Rhysand
If my body weren't still thrumming with anger at the audacity of the males before me - not just Lorcan, though he was the worst offender, having not only attempted to threaten my mate with a blade to her perfect throat, but had planned to fucking kidnap her to lure out Rowan - I might have been entertained by the way they were completely losing their shit at Rowan's revelation.
Lorcan was frozen, his unblinking eyes trained on Rowan in pure disbelief. Fenrys, on the other hand, was a stuttering mess, the cacophony of vowels pouring out of his mouth not making a lick of sense. But it was Gavriel, I think, who's reaction was my favorite. He stood there, looking like a gaping fish as his mouth opened and closed, not even a whisper escaping.
It was all wildly entertaining.
But as it was, I was barely holding on to my rapidly fraying self-control, which was a hair's breadth away from snapping and resulting in three very dead fae males.
The only reason I was even remotely holding it together was because Aelin was once more completely surrounded by the four of us - exactly where she should always be - safe and secure. That and I knew all too well that she could have ended them any moment she pleased.
Still, I was itching to show these so-called warriors what a real male could do.
For the first time, I was thankful we didn't have access to our powers, because I don't think I could have stopped my magic from misting the three of them the instant Lorcan had alluded to using Aelin as bait. As gratifying as that would have been, I think my goddess would have been somewhat displeased with me - something that was utterly unacceptable.
There had to be some reason she still wanted the bastards alive, even if I didn't understand it. No matter what, I'd always respect my mate's wishes.
Unless her safety was at risk.
Then all bets were off.
Fenrys finally regained his wits enough to choke out, "I'm sorry, what the fuck did you just say?"
I wondered what part he was struggling with, the revelation that Aelin was not only Rowan's mate, but all of ours, or the fact that we didn't hail from Erilea.
"I'm not sure what exactly was unclear," I drawled, enjoying their wide-eyed looks of disbelief as I baited them far too much.
Honestly, I thought Rowan had cut to the chase quite nicely, even if he had done so in a rather dramatic fashion. I bet the bastard was smug as hell to have finally gotten to drop a bombshell without Aelin stealing his thunder.
He really was quite the gossip.
"Ignoring that batshit claim that they're from another fucking world for now, are you trying to say that all four of you are mated to Aelin?" Fenrys asked incredulously.
I narrowed my eyes at the male, not missing the glint of jealousy and desperate desire in his onyx-colored eyes. I wouldn't forget what I saw in the orb. I wasn't a fool, I knew what he wanted. Too bad for him that he'd never get it.
Still, it never hurt to remind the inferior male where he stood.
I tugged Aelin securely into my side, ignoring her snort of amusement at my possessive action, wholly focused on the younger male in front of me.
"Yes," I nearly growled, "She's ours."
Not yours. Never yours.
Ours.
Mine.
I watched as his eyes flared in response to my claiming words, a blatant challenge that all but declared; Just try to take her from me. I dare you.
"That shouldn't be possible," Gavriel breathed out, shaking his head as though torn between amazement and disbelief as he completely ignored the silent challenge his younger companion was being provoked into.
I wasn't sure if it was ignorance or avoidance, but the older male was the only one not overtly addressing what exactly his fellow warriors wanted from my mate.
"It's not. I don't believe that horseshit for one second. You're all either delusional or pathetically gullible," Lorcan sneered at us, causing me to rip my stare from the younger male in front of me and focus on the greater threat.
Which Lorcan had unknowingly revealed himself as.
I'd known he was panting after Aelin, but he'd just revealed just how desperate he was - and he'd clearly already reached a dangerous level. We weren't the delusional ones here; he was if he thought for a second that we'd believe his obvious slander and leave Aelin accessible to him.
Especially considering that's exactly what he wanted.
Tension coiled in my limbs as rage climbed a fiery path up my spine. The male was practically fucking begging for us to rip him to shreds.
Before any of us could respond, Aelin scoffed lightly, entirely unimpressed by his pathetic machinations, "Well it doesn't really matter what you think, now does it? Considering last I checked, you're not one of my mates."
The male's eyes narrowed on my mate, but even the façade of anger couldn't disguise the yearning infatuation. It was too much, and I couldn't contain the growl that ripped free. I didn't like his attention focused on her, didn't want his eyes on her at all, in fact.
He wasn't worthy of it, didn't deserve to even look at her, let alone attempt to taunt us into deserting her.
Azriel seemed to be thinking the same thing, considering how he stepped forward, slightly obscuring the other male's view of Aelin.
His lips parted in a snarl as he sneered, "I wasn't aware we asked for your opinion of our mate and our mating bond."
Lorcan's eyes flashed at Azriel's not-so-subtle claiming, and a snarl escaped me in response. Aelin was ours, and these other males needed to get that through their thick skulls.
I'd flay their skin from their backs before they touched a single hair on her perfect head.
Gavriel cleared his throat purposefully, attempting but not succeeding to pull our attention away from Lorcan - who didn't even realize that he was inching closer and closer to death and dismemberment with every idiotic statement he made. If I had my way, he'd already be nothing but bloody ribbons.
