A Court in Flames

Chapter 24

Elentiya's POV

I saw that beautiful bird and just wanted to chase it.

When I entered a clearing a male stepped out and I backed away from him only to bump into someone else. I turned and backed away only to find hands gripping my shoulders.

I felt my magic begin to rise.

Not yet. I whispered to it and it calmed down.

Then my eyes fixed on those horrible metal shackles. And I realized that the 'bracelets' I had worn for the first six years of my life were shackles meant to contain my magic.

I tried to push away from them when I heard a female enter the clearing. She shouted something and they laughed.

They shouted things at her and then went to grab her only for a wall of fire to block them. Fire. Just like mine.

She said something as she threw off her hood and I stared into eyes that matched my own. A flash of memory and... her face matched. "Get your rutting hands off of my daughter!" She roared in fury.

One word clanging in my mind, daughter. She knew who I was. She is my mom. And she had come for me.

I didn't get to see her fight as a hand grabbed my shoulder. "Don't worry Elentiya I'm your mother's friend. Feyre's going to help her. I'm going to get you to safety." The female had soft eyes.

"But I can help!" I protested.

"Your mom wants you to be safe. And that's what I'm going to do, get you to safety." Before I could protest more we were somewhere else. Just beside a market. The market.

"Elentiya! Elentiya!" Lorcan was shouting. Shoot! He realized I was gone.

"Uh oh," I groaned.

"Who's that?" The female asked.

"That's Lorcan." I started walking towards him.

"Well, he's tall alright. Not so broody." The female said. "Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Mor." 

"Oh, he's broody. I didn't think he'd realize I was gone."

"Well, we have to go say hi, don't we?" Mor asked me with a bright smile on her face.

"Oh-kay." I sighed while kicking the ground.

"Elentiya! Thank goodness I found you! Let's go back to camp." There was determination in my eyes and I knew it. I was done being pushed around by everyone.

"No. I have to wait for my mom to get back." Lorcan had annoyance in his eyes.

"That's what we're doing!" He said with a slight twitch of his brow.

"No! I will not follow you! I'm staying here with Mor and waiting for my mom!" I shouted. I didn't care if I sounded like a spoiled child or a brat. I had never met my mom and I wasn't going to let this chance go to waste. And to prove my point I walked back to the edge of the forest and sat down.

Aelin's POV

As soon as Elentiya was out of the way I put a shield around Feyre and let my fire explode. It burnt the fae to ashes in a matter of seconds. I smiled as Feyre gaped.

"What? It was far more effective. Plus they deserved it!" I said as I walked to Feyre and patted her shoulder. She held out her hand and I grabbed it. She winnowed us just outside of the market.

When I saw Elentiya sitting down in the grass I stopped in my tracks. "What if she hates me?" I whispered.

"She won't hate you, Aelin. You're practically impossible to hate." Feyre said and rested a hand on my shoulder. "Go."

I took a step forward and then another, all the while thinking in my head, my name is Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius and I will not be afraid.

Elentiya stood up as I walked through the trees and came running at me. My eyes widened as she jumped at me. I grabbed her to me and breathed in her scent.  A primal part of me awoke as I breathed in her scent, my daughter.

"Mom!" She shouted when I held her in my arms. I took in her hair and eyes and nose.

"I'm so sorry! I tried to come back and find you from the day I left!" I cried as I held her tight.

"It's his fault, mom!" That word! Cauldron! I loved it so much! I felt as if my heart might explode. "Hades took me from you. And it's because of you that escaped. Because of the note, you left me." I cried as I held my daughter. My beautiful perfect daughter. She was crying, too.

"I spent the past six years trying to find my way back to you, Elentiya," I said through my tears.

"He told me that you sold me and that I was nameless. He told me that you hated me. Then this kind lady healed me after he- After he whipped me." I stiffened when she said that. I could still feel the whip against my own skin. "She gave me this box," She took a box out of her pocket. "And inside was the note. And then he found me taking the cuffs off and my magic was overwhelming me and then I ran. And he found me when two people tried to hurt me." She finished and pointed at Lorcan.

She was sobbing, now. And that rage had multiplied infinitely. I was personally going to tear Hades apart. Limb from limb. Slowly. I would skin him alive for the whip he had taken to my daughter.  And I would enjoy every damn moment of it.

Lorcan, Feyre and Mor all seemed to understand. "Later, Aelin. Later." Lorcan said. I nodded. It would wait until after this stupid war. This war that I would win.

I started walking while Elentiya kept her head buried in my shoulder. "Lorcan, do you have any money?"

"Plenty." He said.

"Good. I'm assuming that Rowan sent you to give Dorian a message." Lorcan nodded. "So. I want you to give Dorian that message, don't mention that I am alive because I'm assuming you all thought I was dead?"

"We did," Lorcan confirmed.

"Good. I can make the most dramatic entrance in my history of dramatic entrances." Everyone groaned at that. "Lorcan. After you've given Dorian the message, then come back here. We'll be waiting for you."

Lorcan took off.

"What are we going to do?" Mor asked.

"We're waiting for Lorcan to come back and training Elentiya." Elentiya looked up at me.

With huge eyes she asked, "Magic training?"

"Not just magic. Self-defence, too," I explained. "I'm never going to let you get hurt again."