A/N: Thanks to my Inner Circle – Infernas81 and Yasnah.

A big, big thank you to Guest, Anonymous, Scathandra, NightCourtRuby and Guest for the fabulous reviews!

Huge apologies for the delay in getting this to you – I've had a poorly 4-year-old to contend with.

This is it – the final Chapter of Autumn's Fall!

Chapter 17

RHYS POV

Elain and Lucien had taken Lunaja to the townhouse and I winnowed then flew Feyre to the House of Wind, telling the others to meet us there. At the house I placed Feyre in our room, warding it from letting her out unless I allowed it. It was something I didn't want to do, seeing as when Tamlin did it to her it caused her to have a complete breakdown and lose control of her magic; but also with her having magic from Helion Spell-Cleaver, I thought the wards wouldn't be able to hold her for long.

I sat with her for the next twenty minutes whilst everyone assembled. I held her hand – the hand that now had strange coloured tattoos snaking up it – and begged her to tell me what was wrong, even though she was unconscious and couldn't answer, I hope she'd heard me. Az brought Madja, and she was going to examine, then sit with Feyre whilst we tried to sort out what had happened. I told Madja that I wanted her to keep Feyre sedated whilst we got to the bottom of what happened.

Initially I wanted to keep Lunaja at the townhouse, but I wanted her here with me, so I sent Cass and Az to fetch her, along with Elain and Lucien. They arrived ten minutes later, Azriel was holding Elain, who was cradling Lunaja, whilst Cassian had Lucien.

When they landed on the balcony I was already there, waiting for them. Elain deftly stepped away from Azriel and gave Lunaja to me, and I took her gratefully. I was looking her over, as was Az's shadows, making sure she was ok. Elain gave a small smile, "I checked her, she's fine. But…." She carefully pulled the blanket down, exposing Lunaja's left arm. There, crystal clear, were swirling tattoos of various colours, just like her mother. I couldn't do anything but stare at the strange markings that hadn't been there this morning. "Why don't you sit down, and I'll get her some milk," Elain suggested, heading for the kitchen to sort out a bottle.

I walked towards the dining room, content to cuddle my little girl as I tried to get my head around what had happened today with her mother and what I was going to do about it. I sat in my usual chair and gently brushed my thumb over a lock of Lunaja's hair. I felt a hand on my arm and it brought me out of my contemplation. I looked up to see Mor sat next to me. She gave me a strained smile, gently brushing her finger over Lunaja's cheek and letting out a small chuckle as she chased Mor's finger with her mouth. Elain arrived with the milk just in time, as Lunaja started to whimper when she realised Mor wasn't what she wanted.

The rest of the Inner Circle filed in and sat down around the table. Elain remained standing next me, her hands holding the back of Feyre's empty chair. She wanted to be on hand to help me if I needed it but didn't want to sit in her sister's place. I told her to sit in the chair, so she did, looking completely uncomfortable. When everyone was sat Mor waved her hands, causing drinks and snacks to appear.

I looked around the table, but mostly at Cassian and Lucien. "Ok, what the fuck happened?"

Dumbfounded, that's the only way I felt after Cassian and Lucien told me how Feyre had initially come to be apart from them, then Azriel supplied what Madja and the apothecary had witnessed. I was trying not to shout as I was currently burping Lunaja, who was giving sleepy smiles to Elain.

I took a deep breath, and decided to go over it again out loud, so I could attempt to get a handle on it. "Let me get this right. You all went to Velaris and saw some Illyrians being pricks, so Cassian stepped in to discipline them. Then, you Lucien, decided to let Feyre go alone to the apothecary. Well, not alone, for she had Lunaja with her. As she was leaving the shop, some more fucking Illyrians decided to try it on with her, and then, when they went to touch Lunaja; Feyre, and I quote the apothecary 'lost her shit'. She burnt the Illyrian, then lost control of her magic. All the while, she refused to allow any of you near her or Lunaja. Then, I'm told that her magic doesn't seem to be normal, in that it caused coloured tattoos to appear on the arm she was gripping the Illyrian with, her eyes took on their strange colouring, and then at the end, she completely lost control. To finish this ill-fated trip, Az had to remove Lunaja from Feyre whilst she was distracted and then I had to break into her mind and knock her out; something she won't forgive me for easily. Have I got this right?!"

