Feyre
"NO!" Rhys shouted, as Feyre and the others broke from their daze.
Maeve had been fighting them the entire time, and even the three of their combined power wasn't enough to stop Maeve from breaking free.
Feyre knew that Yrene was also trying to fight against Maeve the entire time, but she had just about as much luck as they had.
But Feyre was able to snap back into reality right as she saw Maeve swing her sword at Aelin's head, Amren sitting next to her.
Aelin didn't have enough time to move, as she sat only a few feet away from Maeve.
Maeve's sword was inches away from Aelin, when an invisible force slammed into Aelin's side, pushing her out of the way.
Aelin tumbled across the ground, but the force was quick enough to stop a lethal hit, but the sword still hit her deep into her upper arm.
Feyre could take a couple of guesses at which magic wielder saved Aelin's life, as Amren immediately had grabbed the three books and had winnowed a couple of yards away.
"NOW MOR!" Amren shouted.
The blond haired Fae winnowed in from behind Maeve, stabbing Maeve through the heart with Goldryn.
Black blood sprayed and Maeve screamed.
Maeve's black blood dripped on the Wyrdmarks that Amren and Aelin had created, that she was standing over.
Maeve's scream could be heard all throughout Orynth as the first drop of her blood hit the Wyrdmarks.
Mor had already retracted the sword, and Maeve had fallen to her knees on the Wyrdmarks, screaming in pain.
Her screams only increased as more black blood fell on the Wyrdmark.
The Wyrdmarks flared, and in a blink of an eye where Maeve once kneeled was only a pile of ash.
Fenrys
Fenrys probably looked like an idiot, with his mouth wide open, and gaping at the pile of ash.
Where the Valg Queen once stood, there was only ash, black blood, and ruined Wyrdmarks.
Aedion was the first one to shout, "What the hell just happened!"
Maeve was gone. Dead.
No more than a pile of ash.
"There goes my ribs again," Aelin croaked as she struggled to stand up again, from where she was pushed too.
Thank the gods for Rowan. She would be dead without him.
Her arm was soaked in blood, and she clutched her broken ribs.
Rowan was already rushing over to her, wrapping an arm around Aelin, allowing her to lean on him.
"Is she dead?" Connall whispered.
Aelin, despite her pain, cracked a smile and said, "I don't know, ask the healer."
Everyone whipped their heads to Yrene, who looked completely drained.
Her brown eyes sagged, and she looked completely exhausted.
"Are you asking me if a pile of ash is alive?" Yrene commented, a smile tugging on her lips.
A ghost leopard came running into the area, it's teeth bared, looking like it was ready to kill. It stopped at the sight of everyone standing there, no sign of Maeve.
The ghost leopard gave a confused look, before Lysandra shifted back into her human form.
"I heard awful screaming....and what the hell happened? Where is Maeve?" Lysandra demanded, her eyes falling onto the pile of ash on the Wyrdmarks.
"Is that--" Lysandra started.
"LYSANDRA! BRING ME TO MY WIFE! COME BACK HERE!" Chaol shouted from somewhere off.
Yrene just smiled at her screaming husband. Chaol probably couldn't walk anymore, as Yrene looked utterly drained.
"I'm not dead, don't worry!" Yrene yelled to her husband, Chaol being nowhere sight.
"I know that! I would be dead if you were dead! Come here!" Chaol shouted back, worry and anger in his voice.
Yrene sighed, before giving a faint nod to the others and running off to her husband.
"Sorry about your arm," Aelin called to Yrene who was sprinting away.
Yrene just gave a faint wave of her hand, and shouted, "She's dead," before disappearing out of eye sight behind tower trees and plants.
Everyone just stared in shock, before Aedion shouted, "What the hell just happened!"
"Calm down, Maeve is dead. Her spiders should also be ash, assuming that we did this right," Aelin responded.
"You said you weren't going anywhere dangerous," Rowan growled, looking down at her black and red blood stained clothes.
All of them looked like they were going to kill Aelin, and Fenrys was inclined to agree.
"I didn't know there would be a bunch of Fae and kharankui," Aelin pouted, as she faced Rowan's face. Her smile inches away from Rowan's snarl.
"I'm going to kill you," Rowan growled, him still supporting Aelin.
"You love me too much to kill me," Aelin said, turning her head to face him. Aelin smiled as Rowan's scowl only deepened.
Aelin went in for a kiss, until Rowan pulled away.
"It's because I love you, is why I am going to kill you," Rowan growled back.
Aelin's blond hair was a mess, with her teal dress ruined, and stained all over. Her face was splattered with blood but Rowan didn't seem to care as he only kissed her again and growled,
"Never again." Aelin only pulled away and frowned.
"You were supposed to have grown out your hair by now," Aelin commented, staring at Rowan's short white hair. Rowan had continued to keep it short, despite Aelin's protests.
