrian's thighs and with a skillful pelvic thrust, made them turn to exchange their position.
Cassian, pleasantly surprised, found himself under Luxiana.
The blonde smiled haughtily at him. "I changed my mind eventually."
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🚫THERE IS A SMUT SCENE AFTER THOSE WORDS ! DO NOT READ IT IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO, IF YOU ARE UNDER THE LEGAL AGE OR IF YOU ARE JUST NOT ALLOWED TO -> PASS DIRECTLY TO THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER !🚫
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She ran her hands down the Illyrian's torso to the base of his pants that hid his erection, which she could feel pressing between his legs.
Cassian then possessively grabbed the sides of her throat, his thumbs on her cheeks, to pull the blonde's head towards him and press his mouth to hers.
She returned the kiss with a moan as Cassian dug his fingers into her braid and pressed on the back of her head to deepen the kiss.
With her hands, she hastily undid the laces of the Illyrian's pants. And he released her face to slide his hands under her dress, place them on her thighs and caress them up to her hips.
She lowered his pants and Cassian helped her by lifting his hips. Luxiana lowered his leather to the middle of his thighs and the Illyrian's erection jumped to press against the blonde's crotch, making her shudder.
She stroked Cassian's chest and cursed his armor full of straps that looked like it would be hell to remove. She groaned in frustration but didn't even try before lowering her rest to Cassian's cock to grab it. She began to move her hand back and forth, which tore a raspy breath from the Illyrian, who closed his eyes and opened his mouth, enjoying the feeling of pleasure that spread through his body.
Damn, he couldn't already take it anymore. He grabbed her to switch places and pin her on her stomach, her cheek on the cold floor.
Luxiana moaned at the contrast in temperature of her skin to the ground and the arousal that made her tremble as Cassian hastily pulled her dress up over her buttocks.
He placed the bottom of her dress on her back and put his fingers right in the middle of her wet panties to rip them savagely and make a hole in them.
He positioned himself astride the blonde's thighs, grabbing his cock to position it at his soulmate's entrance.
Luxiana moaned impatiently as she moved her hips as Cassian rubbed his cock up and down her slit to lubricate it with her wetness.
From his knees, Cassian squeezed Luxiana's thighs together and then he inserted himself inside her slowly.
The blonde let out a long sigh as she felt the Illyrian's thick cock stretch her to the end. Cassian swore in a grunt as he closed his eyes. Then without waiting, he began to thrust his pelvis, slowly penetrating Luxiana at first, rolling his hips in such a way and taking his cock so deep, that she felt like she could feel it to her throat.
Luxiana slammed her hands onto the ground trying to hold on to something as she drowned in the molten lava that was pouring into her from her belly.
Cassian lay down fully on top of her, his weight on her back. "Do you like that?" he asked, giving her a rough, deep thrust.
Luxiana let out a small cry of surprise before nodding vigorously. "Yes."
He began to give even more violent and sharp blows, making the blonde jump with each blow. He caught her earlobe between his lips, sucking on it before biting it gently.
But he wanted so much more. He pulled out of her, hooked an arm under her pelvis, and lifted her so that her hips, knees, and breasts formed a triangle with the floor. He was still knelt behind her.
He slid between her legs, spreading them with his knees. He placed his hand on the small of her back, sliding his palm along the blonde's spine. "Arch your back."
Luxiana obey, perfectly revealing her open part to Cassian who groaned at the sight.
He grabbed her hips with both hands and entered her fully and deeply in one go, starting to move in and out of her as fast and deep as he could.
Luxiana could hardly breathe anymore. Her belly was on fire and electrified her entire body, hardening her nipples against the fabric of her dress and making all her skin tingle.
Cassian grabbed his soulmate's braid to wrap it around his fist, gripping it and pulling to raise Luxiana's head.
With her head raised, she moaned even louder, feeling Cassian's cock slide in, out, and deep inside her.
Cassian had his cock throbbing and his heart pounding hard to get pleasure back into his muscles and body.
He growled as he leaned over Luxiana to wrap his arms around her stomach and hold her in place as he pounded into her hard and fast.
He placed his mouth on his soulmate's ear. "Touch yourself, my treasure, make yourself come for me. Cum on my cock, fuck," he demanded in a trembling voice.
Luxiana was almost sobbing under Cassian's powerful hip thrusts that were drowning her in too much pleasure while her heart felt like it was spinning in her chest. She obeyed him without thinking. She slipped her hand under her to touch her clitoris, rubbing it impatiently under the excitement.
The more ecstasy rose within her, the more she arched her back and spread her legs, accentuating the depth of the penetration.
Cassian's cock hit the bottom hard. The pleasure Luxiana felt exploded first from her belly to spread throughout her body and contract her muscles and tightening her walls around Cassian's member as she had a powerful orgasm.
The Illyrian, feeling his cock tightened completely, gave two powerful thrusts before cumming in his soul mate while biting her neck to avoid moaning as he came inside her.
