We reappear beside the lake and Rhys immediately lets out a low chuckle while Feyre smiles at the sound. "You'll be taking the brunt of his pissy attitude tomorrow, Kaira." She warns me and I nod in acceptance while Rhys' shining eyes appraise me.

"I haven't seen anyone get the drop on Cassian in a long time, much less by a rookie. He won't easily forget this, little sister. You may have just gotten yourself mornings of torture rather than training." Rhys warns, but the proud glimmer in his eyes isn't so bad. Azriel comes over with a small smile warming his face as his High Lord no doubt fills him in on our morning activities mind to mind. His eyebrows raise when he looks at me.

"Nice." He comments and I can hear that the word greatly underrepresents how he feels about it. I shrug and his suppressed smile grows a bit. "Are you trying to rile up your trainers today?" The words drift over the bond and I smirk while his hazel eyes swim with humor.

"Happy accident," I respond and he hums then gestures towards the boulder we sat on the other day while looking between Feyre and me. She regards the drop with trepidation while Rhys fights a smile.

"We work on taking off today." He says and Feyre reaches over to pinch Rhys who chuckles.

"No laughing. I'm sure you were anything but graceful when you first started out."

"Azriel and Cassian will tell you that I may not have been graceful, but I was the most naturally gifted. As with most things." He teases and presses a quick kiss to Feyre's cheek before she waves him off with a growing smile.

"Kaira might challenge your title," Azriel says and I shoot him a slightly scolding look. Rhys's brows shoot up as he appraises me and Feyre sighs.

"I have my wings all the time, remember. My muscles, the few that I have, are going to adjust faster than yours." I assure her and she smiles softly at the effort. I look back to Azriel and step forward with my wings tucked tight to my body. "I'll go first so Rhys can get on with the rest of his day."

"So eager to see me go, little sister?" He pouts and my head shakes as Az leads me up to the boulder. It's only fifteen feet, but even from here, I can feel the call to the sky.

"Surely you'd rather spend your day doing something useful?" I ask Rhys while looking at him wrap an affectionate arm around his mate.

"There are many things I'd rather be doing and many things that I should be doing, but it's important to carve out time for the things that bring you joy." Feyre's smile is luminous as she tugs him closer and I look away as I think of the piano all alone in that large house. Untouched. Azriel's fingers graze mine and I look over at his calm, contemplative face with a nod.

"I'm ready," I tell him and he steps a little closer while looking at the path ahead of us.

"You're going to have to bank sharply to get through the trees. Trust your wings and your gut rather than trying to think your way through it. Your reflexes know better than you." He instructs and I soak in each word before taking a breath and step to the ledge. Azriel steps back as I open my wings, wincing a bit at the ache and pull of muscle. My shoulders roll as I let the music of the wind call to me before jumping off the ledge—and instantly get tangled in pine branches.

"I think my title is safe!" Rhys calls up and I huff before just leaping straight off the pine into the wind again. Branches stretch out from either side like hands waiting to grab me, but I push my mind to the side and let my instincts take control. I veer to the side again and again, not cleanly from the feeling of branches and pine needles scraping against me, but I manage to make it to the lakeshore on my feet. I spin around with my wings out and a triumphant grin on my face. I don't bother flying back, I winnow next to Azriel and face him. He nods slowly with a smile on his face.

"Alright, maybe I should worry a bit." Rhys relents beside Feyre a little way behind Azriel. His violet eyes are bright as he looks at me with something shining within the blueish-purple depths. "I wish the female Illyrians at the camp could see your fire. You'd already scare the shit out of the males being a female Shadowsinger, but with natural skills like that..." He whistles low and clear while I try to reel in my wide smile lest Rhys starts to think I like him. "After all this, maybe—"

"No." Azriel's voice cuts like steel through the air around us. When I look at him, his eyes are glowing with cold ice that I haven't seen before. That ice would happily consume the world. "You know how the males are. She should never go there." I've never heard Azriel demand something, but this is awfully close. Feyre's eyes are cautious as they flit between the males, but Rhys seems utterly unconcerned.

"It would be Kaira's choice, of course, and I'd naturally never let anything happen to her. Unless you're doubting me." Excitement balls up in my stomach at the notion despite all that Az has told me about Illyrians and his clear disagreement with the prospect.

