Two Worlds

Chapter 12 - Aelin

Of course it had to be Valg. Aelin sighed, shoving a pastry in her mouth. She looked around at her group and grimaced. She couldn't deal with this right now, not when she had just gotten out of a war with Erawan. Dealing with his brother—who was probably out for blood after Erawan's death—wouldn't be any easier.

"So," she said, breaking the silence that plagued the room, "what's our plan?"

Rhys sighed. "Maybe we should spend the day scouting." Aelin raised a brow. "If we are going to fight off these Valg, we need to know where they're hiding."

Elide looked as if she were about to say something, but hesitated. "What?" Aelin asked.

"Erawan was hiding in Morath last time," Elide replied. "If Orcus—or Mantyx—is anything like his brother, we might want to look for places similar to Morath."

"What's Morath?" Mor asked.

"Mountains, essentially. Do you have any places where that would be?"

Feyre sighed. "Too many to count. I think scouting is our best option—we look for any sign of the Valg and go off of that."

Aedion nodded. "You said this is the Night Court?" A nod from Feyre. "And we just came from the Spring Court." Another nod. "Is there a Winter Court, maybe?"

"Yes," Rhys said. "Why?"

Aedion shrugged. "When we were fighting the Valg, they seemed to like the cold."

"I'm assuming people in the Winter Court can control either ice or snow?" Lysandra asked.

"Ice, yes," Cassian said.

"Is there a Court that can control fire?"

Mor grimaced. "The Autumn Court," she said.

"How hard would it be to win an alliance with them?" Fenrys asked.

"Difficult," Azriel answered. "Beron is not easy to become allies with. It will take a lot to convince him of the peril Prythian is in."

"But in the meantime, we could try to convince the other High Lords to help," Cassian said. "We can also round up the Illyrian warriors."

Rhys nodded. "Feyre, Mor, Amren, and I can appeal to the High Lords."

"I can help," Elide said. Lorcan and Manon, having remained silent the whole time, pursed their lips but said nothing.

"Celaena, Fenrys, Azriel, Manon, Aedion, Lorcan, and Lysandra will scout for clues—any tips about where this Valg king could be hiding."

"I'll take care of the Illyrians," Cassian said. "I have a bone to pick with them, anyway."

"The girls still aren't training?" Rhys asked. Aelin bristled when Cassian shook his head.

"What?" she asked.

Cassian sighed. "The people who run the Illyrian camps are against the girls receiving proper training. There's always excuse after excuse with them—the chores are taking too long, nobody wanted to train, and so on."

Aelin growled. "I'm coming with you." When Cassian began shaking his head, she snarled, "If they think they can get away with leaving girls defenseless, especially now that a Valg is here, they've got another thing coming."

"But what about scouting? You've done that before," Lysandra cut in.

Aelin shrugged. "You'll do fine without me."

Cassian sighed. "Fine."

The fly to the mountains wasn't fun, to say the least. The bitter wind tore at Aelin's face and by the time they got to the Illyrian Mountains, she was shivering despite using her fire to keep warm.

Cassian landed and set Aelin down, and it took a moment for her to regain her footing.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" a voice drawled. Aelin turned to see another Illyrian warrior walking toward them. Cassian tensed.

"Devlon," he said as greeting.

The Illyrian ignored him and glanced at Aelin.

"Who is this?" Devlon asked. Aelin smirked.

"Celaena Sardothien, at your service."

Devlon only glared, then dismissed her and turned back to Cassian. Aelin snarled. Sure, they weren't in Erilea anymore, but she was still Celaena Sardothien, feared assassin—to them, at least. 

"She has no authorization to be here," he said.

"She has every right to be here," Cassian shot back. "She's here with the permission of the High Lord."

Devlon pursed his lips, but said no more on the subject. "Why are you here?"

"You need to prepare the Illyrian warriors," Cassian said.

"I will do no such thing."

"Yes, you will."

"No, I won't. There is no reason to."

"You will prepare—"

"Devlon, is it?" Aelin cut in, tired of the meaningless argument. The war lord turned his attention to her. "I've heard some interesting things about you."

Cassian shot her a look of warning, but she ignored it. "Like what?" Devlon asked.

Aelin shrugged. "Only that you're a self-serving pig who won't train girls and women."

The look on Devlon's face was priceless as he turned to face Cassian.

"Is that what this is?" he hissed. "The girls have received training—"

"You give them five minutes in the sparring ring a week and don't show them how to use the weapons. That is not training."

Aelin would have smirked had she not been appalled by the words and their meaning.

"What will you do if we don't change that?" Devlon challenged. "Will you run back to tell the High Lord?"

That spineless, arrogant little—

Cassian ignored the question and asked one of his own. "Why do you keep the women from training?"

"They have no use on the battlefield. Only in the kitchen."

Aelin couldn't keep the look of rage off of her face, even if she had tried. "I'll be the judge of that," she said with lethal calm.

Devlon looked her up and down, then sneered. "You probably couldn't even lift a sword, girl, much less fight an Illyrian warrior who has had centuries of training. We know what we're doing."

Mistake. It had been a mistake to come here without any weapons, save for her fire.

Cassian let out a dark laught. "I wouldn't bet on it."

Aelin only smirked. "I would like to strike a deal with you, Devlon."

"Oh?"

"Choose your best Illyrian warrior. I don't care who. If I can beat him—because I know for a fact that you would never choose a woman, no matter how strong she was—then you need to prepare your warriors. And start training women."

"And if you can't beat him?"

Aelin shrugged. "Then we'll leave you alone and never bother you again."

Devlon's serpentine grin only made her angrier as he said, "You've got a deal."