I needed to keep reminding myself that Rowan was the one who deserved to decide and deliver his fate.
"Can we focus on your claim that they are from another world? How could that even be possible?" Gavriel asked. His attention was focused on Rowan and was the only one of the three who wasn't stealing glances at our female.
Reinforcing that he was the only one of the three who might deserve to live. Although, he did allow his companions to blatantly threaten and disrespect my mate, so then again, maybe not.
Despite how he was clearly asking his old brother-in-arms, it was Aelin who responded.
"Honestly, did none of you listen to a word I said to Maeve?" She chided, exasperation and irritation lining every word. "The Valg are not of this world, and your precious queen was one of them, who arrived here centuries before the Valg kings. Even you three can't be dense enough to not realize that there are worlds beyond our own."
Gavriel blinked at her before looking away, clearly chastened by being told off by the small female centuries younger than himself.
She really was magnificent.
"How did you discover this?" Fenrys asked, eyes bright as he watched my mate with far too much fascination.
It was an effort not to growl at him again.
"Fell through a portal," Aelin shrugged, nonchalant as ever.
She didn't even twitch at the males' sharp exhales, and wide, blinking eyes that honed onto her in response to her direct, yet impressively vague, statement.
Brushing an adoring kiss on the top of her golden hair, I added, just to make them sweat, "Plunged headlong into our river, it was quite the entrance."
A low growl from behind me, and I turn to see Rowan narrowing his eyes at Aelin from behind me.
"You never told me you nearly drowned," he accused tersely.
Irreverent as always, Aelin batted away his concern with a lazy wave of her hand. "It wasn't important. I'm fine, aren't I?"
Rowan looked like he wanted to argue, but before he could, Gavriel asked hesitantly, "This was during Aelin's tenure at Mistward?"
At Rowan's nod of confirmation, the male flickered his eyes between the rest of us, confusion furrowing his brow.
"You obviously followed her," he mumbled under his breath. Louder, he asked, "Why did none of you return to Wendlyn with her?"
My jaw clenched, and I immediately shot a glare his way. It seemed I really had been too hasty in thinking he didn't need to die.
None of us like to be reminded of the hellish period when we'd been separated from our mate.
Let alone have it brought up around two other males who were much too intrigued by the admittedly beguiling creature.
"Not important," Rowan ground out, the anger clear in his voice. "We're here now, and we'll always come for our mate, no matter what stands in our way."
I couldn't agree more. They didn't need to know what exactly stood in our way previously, or that part of it had been due to our transcendent mate herself.
Gavriel nodded easily in response, wisely deciding not to comment further.
Lorcan, unsurprisingly, was not as wise.
"Not important?" He demanded. "Letting her face Maeve alone should have been the mistake of her short, pathetic mortal life."
The insinuation in those words alone was enough to half blind me with feral wrath. The twisted protectiveness underlining them had me ready to snap, to end his infantile little tirade for good.
But Aelin just barked out a sharp laugh. "I think I did just fine on my own."
The glint of appreciation in the towering male's eyes told me that she had done far better than just fine. And I didn't like it. I didn't like it one bit.
As if he were finally sensing the dangerous path Lorcan was treading, Gavriel spoke up quickly. "So, what now?"
"Now?" Aelin hummed, "Now, we go about our business, and you stop stalking me through dark alleyways, lest you want to be gutted in one."
"That's it?" Fenrys asked, seemingly astonished that we wouldn't be providing more in the way of answers. "Not even an inkling of a suggestion from our so-called Prince?"
Had it been anyone else, I might have felt for the male who was so clearly at a loss with the absence of any meaningful direction.
Particularly when Rowan shrugged. "I washed my hands of you all alongside the blood oath. Your business is your own."
As it was, I felt nothing but cruel satisfaction.
Fenrys blinked, shock and fascination melting away to blindingly hot outrage in an instant as he snarled, "You prick-"
Gavriel cut in, "If we could bargain?"
There was something that looked suspiciously like pain - and regret - in Gavriel's eyes. From what Rowan had told us, Gavriel, of all of them, had been the closest to a true friend to him.
I wondered how that would change when he found out about the son, we were actively concealing from him. Assuming Aedion ever decided if he would like the chance to meet his father.
Rowan shared a long look with Aelin, making me long for my daemati powers, so that I could slip into my goddess's mind once more. Even reunited with her, it still felt like, without that link, that ability, an integral part of myself was missing.
Turning back to the gathered fae, he said, "And what exactly do you have to bargain with? You can't exactly offer me an army considering you no longer serve your – or any - Queen."
Gavriel and Lorcan exchanged a loaded glance as Fenrys let out a harsh laugh. "Mother's tits, Rowan. Even if we could, what would you need an army for?"
I had the good sense to hide my amusement, even as my mind spun with everything that we could use an army for. After hearing what Aelin planned, an army would make things much easier, even with all our combined power - assuming we could free magic and actually access that power.
