𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐬

Ch 49: The Final Stance

"beginning the chant that would open the portal to the land of the valg."

Aelin POV

I knew my body was standing eerily still, my hand resting on the rim of the cauldron, but truly I was falling through a neverending tunnel that would suck everything out of me to create the portal. My back connected with the hard concrete ground unexpectedly and a gasp left my mouth as all the breathe was pushed out of me on impact. I willed my hands to move as I lifted my upper body supported by my arms as I look around to where I had landed.

It was something like where the wyrdstone had taken Dorian and I, utterly and hopelessly black. There was nothing in the space beside me and the ground, no light that appeared or no one that would guide me, "you know this is foolish of you, right?" someone asked, amusement dancing in their voice. I turned around the face them faster than I thought possible. A woman stood there and my eyes nearly bulged out of my forehead at the face she was wearing. Mother.

My breath hitched as my eyes took her in, the same gown she wore on my last birthday I spent with her, "Mom" I whispered, my voice breaking as tears began to well in my eyes. "What you're doing girl, it will take everything of you." she said, not looking even the least bit caring. The voice- her voice was different. "Who are you?" I asked, a tear making its way down my face. "The cauldron" she answered like it was a simple answer, as if that one word solved all the mysteries.

"What you're doing. It will destroy me, free me of this prison at last, but it won't spare you. You're ripping worlds apart, and the keys being gone will not help you." she said, her face twisting into a smile as if ripping a tear into the fabric of the now sewn back together universe was the best thing she had heard all day. "I know." I answered, building up the courage to say that without imagining Rowan's broken eyes. Her smile turned utterly vicious as she circled me as if I was a caged animal. "Perfect." she said, as she assessed me one last time before outstretching her right hand towards me, gesturing for me to take it.

The second my fingers brushed against her, something burst out of her chest directly into mine sending me flying into the abyss, my back not hitting the ground but falling back into nothing, again.

The next thing I knew I was back, standing right where I had been before going into the cauldron. It stood there still, utterly silent like it hadn't been talking to me just a moment ago. I looked down at my hand that was resting on the rim, feeling like something was different. I looked down to see it black, like the place I had just left. "Place it on her." the cauldron's voice said in my head as I stared at it. I nodded my head in understanding as I turned back to Maeve and my people who were battling it out, rhysand attacking her with darkness, again and again, making little difference if Maeve's feral grin had anything to say about it. I pushed aside a panting Dorian who was on the ground looking utterly defeated, as I made my way to the front, hiding my blackened hand.

"You really thought that pathetic who calls himself a king was enough to defeat me? I'm offended dear niece." she said, the smile never leaving her face as she stood, completely relaxed protected from Rhysand's magic through a shield of her own. "Only the fire of the true nameless shall defeat me, it was prophecized long ago Aelin." she said, and then hunched forward near my ear and whispered the six words that held no weight anymore, "and I know your little secret."

Everything had stopped around me as Rhysand stopped attacking Maeve, expecting me to burn her alive. They all looked at me expectantly but I kept staring into Maeve's cruel ones. The tears that had welled in my eyes began flowing freely down my face as I continued gazing at her, a chuckle breaking out of her at my tears. I closed my eyes, visioning that future once more- Orynth full of theatres and libraries as the people milled about happy and with smiled on their faces. Our children running around trying to get away from the food as Rowan chased them trying to get them to eat it, all three of them laughing with undiluted joy.

Opening my eyes, "no I didn't" I said, not making the effort to increase my volume. Looking into Maeve's eyes, I could see doubt flood into them as her smile faltered, "what?" she asked, not expecting what came out of my mouth. I turned my head back over my shoulder, taking a long look at the people who saved me, "thank you." I said, smiling through my tear-stricken face. "Tell him I love him. Please." I said, my voice breaking in the end as I turned back towards the queen of the fae. "No, I didn't" I said again, a little louder as I pounced on her before she reacts pushing my hand into her chest.

A gasp escaped her as her eyes went wide on contact, her mouth opening in a silent scream. She fell to her knees, taking me with her. I could feel it in me, gathering in me and taking my energy as the tears continued flowing. "To whatever end." I said, as I felt the darkness burst out of me, encasing us as her screams of resistance and outrage echoed in my ears, before everything went black, as I felt my last breath leave my body.