A Court of Lost Stars

It had been snowing the last time Azriel set foot on these lands. Now, he walked on what felt like a wet sponge while misty fog swirled about his ankles. Glancing over his shoulder, he pursed his lips firmly as the others followed.

Rhys and Feyre walked with intensity, every step a claw in the right direction toward their daughter.

Their Nova.

"She'll have just turned fifteen two days ago…" Feyre spoke, voice hardly a whisper over the wind that cut through the mossy trees, "we need to," she continued in a tight voice, "be prepared."

They all stopped just as she did, watching their High Lady.

Feyre couldn't reach Rhys' eyes, though she felt a calming caress against her mind. It helped set her breath at ease so she could continue talking.

Turning to look at them, Cassian and Mor. Azriel. Rhys.

Nesta, Lucien, Elaine, and Amren remained in Velaris. They'd begun cleaning the streets and beach of debris so that it wouldn't appear as a war zone when Nova returned.

If she returned.

She and Rhys mentally discussed the possibility that Nova may choose to remain here. Their daughter may have been born in Velaris, but the family in the cabin Az had taken her to was the family she'd been raised with.

The family she'd grown with.

And though it brought an icy dagger to her heart, Feyre knew no matter what she chose; she would never force her hand in either direction. 

"She may not want to join us," Feyre continued when she found her voice again, "and that…will have to be okay. We can give her the choice to live in Velaris or to visit, but if she tells us to leave," she swallowed the tears that threatened to fall, "then we will."

Nova very well could have been raised in a faerie-hating family. Possibly even learned to kill them.

Mor offered a tight smile and nodded. "I suppose won't know until we try, hm?"

With an agreed nod, they turned and followed Azriel.

"Just over the hill." He offered calmly, but his composed nature did nothing to stop the frantic beating of Feyre and Rhysand's hearts as they drew nearer.

Climbing up the muddy foothill, they stood at the top, overseeing the area where the cabin would be situated.

Feyre frowned and quickly looked over at Rhys, who stared blankly at the empty lot in front of them. It was filled with wild grasses and patches of moss, but not a structure in sight. There certainly wasn't a cozy tiny home with a roaring fire in the hearth and children helping their mother make dough for bread.

While contained by Hybern, Feyre had Azriel repeatedly describe Nova's new home. Letting herself picture her little girl happy and laughing with other children, but what she saw now…

"Where-" Mor started with furrowed brows.

"It was here…" Az frowned, slowly shaking his head. "This exact spot."

Cassian swallowed harshly. "Maybe they relocated..."

"Why take the whole thing down if they simply moved territories." Mor countered, but Feyre and Rhys were already on the move.

Down the slope, sliding a little from the loose ground, they arrived in the spot it should have been.

Where she should have been.

Shadows began to swirl around Rhys' shoulders as he looked down at the ground and then up at the sky.

"We'll find where they went…" Feyre murmured, taking his hand as the others entered the spot. "There's a town nearby, we'll ask."

The calm in her voice did not match the dread she felt inside, but for Rhysand's sake, she pulled herself together and forced herself to be the voice of reason they both needed.

Rhys let out a slow, steady breath and nodded. "Which way is the town?"

"North West, a little over a mile." Az was already walking in that direction, not allowing them to stew on the setback.

"This way, let's go."