I don't know if they looked more uncomfortable at the fact that I hadn't shouted at them during my diatribe or that I was losing control of my Night magic, making the room darker.

"It's my fault," Cassian said, drawing himself up, ever the soldier. "I take full responsibility for what happened. It was my duty to protect them and I left their side. I failed and should be punished accordingly."

"Cassian – " Elain began, before getting cut off by Lucien.

"The fault is entirely mine, High Lord," Lucien stated formally. "As you've been told, Cassian was dealing with the first set of Illyrians, so he knew Feyre and Lunaja were with me. I'm the one that allowed her to visit the apothecary alone. I'm the one that should be punished."

I looked at Lunaja who was sat on my knee and let out a sigh. "I don't honestly know what to do or say," I told them without looking up. "You both fucked up big time…." I couldn't finish the sentence.

"Now is not the time for recriminations, Rhysand," Amren said. "We need to discuss what actually happened today and what the ramifications are." No-one said anything, but focused completely on Amren, so she continued, "as we all know, when Feyre became pregnant her magic and temper became volatile. She delivered Lunaja four weeks ago, but she still shows no signs of being able to keep either under control, and now we have more concerning symptoms." She stood up and walked around the table to me. She came to a stop next to my chair and held her arms out expectantly, not saying anything. I looked at her arms and I realised what – or rather who – she wanted. I carefully put Lunaja into her arms and she returned to her chair. "After today's incident, strange markings appeared on Feyre's arm, the arm that she was grasping the Illyrian with. After that, Elain noticed this," she carefully pulled Lunaja's cardigan off, exposing the matching markings on her arm.

"Oh Mother," Mor gasped at seeing them.

"What the fuck," Nesta said at the same time, getting up and going to inspect the markings herself.

Lucien had put his head in his hands, muttering about failing them. Nesta heard him and whirled around, "not the time, Lucien. You can wallow all you like about your failure later, now we need to figure out why my niece has been marked like this," she snarled, gesturing wildly behind her. Her shouting startled Lunaja, who started to cry. Nesta made to take her away from Amren, but Amren snarled at her.

"Amren?" I asked.

"She needs protecting," was all she said in response.

"She doesn't need protecting from her aunt," I countered, indicating Nesta.

"I wasn't referring to Nesta."

It was Azriel's turn to try and get some sense out of Amren. "We don't understand what you mean."

"We need to send Lunaja away for her protection. I'm just getting in a cuddle before she leaves."

The silence was palpable, then suddenly the cacophony of voices filled the air. Mor slammed her hand on the table, to get everyone's attention. "Amren," she said, fixing Amren with her best glare, "why do you think she needs to be sent away?"

"Feyre is too unstable…" I couldn't stop the growl that escaped. "Rhysand, you must listen and understand. Feyre is adamant that something is happening or going to happen in Prythian, she is having dreams that Lunaja is in danger and now she is giving her daughter markings that match her own; I truly think we need to remove Lunaja."

"And do what with her?" I managed to get out through my gritted teeth.

"Send her away from the Night Court."

Once again, everyone had something to say, so once again Mor hit the table to quieten them down. "Enough!" she shouted. "Amren, you can't be serious."

"I'm perfectly serious, Morrigan."

"But – " Mor began, but couldn't continue, so Nesta stepped in.

"And what do you propose we do with her? Send her to another Court and tell them we can't control her mother, so they need to look after her for us?!" she sneered.

"Not quite. She should be accompanied by some of us, but we shouldn't let the others know where, otherwise Feyre could find out."

"You think we'd tell her?" Azriel asked.

"No, I think she'd use her daemati abilities to find out."

"Feyre and Rhys have promised never to use them against us," Elain meekly supplied.

Amren looked at Elain, and her face softened slightly. "Elain, if we go through with this – and I think we should – we could end up throwing Feyre completely to her Inner Beast, and in her quest to find her child, make no mistake, she WILL use all of her magic to aid her."

"I just don't see why we have to send Lunaja away, especially if it will make Feyre worse," Lucien said.

"This conversation is getting odious. For clarity for you all, Feyre's magic is affecting her daughter, and we don't know to what degree, and how much worse it could get. I'm hoping that taking her away will help Feyre to control the protectiveness that appears to be feeding into her magic. Conversely, taking Lunaja away could make Feyre worse, as I've already said. If it wasn't for the fact that I think increasing the distance between them would help to nullify the effects of Feyre's magic on Lunaja, I wouldn't be suggesting this course of action."

