The Light Before The Dark

Chapter 17 - Aelin

Feyre's glow dimmed then she was falling.

"No!" Rhys screamed but he couldn't come over, Maeve still lived.

"I can do it." Dorian said, he was holding Maeve's ankles, he knelt next to Thesean.

An agonising two minutes later Maeve shrivelled into dust.

Rhys immediately ran to Feyre's side.

"Feyre, please open your eyes." He was half sobbing.

Thesean walked around the pile of ash and knelt next to Feyre, hands once again glowing.

Everyone was watching in silence.

When Thesean placed his hands on her chest Rhys growled at him, I just put a hand on his shoulder.

"She's going to be ok Rhys." Thesean said.

"Aelin, we need to do something." He said, stroking his mate's hair.

"What is it?" I asked, a little curious.

"I'm going to fly up to Clare's body and I need you to burn her, both me and Feyre are giving her a resting place in the Night Court." I nodded, standing up.

He stood, wings appearing behind him. he easily flew up to the body nailed to the wall and extremely carefully took her down, laying her gently on the floor.

I reached out a hand and set her body on fire, making it burn a mixture and a deep orange and blue.

In a matter of seconds her body was just a pile of ash. A wind gathered the ashes us and they flew over to Rowan who had made an ice vase, the ashes fell inside and he put a lid on top.

"Here, now you can bury her properly." He gave Rhys a tight smile, giving the ice vase over.

"Thank you." He almost whispered.

Mor took the vase as Rhys picked Feyre up and tucked her tightly against his chest.

"Lets go home." She said, reaching out her hand to us.

We landed in the foyer of their manor, everyone was looking downcast.

Without a word Rhys walked up the stairs with Feyre. The vase vanished for Mor's hands and she walked into the sitting room, we all followed.

"What happened?" Azriel was asking.

"Let's just say that Maeve said some stuff and Feyre gave all of her power to kill her." I said.

"Feyre, is she."

"No." Mor cut in. "Rhys is with her upstairs."

"Aelin?" Alana's voice sounded from the corner.

"Hi Alana, are you ok?" I asked her as she walked out of the shadows

"Can I ask you something?" she glanced at Azriel who nodded.

"Of course you can." I replied, kneeling on the floor.

"I was wondering if you would let me stay here, with Azriel." She looked at the floor.

I looked at Azriel who walked over to stand by Alana's side, I stood.

"I am more than willing to look after her, teach her about her powers, I will treat her like my very own." He said, going a little pink.

"Aelin, I have nothing for me in Oryanth, my only family kicked me out, no one understands me but Azriel does, please." Tears filled her eyes.

"Of course, you can stay Alana, I just want you to be happy." I said, giving her a smile.

"Thank you!" she was beaming, she flung herself at me and clung onto my leg.

"I have a niece!" Cassian said, almost in awe.

"Welcome to the family kid." Mor was crouched on the floor, her arms open, Alana left me side and ran at her. Mor lifted her up and span her round before setting her on the floor again.

"What is going on?" Rhys's voice asked from the doorway.

"Azriel just adopted Alana!" Cassian half yelled.

Rhys's eyes went wide as he turned to look at him.

"What?" Azriel had crossed his arms.

"Well, lets just say I didn't expect you to be the one with a kid first." he said, grinning a little.

"Alana told me all about her family tree, she is actually distantly related both you Aelin, and Rowan." Azrail said, turning to me.

"Really, how?"

"My Father was a fae from Doranelle, one of Mora's decedents, my mother refused to give me a name, my mother was a forgotten descendent of Brannon, apparently I will settle later on in life, I have two bodies, I got stuck in my human body when magic fell and I don't know how to change back." She said eyes bright.

"I got stuck in my human body too, Rowan taught me how to shift between them, I lost my human body when I forged the lock." I told her.

"um, Aelin?" Amren looked a little embarrassed.

"What now?" I asked.

"You would have your human body back now." She told me.

I searched for the vail in me and found it once again there, I punched through and fell to the floor, trying not the scream, looking at my hands I knew I had shifted.

"That is so cool!" Alana said from next to me.

"Now you try, look for a vail inside you and walk through it." I told her.

Her face pinched then with a scream of pain she was in her fae body.

"I'm never doing that again." She mumbled, now on the floor next to me.

"Yeah, I'm not a big fan of it either," I said, shifting back, clamping my lips together to stop my scream.

"why does it look like there are fireworks going off here?" Feyre voice sounded from the doorway and we all looked over to see her leaning against the doorframe.

"You have a niece Feyre!" Cassian half yelled.

"Please tell me Nesta isn't pregnant." She actually looked worried.

"Don't be stupid Feyre, Az adopted Alana." Mor laughed.

Her eyes went wide before she grinned "That is so amazing, I'm so happy for you both!"

Alana ran over to her and Feyre picked her up, sitting her on her hip. "I hope you like ice cream and chocolate cake Alana because we eat a lot of that around here."

Alana's eyes lit up "Really?"

"Really." Mor laughed.