Luxiana's muscles relaxed, letting her slide completely belly down under Cassian's weight on top of her.
The Illyrian released the skin of the blonde's neck from between his teeth to catch his breath but smiled with all his might when he saw the mark of his jaws in her skin. He placed a kiss on the mark before taking his cock out from his soulmate to stand up, dragging her with him. "What an incredible fight," he sneered.
But Luxiana couldn't stand on her feet, her muscles numb. Cassian smiled proudly as he kept her upright and held her close with one hand while he straightened her dress with the other.
Luxiana nodded with a smile. "Indeed, we should fight like this more often," she muttered a little more into the gas.
Cassian groaned. "Fuck, yeah," and he placed his large, warm hand on the blonde's cheek, tilting her head up and looking at her lovingly. He gritted his teeth. He wanted to scream that he was in love with her.
Hello, here is the chapter 30 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.
I hope with all my heart that you are doing well physically and mentally. I also hope that you liked this chapter and the smut too. Don't hesitate to tell me what was wrong so that I can improve. The next chapter will be Cassian smut on Sunday, February 2nd.
In any case, thank you for your votes, your readings and all your comments. It makes me so happy. You are all so kind.
No matter who you are, you all deserve to be happy, at peace with your mind, not to have anxiety, sadness or depression, and to be in good health. That's why I would wish every day for you to be happy. Never forget that someone cares about you. I care about you and if you need a reason, it's because if you read this fiction, you make me happy and you like the same things as me so I care about you.
Take care of yourself and good luck in your trials and battles. Love,❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
! Don't forget to read the previous chapters ! : Here
Chapter 30
When Luxiana woke up, she was on a torso. A warm, muscular torso that she had drooled all over.
She managed to open her eyes to see Azriel lying on his side facing her. The blue siphons Illyrian had placed his large hand around the blonde's throat as he lay profoundly asleep.
Luxiana raised her head with difficulty, grabbing Azriel's wrist so it wouldn't fall. She put his arm back next to him and the master spy didn't even wake up a little.
As she stood up a little, the blonde could then see that she was on top of Cassian who was sleeping just as well, his mouth wide open beneath her. She had her legs between the Illyrian's as he had wrapped his wings around her body and placed his palms on her back, clinging to her skin. She was so warm.
She smiled as her heart felt like it was swelling strangely. She was slowly coming back to herself and regaining a little more of the sensations in her body, allowing her to realize that her hand was tied with someone's.
Turning her head, she saw Rhysand sleeping on the other side. He was on his back but had his arm bent upwards, one hand raised next to his face between Cassian and him where he had intertwined his fingers with the blonde's.
They were all three shirtless -to Luxiana's great pleasure- with only their cloth pants on their buttocks. Although it was this sight, and the fact that Rhysand had gripped his hand in hers, that made her heart beat madly in her chest with force, it was especially the fact that they had wanted to sleep with her when they had not fucked together last night that tickled her whole body and made her blush.
Taking a look around the room and the bed the four of them were in, she recognized the place. Cassian's room. And that was why they all fit into the same bed.
She glanced at herself with a frown. Her hair was loose and hanging all around her and on Cassian, but most importantly, she wasn't wearing her dress anymore. They had put a black silk nightie on her. Luxiana narrowed her eyes as she didn't believe it. How the hell had they changed her without her noticing? She was sleeping far too well and far too deeply in the presence of these three. As if she was catching up on all the sleep she had once missed so much.
Through the bay window, she could see that it was now well into the night. She took a deep breath. How she loved the starry sky.
She shrugged. She intended to enjoy being able to sleep properly in the presence of the three Illyrians while she could. She rested her head on Cassian's chest and closed her eyes with a wide smile on her lips. She felt so good.
But suddenly her stomach growled. She was hungry. Cookies. She wanted cookies. She needed cookies.
With difficulty, she pulled her hand out of Rhysand's as the lord's fingers were clinging to hers. She managed to retrieve her arm without waking him. She then grabbed Cassian's wrists to lift his heavy arms and place them alongside his body. From there, she managed to get up gently without waking them to get out of bed.
With light and silent steps, she went to the door, opened it gently and left the room. As she closed it behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief. She had not disturbed them and woken them up.
She walked to the Town House kitchen. She stood in front of the large central island, resting her palms on the countertop as she took in the stoves, ovens, and cupboards on the far wall before her. She frowned as she tilted her head, wondering why there was a kitchen in this house when food magically appeared in front of them.
But she shook her head, closing her eyes. Then she began to think very hard about the ingredients needed to make cookies while asking the house to make them appear in front of her.
When she opened her eyes again, she smiled with all her teeth at the sight of everything ready on the counter. This thing was incredible, she'll never get used to it.
"What are you doing?" a voice called out curiously behind her.
She jumped while letting out a small cry in surprise and turning around in her jump.
