2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

never again.”
“And you were never with anyone after it?” Not the cold, beautiful shadowsinger who
tried so hard not to watch her with longing on his face?
“I’ve had lovers,” Mor clarified, “but … I get bored. And Cassian has had them, too, so
don’t get that unrequited-love, moony-woo-woo look. He just wants what he can’t have,
and it’s irritated him for centuries that I walked away and never looked back.”
“Oh, it drives him insane,” Rhys said from behind me, and I jumped. But the High Lord
was circling me. I crossed my arms as he paused and smirked. “You look like a woman
again.”
“You really know how to compliment females, cousin,” Mor said, and patted him on the
shoulder as she spotted an acquaintance and went to say hello.
I tried not to look at Rhys, who was in a black jacket, casually unbuttoned at the top so
that the white shirt beneath—also unbuttoned at the neck—showed the tattoos on his chest
peeking through. Tried not to look—and failed.
“Do you plan to ignore me some more?” I said coolly.
“I’m here now, aren’t I? I wouldn’t want you to call me a hateful coward again.”
I opened my mouth, but felt all the wrong words start to come out. So I shut it and
looked for Azriel or Cassian or anyone who might talk to me. Going up to a stranger was
starting to sound appealing when Rhys said a bit hoarsely, “I wasn’t punishing you. I just
… I needed time.”
I didn’t want to have this conversation here—with so many people listening. So I
gestured to the party and said, “Will you please tell me what this … gathering is about?”
Rhysand stepped up behind me, snorting as he said into my ear, “Look up.”
Indeed, as I did so, the crowd hushed.
“No speech for your guests?” I murmured. Easy—I just wanted it to be easy between us
again.
“Tonight’s not about me, though my presence is appreciated and noted,” he said.
“Tonight’s about that.”
As he pointed …
A star vaulted across the sky, brighter and closer than any I’d seen before. The crowd
and city below cheered, raising their glasses as it passed right overhead, and only when it
had disappeared over the curve of the horizon did they drink deeply.
I leaned back a step into Rhys—and quickly stepped away, out of his heat and power
and scent. We’d done enough damage in a similar position at the Court of Nightmares.
Another star crossed the sky, twirling and twisting over itself, as if it were reveling in its
own sparkling beauty. It was chased by another, and another, until a brigade of them were
unleashed from the edge of the horizon, like a thousand archers had loosed them from