She crossed the border between Summer and Ceress just as the horns of the Hunt sounded. They weren't after her, but it was tradition to hunt every day in search of any trespassers or spies. It was a pretty common event to find a spy, so it made things more fun for the courts.
Once back on familiar ground, she was able to move freely and came to the spot she had used for their travels a few days earlier, slipping through the door and stepping out into the once again clean room.
How it managed to get repaired so easily she would never know, but she found everything to be in perfect order.
The blood from the lounge had vanished, the furniture repaired, and the wall back up. She had to wonder if the castle was enchanted to fix itself.
She would find out soon, for as soon as she was done examining the room, the dividing door between her and Epharis's room burst open and the handle put a large hole in the wall.
Turning to him, she was just in time to see him lunging for her.
Dancing back, she dodged his lunge, only to have him come at her again.
She had forgotten the events of the days past, forgotten that she had asked the assassin to kill her and that she had dragged Epharis on a merry chase through Faerie where he had gotten a taste for what he would be in that world, had forgotten that she had been avoiding him for months prior to that.
She dodged him time and time again, trying to put distance between them, but finally he cornered her.
Planting his arms against the wall on either side of her, his teeth were bared as he leant in, looking down at her only to stop when she looked up at him.
"What happened to your eyes?" he snapped; the rage temporarily muted.
"What do you mean?" she asked, baffled by the change in mood.
Grabbing her upper arm in a grip that was only barely soft enough to not break her bones, he dragged her into the bathroom and thrust her at the basin and the mirror.
Looking at herself, she jerked back to see that her left eye had changed colour from vivid blue, to a mixture of green and blue.
He loomed over her, glowering.
'Pretty…' the voice of Letari said in their mind.
She ignored the voice, her eyes going from her reflection up to his as his fingers curled around her upper arms, clenching so tight it burned.
"Epharis…" she said cautiously, only to have him yank her back from the basin and slam her face first against the wall, pinning her with one forearm pressed hard against the back of her neck.
"You have been keeping secrets…" he whispered in her ear, his free arm tracing over her form, searching for weapons. Finding her unarmed, he spun her around and pinned both her wrists against the wall above her head, his free hand clenching her jaw and forcing her to look up at him.
He studied her face, turning her jaw so her eyes reflected the light.
"That is the colour of your sister, is it not?" he asked coldly, bruises forming under his fingers as he moved her face the other way.
"Yes," she replied, her mind racing for how best to get out of the situation. She knew defending herself would only enrage him more, so she remained still as he looked her over.
"You were dead," he said, releasing her jaw and reaching behind her to run his hand through her hair, searching for the vials he knew she hid in the long strands.
"That doesn't usually last very long," she replied, wincing as his fingers gripped the strands of black and he jerked her head back, forcing her to look up at him.
"You were gone three months, princess," he snarled, his face a mere inch from hers.
That was unexpected, she had felt only a day had passed.
"Three months?" she asked, not understanding. When had she lost the time? Had finding Letari taken that long?
"Three..." he dragged out the word in a deadly whisper, only an inch separating the tips of their noses.
His eyes were glowing now, a warning sign that his anger was about to boil over.
"Epharis, I..."
He moved his hand from her hair to cover her mouth, cutting off her words and his fingers ground her wrists together. Wincing, she could do nothing but stare up at him.
"So many secrets… So many things hidden away in that brain of yours," he said, that deadly whisper sounding worse than any amount of yelling or screaming at her. "How about I pick it apart to find out what's in there?"
She shook her head slightly, only barely able to move with his hand on her mouth.
"Was I too gentle with you in the dungeon? Should we revisit?" he asked and his eyes grew wider as her pupils dilated in fear.
Inside she was crushing down her raging twin, trying to keep her from barging in. They were in terrible danger and she had to remain calm.
Again, she gave a little shake of her head, as much as she was able to.
"Are you going to be a good little monster and tell me everything or am I going to have to hurt you?"
She shook her head a third time, staring up into his eyes, trying to appear harmless and obedient.
He removed his hand from her mouth and clenched it into a fist, drawing it back and sinking it into her stomach. He let her go and stood over her as she dropped to her knees, wheezing.
"For lying to me," he said coldly. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, he half dragged her from the bathroom back into the living room and threw her onto the couch.
Struggling to sit up, her arms moved protectively around her stomach and she gasped for the air that had been slugged out of her.
He sat down across from her and she looked up, half bent over.
"Who are you really?" he started, crossing his right leg over the left at the ankle and resting his arms over the backrest of the chair. He didn't blink, he simply watched her and waited.
