Kingdom of Stars and Fire

Chapter 38

Feyre

"Do you think they can hear us?" Cassian asked, eyeing the now very still Rhys, Aelin and three other High Lords. 

None of them said a word, and they all looked like they were dazed, and in a dream.

"If I walked over there and slapped Rhys, do you think he would notice?" Mor asked with a smile.

"I'll give you 20 gold marks to do it," Cassian told Mor. 

Mor smiled and cracked her knuckles.

"What is she showing them?" Helion asked quickly, before things escalated with Mor and Cassian.

"How she got those scars," Fenrys breathed, watching Aelin carefully. 

"Why did we let her do this? The four of us combined have centuries worth of memories of Maeve," Connall stated. 

"How is that possible?" Tarquin asked. 

"Lorcan, Connall, Fenrys, and I were all blood sworn to Maeve for decades, before, well, before Aelin showed up," Rowan answered. 

"What do you mean by blood sworn," Kallias asked, him eyeing the very still High Lords. 

"We were her slaves," Rowan stated smoothly. 

"That's one way to put it," Fenrys snorted.

"We were basically had to do what ever we were told. No questioned asked, for an eternity," Connall clarified.

"How did you become free then?" Kallias asked. 

"Aelin struck a deal with Maeve so I could be come free. Maeve severed the blood oath with Lorcan, as punishment for helping Aelin. Fenrys case.... is compliacted. And Connall became free once Maeve died, but didn't actually die," Rowan commented.  That was when Azriel's face went extremely pale. 

"What is it?" Amren asked, noticing Azriel's change in expression. He immediately stood up and stalked over to where Rhys was sitting in his chair.

"We have to get back to Velaris now," Azriel said, his voice was steady, but his eyes were covered with worry.

"Rhys. Can you hear us? We need to get back home now," Azriel ordered, trying to get his attention, standing in front of him. He looked really worried now. 

"What's wrong?" Cassian growled, the High Lord's attention was now turned to Azriel as he stood in front of Rhys. Rhys didn't even blink at the angry Azriel standing in front of him.

"RHYS!" Azriel yelled at his face. Rhys continued to stare at nothing. "Dammit you bastard. This is the worst possible time that you could be doing this."

"What is it!" Mor growled at Azriel. Azriel looked at their court in the eyes and said, "Velaris is under attack."

Feyre's heart dropped, and didn't bother trying to hide her shock. Her inner circle immediately got their feet, worry and anger coating their faces.

"What do you mean?" Mor growled.

"Maeve forces are there, like right now, there's an armada of soldiers attacking the city. I don't know how many, but we need to get back now," Azriel told them. 

He turned his attention back to the dazed Rhys, and slapped him across the face. At the sound of the slap, the other High Lords immediately got to their feet. Rhys didn't move, as Azriel slapped him hard again.

"Shit," Azriel murmured. "Fuck."

Feyre opened her mind to Rhys, just to see his mental shield was up. Feyre couldn't message him or snap him out of it.