The room was silent as everyone looked to the others, trying to take in Amren's words and the potential complications of whatever action we decided to take.

"Who goes with her?" Mor asked quietly.

"Cassian should go, as he is Lunaja's Guardian, and Nesta and Elain, to help care for her, at the least," Amren answered. "Her sisters being with Lunaja might help to stave off a meltdown from Feyre. I'll stay here, along with Azriel, to help Rhysand deal with Feyre if things go bad. Morrigan and Lucien can decide where they want to go."

"I'll stay here," Mor said.

"I'll go," Lucien said. "I can winnow us, as none of the three you've said can winnow, but I can also glamour us, if need be. I also have a lot of contacts in all the other Courts from my work as Emissary."

"Rhys?" I heard Mor ask. I hadn't realised, but I was staring at my hand as I idly traced the woodgrains in the table as I listened to my Inner Circle divide themselves up. I looked up into her eyes and saw the worry that was there. "What do you think?" she asked carefully, placing her hand over the one that had been tracing the lines. I never got to answer as Nesta broke her peace.

"You're not seriously going to go through with this are you? You do know that Feyre won't just take this sitting down. Her daughter is less than a month old and you want to send her away?!"

"For her safety, yes." Amren once again answered, her patience starting to wane.

"This is preposterous." Nesta threw her hands up in the air.

"How long would this be for, Amren?" Azriel asked.

"I don't know. That damn prophecy has something to do with this, but I'm no closer to translating it." She gently traced her finger along the swirls of the markings on Lunaja's arm. "There is something crucial that we're missing, and as soon as we know what it is, we'll know what we're up against, so until then, she goes into hiding." She looked over to me. "Rhysand, you're the one that has to ok this, both as her father and as High Lord."

"When?" I said, already knowing what Amren's answer was going to be.

"Today. At the culmination of this meeting."

"But…..Feyre won't get to see her," Elain said.

"That might be for the best. Rhysand, if you don't want to do this, then we have to figure something else out."

I covered my face with my hands, then heaving out a large sigh I got up and took Lunaja from Amren. I ran my thumb over her dark hair and breathed in her beautiful scent, committing it to memory. I shut my eyes. "Do it," I said, as I left the room.

Deep down, I knew and understood what Amren was saying, but I didn't want to agree with it. I left the others to make the arrangements as I made my way to our bedroom. Feyre was still unconscious, but that didn't mean I couldn't let her have a final cuddle before I deprived her of our daughter.

Madja was sitting in the chair at the foot of the bed and stood as I entered the room. She informed me that she'd checked Feyre over and had no idea what the markings were that had appeared on her or why they had also appeared on Lunaja. I told her of Amren's plan, and she agreed with Amren's assertions and told me that I had decided the right thing; but it still didn't feel right. Madja took her leave, leaving me alone with Feyre and Lunaja.

Carefully, I sat on the bed and put my feet up. Rolling onto my side, I placed Lunaja on the mattress between me and Feyre. She was awake and making noises and waving her hands and feet around. I put my hand on her tummy, like she likes, and she looked at me with her violet irises that seemed to see right into my soul. "Hey," I whispered to her, "you're going to go on an adventure with Uncle Cass, Aunt Nesta, Aunt Elain and Uncle Lucien, so me and your mum need you to be a good girl for them, apart from Uncle Cass, you can cause as much trouble for him as you please." She blew out some bubbles at the last part, making me smile despite the situation.

The three of us just stayed on the bed until there was a tap on the door and Amren came in. She walked over and stood next to Feyre. "They're ready, Rhysand." I nodded and stood up. I scooped Lunaja up and walked around and stood next to Amren. I bent down and delicately placed Lunaja on her tummy on Feyre's chest. Amren picked up Feyre's hand and placed it on Lunaja's back and I swear I could feel a rush of love and warmth through the bond.

We stood, allowing Feyre this last cuddle for awhile until there was another tap on the door and Mor stuck her head around. She saw Lunaja and I could see she was trying to hold in her tears. "They need to leave," she said. I nodded but didn't move. I couldn't be the one who split Feyre and Lunaja up.

Amren put a hand on my arm in a rare gesture of gentleness. "Go say goodbye to the others and I'll bring Lunaja to you in a minute." I nodded again, feeling empty, and just before I left the room, I saw Amren lean over Feyre's supine form and whisper in her ear, "I'm truly sorry for this, Feyre." I took a deep breath to steel myself as I continued walking, to say goodbye to my brother and the others.

