hearts of metal

xix. then you all die

The others in the room turned to face her in horror, especially as the man who had dragged her in yanked her head back by her hair. She winced. It's always the hair. His arm then circled her neck, caging her in. She breathed in the musty scent clinging to his skin and fought off a gag.

Aelin watched the other men ease their holds on the guns, focus turned to her in interest and something akin to delight. Her eyes met Rowan's in silent communication. He nodded slightly.

Picking up her foot, Aelin drove her heel upwards towards the man. He released her with a groan, to which she grinned. At that same moment, Rowan shouted, "now," and turned to wrestle the gun out of the grip of the man behind him.

Everyone moved at once, but Aelin tried to focus on the two men now circling her. The first man went down easy. The second, the leader, quickly dodged her attack in a graceful movement.

His eyebrows flicked up. "The girl's got moves, it seems."

A shot went off, and Aelin's eyes flicked to its source in fear. The man took that second of distraction, fast as a viper, to punch her square in the jaw and sweep her feet out from under her. She hit the marble with pain blooming in her jaw and hip where she fell.

And then there was a gun to her head. She met the cold barrel unflinchingly, and the man's eyes beyond it. Her gaze flicked around. Much to her relief, the men in black were all out cold.

Everyone else stood around, relatively unharmed, their gazes fixed to hers.

"Stand up," he ordered.

She complied, glaring at him as she did. He only smiled.

Aelin met the eyes of the people who had become her family. Fenrys and Connal watched her with sorrow and fear, still hovering over a knocked out Vaughan. Aedion and Rhoe looked horrified, and even Lorcan was tense and frozen.

Then, her eyes met Rowan's. Pine green and glimmering with anger. She felt some of it spill into her, anger running like adrenaline through her veins. Jaw clenched, she steeled herself for a bullet.

The man simply laughed. "No moves from any of you, or I'll shoot. Your darling princess gone, as soon as you got her back. Isn't that a lovely ending?"

"What do you want?" Rhoe asked stiffly.

"Nothing," the man said. "Nothing beyond seeing you suffer, really. What do you say? Bye-bye, princess?"

She watched Rowan inch towards them, hand reaching to the wide bookshelf. The man holding her, too fixated on her father, didn't notice.

Rowan met her gaze and nodded. Just like before, an easy understanding flowed between them. With a swift motion, he toppled the bookshelf.

Aelin moved, ducked down and yanked his wrist up. A shot went off, aimed at the ceiling. Before the man could wrestle the gun back down, the shelf was toppling down towards them.

They both covered as wood splintered around them. The gun scattered away, and Aelin reached for it, but not before the man managed to slide a knife to her throat. The blade pressed into her skin for a brief second, before she pulled her head up. As the knife slid deeper into her skin, the man jerked away enough for her to toss away the knife.

She clambered onto her knees. The gun had clattered too far out of her reach, but in seconds, Rowan was there. He slid it to her in a smooth motion. She sent him a fleeting glance, before she grabbed the gun, stumbled to her feet, and aimed.

Kneeling before her was the leader. And this time, he was the one at gunpoint. Unbothered, the man put his hands behind his head, elbows stretched out. "I surrender," he drawled.