A Court Of Fire And Pain

Confusion

Chapter 20 Aelin:

"Erawan."

How was he alive, and here of all places? Yrene had killed him! Right? But that didn't matter now. If he spotted us, we were dead.

"Feyre, contact your mate. We need to leave now." I whispered.

She nodded mutely. I waited in silence as she talked to Rhys through their bond. She nodded again, and we started to shimmer down the side of the house we were on. She made a noise and we both froze in fear, but nothing happened so we continued on our way.

Finally we reached the meeting place, where Lysandra's and Dorian's groups waited.

"Why the sudden hurry to return? We were patrolling the area when De-Amren told us we had to regroup."

"I'll explain later, when everyone is here." I looked calm, but was panicking on the inside. We had barely managed to beat him last time, and now he had our children hostage.

I shifted from foot to foot as we waited for the others. Lysandra noticed this and gave me a worried look, so I stilled.

After what seemed like forever, the remaining groups arrived. I quickly cut my finger and created a portal. Just as I was about to step through, I sensed someone close by. But by that time I already fell into night court. Only once we were safe did I finally explain.

"We managed to find the base, and it supported our guess that the leader of the city is the mysterious 'uncle'. And we saw him," I took a deep breath. Rowan was Giving me a concerned look but I ignored him. "Erawan. We saw Erawan."

The entire room was filled with silence as everyone turned pale in horror.

"H-How can that be possible? W-we killed him right?" Elide sank into Lorcan arms.

Dorian shook his head. "We did kill him. I was there! I was part of the group that did it! So how..."

"I don't know. But that's what I saw."

"That's not all," Feyre claimed everyone's attention. "Aelin might think that was Erawan from her world, but... we know him as Hybern."

Feyre's court paled even more. "But Nesta And Elain killed him!l Rhys started to pace, "That's why you sounded so afraid. How could he be alive?"

I held up my hands. "Wait. Your saying that Erawan was the man who you fought in your war here? That should be impossible. Deanna said our wars were going on at the same time, so he would have had to be in two places at once."

Feyre held her head in her hands. "I don't know, I'm just saying what I saw."

Amren spoke up. "No, Aelin's right. Erawan can't be Hybern. Even he couldn't have fought two wars at once, and Erawan didn't have the power to go between worlds without all 3 Wyrdkeys."

I sank down onto a chair. "Then how? This is bad. We know that for sure. This is very very bad, whoever he is, he is powerful, and he has our children.

Rowan paled even further at the thought of our precious children in the clutches of a Valg. We both knew firsthand what they delighted in.

Mor raised her hand. "So you're saying that Ianthe's uncle is Erawan/Hybern? Doesn't that mean she's one of those demon things you were talking about?"

I was about to respond, but Dorian cut in. "It depends on a couple things. If she was born from someone who was possessed by Valg and a human or fae, she would probably be human, but if the other person had Valg blood then it might be a different story."

I knew he was talking about himself, and the things Manon told him about the witches x Valg babies.

"Either way, it depends on how she was raised. Even if she isn't Valg, she still could have been made evil." This time it was Manon talking, and I knew it was about herself? "But people change."

Feyre shook her head. Ianthe he had centuries to do good. Instead she lied, manipulated, and forced people. She had her time for redemption long ago, and she wasted it. I mean, working with Hybern/Erawan? Nothing good can come out of that."

Manon looked like she had been punched in the gut. I knew Feyre was talking about Ianthe, but what she said hit a little too close to home for Manon. After all, she had murdered thousands of innocents for fun for centuries, and worked for Erawan as well. Obviously Feyre didn't know this, but still.

"One act can change all that," I replied, then quickly changed the subject. "We still haven't figured out how Erawan could be Hybern, and how they are still alive. Let's stop thinking about Ianthe, and worry about this instead."

"Fine."

Feyre:

This was a lot to process. Not only was Hybern alive, he was also a demon king named Erawan who fought against Aelin in her war. We all sat in silence as we tried to figure out what the hell was going on. How could Hybern fight in 2 wars at once?

After a couple hours of thinking we realized we were getting nowhere. So we decided to take a break.

"I know you guys are busy, but I wondered if you would like some of the bread I made?" Elain stuck her head around the door. "It's fresh and hot, so I thought it would do you guys some good to relax."

"I walked over to her. "Good idea. We should probably eat anyway, it's nearly dinner."

All the others stretched and made their way to the dining room, where Elain had prepared a small feast.

"This looks a lot more than some bread Elain," I glanced at her in time to catch her blushing.

"Okay, I lied. I made you all dinner. But you guys need it!"

Aelin was already piling her plate high with food. "Thanks Elain," She said through a mouth stuffed with mashed potatoes.

"No problem!"

About halfway through the evening Aelin bolted upright and choked on a piece of chicken. Rowan helped her, and when she could finally breathe again, the wild panic didn't leave her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I think I figured it out."

The shopkeeper (from the clothes store):

I was headed home when I heard a noise near the king's estate. I hoped there weren't any would be thieves around. His majesty didn't take well to threats.

I rounded a corner to see them. I immediately shrunk back into the shadows so they didn't notice I was there. What the hell were they thinking. Did they have a death wish?

I was sure it was them. I still had no idea why they were here, but it might be because of the 'special quests' the king had taken.

They began to creep away, and I followed at a distance. They came to a stop at an abandoned plaza, where a couple of the others were waiting. After some time everyone was there.

My high lord and his court, my cadre, and then I saw him.

He looked perfectly fine, worried like they all were, but fine.

I could die now for all I cared. He was okay and that was all I needed to know. But I could still help them. I couldn't tell them now, they wouldn't believe me. I would have to get solid proof. 

Then maybe they would forgive me

Okay, I don't know what the king if Hybern actually looked like. So let's pretend he looked exactly like Erawan okay. If I'm wrong then deal with it. 

Hope you enjoyed! 😊