Lucien winnowed them out half an hour ago, and I feel desolate. I had returned to my bedroom as soon as they'd left, Mor, Amren and Azriel on my heels. I was torn; I wanted them there, as I knew I needed their support, but I didn't want them to see me this broken. Mor had conjured some extra chairs, and we all sat around in silence, waiting for Feyre to come around.

I had been sat, my hands clasped together between my knees and my head bent down when I heard the first stirrings from Feyre. Steeling myself for what was to come, I sat up straight and took her hand in one of mine with the other brushing back a stray lock of her hair.

"Hey," I whispered, as I skimmed a kiss against her temple.

She turned her head to look at me, her blue-grey eyes looking lost. "Rhys?" She croaked out. "Where…..what happened…..?" she trailed off, looking at the four of us in the room.

"There was an…..incident in Velaris earlier today," Azriel answered her.

"The Illyrians?" she said, more to herself than to us, as if she was trying to remember. I saw the moment that she remembered the confrontation as her eyes widened in fear and panic. "Lunaja?!"

"She's fine!" Mor interjected.

Feyre seemed to breathe easier hearing this, and me and Mor helped her to sit up in bed. "Where is she?"

"She's out with the others," Mor responded with a half-truth.

"Can you ask them to bring her back please, I want to see her."

"They're going to be out for a few hours."

"Ask them to cut whatever they're doing short and come back. I want her," she said, with an edge to her voice.

"Feyre," Amren cut in before Mor could respond, "what do you remember?"

"Some Illyrian males, they wouldn't let me pass, they kept saying things to me, then one of them tried to touch Lunaja….."

"Then…..?" Amren coached.

"I felt….angry. How dare they try to touch my daughter. I grabbed the arm of the one what tried to touch Lunaja's wing tip. It is then fuzzy and the next thing I remember is Rhys was in front of me, and the pain in my head was awful. I woke up here after that." She turned to look at me. "Rhys, I want Lunaja, please ask them to come back."

Luckily, Az spared me this time. "You burnt the Illyrian pretty significantly. It also affected you," he stood up and picked up her arm, so she could see the new marking that had appeared. She looked shocked. "These marks also appeared on Lunaja's arm, identical in looks and placement to yours."

"What is it? Is she ok? What did I do to her?" she asked us, completely panicked.

"She's absolutely fine," I tried to reassure her. "Madja checked you both out and whilst we don't know what the markings are, they don't appear to affect either of you in any way."

"I need her now Rhys. I need to see that she's ok. Can someone please go and winnow her back?"

"We can't do that – " Mor began.

"Why not?" Feyre growled, her ire on the rise.

"Because we're not sure of you're stable enough to be around her," Amren bluntly told her; clearly she'd had enough of messing around.

"Rhysand?!" she snarled.

"I sent her away with Cass, Elain, Nesta and Lucien, until we can get a handle on your magic, and to give you a rest." I told her without making eye contact.

She stood up, instantly making the rest of us shoot up to our feet too. "You did WHAT?!" she shrieked.

"You need to calm down girl," Amren told her, standing in front of Feyre with her hands on her hips.

"Don't call me girl!" She roared back at Amren. Feyre released the damper on her Night magic, turning the room not only dark, but giving it an eerie feel. I knew without looking from the crackling sound, that she was also harnessing her Autumn and Winter magic. Looking at her hands confirmed the swirls and whirls of fire and ice wreathing around both hands at the same time, and I could also see that her fingers had elongated into talons. Feyre locked her once again swirling multi-coloured eyes on Amren's silver ones. "I'm going to get my daughter. I suggest you don't get in my way."

Amren made to grab Feyre's arm, but Feyre was too quick. She clapped her hands together; a resounding clap echoed through the room and the release of magic caused a blast in the room. Az had thrown his shield around him and Mor and I'd thrown one up around myself and Amren. When the dust settled, I looked around – Feyre was gone.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: I really hope you enjoyed Autumn's Fall. Please leave me a review with your opinions.

The arc will be continued in the next part – which doesn't yet have a name! If you follow/favourite me as an author, you will get an alert when the new story is up (but probably won't be up for a couple of weeks as my kids are off school for half-term this week).