She relaxed when she saw Azriel leaning on the doorstep. She placed her hand on her left breast where her heart was beating madly in her ribcage. "You scared the shit out of me."
Azriel let out a small laugh as he straightened up and slowly walked towards her. "Excuse me, princess, that wasn't my intention." He couldn't resist looking her up and down greedily when he saw her in her black silk nightie that he had put on her last night. And her long hair hanging all around her killed Azriel from the inside a little more by making his member extremely hard in his pants.
Luxiana couldn't help but blush as the Illyrian slowly walked towards her, like an animal approaching its prey. She also couldn't help but greedily examine him. His handsome face, his muscular bare torso, and the enormous bulge that deformed his black pants and made the blonde's lower abdomen heat up uncontrollably.
She tried, with great difficulty, to hold the darkened gaze of the master spy as he stopped in front of her. He passed his hand on Luxiana's cheek to slide it into her hair - which he brushed along its entire length following movement with his eyes- and definitively waking up the blonde's entire body who began to tickle.
"What are you doing?" he asked again, glancing at the ingredients on the counter behind her.
"Uh," she stuttered, feeling embarrassed. She cleared her throat. Why did this Illyrian have this power over her? She had to catch herself. "Cookies."
Azriel narrowed his eyes for a second before snorting a soft chuckle. He fixed a tender gaze on the blonde's. "You know you don't have to make them, right? You can just ask for them ready-made at the house."
Luxiana rolled her eyes and opened her mouth a little, shocked that he thought she didn't know that. "Of course I do. But..." She looked down, taking on a serious and nostalgic look that took Azriel aback. "My father used to make me cookies at night when I was hungry. So I... I don't know... sometimes when I need to think, to calm down, or just when I'm hungry, I make cookies while thinking about my father. I don't know, it's just a habit that I kept but it's not really the same as when it was my father who made them."
She looked up at the Illyrian who was listening attentively. "You know, it helps me clear my head," she added.
Azriel placed a hand on his mate’s hip to take a step forward and press his body completely against hers.
The air grew electric between them as Luxiana's nipples began to prick and harden with excitement against her nightie when she felt the Illyrian's erection pressed against her lower abdomen.
He placed his other hand on the blonde's cheek, which he gently caressed with his thumb. "What's wrong? Why do you need to clear your head now?"
Luxiana opened her eyes wide for a moment before lowering them. She let out a small, noisy smile. He was so cute and thoughtful to ask her that. Like he really cared about her. Maybe he did after all? But it was wrong, right?
She raised her blue pupils to his brown eyes. "Because of you three," she answered seriously.
Azriel tilted his head. His stomach tightened with doubt and anxiety. "Because of the three of us? Why?"
Luxiana huffed, shaking her head as if her body was telling her not to say anything, not to trust him when all her heart wanted was that. She opened her mouth several times, searching for her words. She finally huffed and gave in, letting herself go. "Because I like you."
Azriel's insides felt like it was going to explode as his breath hitched and his heart started pounding all over his chest, in every way and in every position. He tried to focus on not reacting, not showing anything as he was so overjoyed. She liked them. His breathing picked up again, becoming panting, despite himself. He could die of relief and happiness now. Maybe it wasn't love yet, but she liked them and that was a great start.
But he frowned, suddenly worried. Why was it bothering her? "So?" he asked, hoping she would elaborate but cursing himself for having found nothing else to say to her.
Luxiana only smiled as she shrugged mysteriously. There were so many things running through her mind, things she wasn't used to saying out loud.
Azriel understood and although a bitter taste of disappointment settled on his tongue, he did not insist. "I hope that one day you will feel comfortable enough with me to talk to me about everything that is on your mind." He leaned towards her to place a soft and long kiss on her forehead. "I will always be there for you anyway and I will wait until you are ready to tell me about it with the impatience of discovering what haunts my little princess."
Luxiana's heart was beating so hard it could have dug a hole in her chest as her entire body tickled with pleasure at the Illyrian's adorable words. She felt like he cared for her and it felt good but at the same time, she was so afraid of being wrong.
Azriel then lowered his kiss to Luxiana's cheek, to the corner of her lips and smirked as he felt her shiver beneath him. He lowered his hands to her thighs to grab her and lift her up.
Instinctively, Luxiana wrapped her legs around the brunette's pelvis but frowned, wondering what he was doing. Azriel carried her and took her to the side of the central island where he placed her on one of the black stools before releasing her. He moved away to position himself in front of the ingredients. And suddenly, he began to make the cookies with a serious look, without saying anything.
Luxiana's eyes widened. "What are you doing?"
“I’ll make you cookies,” he replied as if it were obvious.
Luxiana couldn't believe her eyes and had to blink several times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. "You would cook for me?" Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, even more than before and even felt like it was beating in her entire body.
Azriel froze for a moment to gaze sincerely into his soulmate's. "Always." Then he went back to making the cookies.
