2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

CHAPTER
20
Rhysand winnowed us into a wood that was older, more aware, than any place I’d been.
The gnarled beech trees were tightly woven together, splattered and draped so
thoroughly with moss and lichen that it was nearly impossible to see the bark beneath.
“Where are we?” I breathed, hardly daring to whisper.
Rhys kept his hands within casual reach of his weapons. “In the heart of Prythian, there
is a large, empty territory that divides the North and South. At the center of it is our sacred
mountain.”
My heart stumbled, and I focused on my steps through the ferns and moss and roots.
“This forest,” Rhys went on, “is on the eastern edge of that neutral territory. Here, there is
no High Lord. Here, the law is made by who is strongest, meanest, most cunning. And the
Weaver of the Wood is at the top of their food chain.”
The trees groaned—though there was no breeze to shift them. No, the air here was tight
and stale. “Amarantha didn’t wipe them out?”
“Amarantha was no fool,” Rhys said, his face dark. “She did not touch these creatures
or disturb the wood. For years, I tried to find ways to manipulate her to make that foolish
mistake, but she never bought it.”
“And now we’re disturbing her—for a mere test.”
He chuckled, the sound bouncing off the gray stones strewn across the forest floor like
scattered marbles. “Cassian tried to convince me last night not to take you. I thought he
might even punch me.”
“Why?” I barely knew him.
“Who knows? With Cassian, he’s probably more interested in fucking you than
protecting you.”
“You’re a pig.”
“You could, you know,” Rhys said, holding up the branch of a scrawny beech for me to
slip under. “If you needed to move on in a physical sense, I’m sure Cassian would be more
than happy to oblige.”
It felt like a test in itself. And it pissed me off enough that I crooned, “Then tell him to
come to my room tonight.”
“If you survive this test.”
I paused atop a little lichen-crusted rock. “You seem pleased by the idea that I won’t.”