Four months later, preparations were being made for our wedding. Haven had had several more meetings with the High Lord's Inner Circle and other commanders. I never saw Jace again in all that time, but I did see Azriel.

He didn't mention anything about the shadows and they hadn't come back, either.

But, there was still something about the Spymaster that made me wary. I would oftentimes look up to see him watching me. But when I caught him, he'd look away quickly.

It didn't make me uncomfortable, but it definitely confused me.

I was wandering through the halls of my home one day when I heard gushed voices coming from a room down the hall. Thinking it was Haven, I headed towards the room to investigate, but froze when I realized it wasn't anyone I knew.

The two High Fae before me both turned to look at me in disdain.

"Who are you? Why are you in my home?" I said, keeping my voice and even, lifting my chin and glaring at them.

"Your house?" One of the Fae asked and chuckled. He stepped towards me and I caught a glimpse of a green tunic and fiery red hair. Spring Court? "I didn't know Illyrian women owned houses."

I glared. "I didn't know Spring Cory High Fae were permitted through the boarder. You're trespassing. In the Night Court and in my home."

I took a step back down the hall and they stepped towards me. "I'm afraid we can't let you leave, now, girl." The red-haired one said.

I held my hands out in front of me. "Don't come any closer."

The red-haired Fae tilted his head to the side. "Not like you can do anything with those pretty clamps." He snarled.

I ground my teeth, then said, "No, but I can do this."

I then turned and ran, screaming at the top of my lungs for help.

But I didn't make it far down the hall because something hard hit the back of my head and I collapsed, sight going dark.

******

I woke up slowly. My head hurt like it had never hurt before. I opened my eyes and squinted through the pain.

My hands were bound behind me to a chair, my green dress was in tatters, and my red hair hung in my eyes.

My ankles were also bound.

I looked around, and I saw other figures tied up, too, my superior eyesight allowing me to see clearly in the dark room. But I wasn't sure where I was. Nothing looked familiar.

Then, the door opened, and those two Fae came in dragging another prisoner and tied them up across from me, connecting his cuffs to a loop of metal in the stone wall.

Where was I? What was happening?

When the door closed, the clinking of chains sounded and I whispered tentatively,

"What is this place? Where are we? Why were we all taken here?"

"We are going to be sold, Illyrian. Don't you know that Amarantha has goons everywhere? Capturing people to die in the Ring- her arena- for sport? For money?" A gravely male voice demanded from across the room. He sounded old.

My throat went dry. "A-Are we Under the Mountian?"

"As far as I know, yes." Said a female faerie next to me. She had brown hair and looked worried her eyebrows were drawn together and she sat on the floor next to my chair. I realized I was only in a chair because my wings were clamped to hold them straight and folded behind me.

"We have to get out of here. Who knows what she'll do to us? I'm supposed to be married soon!" I said and began to struggle against my restraints.

"It's no use. You're probably only here because you committed some crime or another." The same male voice said from before.

I glared at him. "Crime? I didn't do anything! Those two thugs broke into my house and abducted me!" I said and ground my teeth.

A low laugh. "What do you think? They'll believe you? You aren't taken for the arena 'just because'. You playing innocent won't help anything, Illyrian. You Night Court faeries are-"

"Stop it, Grantin. You're not helping, either." The female from before snapped.

"Whatever." Grantin mumbled.

The door suddenly opened and two Fae stepped into the room. "You. Illyrian. It's time for your hearing."

They came forward and one unchained me and the other held me still, then they cuffed my hands in front of me. I was thankful, at least, that my Syphons remained on my wrists.

They must have known enough about Illyrians that the Syphons were meant to help them contain the amount of power inside them.

I was dragged through hall after hall of darkness that I could barely keep track of. Even though I could see perfectly in the dark, I still had trouble discerning one rock wall from another.

Then, we emerged from a tunnel into a room crowded with High Fae and I squeezed my eyes shut at the sheer overwhelming power of the Fae around me, shouting and staring.

I was shoved to the ground and I remained with my head bowed. My wings drooped to the floor.

I suddenly heard a thump to my right and I opened my eyes to look to see what it was and immediately wished I hadn't.

Next to me lay a corpse of an Illyrian. But I recognized this Illyrian. This male. The curve of his lips now gone pale, the strong jaw, and the eyes that once looked at me so kindly now gone pale. Tossed to the ground without a care.