Luxiana's entire body heated up as her chest filled with some sort of sparkling fireworks. Her eyes began to burn. She then closed her eyelids slowly as she took a deep breath to calm herself. She opened them again. "Don't do that," she told him in a slightly broken voice.
Azriel froze again, frowning as he noticed her confusion. "Why?"
“Because I’m going to fall in love with you,” she simply breathed.
Azriel's heart skipped a beat as his chest and eyes swelled with hope. He tried not to show it but a slight smile emerged on his face. "Dark chocolate chip, milk chocolate, or white chocolate?" he asked, hinting to Luxiana what he thought of that.
Luxiana's eyes widened before lowering her head and blushing. Did he want her to fall in love with him? Wasn't it too late anyway?
Azriel chuckled. "Okay, let's do all three at once then." He poured the three different types of chocolate chip into the mixture.
Luxiana let out a small laugh of her own. "I never thought you could cook, especially being an Illyrian."
Azriel smirked. "I'm apparently as full of surprise as you are."
Luxiana laughed lightly. "Apparently. Much to my delight," she said, pointing at the cookie mixture. "I like knowing that kind of thing about you."
Azriel took some of the mixture in his hands and made small balls that he placed on a baking sheet in the oven. "What else would you like to know?"
"Your favorite color?" she jumped excitedly on her stool, grinning widely, eager to know everything about the Illyrian.
Azriel smiled at his soulmate's cuteness. "Blue and you?"
“Blue!” she cried, all smiles.
Azriel narrowed his eyes as he eyed Luxiana suspiciously. "Really?"
The blonde huffed, rolling her eyes. "Alright, pink. Well, it used to be pink, but not anymore. Now it's blue! If it's your favorite color, then it's definitely mine now."
“Why is that?” Azriel froze in confusion.
Luxiana shrugged. "Because if you like blue, maybe by liking the same color as you then you'll like me too."
Azriel was electrified through and through in a mixture of slight anger but cuteness. He finished the cookies without saying anything. Without answering anything while Luxiana watched him do it attentively. He put the cookies in the oven to bake before turning to Luxiana to stare at her in return. He washed his hands and dried them on a dish towel before going around the counter to go to his soul mate who was still staring at him.
She turned her stool to face Azriel, her back to the central island, as the Illyrian arrived in front of her. Without waiting, he gently grabbed her by the throat with one hand and placed his other on her cheek. "You don't have to like the same things I do for me to love you, Luxiana." He rested his forehead on the blonde's. "I'm already all yours, princess. Forever."
Luxiana's eyes widened and she wanted to answer but Azriel jumped on her lips to kiss her with his tongue.
He pulled away from her. She was out of breath and so was he but he spoke. "Now I'm going to ask you one question and one question only, to which you must answer only 'yes' or 'no'. Your answer will then determine everything else this evening and... ," he paused, greedily detailing her blue pupils. "...us..."
Luxiana raised an eyebrow in surprise and intrigue.
“But don’t put any pressure on yourself,” Azriel said seriously. “You have the right to answer whatever you want and I will never hold it against you if you answer ‘no’, okay princess?”
The blonde couldn't breathe anymore because of the heavy and electric atmosphere that now surrounded them. She nodded then, she couldn't do more than that anyway.
"Good," he released her and took a big step away from her to take a deep breath. He suddenly felt so nervous but he didn't want to show it to her. "Do you agree to be mine?"
Luxiana frowned as she tilted her head, unable to hide her small smile. "I thought I already answered that question last night when all three of you asked me."
Azriel smirked for a second at the memory. "True. But I'm talking about something else, princess. I'm talking about being mine entirely. I'm talking about your hair being mine and you won't be allowed to let it down in front of others if you don't want to be punished. I mean your body being mine and you're allowing me to do whatever I want with it. I'm talking about your mind being mine and if you dare think of anyone other than me and my brothers, you'll be punished. I'm talking about owning your entire heart and I won't accept anyone else inside but me and my brothers. I'm talking about rules in a system of rewards and punishments based on your behavior."
He took another step forward to place his hands on Luxiana's cheeks. "Because you will be completely mine, Lux. And that's what I want to make sure of one last time. That you know what you're getting into. That you know that if you say 'yes', there will be no turning back. That you know that if you agree, I will never ask you again because you will be mine. That you know that if you say 'yes', I will take care of you for the rest of my life and that you will be the most precious thing in my eyes."
He chuckled as he looked down for a second. “Actually, you already are anyway. So Luxiana, do you want to be mine and do you agree to be mine in that special way?”
Luxiana swallowed hard as she intensely scanned Azriel's sincere, almost pleading gaze. She was gasping for air. She hesitated. She shouldn't say yes. She shouldn't, but she was dying to. To belong to someone who would care for her, who would care for her in that way. To belong entirely to him because, damn it, she loved him?
Was she in love with all three? She didn't know, she didn't know anymore, but one thing was sure in her heart, she wanted him. "Yes," she answered him suddenly in a loud voice.
