Crescent flame of the night

Chapter thirteen

      Aelin had known that these people were trying to invade their minds since they started introducing themselves. She let them talk though. No point in killing them until she knew how they were doing it, or why they only scraped the surface and pulled away.
      The high lady tried to fein ignorance that anybody could see through. "I don't know what your talking abo-"
      "Oh cut the bullshit. We can all feel you people brushing up against our minds and pulling away. What I want to know is how you can do that little trick with the minds and why you went through all that effort without even following through. Then I'll decide if you're worth my time killing."
      Aelin drew her dagger and started picking at the dirt beneath her nails and gave everyone a smile straight from the pits of hell.
As aelin looked them over she noticed strange shadows starting to form behind feyre and Rhysand. They were shaped like bat wings but much larger. Not a second later the high lord of the night court—whatever that place was—nodded his head and the two parties collided.
      The three males and feyre all had gigantic bat wings springing from their backs and were in a fighting stance. Aelin was about to charge into battle with these people, when someone grabbed her firmly by the arm. "Aelin I can't let you fight these people. Not when your pregnant. Rowan would kill me if you were injured in any way. And I would let him because right now, you are my responsibility and I will not let you get killed"
      Aelin snarled at lorcan and tried to tug her arm free but the fae male held strong. "I can fend for myself and I'm not even two months with child yet so if you don't step away from me I will gut you." She knew that was a bit extreme but she wouldn't let her friends get injured whilst she sat back and watched.
Lorcan started her down, nothing relenting in his stone cold gaze. "It's too risky and you know that, so stop being a whiny princess and just sit back. It's hard enough to reproduce when you're fae. Plus the fact that you are a queen means this child is more important than most. I won't let you die just for the sake of being noble." She hated it when he called her princess. She was a queen and he knew it. She had been for five years. She had to restrain from revealing her fire powers as she felt embers growling in her gut.
"Just know that if any of our friends die in this fight I will blame you lorcan." The queen shook off his grip and trudged up the stairs so that she was out of fightings range. She knew that the lord of perranth had a good point but it didn't stop her from glaring at him from her position on the steps.
      She had to admit that Bryce and her friends knew how to play ball. And with those metal guns, they had an edge in this fight.
Aelin was starting to regret hiding her magic and staying in her fae form. Especially as the blond haired beauty that feyre introduced as mor appeared behind her out of a patch of darkness—like what fenrys could do—and held a knife to her throat. "I wouldn't move if I were you," the fae female breathed in her ear.
The next moment aelin was in a pocket of darkness, then standing on the other side of the room with Mor. "Everyone stop fighting or I'll sit her throat right here. Right now" the whole room went still as death as everyone looked to where the two females stood.
A low, vicious snarl came from Aedion as he locked eyes with the female standing behind his cousin. Aelin knew that if anyone even breather wrong in her direction he would kill them. And she knew that he would put aside his own life if it meant freeing her.
"Now that everyone has calmed down, can we at least try to be civil? You three know better than to just jump into a battle without even trying diplomacy!" From the tone of her voice Mor sounded pissed at her family for being reckless.
"You call this civil," Aelin breathed as the tip of the knife scratched her throat. "Holding a knife to a pregnant woman's throat to stop a battle." A breathless laughed escaped her lips and she recalled that this was exactly the things she did to Maeve when that bitch was whipping Rowan.
The night court people seemed taken aback by the statement she'd made about being pregnant. The fools probably didn't notice because they were too busy planning to fight their way out. Feyre stepped forward and sniffed the air. "We are very sorry. We didn't realise that you were pregnant. But you have to understand, we have no idea what this place is, who you people are, or why the hell we were brought here. Not to mention you threatened to kill us. That would put almost everyone on edge don't you think." The female didn't really sound sorry but aelin let it slide.
      "If I could intercede here, we need to leave now and get back to my place before Jessiba kills me. I'm not meant to have anyone down here. Last time I let someone in..." Bryce's voice trailed off as she cringed. "Let's just say a sadist tried to kill me and my friend. I was lucky. my friend, not so much." Aelin knew how the red head felt. And knew not to push for details when she saw the shadows clouding her eyes.
      "Agreed." Aelin tried to step away from Mor but the female held on tight. Even in her human form aelin could smell the aggression rolling off Aedion as he snarled at the blonde. She held up her hand to silence him as she adjusted her position to be able to talk without spilling her throat out. "Now if you would please let me go so I can get back to my husband that would be great" she tried to push aside the blade with her fingers but it still didn't budge. "I said to let me go" nothing but pure venom and authority filled her tone "because if you don't you will regret it"
"What? Are you gonna set your faerie warriors on us? You don't think we know how to fight against fae?" Feyres older sister nesta had a fiery temper and didn't seem to be scared of anything.
"No," the queen smirked "I will rip you to shreds myself and burn you from the inside out." Everyone started at her like she was crazy. Well everyone except her court who just looked shocked to find out her powers were back. "So I suggest letting me go now"
      "Not until you tell us what the fuck is going on here" the general held an arm protectively in front of nesta (who seemed just about ready to rip out throats) as he snarled his question to the group. Aelin sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes, gesturing for hunt to explain.
      The winged male stepped forward and explained their predicament. He told them how the two groups met and how they formed a truce, how aelin and her court were from a different world and then how they rushed to griffins antiquities when the alarm was set off. It probably wasn't hard for him to figure out that lunathion and erilea were different worlds. By the time the story was finished aelin was back by her family's sides, rubbing at the place the knife but into flesh.
The court of dreams—or so they called themselves—finally conceded to leaving with them, and with that the three groups left to Bryce Quinnlar's apartment.