2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

I turned to her, already pleading, bracing for a fight.
“Find somewhere else,” Nesta said again, straight-backed. “I don’t want them in my
house. Or near Elain.”
“Nesta, please,” I breathed. “There is nowhere else; nowhere I can go without someone
hunting me, crucifying me—”
“And what of us? When the people around here learn we’re Fae sympathizers? Are we
any better than the Children of the Blessed, then? Any standing, any influence we have—
gone. And Elain’s wedding—”
“Wedding,” I blurted.
I hadn’t noticed the pearl-and-diamond ring on her finger, the dark metal band glinting
in the firelight.
Elain’s face was pale, though, as she looked at it.
“In five months,” Nesta said. “She’s marrying a lord’s son. And his father has devoted
his life to hunting down your kind when they cross the wall.”
Your kind.
“So there will be no meeting here,” Nesta said, shoulders stiff. “There will be no Fae in
this house.”
“Do you include me in that declaration?” I said quietly.
Nesta’s silence was answer enough.
But Elain said, “Nesta.”
Slowly, my eldest sister looked at her.
“Nesta,” Elain said again, twisting her hands. “If … if we do not help Feyre, there won’t
be a wedding. Even Lord Nolan’s battlements and all his men, couldn’t save me from …
from them.” Nesta didn’t so much as flinch. Elain pushed, “We keep it secret—we send
the servants away. With the spring approaching, they’ll be glad to go home. And if Feyre
needs to be in and out for meetings, she’ll send word ahead, and we’ll clear them out.
Make up excuses to send them on holidays. Father won’t be back until the summer,
anyway. No one will know.” She put a hand on Nesta’s knee, the purple of my sister’s
gown nearly swallowing up the ivory hand. “Feyre gave and gave—for years. Let us now
help her. Help … others.”
My throat was tight, and my eyes burned.
Nesta studied the dark ring on Elain’s finger, the way she still seemed to cradle it. A
lady—that’s what Elain would become. What she was risking for this.
I met Nesta’s gaze. “There is no other way.”
Her chin lifted slightly. “We’ll send the servants away tomorrow.”
“Today,” I pushed. “We don’t have any time to lose. Order them to leave now.”