Elriel: The Seer And The Shadowsinger

Happily ever after...Or is it?

_Azriel_

Showers of magic-tipped arrows rain down upon us. My own magic feels weak but I keep a straight face for Elain even though my whole body is breaking on the inside, but she sees through my mask.

I don't want her or that male to know how weak I actually am so I straighten my composure while kneeling and spread out my wings 'I can't believe, even at the time of death you would do such a territorial illyrian thing!' To my surprise my lips tug upwards and i smile at her comment looking ingo her beautiful eyes, even though every second was bringing me closer to death.

"Az... you can't keep the shields up. You'll die if you keep it longer!" Elain screams over the shots. She's right. I'll die. But I'll die saving her. My mate.

"That's right. You don't want to die do you?... I have some motivation for you to actually tell me where my queen is, I think you'll like it."
The circle of soldiers that surround us step back and suddenly throw Lucien and Tarquin to the floor. Then four soldiers step forward and walk towards us. One grips Lucien to keep him away from Tarquin dying on the floor. Another puts his leg on Tarquin back and crushes this back to stop him breathing. But that's all it took for Luciens rage to get unleashed.

_Lucien_
He should have regretted it when he put his first leg on Quin. I unleashed my yet to learn magic in me and light erupted from my skin. Many were taken back but it's beauty but I can use it to escape. Blinding the soldier I punch him in the gut and pull Quin up with me. 'You have to have your eyes open only for a little bit longer...please..'

Tarquin suddenly summons water and it crashes into the soldiers in front of us. 'Thanks Quin, I love you. Please stay awake for me...I don't want to loose you.' He nodds his head forward and the sea parts way for us. How does he do that?! 'Love... run through it to the end...and don't look back.'

I pick him up his head pressed to my chest and I cradle him before taking off into a sprint. There are people yelling being us but I don't look back, he told me not to. I can feel the entrance close in ad I sprint faster knowing that Quin's weak state will not all him to hold his passage very long. The sand underneath my feat burns but I run until I see a gate in front of a cave.
'There is a healer there...' Then suddenly hus eyes lids shut.

"NO!" I try opening the door but it's jammed. Suddenly the passage he made starts to break, beacuse Quin isn't holding it longer. I take a deep breath before the water surges at us and we get thrown into the metal gate. My vision is starting to go out but I hold onto Quin. Not letting him out our grasp and the last thing I hear before going unconsious is the metal gate creaking open.

_Azriel_
"You can learn to love again. Although it hurts, it hurts so much...It's worth it. All of it, and you thought me that." Blood filled my throat so I coughed it up only to see Elain crying harder holding on me never wanting to let go. My eyelids were getting heavier very second and it's harder to keep them open

"Please don't leave me..." Her broken yet beautiful voice pulled me out of my drifting unconscious state. So I forced my eyelids to open a little longer and cracked out the last words "Mate or not I'll always love you." I chocked out more blood and evey second of staying awake had so much pain. My eyelids are starting to close and the last thing I hear is Elain's sweet voice 'I love you, too.'

_Elain_
No no no no. NO! Az is gone. He doesn't deserve to die! Not him! I can't feel the warmth of his shadows enveloping me and I can't feel the - the mating bond. Mate. My mate. Is gone. I can't feel anything anymore. I stare without seeing anything. I breathe without wanting to. I move without knowing it.

Pulling out the truth teller from Az's waist I run out of the shield and immediatley all the arrows stop but I continue to run towards the male that holds the same eyes as aelin and jab it into his heart - Just like I did with the King of Hybern. It takes a few seconds for him to reslise what I'd done but afterall Az did not deserve to die.

_Aelin_
Gods, so many. So many had come to my aid. As Nehimia had said my empire would be the spark. With these numbers- I hear someone scream and cry so loud and I snap my head to see where it is coming from. No, I can't take any more deaths.
"STOP IT!" Every soldier's eyes land on mine and it is a daunting moment but as Queen I should not be scared.

"DON'T SHOOT!" In mere seconds everyone stopped and there was silence. I start to walk towards the center to see who my men were shooting at. The sight horrified me. They would go to lengths to find me, but this only reminded me of Maeve's way of ruling and my empire will not do that.

Rowan tensed at my side and my piercing glare made the soldiers standing around us put their weapons down. Azriel lies on the ground, lifeless. But what shocks me more is Elain standing there a sword plunged into my cousin's heart. I prayed for it not to be Aedion. But once his eyes found mine I had no hope.

_Elain_
"NO!" The voice shouts of power and authority but it is too late. Too late to save him. the male who shares Aelin's eyes sprints past us, toward... towards Aelin.

She stands behind us, a crown of fire atop her head, and beside her stands Rowan. He looks so different from when he was drunk. The way he stands shows how powerful he is and he will destroying everything that stands in his way, or his mate's.

Aelin sinks to the floor clutching her heart as if Aedion's pain is her own. Rowan immediately rushes to her side a wall of ice building around them. All I hear is Rowan scream.

"Elain pull the sword out!! They have a blood oath! YOU'RE HURTING AELIN!"

I can't hold back anymore "YOU'RE SO CALLED MATE KILLED TARQUIN!" I am a mess I'm screaming while crying holding on to the truth teller with all my heart- the only thing I have left of Az.

"And this...monster TOOK AZ'S LIFE AWAY ASWELL!" I can feel a change in the cauldron. All of a sudden the ground shakes, everyone freezes. The cauldron then appears above our heads and starts to a rattle. Chaos breaks loose.

The soldiers run in every direction, some push past but the only ones staring unable to move is Rowan, Aelin and me. I tug the truth teller out of his body and run towards Az. I can't carry him, I need someone's help. The cauldron rattles more vigorously above our heads and suddenly Lucien comes running, screaming words at me.

"ELAIN GET OUT OF THERE I HEARD THE- " He never finished his sentence beacsue by then a large figure rose from the cauldron. He looks the same as Maeve and smels like rott and death.

"MY QUEEN IS DEAD! I'D HAVE TO THANK YOU, AELIN FOR HELPING ME!"
Then he laughs and unleashes black ink all around. The sea turns black aswell as the beautiful sky. The sun is no longer able to be seen but the fire that scorches Aelin's soldiers one by one is enough light to see the twisted, ugly face of that monster.

But I hear Aelin from behind me as she gets up with Rowan's help "Erawan..."