Azriel's eyes widened. He hadn't believed it for a second. His heart was filled with hope, joy, and excitement, of course, but he hadn't thought she would accept. Not yet, it was too soon. She barely knew them, and she wasn't even sure of his feelings for her, yet she had accepted.
Azriel realized it all at once. A wave of excitement shot through him, heating his entire body and making his penis pulse in his pants. "Fuck," he cursed as he threw himself on the blonde to press his mouth to hers. "You're mine then," he breathed between two kisses. "And I'm yours. Only yours."
Luxiana nodded vigorously as her chest filled with a sense of fullness and excitement.
He forced himself away from his soulmate, fighting every fiber in his body that was pushing him towards her. "Good," he said, taking two steps away, much to Luxiana's dismay, who would have wanted another kiss.
Azriel concentrated on regaining control of his emotions. He forced himself to take slow, deep breaths to regain a calm breathing. He set a dark, lustful but authoritative gaze on his soulmate. "Then on your knees," he ordered, pointing to the ground in front of him.
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🚫THERE IS A SMUT SCENE AFTER THOSE WORDS ! DO NOT READ IT IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO, IF YOU ARE UNDER THE LEGAL AGE OR IF YOU ARE JUST NOT ALLOWED TO -> PASS DIRECTLY TO THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER !🚫
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Luxiana raised an eyebrow, pleasantly surprised but remained completely still.
A muscle twitched in Azriel's cheek. "You're all mine now, princess. So you obey me and I reward you, but if you don't obey, I punish you," he explained dryly, taking a small, intimidating step forward. "I said, on your knees."
Something lit up in Luxiana's irises. A flame of desire and mischievous provocation. She smirked. How she loved getting into trouble. "Make me."
Azriel gritted his teeth as he took a deep breath through his nose. “I see.” He took another step forward to place his finger under the blonde’s chin. “You’re my little princess and I want to take care of you but you seem to prefer it when it’s hard, don’t you?”
Luxiana shrugged her shoulders with a falsely innocent air without answering anything, annoying Azriel a little more.
“Fine,” the Illyrian growled, “the hard way then.” He grabbed Luxiana by the throat, pulling her forward and off her stool. She landed on her feet as Azriel gave her a sharp kick with his heel into the crook of her knee, forcing her to fall to the ground on her shins as he let go of her throat.
The blonde let him do it, watching him curiously, eager to see what he was going to do and more than excited by the way the master spy was manipulating her.
The Illyrian smiled as he felt his soulmate's excitement soar as much as his own. He deployed his shadows, a string of dark power timidly escaping from behind his back before throwing itself at Luxiana.
The shadow landed on the blonde's collarbone before moving up to one of her shoulders. Azriel narrowed his eyes a little. He had to use so much power to force his shadow to move on the blonde's body. As if the shadow was intimidated by Luxiana. As if it was afraid of it. Maybe it was because she was Azriel's soulmate and his shadows could sense it.
The black thread moved slowly and ran down one of the blonde's arms, barely brushing her skin so light that it almost made the shadow disappear.
The thick shadow, filled with power and darkness, -which Luxiana followed with interest with her eyes- wrapped around her wrist before pulling it back to pass over her back. Luxiana barely had time to raise an eyebrow before the filament extended to grab the blonde's second wrist and pull it close to the second to bind her two wrists together in the hollow of her back.
Luxiana twisted her wrists in the shadow's grip, judging its strength, and threw Azriel a smile as she saw that the shadow seemed incredibly strong and that she couldn't even pass through it. He had used far more power than the last time during the attack on Velaris. She had been sure that he was capable of doing better than that.
Of course, Luxiana could have escaped from that hold and ordered the shadow to release her but she didn't want to. She wasn't even struggling, in fact. She was just way too turned on by the sight of Azriel standing in front of her, looking down on her, while her face was level with the huge bulge between the brunette's legs.
But the shadow, which was encircling her wrists, extended even further to her two ankles which it surrounded in turn, then completely preventing Luxiana from getting up and moving.
The blonde raised an eyebrow, smiling even wider as her lower stomach was exploding and her heart was sending bursts of adrenaline tickling throughout her body. She was enjoying this way too much.
She wiggled her thighs as she felt her wetness dripping into her panties.
Azriel, noticing this, smiled even more. He ran his fingers over the laces of his pants which he slowly undid, forcing himself to keep control and not rush. He opened his garment and let it fall to his ankles.
Luxiana's mouth grew wet as her gaze rested on Azriel's erection that stood proudly on the V of his lower stomach.
The Illyrian grabbed his cock in his hand, wrapping his fingers around his member to begin to stroke it up and down while detailing his soulmate's face and imagining what it would be like to have her magnificent lips placed on his penis.
Luxiana raised her pupils to him and Azriel had to tense with all his being to keep control of himself. He found her so beautiful, so sexy, so cute and so his like that, tied up and kneeling in front of him with her big eyes shining with excitement and her cheeks red.