The male that I was supposed to marry.

Dead.

Sightless eyes stared into my eyes and a was hole ripped through his chest. Where I had once laid my head at night to sleep.

I choked on a sob as bile rose in my throat. "Haven!" I sobbed and reached for him but I was kicked back away from him. I began to cry harder.

"No, no, no, no! You killed him!" I shouted at no one in particular. Tears raced down my cheeks as I stared at his lifeless body in front of me. We were supposed to be married soon. At the end of this week.

"Enough." A commanding voice from above me snapped and I felt my entire body go rigid and my eyes flicked up to meet deep violet ones.

The violet eyes of my High Lord.

Tears still flowed down my face, but I couldn't move as he held me still by only the power of his thoughts.

"Tell me, Rhysand," drawled a voice from behind him. A woman then stood, her crimson hair draped over her shoulder. A chill went down my spine. "Is she guilty of this murder? Seems likely. You Illyrians do enjoy brutality, and this is most definitely brutal."

Tears slipped down my cheeks faster now as I meet Lord Rhysand's violet eyes. His expression was cold, indifferent, uncaring. "I saw her mind. She's innocent."

A cluster of gasps sounded around the room.

"Well, she's here now, what should we do with her?" Amarantha purred, and I watched her run a hand across his back. He stayed impossibly still.

"Throw her in the Ring!" Someone shouted, then a chorus of agreements sounded out around us.

I could only feel fear as I was held still by the High Lord's power. The only thing that moved still were the tears down my face, my racing heart, and my lungs as they sucked in air. He didn't even seem to be overly exerted by holding me, either, with his hands in his pockets and face a mask of indifference.

"Hm. It would be interesting to see a flightless Illyrian fight in the Ring." Amarantha mused. "What do you think, Rhysand?"

"I think it would be amusing. A lot more fair to the other faeries we have." He replied, voice straight and unfeeling. If I was able to, I would have furrowed my eyebrows.

When I was a decade old, I heard different stories about our High Lord. The shell standing before me was nothing of what I had heard of. What had happened to him in the past thirty-one years that he was now so distant?

"Very well. Take her to the cell with the other participants. She'll fight at the end of the week."
Amarantha said and waved a hand dismissively.

Rhysand's power released me and I managed to look at Haven one last time before I was dragged out of the room once again.

******

I was sick for the rest of the day. I sat in the corner of the cell I was given and just vomited. The sobs wouldn't stop, and I couldn't breathe. My whole body was shaking.

I didn't do it. I would never do it. I love him...no, loved him.

I didn't do it, yet I was being imprisoned anyways.

"What's your story?" A voice suddenly asked behind me and I stiffened.

"Get. Out." I growled, voice hoarse and raw from hours of this.

A chuckle only reached me in response. "Come on, now. Sitting there in your grief and vomit won't help you." The voice seemed to taunt me and I ground my teeth.

"I loved him. I loved H-" my voice broke on his name and I squeezed my eyes shut. "I didn't do that. The last I saw him was last night before I went to sleep in his arms...." My voice began to shake. "O-Our wedding was supposed to be in a f-few days. He saved me from my abusive father and even more abusive neighbors in the camp I used to l-live in. He made it so I was respected and safe. M-My wings were clamped by my father only because I was caught flying. And now...n-now I've lost the only person that made me happy in life. Someone else did that. I-I don't even know how to fight."

I found myself just speaking, despite not looking to see who was behind me. Who had come to visit. If it was a visitor at all. Perhaps it was just some other prisoner. Perhaps it was only in my head. Maybe my grief had made me go insane.

"I'm sorry." The voice behind me said.

"It's just life." I said grimly, a humorless Laugh escaping my lips. I wiped at my mouth with the hem of my dress.

"Life is oftentimes unfair in its dealings." A pause. "Was he your mate?"

"No. But I loved him more than anything, and he loved me. Perhaps even better than a mate could. But I doubt I'll find one now. It's stupid to hope. I'm trapped and I'll probably die down here. Seems like more of a blessing, death. I'd welcome it if it came."

"Fight, Adrianna." The voice merely said, tinged with sadness, and when I spun around, there was no one there.

Only endless darkness.