The Light Before The Dark

Chapter 13 - Aelin

As soon as Feyre crumpled to the floor I knew Maeve had gotten her.

"Feyre!" Rhys was shaking her gently.

"Maeve has her." I half whispered.

"What, how can I get her back?" He looked completely terrified.

"Maeve will be spinning a false reality into her head, you can go into that reality with her and try and make her see reason but if that doesn't work then I need to burn her, that's what got Rowan Fenrys and Lorcan out of her illusions in the war." I hated myself for even suggesting that I hurt her.

"I'll try." He leant back against the arm of the sofa and closed his eyes.

We all sat there waiting for what felt like hours before Rhys opened his eyes again.

"She's back to being human, Maeve is showing her what her life would have been like if her mother had lived." He said, that made me think of a whole load of questions, but I pushed them down.

"I'm sorry Rhys, I really don't want to do this." A flame sprang up in my palm.

"I can heal people, as soon as she wakes, I will heal her burns." Mor told me and I nodded, clasping a burning hot hand over Feyre's forearm, right over her beautiful tattoo.

Her body didn't react at first but then she arched her back slightly and her eyes flickered open for a second. She shook her head a couple of times before opening her eyes again. I took my hand off her arm.

She held herself up for a second before collapsing against Rhys's chest. She held her arm up to look at the burns, I inwardly flinched as her eyes widened. Mor gently took her arm and after a couple of seconds her arm was back to how it was before, tattoo and all, I made a mental note to ask her about that later.

When I snapped back into reality Feyre was asking if that was Maeve.

"Yes" I told her.

"But it felt like Rhys, a talon, not a worm." She almost whispered.

"I think she did that so you would let her in, from the sounds of it your mind is extremely well guarded, she couldn't get in unless you let her." I told her.

"We all need to build shields like the one you have Feyre, and we need to do it soon." Rowan spoke this time.

"I'll start you on it tonight, it is something that needs to be constantly worked on, I'll keep trying to get through at random points through the day" Rhys told us.

He gave us instructions on what to do, essentially just imagine a shield forming around our minds and make them out of something that feels right to us.

I began building my shield of flame, knowing the Maeve wouldn't like it but it also just felt like the only thing I could choose.

When we were sat at breakfast the next day. I asked my friends what their shields were made of.

Rowan's is ice.

Lysandra's is trees all woven together.

Aedion's is gold.

Elide's is black fogged glass.

Lorcan's is iron.

Fenrys's is moon white stone.

Manon's is black scales.

Dorian's is grey stone.

I thought they were all cool, when I asked Elide where she got hers from, she refused to tell me, but she must have a good reason.

"Morning!" Feyre walked in with a smile on her face.

"You seem perky." I commented.

"I'm taking you around the city today while Amren does her research." she said, her smile growing.