2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

In answer, a little open path gleamed inside my mind. The road out.
It’d take me forever to unhook each claw and shove the mass of his presence out that
narrow opening. If I could wash it away—
A wave. A wave of self, of me, to sweep all of him out—
I didn’t let him see the plan take form as I rallied myself into a cresting wave and
struck.
The claws loosened—reluctantly. As if letting me win this round. He merely said,
“Good.”
My bones, my breath and blood, they were mine again. I slumped in my seat.
“Not yet,” he said. “Shield. Block me out so I can’t get back in.”
I already wanted to go somewhere quiet and sleep for a while—
Claws at that outer layer of my mind, stroking—
I imagined a wall of adamant snapping down, black as night and a foot thick. The claws
retracted a breath before the wall sliced them in two.
Rhys was grinning. “Very nice. Blunt, but nice.”
I couldn’t help myself. I grabbed the piece of paper and shredded it in two, then four.
“You’re a pig.”
“Oh, most definitely. But look at you—you read that whole sentence, kicked me out of
your mind, and shielded. Excellent work.”
“Don’t condescend to me.”
“I’m not. You’re reading at a level far higher than I anticipated.”
That burning returned to my cheeks. “But mostly illiterate.”
“At this point, it’s about practice, spelling, and more practice. You could be reading
novels by Nynsar. And if you keep adding to those shields, you might very well keep me
out entirely by then, too.”
Nynsar. It’d be the first Tamlin and his court would celebrate in nearly fifty years.
Amarantha had banned it on a whim, along with a few other small, but beloved Fae
holidays that she had deemed unnecessary. But Nynsar was months from now. “Is it even
possible—to truly keep you out?”
“Not likely, but who knows how deep that power goes? Keep practicing and we’ll see
what happens.”
“And will I still be bound by this bargain at Nynsar, too?”
Silence.
I pushed, “After—after what happened—” I couldn’t mention specifics on what had
occurred Under the Mountain, what he’d done for me during that fight with Amarantha,