She ran her tongue over her dry lips to moisten them, making her dimples stand out and it was too much for the Illyrian. He wanted to make love to that mouth. He wanted to make love to her dimples and he wanted to feel them and see them tighten around his cock.
He placed his index finger under his soulmate's chin to lift her head a little. "Open your mouth," he ordered in a husky voice filled with excitement.
Luxiana hesitated for a second to provoke him again, to ask him to open his mouth for her himself but she was so excited and so eager to please him and taste him. So she opened her mouth, as wide as she could, letting her tongue stick out a little.
Azriel growled. He felt like he was doing nothing else than growled with his soulmate, but she was turning him on so much that he didn't know how to handle all the things simmering in his body. "Good girl," he breathed out.
Then he first placed the tip of his cock on Luxiana's tongue, savoring for a few seconds the sensation of the tip of his soulmate's wet flesh on his skin, before sliding it entirely into his mouth almost to the back of her throat.
Azriel let out a hoarse moan under his breath as the blonde closed her lips around his penis. He moved back and forth, pushing his cock further into Luxiana's throat as he moaned at the wave of pleasure that washed over him. But his soulmate had a gag reflex as she closed her eyes. "Shh, shh, shh," Azriel reassured her as he began to stroke her hair. "Relax, let yourself go. It'll be easier, you'll see."
Luxiana, surprisingly, obeyed him and took a deep breath through her nose to relax. Her shoulders slumped as she got used to the Illyrian's presence in her mouth.
“Good girl,” Azriel repeated, still stroking her head.
Luxiana moaned at the lightning that passed through her. Damn, what wouldn't she do for him to call her that again. It pleased her and her heart too much, which always reacted by beating three times faster at that name.
Azriel was having trouble breathing. He could cum just from the sight of his soulmate's face around his member. "Suck my cock while showing me your fucking beautiful dimples," he ordered, gripping the blonde's hair at the back of his head.
Luxiana obeyed him, sealing her lips a little more around his member and sucking it while making her dimples stand out. She began to slowly move back and forth on Azriel's cock.
She looked up at him to look at him and something caught fire in her chest when she saw him lose a little more control as he closed his eyes and threw his head back.
She wanted to touch him and join her hands in the process. She tried to struggle in the shadows of the spymaster but she was still securely bound. She groaned in frustration.
Azriel couldn't even smile at the sound. He couldn't breathe anymore as his penis was on fire and sent shocks of pleasure throughout his body.
After a few minutes, Luxiana was starting to feel sore in the muscles in her neck and jaw. So she took Azriel's cock out of her mouth to rest and take a deep breath. In the meantime, she put her lips on his balls to start kissing, licking, and sucking them.
Azriel opened his eyes again to take in the blonde doing him good. He wanted more. “Cookie,” he breathed then.
Luxiana frowned incomprehension as she raised her head.
“That will be your safeword. 'Cookie'.” He grabbed her lower jaw in his hand. “Don't forget it, princess. Never. If I go too far. If I do something you can't handle. If I hurt you. Or if you just want to stop for any reason, you say 'cookie' and I'll stop immediately. Don't ever hesitate to use it. I'll never hold it against you. You promise to use it if it doesn't feel right, okay, princess?” he asked with worry veiled by his desire in his irises.
Luxiana nodded slowly but with slightly furrowed brows showing her seriousness and sincerity.
“Answer 'yes' or 'no', Lux, always,” the Illyrian demanded curtly.
“Yes,” Luxiana said in a small, high-pitched voice despite herself.
“Fine,” Azriel grabbed back the hair at the back of her head and yanked her head back roughly, forcing her mouth open. “Then let me fuck that fucking mouth, princess.”
She barely had time to say “yes” before he shoved his cock into her mouth and started to move quickly back and forth in her throat.
She had closed her lips around the Illyrian's cock and was trying to follow the movement of his pelvic thrusts by sucking his penis and making his dimples stand out as he had asked her to.
Azriel growled strange throaty sounds as he tried to keep control over the pleasure that was invading him as he couldn't even breathe anymore. He gritted his teeth and had his eyes half-closed, forcing himself to keep them open to continue seeing his soulmate. "You are such a good girl," he whispered. "Look how good you take me."
Luxiana closed her eyes, taking deep breaths through her nose to relax and to limit her gag reflex. When she heard Azriel's moans it was her pleasure that woke up. Tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes when she opened her eyelids again to observe the Illyrian's face filled with pleasure, but it wasn't because she didn't like it, quite the contrary, she was so proud to please him.
But Azriel couldn't take it anymore. The sight of his soulmate's dimples clenching on his cock, her lips around his member, feeling his tongue slide over his skin and his tip touch the back of his throat. It was too much. He was going to cum and there was no way he was going to do it.
He silently ordered his shadows to retract from Luxiana's ankles, freeing them, but still keeping her wrists firmly bound.
