A Court in Flames

Chapter 28

Aelin's POV

Another volley of arrows and this time it was Feyre's shield that swept them away. The iron not working against her magic.

"You all have five seconds to show yourselves or I will fire." And to prove that I wasn't bluffing I drew my bow that I held at one of the archers. "Five... Four... Three..." The scrambled out of the trees and bushes and put their hands in the air. "Good. Now. Take me to Ansel of Briarcliff. I believe we have some things to catch up on."

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"I thought I said no prisoners!" Ansel's shout rang out.

"Oh. I believe you're mistaken. We're not prisoners. They are, though." I had the gall to clean my nails with a knife. "Now... I believe we have some business to attend to." Ansel's face paled.

"What the rutting hell is going on here!" Someone else came forward. That voice. I recognized it from somewhere but where? "Who. Are you?" He asked me.

"I could ask you the same thing. My name is Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius and I would like to know why the hell you are all marching on my kingdom!" Every soldier's face whitened.

"You're supposed to be dead." His face was visibly pale. Ansel turned on him then.

"What the hell do you mean?" She asked and I was about to demand answers from him when everything made sense. He was the king of Melisande. I recognized him from that one time I had met him before everything went to hell.

My face paled as I put all of the pieces together. The dropped clues Hades had given me. Him being paid to torture me, but not kill me. The meetings he had from time to time. The voice. The other person I had never seen, who had hurt me more than Hades. "It was you." I pointed a shaky finger at him. "You ordered Hades to capture me. You made him torture me for eight months."

Elide's POV

When Cal and I hadn't seen Lorcan for weeks I had begun to worry. He was supposed to be back by now.

Now I was in the meeting room, looking from face to face as the looked at each other.

"I don't know," Rowan said at last and I felt like I was drowning. But... he was still alive. He had to be. I would've known otherwise. He was my mate after all. Just like Rowan had felt when Aelin had died. 

I only said, "He's out there, somewhere. He'll come back to us." To me. 

Lysandra nodded in agreement. "Are you ready for war?" She asked me. 

"Can anyone ever really be ready?" I replied. "When's Wendlyn arriving?"

"They should arrive within the week alongside the Khaganate. Melisande hasn't shown up, though. I'm worried that they're planning to strike when we're at our weakest," Rowan replied.

"Have you checked Oakwald, yet?" I asked. They could very well be planning to attack from behind while the armadas attacked from the front.

"No." His eyes widened. "Shit! Lysandra. I need you to go check that out immediately. We may need to split the army in two. One to cover our backs while the other deals with the armadas. But take Elide to some of the nearby towns so she can search for news."

We left the room and I grabbed an extra cloak for when Lysandra would shift back. She became a wyvern and took off for the edge of Oakwald.

Elentiya's POV

I watched as Lorcan again stood nearby. I was tempted to run away from him but... I decided that that may not be my best idea. So I stayed beside him, waiting.

"What's Orynth like?" I asked him suddenly. I had been dying to know but hadn't had the time to ask. My mother had always been busy. Whether it be hunting, practicing, scheming, sleeping or just doing daily tasks. And everyone else had been equally busy.

Although, during the last month I'd seen more of the world than I had ever seen in my first six years of life.

I thought he wasn't going to answer my question when he spoke, "It's a beautiful place. The city itself is huge. The palace is equally beautiful. Your father built a theatre for your mother, that's absolutely gorgeous. The Staghorns are behind it and the Florine river flows through it. And the streets are swarming with people and magic and flowers."

I considered what he had said and felt like I would like to live there. To make that my home. 

"What's my father like?" Another question I had been dying to know the answer to.

He looked at me, "You should probably ask someone who isn't biased." I looked at him.

"Isn't everyone biased?" I asked him.

He looked back at me, "I suppose they are."

"I guess I've just known so little in my life and it makes me want to know everything. How to make someone smile. How to swim. How to make friends. To be smart and kind and happy. Like my mother. Like Feyre and Mor. I want to know what it is like to have a family who cares so much about me that they would die for me. I want to know what it's like to love someone so completely that I never want to let go of them. What it's like to explore the world and see new sites every day. To care about others. Maybe that's just because I've never had any of those things. Maybe it's because I'm already learning. But... I want to know what it is to be... me," I finished and looked down. All of it was true. I want a life of joy and love.

"Trust me Aelin would do anything to make you smile. I've seen it every time she hugs you. It's an Aelin thing and a parent thing. Just like I love my Cal." He spoke and I knew from the breaking in his voice that meant it.

"Is Cal your son?" I asked him.

"He is. And I love him very much." He responded.

"So, would Cal be my cousin? Like Aedion is my mother's cousin?" I asked him.

"You and Cal share no blood, therefore you aren't cousins." He said.

"So-" He cut me off as a wyvern approached us. Abraxos immediately flew up in greeting.

"Lysandra? What the hell are you doing here?" Lorcan's shout rang out before he softened as he saw the lady on her back, "Elide."