The dagger in her hand was knocked flying when Rowan's shoulder slammed into her side, arms wrapping around her in a tackle, ducking his head low to avoid the blade.
The force of his body against her own had definitely broken a rib, but that pain didn't matter, not as she lay on the ground. Whitethorn using his full weight to pin her down, even as she twisted to be released in a flurry of movement so frenzied a nerve popped in his forehead.
The other males scattered into action as Rowan began to struggle against Brielle. She thrashed violently to buck from his grip. Fenrys too stunned to do anything but watch his mate, near rabid fight against one of her oldest friends. Eye wide with a ferocity he had only seen once before.
"What the fuck!" Fenrys yelled, over the sound of Brielle's struggle. Jerking her shoulder, Rowan slipped away from his secure position. Twisting from her waist, the muscles contracting in her torso, Brielle snapped up, pulling for a dagger at her back, She raced for who was closest now.
Trying to rein in her own body was like, pulling down a rampaging beast. Stopping a lightning bolt before it hit the ground. Damn near impossible to slow or stop, tears streaked down her cheek, and Gavriel ducked from her swing. They moved in tandem, toned bodies twisting fast and furious.
Every hit she flung his way, he deflected, but never once countered the movements. He would tire before her, the ancient magic spurring her blood on in a thrum so loud in her head it drowned out all other noise.
A stronger, set of arm wrapped around her waist, another trapping her arms behind her back, she kicked out. But Lorcan didn't relent, throwing her body across the way. Closer to Whitethorn. The force knocked the wind from her lungs when she landed on her already bruising ribs, Everything around her was a blur, a haze.
"Brielle!" Fenrys' voice did nothing other then snap her attention to him,
No
no
no
no
This couldn't happen, She couldn't let it. Not while she still breathed.
From the way, Rowan and Lorcan tagged teamed her movement, delaying the inevitable. She knew the bastard wouldn't keep to his promise. Knew he wouldn't end it. End her. She couldn't live with it if, not if she hurt them. Not him, Never him.
Lorcan, unlike the others seemed to have little issue with countering her shots, she felt the pain as his curled fist cracked against her jaw, even through the haze she heard the distinct male growl from the wolf. But that didn't deter them from trying to pin her down, drop her like some feral animal.
Her movements were their own, for they had trained those instincts into her, The movements were her. So attuned that they no longer belonged to the males, not as they now struggled to predict her action beforehand. With no way of preempting it, simple surviving each hit with their reflexes.
Brielle twisted to avoid Lorcan's grip, slinking behind him, she felt the magic constrict her, funnelling her onwards to where Fenrys began to approach. Panic flared her eyes wide, when she felt the blooming of her last magic reserve begin to rise inside, drawing it up for a finishing blow.
A scream mewled from her when she resisted the oath long enough to pull a blade from the leather strap of her thigh, it felt like every bone in her body was cracking under the pressure of the oath when she flicked the blade, not to the wolf but towards her own body,
The fear on Fenrys's face was palpable, and despite the sudden confusion he surged to her side.
She wanted to beg him to stay away, but couldn't find the resolve to utter those short few words, that could save his life. Not as every nerve in her was fighting to keep the blade pointed to her.
But he didn't stop,
"Bri don't" the undeniable terror in his voice, spiked panic in her, She needed to.
A sob broke through her, but he was still moving closer, pace quickening. She couldn't bring herself to drive it home, not as the oath was trying to wield her resolve. The muscles in her hands burned, like she held a metal prong that was pulled from a white flame.
With each step he took closer, her efforts grew harder, until she could hold out no longer, he was within a step distance of her now, hand outstretched to redirected the dagger. She wished she had drove that dagger into her heart sooner, perhaps it might have saved her sanity.
The ancient magic, poured everything into her body, making it easy work to launch herself at him. Fenrys grabbed for her when she collided with him, they went down together. The wolf reached for her hands, the knife still clasped between them, to halt its movement as she aimed it above his throat. The tip kissing the soft flesh there.
No!
The word was lost to the booming thrum in her ears.
Brielle's world went blank as a pain burst through the back of her skull, pulsing as her eyes fluttered shut and her body slumped to the pulls of gravity.
