A Court of Legends and Myths

Chapter 41 - Holy Shit, It's Back

Feyre's POV

I watched from a safe distance away from Aelin as she drew a ring of wyrdmarks and stepped in. She took a deep breath then told Enda to get a shield ready. Though she didn't tell us to, Rhys and I prepared our own shields. I could feel the others who had magic do the same. Connall and Fenrys were ready to grab Enda and Borte and winnow out of here in case anything went wrong.

With a last drop of Aelin's blood the marks started to glow. At first they glowed a soft yellow, then they grew brighter and started to change colour, they changed from yellow to white to blue to green and back again. The glow became bigger and brighter and the colours eventually started to swirl around her. The glow became so bright I had to use my arm to shield my eyes. I stayed like that rooted to the ground and shielding my eyes for a few seconds. Even though it wasn't that long it felt like hours.

Then the glowing suddenly stopped. "Rhys, did it work? Nothing really happened." I asked my mate, mind to mind. "I don't know darling." He responded almost immediately. I stood there slightly confused until a huge blast of power like I've never felt rushed past me and into Aelin, making me stumble a bit. The wave of power came from every direction, creating ripples in the water that crashed against the sandy shore. Aelin just absorbed it all, not reacting to the massive wave which made me stumble.

I stepped forward ready to ask Aelin if it had worked when a hand grabbed me by the arm and yanked me back. I whirled furiously, ready to yell at whoever it was who grabbed me. I locked eyes with Connall who was looking at me as if I had so nearly made the stupidest mistake of my life. "Don't be a stupid fool High Lady. Wait and watch or you'll get yourself killed." He growled so low only I could hear. I was prepared to snap at him, there was no danger here. But then a pillar of flame erupted from Aelin. Shields went up to protect us from this horrible heat. I put everything I had into mine, so did everyone else.

All but Enda.

He had a shield but I could tell he wasn't using his full strength. I wanted to yell at him. Tell him to put all he had into that shield, but that would cause me to break my focus. And I couldn't afford that right now. Soon Aelin's power tore through the first few shields. The first ones to go were Cassian and Azriel's. Then went Amren's, followed by Mor's. I was soon wishing that we had brought Nesta along, her magic would have been nice to have right about now. With only Rhys, Enda, and I fighting to hold our shields up. The amount of pure heat coming from her caused me to take several steps back, I noticed many others do the same.

I felt a bead of sweat roll down my neck, my power was waning, I couldn't keep this going much longer. It was just another few seconds before I collapsed to the ground, now my shield was gone. It was up to a mate and a prince from another realm to save us all. I saw Rhys's shield crack, he couldn't keep this up any longer. His shield fell and he collapsed beside me.

I never thought I would die on a beach. Killed by a queen of flame, a queen of wildfire.

I waited for my death, but it never came. Enda's shield was still up. It should've crumbled by now. Why wasn't it crumbling? Then it hit me. He wasn't being lazy during the first few moments. It could've been minutes or hours or an eternity ago, I didn't know anymore.

No Enda had been conserving his strength. He'd been conserving it for this one moment. He knew the extent of her power. He knew we would all crumble. He knew we wouldn't last.

But even his power is no match for Aelin. His shield of wind and ice started to crack too. I grabbed onto Rhys, if I was going to die, it would be in his arms. Just as I thought this was it, this was when Enda would crumble, the fire stopped. Aelin fell to the ground and looked at her hands. Her back was to me. I couldn't see if she was smiling, if she was relieved, or scared. But Fenrys could, he was right beside her. I was so consumed by my own fear and exhaustion I didn't even notice him winnow to her.

Aelin's POV

She crumpled to the ground. She should be out of breath, she should be panting, or feinting, or something. Her magic was back and she just let a shit ton of it out.

She looked at her hands and smiled. Then she lifted her head and smiled at Fenrys who had winnowed to her side. "It's back, it's all back." She muttered to Fenrys. "How do you feel?" He asked, ever the overprotective fae bastard. Though he's better than Rowan. The thought her mate sent a pang of sadness through her, she missed her mate. "I feel normal, I guess. I feel as if I could destroy an army of ilken 500 strong and walk out with enough power to heat the entire castle for at least two weeks." She answered him, washing away her yearning for her mate. When she looked at him again she saw sweat on his skin.

"Oh rutting shit! I just released enough magic to fry an army of ilken! Are you okay? Did I fry anyone to a crisp?" She exclaimed, jumping to her feet and looking over fenrys checking if he was ok then looking around her.

"Yes. No. Luckily Enda was smart and conserved his magic. He had enough to shield us all from your power for a good 30 seconds there." Fenrys answered.

"Ya! Enda is a badass powerful fae like all his cousins!" Borte exclaimed as she threw herself at Aelin and squeezed her tight in a hug. She saw the others walking towards her as she embraced Borte, and she threw her back and let out a laugh of pure joy. Enda came to stand beside them; he was panting and obviously exhausted.

"Firstly. I do not envy you at all Aelin. How you have managed to live so long with that power astounds me. No wonder my cousin fell in love with you, he finally met someone who understands the burden of a power like his.

And secondly. How can my cousin shield an entire city from power like that and have enough to shift, all after a battle to save said city from a valg army. I can barely stand." He said between pants. Aelin wanted to smile at his attempt at humor but at that moment she was too concerned about his well being.

"Enda. I will only ask this once. How close to a burnout did you just get?" She asked him sternly. He straightened under her gaze and ran a hand through his hair, a gesture she had seen Rowan make so many times. The two males were so different yet so similar. It makes sense after all they are cousins and did grow up in the same home, raised by the same people.

"We're supposed to be taking care of you. Making sure you don't do anything reckless, remember? Not the other way around." He answered, deflecting her question with ease. The courtier in him shining through. She sighed and shook her head.

"I'm sorry but did I hear that right? Who the hell is Rowan. Who is this person who can shield cities from a power like that?!" Drakon asked as he approached.

"Why Aelin's wonderful mate of course." Borte answered giddily.

A/N

And on that note this chapter is done. I wasn't sure how powerful Enda was. I mean he's a prince of the Whitethorn line and presumably the heir to the line (I don't know if his brothers are older or younger). I wanted Enda to be the last one standing when it came to the shields. It just felt right to have him be the one that Aelin trusted the most to protect the others. But at the same time I didn't want to make him too powerful, so figured having conserved his magic for those last moments (kinda like saving your energy for a sprint at the end of a race) felt like the best way to do it. I hope I didn't make the others come across as weaker because of it.