Aelin frowned. "I never got the chance to braid it."
"You have some explaining to do," Aedion growled.
They looked practically like twins with the same blonde hair and turquoise gold ringed eyes. Aedion looked like he was going to skin Aelin alive, as his eyes only flared and the grip on his sword tightened.
"Did they ever figure it out, or did you guys have to explain it to them," Aelin asked Lysandra and Elide, with a sly smile.
"They're clearly still very confused," Elide said as she cracked a grin.
"If Rowan doesn't kill you first, I will," Aedion growled. "Explain."
"Well as soon as Maeve announced that she was taking Azriel and Fenrys with her to get the book, I knew that we were all screwed. We never told Fenrys where the book was, that much was true. But Elide knew where it was, and she was also in the castle. So while I sent you guys to go find Elide, and get Maeve outside, Feyre and I stopped by Rifthold, where we picked up Chaol and Yrene," Aelin said smoothly.
"And by that, Aelin means that she told Yrene to go kill Maeve, and then shoved the three of us back into a portal," Feyre muttered, her voice rising slightly. Aelin shrugged.
"Yrene knew what to do. She's done this before," Aelin responded carefully.
"I didn't! And sure as hell Chaol didn't," Feyre responded. Okay so maybe she was angry at Aelin. But so was everyone else here.
"But I knew at this point, Rhys should've made contact with Elide. Elide would've told them all to get their asses outside in the garden, figure out some way to get Maeve outside, and have told Rhys that they should be expecting Yrene," Aelin replied.
"What of the other book then? And how did you get Amren and Mor, I thought they were back in Dawn Court? And Mor, shouldn't you be...not fighting...and like.....resting," Cassian asked, confused as the rest of them.
"Well female Valg are a lot more powerful than the males. And since it was already hard enough to kill Erawan, I guessed that Yrene might not be able to destroy Maeve. So I took a quick pitstop back to Dawn Court, where I found Mor and Amren. Helion had already healed Mor, I don't really know how he did it so fast, I guess that's the pluses of being the literal High Lord of healing. Any way, we quickly went to Hybern, killed some Fae and spiders, got Maeve's book and then came back to Orynth," Aelin responded smoothly.
Fenrys didn't notice it before, but Amren and Mor were also covered in an assortment of blood. They both just shrugged, at Rhys's death glare.
"You did this all in 15 minutes?" Azriel asked in slight suprise.
"You would think that Maeve would have better security in Hybern. And who knew that Morrigan is extremely powerful," Aelin mused, as Mor flashed a grin.
Rhys glared at her again, no doubt pissed that she risked her life after nearly dying.
"And as we killed Maeve's soldiers in Hybern, we talked about the three books. Decided that as soon as we got there, Amren and I would create the Wyrdmarks while Mor stood nearby with Goldyrn in case she was needed. Amren knew that there was a spell for destroying the dark queen in The Book of Breathings. She didn't know what it was exactly but knew that you needed the blood of a people," Aelin answered.
Everyone still looked very confused, as was Fenrys too.
15 minutes she figured this all out. Damn. That it probably a new record of some sorts.
"So why did you need the blood of yourself, Amren, Yrene, Elide, Lorcan, and Rhys," Cassian pressured.
"The book was very specific about what blood was needed," Amren answered for her. Amren cleared her throat and read off the book, "Lord of Night must meet Lady of Light. The one blessed by death must--"
"Basically, the spell requires people who were blessed by gods, or whatever the equivalent might be depending on the world. Specifically, night, light, death, healing, knowledge and someone who was made. Hence why we needed Amren, as she was made. Rhys's, as he is Night Court's number one fan. I was blessed by Mala, the fire goddess. Along with Elide's as she was blessed by Anneith, Yrene's as she was blessed by Silba, and Lorcan's. Who was gifted by Hellas himself. I knew that you would be helpful one day," Aelin said, grinning at Lorcan.
Lorcan's mouth twitched. "Thanks."
"You said that you wouldn't plot behind everyone's back," Aedion complained.
"I didn't have time to explain it all," Aelin snapped back. She hesitated before saying, "Is this how Elena felt?" Aedion just rolled his eyes.
"Besides it's not my fault that you couldn't figure it out," Aelin responded. She hesitated again as if considering what she just said. "Ok, I officially forgive Elena. . . Wait no I don't, I didn't give you guys impossible riddles to decipher. I was much more straightforward. I'm still pissed at her"
"You need to stop changing your opinion of her," Amren grumbled.
"I still want to kill you," Aelin chimed.
"Likewise," Amren responded.
"You did this all in 15 minutes," Cassian said in shock and awe.
"Your welcome," Aelin smirked back.
"I have questions that need to be answered," Mor stated. "Ranging from Azriel having a mate, and what is the status of Velaris." Rhys's face paled slightly at the name of his home, and Feyre was instantly on the ground making a portal back to Velaris.
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