I cursed myself internally, thinking back to the legions of Illyrians who were already prepped and gathered for battle. I'd been so frenzied in my primal need to return to Aelin, I hadn't thought through what I could provide to aid her. Or even how to communicate with my court in Prythian.
"I suppose I could make do with the three of you. It would be better than nothing," Rowan said, breaking me free of my thoughts.
Fenrys burst out in full belly laughter. "What - work for your queen? Fight in your imaginary battles?"
If only they were imaginary. No, they were far too real. Very real and very much breathing down our necks. Or I suppose a better analogy would be they were a noose that was slowly tightening around one of our necks – Aelin's.
"Isn't that what you want, Fenrys?" Rowan fixed the younger male with a warning stare. "To serve my queen? You've been salivating over her for weeks from what I can tell."
All amusement faded from Fenrys's face, even as his cheeks tinged red, and he shot a glance at Aelin from the corner of his eye. "You're a bastard, Rowan."
Rowan bared his teeth in a twisted mockery of a smile. "I know. You've never shied away from a fight, Fenrys, are you going to start now?"
Fenrys's answering glare was acidic enough to burn. Tension coiled in my limbs, readying me for the brawl that was seconds away from breaking out.
Next to me, Aelin rolled her eyes. "Really - you fae males and your dramatics. I think I'm rather bored of it all." She turned to walk away, carelessly showing them her back because she knew we'd never let anything harm her. Not even looking over her shoulder, she called out sarcastically, "If we find we're interested in whatever bargain you could offer, we'll be in touch. I'm assuming you'll be sticking around for the time being?"
Without waiting for their response, she stalked off into the darkness, Azriel and Cassian following closely behind. I watched until she'd completely disappeared into the shadows, Leaving Rowan and I alone with the other males. I allowed a smile to flit across my lips as I realized the gift she'd just given us.
Turning back, I watched as Lorcan opened his mouth into a sneer once more, his eyes still fixed to where Aelin had disappeared into the darkness. "Aren't you going to chase after your little -"
He couldn't even finish whatever insulting sentence he was about to say because Rowan's fist plowed into his face, hard enough that he slammed against the brick wall of the alley and was nearly knocked unconscious. Shit, he was not pulling his punches.
Grabbing at Lorcan's collar to forcefully drag him upright, Rowan snarled in his face, "You're lucky I don't fucking gut you here and now."
I shot a glare at the other two males, but they had already backed up - clearing not intending to interfere on their comrade's behalf.
Pitiful. They were all utterly pitiful.
For the first time all evening, Lorcan looked truly apprehensive, as if he just now realized precisely how furious Rowan was. Rowan had told me that he considered Lorcan his only equal, but from the shadow of true fear in the demi-fae's eyes, I had to wonder if he was only now contemplating if there was a side of his silver-haired comrade that he hadn't yet encountered, and if a fight between them would really be equal at all.
Based on the aggression pouring off Rowan – nearly enough to make me uneasy - and the way his limbs practically vibrated with rage, I was going to say it wouldn't be. Not at all.
Lorcan stilled in Rowan's grasp, sweat appearing on his brow as my brother spat at him. "You make a move against my queen, and you die. You speak to my queen with anything but the highest respect, and you die. You dare to touch my queen?" His dark chuckle was something nightmares were made of. "And you'll be begging for the mercy of death for fucking eons before I even contemplate granting it to you. Understand?"
Lorcan didn't move, paralyzed with utter shock and fear. But Rowan had spiraled deep into a frozen, murderous calm, and he was not going to be dissuaded.
"Understand?" he hissed, jostling the male enough that he finally blinked back into reality. Still, he said nothing, only nodding his acceptance. Rowan chuckled. "Good. For the record, the only reason you're not already bleeding out on these cobblestones is out of respect for the bond we used to share."
I watched with dark pleasure as Rowan tossed him back onto the ground, snarling, "Now stay the fuck away from my mate."
Without another word, he turned on his heel, stalking off into the darkness where Aelin had disappeared.
I paused for a moment, fixing Fenrys with my most lethal look. The younger male swallowed when faced the full force of my glare, and my primal beast crowed with smug satisfaction.
"In case that was in any way unclear, that goes for all of you." I smiled, my sharp canines glinting in the moonlight. "Except whatever vile torment, whatever excruciating suffering you know that he could inflict on you in defense of his mate, know that mine would be so much worse. And I'd fucking relish in it."
I held Fenrys's gaze until he looked away, visibly shaken, and caught Lorcan's fearful eyes. It was only once the raw candor of my threat had fully sunken in, their faces bone-white and shining with sweat, that I sent them a final, predatory smirk before turning and sauntering out of the alley.
Turning my back on them with no one there to guard it was the ultimate insult.
One that demonstrated how lowly I regarded them. One that conveyed my utter disdain for all they were, all they stood for. One that told them there was no world in which I regarded them as anything close to an equal, never mind a threat.
One I hoped they remembered.
For their own sake.