He pulled his cock out of the blonde's mouth to grab her by the arm and lift her roughly. He dragged her to the central island, where he brought her back to the edge of the counter. He pressed on her back to pin her belly to the cold marble, legs dangling in the air, revealing her damp black lace panties.
Luxiana couldn't do anything and wouldn't do anything. She was completely at his mercy, and she loved it. Her lower belly was on fire and her clit was already throbbing with excitement.
Azriel shifted her little panties to the side to penetrate her in one go, stretching her insides with haste before starting to give quick and sudden thrusts inside her, encouraged by Luxiana's moans.
The blonde could have screamed but her entire body was burning with pleasure so much that she could only let out moans muffled by her lack of air. Her cheek, her hard breasts and her stomach were pressed against the cold marble and the temperature contrast didn't even help Luxiana come back to earth. She felt ejected from her body by ecstasy as all her nerves tickled.
Azriel continued to thrust his hips into her, ever faster and deeper. He grabbed both of her wrists - still tied behind her back by her shadows - to pull them and lift her upper body while continuing to pound her. He passed his other hand under her to slide it to her clitoris, which he began to stimulate with his middle finger.
Luxiana moaned as her eyes dripped. She was going to cum. A wave started from her lower stomach and was about to explode inside her but Azriel released her suddenly by pulling his cock out of her and abruptly moving away.
Luxiana let out a cry between surprise and frustration. She tried to get up but she had no support, her hands still tied. She glanced over her shoulder to see him standing behind her with a stern expression. "What are you doing?" she almost sobbed.
"I have to punish you, princess, for all the times you've been a bad girl," he growled, unable to breathe. His fists and teeth were clenched. It took all his self-control not to continue and make her come.
"What?" Luxiana gasped with a disappointed and shocked pout, not believing it, while her heart was beating wildly in a mixture of disappointment and excitement.
Azriel leaned over her, pressing his cock to her buttocks, his chest to her back, and his mouth to her ear to whisper, "It hurts me as much as it does to you, princess."
He ran his fingers over the blonde's forehead and cheek to brush her hair away and brushed them behind her ear. "But you've been so naughty, I have to teach you to never do anything stupid again."
Luxiana didn't have time to understand or assimilate, that Azriel got up by grabbing her by the wrists to lift her up with him.
Luxiana let out a cry of surprise but the Illyrian turned her over to lay her on her back. He knelt in front of her, keeping her thighs open to start licking her slit from bottom to top and devouring her part, sucking and biting her clitoris. He pushed two fingers into her, which he bent directly upwards while rubbing a specific point on her upper wall that made Luxiana moan.
Just a few minutes later, Luxiana was going to come. Azriel, feeling her walls start to contract, stopped to straighten up, taking out his fingers.
He looked at her with ragged breaths as she whimpered in frustration, almost sobbing. “Azriel,” she pleaded. It was so frustrating and yet so strangely good. She loved it and hated it.
The cookie oven beeped, signaling the end of the baking. Azriel left his disheveled soulmate on the counter to go and take them out of the oven. He set the baking sheet on a corner of the counter to let the cookies cool while Luxiana tried to catch her breath, trying to predict what was going to happen next and if she would be able to handle it.
Azriel then went back to Luxiana to grab her legs but she avoided his grip by moving her ankles back. “Stop, no,” she begged. She needed time to think. To know if she could continue or not. She was already so frustrated.
But Azriel, with a wave of his hand, ordered his shadows to tie her two ankles together. Which they did with such lightning speed that Luxiana could do nothing. "'Cookie', princess. Use your safe word, or I won't stop."
Luxiana gave him a hesitant look before groaning and dropping her skull onto the marble. She didn't want him to stop. It felt so good and yet so horrible. Her body could still take it and she wanted to please Azriel. And then, a rather masochistic part of her quite liked it and felt, strangely, a little more excited each time.
Azriel smirked as he understood that she liked it. He put the blonde's legs on one of his shoulders and penetrated her with his cock deeply again in one go. He let out a long breath as he felt his soulmate's walls tighten even more in this position and Luxiana moaned as she felt a whole bunch of other sensations spread through her body tickling her.
He started pounding her again and again. And he brought her to orgasm before he stopped. And he did it again and again and again in lots of different positions all over the kitchen.
After hours, Luxiana was now sitting on the floor, her nightie removed and placed under her buttocks so that she wouldn't be cold. She now had her hands tied above her head, to a handle of one of the kitchen furniture.
Azriel was crouching in front of her as he had just stopped again after bringing her to another orgasm with his tongue without letting her finish.
Luxiana whined, giving the Illyrian a pleading look. "Az," she pleaded. She felt so frustrated. She couldn't take it anymore. Tears were even starting to wet her eyes. What kind of torture was this? She wanted to stop with all her might, but at the same time, she wanted to continue.
