hearts of metal

xxvii. it's a start

Aelin and Lorcan trudged into their house in the early hours of morning.

They dragged Cain behind them, not very gently, only to find the lights in the living room flicked on. And everyone was waiting for them.

Chaos immediately erupted.

"You're finally back-"

"Are you okay?"

"...is that a dead body?"

"What the hell is happening?"

Aedion rushed up to them, Rhoe close behind. Aelin was tugged into a fierce hug by her brother.

He pulled away with a scowl. "This was a stupid plan."

Rhoe placed a hand on his shoulder. "It was my idea, Aed," he said, but his eyes lingered on Aelin's neck where the bruises lay.

"What happened?" Rowan asked, his gaze similarly drawn to the bruises. His jaw was clenched, fury rippling through his green eyes.

"Cain may have caught me snooping, so..."

"We knocked him out and brought him here," Lorcan finished. He gestured to the unconscious man behind them.

Rhoe glanced back and forth between them and Cain. "Vaughan, Aedion, have the guards take him to the warehouse."

Aedion pressed a swift kiss to Aelin's forehead, before grabbing the man with Vaughan and lugging him away.

"Thank the gods, I don't have to look at his ugly face anymore," Lorcam muttered.

Aelin snorted.

"I suppose we should discuss things," Rhoe said. "Meet me in the office in 5 minutes everyone."

He lingered behind with Aelin as the other filed out. "You're sure you're okay?" he said.

"I'm fine, dad," she answered. "I wanted to be involved, remember?"

He nodded, though he seemed unconvinced.

She pressed a kiss to his cheek, and the two made their way up to Rhoe's office.

Once there, Aelin took a seat on the smaller couch, beside Lorcan. Rowan and the twins both raised their eyebrows at this, but no one commented.

Aedion and Vaughan entered last, having disposed of Cain. The two eldest cadre members stood by the door and waited for Rhoe to speak.

"As you know, Aelin and Lorcan visited the Shadow Market today," he started. Rhoe explained the plan briefly to the room.

As he finished, Lorcan pulled the files out from the inside pocket of his jacket and set them on the desk. Then he pulled out the jar from his pocket and placed it down.

"What's this?" Fenrys asked, reaching for the jar of blue power.

His twin slapped his hand away.

"Cain called it hellfire," Aelin explained. "It's a deadly explosive, a new weapon from the Shadow Market."

"In the hands of the Valg..." Vaughan added from the door. "It could be catastrophic."

Rhoe sighed and rubbed his temple, before pulling the files towards him and glancing through them. "I'll have to take a deeper look at these. It's information about their weapon shipments, as well personal information on some employees."

"How involved is the Valg in the Shadow Market?" Aelin asked, wondering just how many people they bumped into could potentially be Valg.

"I don't know," Rhoe admitted. "All I know is that's where the Valg seem to get a majority of their supplies."