𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐬

Ch 25: Fire breathing Queen

Aelin POV
One second he was standing next to her, not even a little emotion on his face and the next, a knife was being drawn across his throat. Everything stopped as the blood started to slowly trickle out and Rowan fell down, gasping for breath that he couldn't reach. Maeve was standing beside him, the bloody knife hanging loosely in her hands. She looked up at me, straight into my eyes, "this was only the beginning." before she dipped her finger in Rowan's gushing blood. That's when I lost it, my teeth baring, I lunged towards her, sword in my hand ready to cut her into tiny little pieces. There was fear in her eyes then. Good.

"Gavriel. Save him." I commanded, my feet never stopping. Everything was red, all I could see was Maeve and how I would first draw the knife across her neck and then chop her into tiny little pieces. If Rowan died, I would burn every fae in her kingdom, alive. Fire was dancing around me now, and slowly reaching Rowan, to provide him any comfort possible.

Maeve waved her hand, and then all hell broke loose. Every soldier in the vicinity left whatever they were doing and ran towards me, ready to defend that bitch. My sword was already swinging towards the first one's neck, decapitating him, and then swinging towards the second. Any qualms I might have had for killing innocent soldiers who were just following orders burnt into ashes the second Rowan was bleeding.

Rhysand POV
I was expecting a dead weight who we would have to protect, not a warrior who was cutting down fae like they were hay. The second that dark woman drew the knife across the silver haired male I was warned about, Celaena had gone crazy. Every soldier was on her and I was standing on the side, along with everyone else except Gavriel who was healing the silver haired fae. We were just standing there while my sister just took out the soldiers like they were made of paper. She wasn't even looking at them, just kept sneering with her abnormally long fangs at the dark woman. The woman was chanting something now, the blood she had taken from the silver haired now glowing blue. Celaena's eyes widened visibly, and she dropped her sword, her hands moving to rest beside her. I was about to step in to save her from the lethal blow coming her way but. I took into a sprint, running towards her and her assailant, extending my hand and willing my magic to lash out. But I was too late. I closed my eyes when I heard a scream that chilled me to my bones, cursing myself silently for being so naive.

I heard a gasp behind me, and then another, which had me opening my eyes to ask them what was it but what I saw left me gasping in shock and awe too.

------------------------------------------

""She has him Aedion. She has him." He said, before his eyes rolled back unconciousness."

Aedion POV
It had taken Dorian three days to fully recover, from what now we know were Wyvern claw wounds. He had woken up and found me immediately, telling me to call a council meeting with everyone that knew of Aelin's capture. I had called for Lysandra and Nox Owen immediately to discuss important matters.

Dorian entered the tent five minutes ago, "I stole the last wyrd key, and found out that Maeve was planning to align herself with Erawen. I thought if I tagged along with her, I could find Aelin and being her back, because Manon told me that no message came saying that she was rescued. I shape-shifted and left Morath two days after her, and when I reached Doranelle, Maeve was leaving the city with Rowan behind her, who had the last remaining demon collar on his neck." he finished, his face taking on a fearful and worried expression. If Aelin knew about this, she would kill me. But I also knew that if the general of her armies suddenly disappeared, she would kill me then too.

--------------------------------------------

Rhysand POV
Every soldier was on fire, the fire so hot that everything it touched instantly turned into ash. Celaena looked like a queen in that moment, her face void of any expression, walking through the fire towards the Dark woman like the fire was her friend. My eyes were torn away from the beautiful scene before me by the feel of gushing air. I looked towards the source to find a black thrumming vortex that was moving like it was unwillingly restrained. "You'll regret that Aelin. When everything you love is burning and dead, you'll regret that." the woman said before she stepped into the vortex. A hand reached out to grab the woman, but she was already gone.