☽⋆❈⋆☾
Aelin met Fenrys' stare when Brielle collapses into his chest, she knew the Lioness would feel the pain of where Aelin had smashed the pommel of her sword into the side of her skull, but it was just lucky the immortal fae healing would prevent anything permanent.
"Someone tell me what the hell just happened?" it was a demand, to her court, Rowan moving to ease Brielle's limp unconscious body off the wolf.
"It was her command. Maeve sent her with a kill order of her own." Rowan's reply, voiding the gaze of Fenrys when the words left his lips,
"If we failed to kill Lorcan." Gavriel started, crouching down to observe the back of his sister's head, he looked up to meet the attention Fenrys now shot his way, The Wolf's expression was slowly turning to one of understanding as he took them in "She was to kill us, then him." Gavriel flicked a quick glance to Lorcan. Lorcan watched Gavriel inspect his sisters skull with a sleek precision, expression pinched.
"She would have been able to do that?" the voice of a women spoke, Aelin looked up, the women a few years older then her, with a metal mask covering half her face stepped closer. It was then Aelin could also take notice of Vera, one of Brielle's spies beside the other women. From stories, it dawned on her, Aelin knew who this masked women was.
The Phoenix, one of the seventeen members of the Pride.
"She would have nailed us all down with half a thought if she hadn't used her magic it rip apart the Ilken" Rowan muttered absently, a realisation and answer. A sickening realisation at that. One that rippled through the group in an unmoveable silence.
"You both knew about this?" Fenrys' voice was low, while he took in the sight of Brielle laying deathly still, beside the slow rise and fall of her chest, The silence from both males, was all the answer he needed.
Shaking his head, Aelin saw the pleading in his eyes when he looked to her,
"Will you pardon her from the order? Threaten her, I don't care what. Do that, and I'm yours to command." the utter conviction in his tone was bone rattling.
A wave of shock, flashed on the faces of the other Cadre members, despite still being blood sworn, Fenrys was willing to risk treason for his mate.
Who would Aelin be to refuse the promise of aid,
"I will do so once she wakes."
☽⋆❈⋆☾
The itch was what woke her,
The burning in her arm was back, and stronger then before, Brielle bolted upright, but she was no longer in the warm expanse of the marshes. Where was Fenrys and Gavriel? had she? The pit in her stomach turned bottomless all emotion plummeting downwards.
"They are both okay." Pain flashed in her head when she flicked her eyes to the female sitting at the foot of the bed. Aelin, sat both feet propped against the wooden frame, arms folded across her chest.
"Brielle. You shall not harm Gavriel or Fenrys. They are under my protection now. And I, Aelin of Houses Ashryver and Galathynius will personally see to it that if you harm them, it will be seen as an act of war and your life will be forfeit." the normality of her words was sudden and out of character for the situation.
Every pulsing beating nerve inside her eased, a tension dissipating, that so persistent ache dulling like the last lights of dusk. She finally breathed.
"My networks are yours, Brielle is sworn to Maeve, but the Lioness is not. Whatever you need to know. It's yours."
Aelin curled her hands into fists, the flames in the room flickering in response her eyes settling on the door listening for any approaching bodies. They both waited for a beat of silence. Aelin dropped her legs, leaning closer.
Her voice little more then a whisper, a deadly calculations of words "I need to know where she is."
There was no need for the name to be spoken between them, not when both females knew of whom she spoke. The disheartening thing. Brielle already knew the answer.
"Maeve is half a day away. Should be here by late sunrise tomorrow."
Aelin drew in a slow breath, almost too slow. Brielle righted herself on the bed, knowledge is power. Sometimes however, it brought with it such pressures it was exhausting. The secrets that were birthed when she had to lie about the truths for the better part of seven decades.
Deaths, births, betrayals, alliances, hidden lovers, distasteful habits of Lords and those in power. All of it. It was priceless information that the Pride alone held. Such power, but never used.
"Anything else?"
The question was a depth in itself,
"Will you let me kill her when the time comes?" Brielle wasn't quite sure whether she had intended for it to come out as a question or a demand but Aelin spoke not a word, but the smile that twitched the corner of her mouth ease a burning inside Brielle.
"I can't guarantee, but she will die, by my sword or yours." Aelin met her stare, expression easing down to showcase that internal fire. "That I swear."
