A Love From A Different World

Chapter 80

Aelin stirred awake when her bedroom door closed. Correction- Azriel's bedroom door closed. Right, Azriel.

Shit.

It had seemed like a good idea when she approached him on the dance floor. Even better idea when he got her naked. But the morning after? Not so much. Her body was sore as hell. Looking down, Aelin found countless bite marks and hickeys. Well, Azriel had indeed been thorough. How many times had they done? From how unsteady her legs were, too many. The princess vaguely remembered still going at it even after dawn arrived.

Getting up after several attempts, Aelin looked out the window? What time was it? Too late, if the sun was that high up. It had to be at least midday. Shit. She had planned on getting up earlier, find the book and make a run for it. At this rate, escaping the city discreetly was not looking too promising.

Quickly she got dressed, not wearing her own clothes, but Azriel's. She went through his closet and found a pair of fighting leather. They looked old and worn. And small, too small for Azriel's massive built. Ones from childhood, she supposed. She did not particularly care why he had them, she just put them on. They weren't such a bad fit, honestly.

With that done, she exited the room and started her search. The manor was oddly quiet and Aelin did not second guess it. She willed her body to guild her, willed her bones to remember that feeling of drawing when she had been in the presence of the book. It felt like a game she had played with Aedion as children, 'Hot and Cold'. Where one would hide an object and make the other figure out where it was, calling 'hot' when they drew near the object, or 'cold' when drifting away from it. Of course, in her current predicament, Aelin did not find her search for the book nearly as entertaining as she had as a child.

Twenty minutes later, the princess entered a room three floors below and knew that this was it. This seemingly average sitting room possessed what she sought. There was nothing special about the room and did not seem to have any wards-which was quite odd. Knowing it might be a trap, knowing that stepping into the room might set off an alarm, Aelin entered. Her veins burned, an indication that it was near. She needed to find it and get the hell out, before Rhysand or the others knew what was up.

There; setting perfectly still on a table laid the book. Both halves joined together, open before her. Aelin bones sang with every step forward she took. Standing before it, Aelin widened her eyes with surprised delight. The book was written in Wyrdmarks.

Hello liar

Well, she supposed that was accurate. "Hello,"

I have been waiting for you

That sounded omniscient. "Here I am,"

You are a beautiful weapon

A delicious poison

"Magic objects and their theatrics," Rolling her eyes, she reached for the book, flipping over the pages.

You sing of death and power

You smell of blood and glory

"Oh hush," It was like being reunited with that damned bronze knocker, Mort.

She slammed the book shut, deciding that she'd find the spell she needed when she was safely out of the city. There was no ward against her leaving the room with the book, and Aelin briefly worried that it had been too easy. But only briefly, because as she took two steps down the hall, she heard screaming. Screaming so loud, her mortal ears heard them clear as day. That couldn't be good. With stealth, she made her way up the floors. The screaming continued, and so she took a quick glance out the window and froze.

The sky was falling.

Or rather, something from the sky was falling. A smear of black flashed across the sky. Swift-moving —spreading wider as it grew closer. The smear of black separated, fracturing into countless figures. Too big for birds. Far too big. They'd reached the sea cliffs. Countless, long-limbed flying creatures, some bearing soldiers in their arms.

"What the rutting hell,"

People were screaming, thrashing as those creatures unleashed themselves upon. They shrieked and ran for cover. All long-limbed, gray-skinned, with serpentine snouts and razor-sharp teeth. It lunged for anything with a pulse, going after even children.

Velaris had fallen.

A slaughter was unfolding before her.

This was the perfect opportunity to escape, to leave with the book unnoticed. The city was being attacked, no one would pay any heed to one missing human girl. So she hurried on, running up the stairs, drowning out the wailing, the horrible sounds the creatures were emitting, the sound of flesh being torn apart.

Don't get distracted, she told herself. It isn't your problem.

Don't do it, don't-

But she was at the foyer now and opened the door. The city was in chaos. People running about, looking for a secure hiding spot. Bodies lay around the streets, blood already filling the square. Those foolish enough to fight were kissing death. The creatures were winning. They tore into them, savagely and barbarically, ripping limps off, decorating the streets with corpses. And the sky, holy hell. There were some fighting in the sky, but they too seemed to be losing.

Aelin made a mistake when she locked eyes with a fallen warrior, bleeding out on the ground, wings half ripped off his body.

Shit. 

Her stupid consciousness. Aelin threw the book behind her, closed the door and rushed down the stairs to the streets. She shifted into her fae body, cursing her foolish mortal heart.

Her plan was up in flames now, and Rhysand would now know she possessed magic. But screw it, she'd use the bargain to get the book. It had been her back up plan anyway. She could not just do nothing.

So the assassin called to her magic and went to fight. 

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Hello everyone. I wanted to quickly thank all of you for reaching out to me and trying to help. It honestly alleviates the stress and the fear. Thank you for still supporting me on a different platform and I hope to not disappoint you all. It saddens me that a lot of my readers (over 20,000!) on AO3 don't know why I have not uploaded any chapters, and I hope they do not think that I simply stopped writing. Again, thank you for everything. It appears that I have to start from scratch here and hope that you comment, share, and vote. Enjoy and happy reading. 

-Haloham