“I’m sorry, princess,” Azriel kissed her cheek, brushing her white locks behind her shoulders and stroking her hair. He was just as trembling as she was, and just as exhausted. He couldn’t take it anymore. “Will you stop being naughty? Will you be a good girl for me?”
Luxiana nodded vigorously. She knew she would change her mind tomorrow and Azriel would punish her again -and she would curse herself for it then- but right now, she was in such a state that she was just ready to say yes to anything.
Azriel sighed in relief as he closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Luxiana's. He was so exhausted. His muscles and heart ached from doing this to her. Damn, he didn't even know how he'd held on until then.
With a wave of her hand in the air, the shadows that held Luxiana bound disappeared, allowing her to drop her tired and aching arms to her sides.
Azriel grabbed her by the thighs to pull her towards him and lay her back on the ground on a blanket that he had just made appear there. He dove on her to kiss her full on the mouth, mixing his tongue with the one of his soul mate who could finally raise her hands towards the chest of the brunette to touch him.
Every inch of their skin was electric and sensitive, as if they were feeling everything multiply. They had been deprived so many times for so long.
Azriel positioned himself between his soulmate's thighs and entered her, but this time it was slow and gentle. He kissed and sucked her neck and chest while playing with his thumb on her clit.
He rolled his hips slowly but sending his penis so far inside Luxiana, rubbing her sensitive vagina so well that Luxiana rolled her eyes, closing them.
They had been on the edge so many times that they both came quickly as pleasure and ecstasy invaded them, exploding from their lower bellies to spread throughout their bodies.
They screamed as their breaths caught and their bodies felt like they were completely imploding, making them feel the orgasm in every muscle.
Azriel, once his orgasm had passed, let himself fall on Luxiana to take her in his arms and roll on his side, putting his back on the ground and putting his soulmate on his chest. He didn't want her to catch a cold so he hugged her with his wings in a possessive and comforting gesture.
He placed a kiss on her temple as the blonde struggled to come back to earth. "You were so brave, princess. I'm so proud of you."
Luxiana shook her head for air and energy to speak as all her muscles were numb. "I hate you," she managed to articulate.
Azriel tensed, his heart skipping a beat. He panicked. Had he been too far away with her? Why hadn't she used her safeword???
But Luxiana continued with a goofy smile. "It was torture but that orgasm was so worth it. It was so fucking good."
Azriel breathed a sigh of relief as he smiled. "Be a good girl and you can be rewarded like that whenever you want, but be naughty and the punishment will be even worse than that."
Luxiana grimaced as she groaned at the memories of frustration and torture. She buried her face into a laughing Azriel. “I’ll be a good girl, I’ll be a good girl,” she assured, a little traumatized now.
Azriel burst out laughing. He felt so happy.
Once he recovered from his orgasm, he pulled out of the blonde's insides to stand up with her in his arms. He placed her on the counter next to the cookies while holding Luxiana between his wings. She didn't even have the energy to stand up straight anymore.
Azriel grabbed a cookie from the stove. He took a small bite to make sure it wasn't hot anymore, then gave it to Luxiana once he was sure she wouldn't burn herself.
She reached up to grab it but her hand fell limply, unable to do so. She had no strength left. "I hurt everywhere," she complained.
Azriel smiled tenderly but with a little pride as he brought the cookie to his soulmate's mouth for her. And he fed her gently. Luxiana took a fang and began to chew it with difficulty. Her throat and jaw even hurt.
But the explosion of flavor that exploded on her palate and the chocolate that melted on her tongue made her moan. It was the best cookie she had ever eaten.
Then suddenly, she realized. She threw a tear-stained look at Azriel as she stopped chewing. She was just looking him over.
"Is something wrong?" the Illyrian suddenly worried, his entire face scrunching up.
Luxiana let a tear roll down her cheek. She was in love with him.
A wave of adrenaline and anxiety ran through Azriel, his eyes widening. He dropped the cookie to cup his soulmate's face. He wiped away his tear with his thumb. "Luxiana? Princess? What's going on?"
He looked so worried. Luxiana smiled tenderly, shaking her head as her heart beat so hard for the Illyrian. "It's just that the cookie is really good."
Azriel calmed down a bit but still frowned. "Are you crying because of the cookie?"
Luxiana nodded softly, "You'll make me some more, right?" she begged with big, imploring eyes.
Azriel was thrown off balance for a second by her cute, sweet face. As if it was the most important thing to her. She seemed so fragile at that moment. The spymaster's heart ached. "Whenever you want, Luxiana, anywhere, anytime, and for the rest of my life."
Luxiana's heart slammed against her ribs as she let her blushing cheek fall onto Azriel's chest. She smiled, reassured but worried. Nothing she felt right now was right.
He fed her a few more cookies until she didn't want any more before picking her up and going back up to Cassian's room who was still sleeping there with Rhysand. They hadn't even woken up and hadn't actually moved an inch either.
Azriel lay down next to Cassian with Luxiana completely naked on top of him. And they both fell back asleep happy because they were in love.