Brielle looked straight ahead of her, to the wooden door, listening to the bustle outside of sailors and soldiers bunkering down for the night. Aelin rose from beside the bed.
"Fenrys is up on the main deck. He may be upset, but deep down he is hurt" Aelin's words hit harder then they should, Brielle's gut twisted in anticipation. Just as the younger female moved to open the door,
"Thank you." Aelin stopped, taking a second for the words to weigh their weight in the air before she left.
Brielle tossed the blankets from her legs, covering the distance onto the main deck didn't take long, and when she emerged into the cooling night air, the wisps of a breeze circling her loose strands on hair.
Long gone was the weight of the blood oath burdening the bones inside her, she could finally breathe again. The cold salt air filing her lungs. Time unhinged itself when she stopped, allowing the balance to return to her, letting it settle before she moved towards the body leaned into the railing of the ship. The only person still on the main deck, the night void of movement.
Fenrys didn't turn to track her approach, Suddenly Brielle wasn't all too appreciative of the newfound freedom in her lungs, the air turning sour until her skin prickled and a vile void curled in her chest.
"Fen...?"
Brielle forced her body to stop a distance from his despite the insistent need to be near. Fenrys didn't seem to acknowledge her, tilting his head back, Brielle noticed the puff of breath that drifted skyward as his deep exhale.
"Fenrys?" He still did not turn to look in her direction, Brielle urged forward, the wooden planks underfoot creaking, her mate still did not move. She could feel the warmth of his body when she leaned into the railing beside him, looking out to the waves of the ocean surrounding them, taking note of the new ships sitting along the surface.
Silence encompassed them both, nothing but the twinkle of stars and the whisper of wind interrupting their seemingly undisturbed silence.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
The question was a crack of a whip against her, Fenrys still refused to look her way, perhaps to hide the utter devastation etched there. Brielle held her breath for a beat,
"I didn't want to worry you—"
Fenrys spun so quickly that Brielle flinched into the railing, the wood biting into the palm of her hands,
"Worry me?" the muscles in his jaw twitched, "All I ever do is worry about you, don't you get that!"
Fenrys was shaking his head in disbelief, trying to ignore the heat of tears the swelled with his rising emotions, "I'm supposed to be there for you, How am I to do that if you don't let me in?"
The words lodged in her throat, refusing to come to her command.
"I spent each day of my existence waiting for someone like you. And finally there you were, right in front of me and you are perfect, and still so without my reach, you were broken when we first met, but you were so perfect." the sheer tone of his voice sent shockwaves rippling through her spine.
Was she crying? Brielle couldn't tell.
"I confined everything I am to you, Because you are my person." Fenrys took a step back, his breath quickening, "I would have helped you, we could have fought it together. Instead you left me oblivious to the suffering of my own mate."
Tears streamed down his face, and when Brielle took in a ragged breath, she figured she was too. The air coming to her at a difficulty.
"And the worst part," something akin to anger overtook the look in his eyes, "I didn't even notice your suffering." Anger aimed at... himself.
Brielle understood then, but it was too late. Fenrys turned and when Brielle reached for him, he flinched away. Something cracked through her as Fenrys walked away, stalking back towards the door heading underdeck. Leaving her utterly alone outside purely through her own faults.
The expanses on time warped as the cold air was the only embrace which gripped her body, holding her victim to the railing. Brielle had no concept of how long she wept quietly into the silence, the little expanse of light wisping up from the sun. How had the night gotten so far from her?
It was the farsighted fae sense that gave Brielle the ability to spot them, the lines of ships sailing in their direction. The sinking feeling bottoming out in the pit of her stomach.
Shrouding on a mask of indifference, Brielle spun to where she could detect two soldiers making their way onto the top-deck for their shift of the nightshifts.
They froze in fear when she pointed a finger in their direction,
"One of you sound the alarm" the pair too stunned, probably from lack of sleep,
Perhaps it was due to the argument or her own lack of sleep, but the voice that barked out a response was far from one she used often,
"Move your asses"
The pair bolted in different directions, their footfall heavy on the deck, Brielle turned to face the oncoming armada, all the planning was leading to this point, she knew then in that moment that they must all be prepared for whatever this war was going to throw their way.
For her argument with Fenrys this night was only the beginning, there was more to come, and far worse.
And the oncoming Armada was simply the first wave.