A Bloody Crown

Chapter 30: Elain

I was in the medical tent for hours, caked in blood, guts, and mud before anyone came to find me. It was long past dark, past dinner, past waking hours.

Sighing, and stumbling out of the tent, I sat alone at the fire and began to eat a small dinner, choking down whatever cold oats were leftover from the other soldiers. 

Then, I heard whimpering and crying. "I'm coming, hold on," I shouted, grabbing the medical bag I'd carried with me for my own wounds.

Putting the bowl down, I trotted over to the sound, deep in the forest, my concern growing every second.

The crying sound continued, growing louder and louder. 

"Graysen, please," it whispered, sniffling.

Elain.

I broke into a sprint, fear shooting through me. 

"ELAIN," I bellowed, her soft frame in my sight now. "IT'S NOT HIM, DON'T."

As I ran, my medical bag slipped off my shoulder, landing with a plop somewhere behind.

I grabbed her arm, whipping her around to face me, and looked in her eyes. They were clouded, tear-soaked, and unaware. 

She's in a trance.

I snapped my fingers in front of her, begging her to wake up. But then, a Hybern general appeared behind her, staring at me with a darling grin.

"Well, well. If it isn't our Queen."

* * *

"Don't you fucking touch her," I snarled to the King as they threw Elain's sobbing body into his tent. "You will not hurt her."

The King approached me, grabbing my chin and yanking it up to his eye level. "Oh, Aelfrun," he tsked. "Look at you, how you've changed."

"You lied to me," I replied, staring into his dead eyes. "Sold me falsities so I would fight for you."

His face remained impassive, the lack of apathy astounding. "You're an asset."

I glanced to the tent at my left, then back to the King. "I'm more than something to be wielded."

He leaned in close, his lips brushing mine. "That's where you're wrong." The King began walking away, dragging the chain wrapped around my neck with him. They'd put a collar on me, a chain for an overgrown bat.

An animal.

Elain remained in the tent, tucked away under steel and spell. Only two hours before dawn, and I imagined that's when the King would make his choice over how to torture her to death.

He dragged me to a smaller tent, one with a lush bed and chairs. It reeked of.. hormones. Blood stains were on the edge of the white bed, little droplets in a trail.

My blood ran cold, and I could do nothing but stare as the King attached the other end of my chain to the bed. I started gasping, panicking, pulling at the chain around my neck. I left my weapons in the medical tent, I have nothing to fight with.

Oh Cauldron, oh gods-

"This was going to happen willfully or not, Aelfrun," the King purred. "I need a son. The future King. And you.." he stroked my neck with his fingers, "Are perfect. There's enough fae between us to make him nearly full-blooded, and with that little bit of Illyrian, he'll be a bred fighter. Though.. we'll have to cut his wings out."

I snarled, throwing his arm off me. "You're disgusting," I spat, pulling my wings behind me in protection.

He shook his head, then yanked my chain to him, pulling my chest to his. His large hands were enough to grab both of mine, squeezing them so hard I thought they would break, holding me captive.

His other hand unzipped my leathers, exposing my skin beneath. He slipped his hand inside, tracing my stomach and bra, cold eyes staring into mine as he did so.

With a snap of his fingers, a rope appeared around my hands, tied and knotted. The King threw me onto the bed, yanking my neck with the chain.

"Please, don't," I whispered, backing up as far as I could, begging. He threw his top off, climbing onto the bed with me. "No, no, no," I screamed, my throat going raw from the effort.

He pinned me down, and ripped the rest of my leathers off, predatory intent in his hands.

My legs thrashed, kicking and squirming underneath him. "I'll fucking kill you," I snarled, "Rhysand will end you."

"Don't mention another male in my bed," The King snarled, his lips curling in anger.

Ripping off my underwear, exposing me entirely, he took what was never his.

* * *

Blood trickled out from me as I laid there, entirely void, completely numb. I'd blacked out during the event, forcing my mind out of my body.

I imagined I was in the sky, flying and free, laughing alongside Azriel and Cassian, feeling the wind in my hair.

Then, the same male from the guardshack who I didn't know, entered, his eyes wide. "Aelfrun, my name is Jurian. Azriel and Feyre are here to save you. We have no time."

I nodded, and he immediately uncut my bonds, and undid my chain. He threw a dark cloak over me, and helped me up, panic running through him. Jurian took my leathers and shoved them in my arms, pulling me out the back of the tent. 

We went around the encampment, running as fast as my weak legs could go. The shadows we casted on the rocks around us were twisted and distorted, as if even the fire they made was evil.

There was an edge up ahead, a cliff overlooking a bank, one with a deathly drop below.

We kept running, neither of us speaking, or even breathing. Screeching to a halt at the edge, he looked me over once more, then whispered, "I cannot stay. They are coming for you. Good luck."

He darted off into the woods, likely hiding until the storm blew over from our escape.

I stood there, shaking and wavering, feeling blood dripping between my legs onto the grass below. Hearing the sound, the splattering, I started panicking. Blacking in and out.

I fought to keep consciousness, stay awake, stay alive.

Then I saw him, saw them. Feyre, Azriel, and Elain barreling in my direction, panic and fear coursing through them.

Tears rolled down my cheeks in relief. My vision was going in and out, sound muffling and coming in. I couldn't see, couldn't hear.

"GRAB ONTO ME," Elain shrieked, and I did. She held tightly, even as I blacked out once again. I woke to Azriel's screams, his wings shredded by beasts below, and Feyre still running, holding a small girl in her arms.

I woke again to Azriel's hard commands, instructing her to get in the air.

My cloak wavered around me, exposing various pieces of me, vulnerability. My blood dripped into the river below.

Then we vanished.

Azriel landed us at the edge of camp, his blue siphons fading fast. I woke to see Rhys and Nesta heading for us quickly, scanning us over.

I woke again to see Elain standing and walking away with the girl, Feyre going to a healer, and Azriel turning to look at me crumpled on the cold earth.

I woke in his arms, limping to a medical tent, our wings draping on the ground.

My blood dripped onto his boots, and his blood dripped onto my cheeks.

I didn't wake again for quite some time.