"It'll be a long while until that's a possibility. Don't you have a meeting to get to?" Feyre steps between the men and Rhys' eyes instantly go to her, then soften.

"Yes. Keep practicing." He bids her, then shoots me a wink before gifting Feyre a kiss and vanishing. She moves to the ledge and oscillates while I face Azriel. His jaw is still set as he looks at Feyre and the amazing way she conjures her own wings out of thin air. I reach over and my fingers skim his which instantly has him releasing a long breath that loosens his shoulders.

"You have to jump off in order to fly." He deadpans and Feyre shoots him an annoyed look while I smother a small smile.

* * *

The next day passes as it usually does except for the fact that Cassian soundly kicks my ass since I've apparently proved myself worthy of it. The compliment is flattering, but I wish it didn't hurt so much. Azriel blissfully focuses more of his attention on helping Feyre later that morning so I can fail quietly to the side. I believe both of them are well aware of every crash though. Still, I listen closely to Azriel's story of Miryam, Drakon, and Nephelle with a warm heart.

The next morning, Cassian is in the middle of crushing me into tiny pieces when we receive word that Feyre is canceling training today. Adorably, both Illyrians rush to her door while I hang back to shove food down my gullet. "You're going to choke." Mor bids from the door as I stuff an entire roll in my mouth. She grins when I don't bother answering since it would be intelligible. "Since you can't talk and we have a second, I might as well speak to you now." She rounds the table and turns me away from the doors before leaning in close. "The...what happened the other night. When I was drunk." I nod when she pauses, looking for confirmation that I know what she's talking about.

"I don't want you to worry about it. If you don't want it to mean anything, then it didn't." My eyes widen and I swallow the rest of the roll in my mouth with a loud gulp.

"Did it mean something?" I return quietly as her warm brown eyes burn into my hazel ones. Footsteps echo on the stairs and she huffs.

"Later." She spins on her heel and grabs a roll, then slides out the front door without so much as a look back. Sighing, I grab another sandwich and take a bite while walking towards the stairs where the group is descending. Elain and Azriel head out to the garden while the others pause here.

"Ready for some flying, Nes?" Cassian asks and I flinch at the nickname.

"Don't call me that." She counters while I look to Feyre who shakes her head.

"We're headed to the library under the House of Wind." She says as an invitation before vanishing. It's a cruel joke to leave me alone with Nesta and Cassian, but I hadn't seen the woman in a while. Her eyes rove over me before lifting to mine.

"You look better." She says sharply and I blink. It's true, I'd filled out since working with the Illyrians and put on weight besides. I'm not buff, not nearly, but I'm getting stronger. "Couldn't you carry me?" She asks and I note Cassian's flared nostrils before I shake my head.

"I'm still learning to fly with my weight. I doubt I could handle a feather more." I tell her and she sighs but walks outside with all the dignity of a queen. Cassian swears before following after her with me on his heels. We take off at the same time and I'm more than proud when I slide onto the veranda without running into anything. I'm still not graceful, but it'll do. Cassian lands with Nesta just behind me and neither bothers with one another before he barks out a "You're welcome." Feyre thanks him, but he just bursts back into the clouds without another word. We meet eyes and there's some thankfulness in her eyes as we move to either side of Nesta before descending.

I've never been deep inside the House of Wind and apparently, I've been missing a lot. Stacks upon stacks of books lie in beautifully crafted shelves amongst the shadows and quiet. I see glimpses of robed figures every now and then, priestesses, Feyre tells me with a bit of an uncertain tone. She also tells me and Nesta what this library stands for, who it houses. Other than that, the library seems empty. Or it would, if my shadows weren't absolutely teeming with the thrumming of this place. There's...something here. Something that lurks in the shadows. My head tilts to listen as my shadows all but engulf me.

"Nightmare. Monster. Fear. All names for the one who slumbers under all this knowledge."

"What is its true name?" I ask softly, letting Feyre and Nesta drift off towards the stacks while I leer over the railing into the spiraling darkness. Even my shadows are quiet when they answer.

