A Love From A Different World

Chapter 91

Hello everyone. Just a quick reminder that I am still accepting art from readers who wish to make me a cover for both 'A Love From A Different World' and 'Accidentally Fated'. I've already received some great pieces and would like to share them with you all, and perhaps allow you guys to vote on which ones should be used. For more information, just send me a message. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Share, vote, comment, and as always, happy reading!

Haloham

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Azriel was devastated. And so confused.

Celeana- Aelin, was so much more than he could have ever imagined. With each one revelation, Azriel was thrown into another shock wave.

Assassin, long-lost princess, a goddess' niece. Gods, he wasn't sure he was able to keep track.

One revelation after another. It was exhausting. But not more exhausting than pretending that nothing between him and Celaena had changed. She, for one, seemed completely unbothered. She had barely spared him a glance since the attack.

Azriel tried to reach out to her through the bond, like when he called out to her when Hybern infiltrated. He had called out her name, again and again, screaming, begging, crying. And just like then, Azriel was met now with a blank, solide, unmoving wall. Now that he knew Celaena was fae, he knew that the mental shield was her own doing, and wondered if she even felt the flicker of his effort to reach her. Her face betrayed nothing.

And because her face was the picture-perfect of unreadable, the poor male was left completely unaided in knowing how she felt. If she felt anything at all.

It seemed unlikely.

The very though churned uncomfortably in his chest as it presented the unsavoury truth that he had tried to lock away; Celaena did not feel the mating bond. Or if she did, she was acting as if she did not, which could only mean that she had no intentions of accepting it at all.

That was almost as painful as watching his beloved city turn into ruin.

Or watching Celaena's eyes lose their short-live spark when Amren had asked about her kingdom.

Kingdom...Mother Above. From all the people that could have been his mate, Fate had decided to bestow him with someone completely unreachable. And utterly complicated.

Was this his punishment? Had the universe thought it funny to destine him with the one person he could never have? Forget about the fact that she did not seem to know about the bond, even if she wanted to accept it, she could not. Because Celaena was leaving for her realm, and their story would come to an end.

Azriel tried not to think of that. He tried to busy himself with reparations of the city. Tried to occupy himself as he helped fortify their wards once more.

And now they were back home.

"Velaris is secure," Rhys said in the black hours of the night. "The wards the Cauldron took out have been remade."

Things were still awkward and messy between the two. They had to talk, but neither of them really wanted to. Especially not now with more pressing matters to attend to.

For hours they'd worked, along with the rest of the city, to heal, to patch up, to hunt down answers any way they could. And now they were all again gathered, the clock chiming three in the morning.

Mor leaned against the wall, limp and covered in dirt and blood, as the rest of them.

Sprawled in an armchair built for Illyrian wings, Cassian's face was battered and healing slowly enough that he knew he'd drained his power during those long minutes when he'd defended the city alone. But his hazel eyes still glowed with the embers of rage.

Azriel looked down at his hands, onto his scarred ones, his Siphons were dull, muted. Utterly empty.

Amren and Celaena were missing, having left together after Amren exposed her niece's identity. They were currently decoding the Book. It came as a pleasant surprise that Celaena had understood the language written in the Book. It would now make Amren's task easier- and faster. Azriel pretended to be pleased with that.

Almost too quickly, the spymaster turned his head to the window- and immediately wished he hadn't. Because out there, he still saw the aching effects of the attack. Bodies had been burned and buried, carnage picked up, fire put out.

Fire, Mother Above, Azriel still could not believe it. Celaena's fire was like nothing he had ever seen. It was brilliant, and pure, and powerful, and beautiful. Like no other fire, no ordinary fire. Celaena had truly looked like a goddess. The way she had wielded her power like that, charring and flaming- Azriel had seen the burned bodies in the square, note the smell of scorched flesh, saw the hiss of smoke that emitted from them.

"Velaris might be secure," Cassian replied, not even bothering to lift his head from where it rested against the back of the chair, "but for how long? Hybern knows about this place, thanks to those wyrm-queens. Who else will they sell the information to? How long until the other courts come sniffing? Or Hybern uses that Cauldron again to take down our defences?"

His other brother closed his eyes, his shoulders tight. Azriel could already see the weight pushing down on that dark head.

"If we all go to Hybern to destroy the Cauldron ... who will defend the city?" Mor tentatively asked.

"Amren will stay behind." Rhysand said, opening his eyes. "She already said so, as will Celaena."

Silence answered him.

Azriel opened his mouth to object. To protest against his mate staying in Velaris when he would be so far away. Though he trusted Amren to protect her- more so now that they were relatives, Azriel felt uncomfortable with the thought of being so far away from her.

"We shouldn't rush into this. We need time to plan." Mor loosed a sigh.

"We just did."

Mor scowled. "That's not a plan, that's suicide. Hybern just attacked us, he'll be expecting us."

"So what do you propose we do? Wait for him to attack the other courts? He's already declared war."

Just then Cassian looked up at Rhysand, an idea blooming on his face. "The other courts. That's just it."

"Finish the thought, Cass."

"We don't know whose aligned with Hybern for certain, but it's most likely Spring Court and the Autumn court,"

"And...?"

Cass stood up, and started pacing rapidly. "What if we can guarantee that every court, including those two, fight alongside us?"

Azriel stared at his brother intently, trying to understand his scheme. "How?"

"Through your deamati powers but..." He stopped himself and bit his lip before looking his two brothers. "It involves Celaena, and you're not going to like it."