Unknown Heir (ACOTAR)

FOURTEEN

I stared at the throne in the middle of the room. A throne that belonged to the king of Hybern. I took a deep breath and sent a black wave of power crashing down on it, blowing it up into a million tiny pieces of stone. The shards flew past my face, never touching me. The room was filled with a thick layer of black smoke but I felt his presence the second he stepped into the hall. "What do you want?" I asked sharply. The smoke around us dispersed as I turned to face him. He looked at the throne in awe.

"I came looking for you," Azriel replied. I glared at him.

"I told you I would come back," I said, crossing my arms. "I am not done with what I needed to do and you are interrupting." The sides of his lips turned slightly.

"I won't bother you," he replied casually. I intensified my glare.

"You will not like what you see. I warn you." He shrugged. I scoffed before walking past him. "Then follow me, unless you want to die right where you stand." I heard his footsteps follow me. I exited the throne room and the castle before flying up into the sky. After being a good distance away from the castle, I turned to face it. Azriel came to fly next to me. I took a deep breath before channeling the energy in me and connecting it to the balls of energy I had placed under the castle in multiple places. I closed my eyes and focused. Focused until I saw every ball of energy in every room. I felt a glow on my hands. I took one last deep breath and opened my eyes before clenching my fists, causing the balls of energy to explode, bringing the mighty stone castle in front of me to the ground in rubble.

A power surge flew at us. It did not touch me but I felt Azriel struggle. I instantly put a barrier around him to protect him from being blown away by the surge. I let out a deep sigh and let my hands loosen and fall to my sides. I stared at the rubble. A smirk grew on my lips as I realized that the memories I had used to fill the balls of energy would not bother me much anymore. But I wasn't quite done yet. I pointed my open palm to the rubble and melted the stone into sand before creating a wind to take away the leftover sand, wiping the island clean. A clean slate.

I shot a black sphere of energy at the island, creating a barrier around the island so no one would enter other than those I allowed. What I would do with it now would come later.

I took a deep breath and looked at Azriel. He had a stern expression on his face. "I warned you," I said, crossing my arms and facing him.

"You literally just leveled an entire castle, how am I not supposed to be concerned?" Azriel asked, copying my movements. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not going to go around levelling cities, shadowsinger," I snapped at him. He said nothing and his expression was unreadable. The same silhouette I had met not long ago. "Unless that's what you all expect. I know Mor would love to see me do that," I snapped again. He flinched ever so slightly.

"You're just giving her more reason to think you will by doing things like this," he said motioning to the empty island below us. I looked at it and smiled. I looked at the shadowsinger's hazel eyes again.

"Then maybe I should," I said. Azriel straightened at my words. I scoffed. "I see how it is. You don't trust me either. Good to know," I said through gritted teeth before flying up, away from him. He came after me but I passed his limit and saw him clutch his chest before lowering again. I looked at him one more time before disappearing above the clouds, out of his sight.

~~~~~

Azriel stormed into the House of Wind as we were eating dinner. He looked at Mor with an angry expression before turning to Rhys. "We need to talk," he said, his voice sounding a little distraught. Rhys stood up and walked out of the room behind Azriel.

"What do you think happened?" Mor immediately asked. "Do you think she did something?"

"We know she did something. Something big," Amren snapped, raising an eyebrow at Mor.

"Yes I know, the power surge. But like, did she do something to him."

"I don't know. I don't think she would quickly hurt him because he is after all her mate," I said, taking another bite of the food on my plate.

"He didn't look too happy to see you," Amren tossed into the group. Mor sighed.

"I mean I don't blame him. I haven't been the easiest for him. And her," she admitted. I looked at her and smiled.

"We understand what you feel but I'm glad you understand our concern," I said, putting a hand on her wrist. She gave me a small smile.

A moment later Rhys entered the room again with Azriel in tow. Azriel, however, didn't follow all the way to the table and instead walked to the balcony and took off again. Rhys sat down with us again. "What happened?" Mor asked. Rhys took a bite of food before replying.

"She leveled Hybern." We all looked at him with wide eyes. He sent images to our minds of the castle being blasted to bits and then disappearing into the wind as sand. Mor's face paled a little.

"She did that?" she asked sternly. Rhys nodded.

"Do we know where she is now?" I asked. My mate shook his head.

"They had an argument afterwards and she flew up beyond our limit to get away from Azriel. And then she disappeared behind the clouds." Rhys explained. He continued eating the food on his plate as if the information did not bother him. Mor seemed to fume.

"An argument? About what? Her levelling Hybern and creating an empty island?" There was slight confusion in Mor's voice, as if she wasn't sure what to expect.

"About her strength. Apparently she seemed to think that Azriel thought she was going to go around levelling cities and when she said she should because it's what we expect he said that he reacted ever so slightly with his body but it was enough to make Nalé think that he didn't trust her. She then flew off before he could get another word in." We were rendered silent for a moment.

"Is Az looking for her?" Rhys nodded.

"But he's not sure where he should start looking so he might be gone for a while," Rhys added.

~~~~~

I flew above the clouds above Prythian. There was someone I knew had what I needed and I knew he would not just hand it over. I lowered myself to see the land and saw the beauty of what was the Summer Court beneath me. I smiled to myself and dove towards the palace. I silently passed through his warning wards surrounding the palace and landed on the balcony of the major meeting room overlooking the green hills and eventually the ocean waters. I smiled.

I sensed two guards coming my way and turned to face the men. They raised their swords at me. "Who are you? How did you get in?" They asked. I smiled and within a heartbeat they fell to the floor, unconscious. I walked over their sleeping bodies and started down the halls of the great palace. I continued walking until I got to the jewel room. One of the guards immediately pressed the alarm button and sirens started going off around me. I smirked. "I don't think that was smart," I said before they too fell to the floor unconscious.

"Stop!" I head Tarquin yell from behind me. I smirked and turned around.

"Hello Tarquin. Long time no see," I said, smiling widely at him.