"Bryaxis." They respond and I feel the darkness calling to me as it always has. "Stay close to the High Lady. They'll need you." I turn and walk towards the two speaking quietly among the fae lights, then freeze when a tremor rocks the world. My eyes go wide as I whirl towards where I just walked to find the fae lights flickering out. One by one. I hear Nesta and Feyre start running and I slip into the shadows just behind them. An invisible protector with no weapons, but I have magic.

They hurry onward with me slipping in the shadows around them to make sure none are alive, none are reaching towards them, but then they jerk to a stop as two fae appear in front of them. My breath whooshes out of my lungs as they blow something into their eyes, fae bane I'd guess, but I'm frozen. Hybern guards. Male, one fair-haired and the other dark. I don't recognize their faces, but eventually all those that took me blurred together. The sight of the insignia alone makes my stomach drop and my palms sweat as I'm transported back to the corner of that cold cell.

I'm aware that the two are speaking along with Feyre and Nesta, but I can't hear anything. All sound has hollowed out into a vast nothingness excepting the thumping of my heart. My eyes are frozen on the two soldiers in front of them practically gleaming with their swords at their sides. Cold seeps into my bones as I huddle deeper into the shadows that hold me close as they always have, but this time they can cradle me, hide me.

Nesta. Feyre.

They're still in danger.

When they start running again, all I can do is follow. Sound returns slowly and their feet hit the floor as fast as my heart beats with the Ravens, that's what they said, on their heels. Slow them, I can slow them down. My shadows reach out and snag on their clothes, their feet, anything to slow down the soldiers while Feyre pushes Nesta harder, faster. Seconds pass before Nesta shoots out of the shadows towards the one source of light streaming in the library.

"What—" One says and I grab on tight to both of them in the shadows as they whirl towards a loud thump. They tug and I lose my grip, but it's too late. The stacks topple with Nesta safe behind them, but Feyre is still here.

"Whisper to them. Block the sound of her footsteps." I whisper and watch as the two wave hands around their heads as if waving at invisible bugs. They hiss in displeasure while I think of what else I can do. I don't know where Feyre is, I don't know if there's another way out. The Ravens hiss and whisper to one another as they hear Feyre mixed with the whispers of my shadows, but then the dark shivers. My shadows snap back to me and retreat to my pile of black curls as if they're cowering from something else in the library. Something that I'd sensed before and has my heart racing even faster.

Fae light appears and I can see a slice of Feyre as they stand before her, then she shuts her eyes and I don't hesitate. I launch myself and my shadows at the two soldiers. Screams rip out of their throats, pleading, shrieking as I shove my shadows down their throats while ripping them to pieces with my bare hands that have dark shadows curved into claws on them. My shadows delve into their eye sockets, ripping them out while my shadow-claws gouge into soft skin. Images flash in front of me. Images of a rusted cage that grows smaller and smaller and smaller. Then an image of one of the soldiers in a mirror becomes ugly and disfigured with his teeth steadily falling out into mangled hands. Their screams are music, pure music, as I wrench their weapons away from them to roost somewhere else in the library.

"Behind you, someone is behind you." My shadows murmur and only then do I pull back to whirl around and face a new enemy, only to find Rhys.

"Kaira." He murmurs and looks me over with wide eyes. I look down and find that I'm shining with fresh blood as if I'd bathed in it.

"They're safe. They got out." I pant. I know I don't need to specify who. He nods before stepping to the side so I can move towards the door. I go without looking back at the barely breathing pair behind me.

"Interesting." A voice drifts to me on the breeze as the screaming starts again behind me, but it's dull.

"What's interesting?" I ask, not knowing why.

"You are a sister to me. You are made of fear, shadows, and terror. You can inflict the same on others." The voice murmurs and I feel the presence beside me, but I don't turn to look. My shadows keep my head facing forward. "You're welcome to visit me anytime, sister. I haven't been curious for many hundreds of years." I walk out without responding and force myself not to flinch at the light before taking off towards the house above where my shadows tell me the others are. Feyre and Nesta. They're who I need to see. To make sure that what I'd just done, how I'd done it, was for more than just me.

Even though I'm not completely sure.

*A/N*

Hmm, interesting, huh? O_o