"Before I came here, I was just Etania, the Celestrial half-breed on the run," she said slowly, straightening up. "After I came here, I was told I was also the Princess of the Winter Court. I found out after you had."
"And you are from this fourth court?" he asked.
She looked at him and his eyes narrowed, knowing she had been about to lie.
"Yes, there are four courts."
"Who else knows?" he interrupted.
"The vampire twins," she had to tread carefully now, given her deal with the brothers to try and set her free.
He nodded slowly, but she could tell the news angered him even more, as he was not the first to know.
"What is the other court?"
"It has been named the Heathen Court. It's where the ones who do not fit into the normal courts go. It was once Spring."
"And this Ceress was Autumn," he said, not asking but rather telling her.
Still, she nodded.
"You cannot die," he said, holding her gaze.
"I can die just as any other, I simply cannot remain dead unless I want to remain dead."
His brows lifted and she let out a slow sigh.
"When a creature such as we die, we go to another realm to wait for our next lives. We linger there for as long as we need to come to terms. When I go there, I can see a ribbon that leads me back to life, and my twin. I simply follow it and am reborn."
The silence stretched and she finally was forced to continue.
"There is a cavern under Ceress city. There is a blue pool under it that no one has ever known where the water comes from. When we die, we are in the water and swim out. No one knows why this happens, and with every generation less of us are born with the ability to be reborn. When you are reborn you are returned to the state of which you died the first time. I died the first time when I was about twenty-three, so every time I die, I return to the body of a twenty-three-year-old and begin to age from there. Die and you start over."
"Why are less born in that way?" he asked, absorbing the information.
"Some say it is punishment, some say it is because there has been no new blood. Our ability to procreate is dwindling, but the older generations will never allow another species to enter the gene pool. My mother fell in love with a Winter Court man when he had been spying on Ceress, they married and produced my sister and me in secret. When an admirer of my mother found out, he reported it and we were sentenced to death. My father pleaded that we be left alive, if he took our place. Cain was the one who killed my father. After that, my sister, mother and I were taken to the city, mother was married again under the orders of Queen Illia and died birthing Avadari. It was said that because she produced a half-breed, she was punished by dying only when she produced a pure blood. I think she was murdered only after her place had been taken by another, my sister. I never told my sisters that…" she trailed off, forcing back tears.
In her mind, Letari had gone silent, listening hard to the thoughts that flashed through her head.
"After mother's death, Letari and I were left to the streets and when our usefulness ran its course, we were expelled from the city. A while later Avadari decided to join us in the forest. It took us so long to convince her we were blood that the council found out and it was decided we were a bad influence and we fled into this world to hide out. We've been running ever since." She wasn't looking at him anymore, instead staring at the table that had been destroyed so many times, yet looked perfect. She didn't know why she was telling him all of it, but she couldn't bring herself to stop talking.
"Why were you gone three months?"
"I don't know. I can't place the missing time. I can only assume it was in the spirit world. Maybe that's why my tether to life started to fray, I was in that world too long."
He grunted and stood, beginning to pace.
"What other talents do you have that you are keeping from me?"
She flushed and bit her lower lip.
"Would you like a list?"
He growled, turning on her with glowing eyes.
Shrinking back slightly, she let out a huff. "Well, as you know I can create a host to put myself in. I can kill with a kiss, I can resurrect, I can travel between worlds, I can glamour myself and certain objects though I can't glamour anything permanently, my healing ability is good, I can see through most magics and glamours with effort and I can charm with music. I'm skilled with a knife, bow and arrows, throwing knives and the like. I have a passing knowledge of street fighting and am a capable acrobat."
She frowned, trying to think but she felt she had covered everything.
He was still staring at her and shook his head.
"What about Alaric?" he asked intently and she blinked, shaking her head slightly in confusion. "You are to marry him."
Her expression went blank as she processed the information and then recalled the event. Blood and rage, so many corpses and that man demanding she marry him.
"I will never marry him," she said simply.
"You may not have a choice, Etani," he said slowly and at her confused look, he frowned. "He has sent an emissary to find access to the Winter Court. He is going to demand your hand, if they are given information and access to you."
Her face went cold, and she swallowed hard. Pushing herself to her feet, she started towards the door, about to hunt the man down and wring his neck, but Epharis was on her first, gripping her arms and keeping her from leaving.
"But he can't marry you if we are married already," he said slowly, his lips brushing her ear as he whispered the words. She could feel his lips pulling back into a nasty grin and his arm sliding around her middle.