This is a longer one. And is basically a solid chapter of everyone arguing. Why? Because it's fun to write everyone yelling at everyone else. Your welcome.
Aelin
That night everyone gathered around the long rectangular table in Velaris. Thankfully the damage wasn't too bad in Velaris, and as soon as they killed Maeve all of the spiders disintegrated into ash. Aelin looked at everyone gathered at the table. Everyone had changed into much more comfortable attire, after all of their formal outfits were wrecked. And no one felt like putting on armor. And after a quick pit stop at Dawn Court to get everyone healed, and explain to the High Lords what happened, everyone returned to Velaris for dinner.
At the end of the table sat Feyre and Rhys both them wearing Night Court attire. Rhys had wrapped an arm Feyre, as he sipped on his wine. The massive dining room table was littered with plates full of food, and wine glasses filled to the brim with wine. Aelin herself had already drank half of her wine within the first 10 minutes of their dinner.
Next to Feyre and Rhys sat Fenrys and Azriel, who were both talking to each other. Aelin made eye contact with Rowan who was sitting besides her.
I hardcore ship them, Aelin's eyes told Rowan.
Rowan's eyes flared. Of course you do.
You owe me money, buzzard. Rowan rolled his eyes.
Lorcan sat next to them, Elide being on his left. Lorcan leaned into Elide's ear and whispered something that Aelin couldn't hear. Elide's face instantly blushed, and her cheeks turning a bright red.
Across the table sat Dorian and Manon, both of them having hardly spoken a word to each other. They really do win the cutest couple. Manon looked bored as hell as she just drank her wine and gave a death glare to anyone who looked her way too long.
Dorian was talking to Chaol, who decided to stick around along with Yrene. Yrene who was having a conversation with Elain. Even Nesta and Lucien had decided to join them, but Nesta looked equally as bored as Manon.
Lysandra and Aedion sat next to Aelin, Evangeline also sitting at the table. Rhys had winnowed her to the manor after freeing her from Maeve. Maeve's forces not having gone anywhere near the manor or Elain. Evangeline was just digging into her food, and was also the only person here who didn't have a glass of wine in front of her.
"Chaol," Rhys asked. "How did you get that scar on your face?" Chaol glanced over at Aelin, as Aelin cleared her throat.
"Courtesies of Aelin," Chaol said smoothly. Aelin had almost killed Chaol the night when Nehemia died. Thank the gods that Dorian stopped her.
"May I ask why Aelin gave you it," Rhys asked carefully. Everyone had stopped their conversations to hear what Chaol had to say.
"I deserved it," Chaol said simply. Aelin was of course grateful that she didn't kill Chaol, but he did lie to her. Or rather, withheld information. Aelin could tell that Yrene was squeezing his hand under the table.
"In short, Chaol didn't tell me about something that he should've and I almost killed him as a result," Aelin replied. Rhys gave a faint nod, seeing that they didn't want to say anymore. Aelin never told them about Nehemia, but Rhys knew some things about her, because of her memories. The rest of them didn't, and Aelin would like to keep it that way. Or at least for now.
"Sorry, but I have to bring this up from earlier today. But Lysandra, you killed Arobynn?" Dorian questioned, his eyebrow raised at Lysandra.
"Maybe. . . Will you arrest me if I say yes," Lysandra asked, humor dancing in her eyes. Dorian rolled his eyes.
"Again, with all of the shit Aelin has pulled, I can warrant her death right here, right now," Dorian stated. "Same goes for literally any other member of Aelin's court."
"What did I do?" Aedion asked, putting his hands up in surrender.
Chaol snorted. "Just casually forgets that you kidnapped me."
"In my defense, you're a fucking awful spy," Aedion responded, taking a slow sip from his wine.
"You really are, considering that you got kidnapped twice," Aelin chimed. Chaol just scowled.
"And this is why Azriel is our spy master and not Mor," Rhys commented.
Mor's head immediately turned to Rhys and she snapped, "What's that supposed to mean."
"Your version of spying, would involve getting drunk with the enemy and then spilling all of our secrets," Cassian smirked.
Mor frowned. "You know about that?"
"That happened!" Rhys exclaimed. Even Cassian and Azriel looked shocked.
"Nope," Mor said quickly. Rhys just shook his head and murmured, "Why am I even surprised?" Aelin just cracked a smile, she really did like Mor.
Nesta cleared her throat, breaking the death glares being exchanged by them. "I missed the explanation about everyone. But I heard it was very long. Can I have the very simplified version of how you all met."
"Gladly," Aelin said with a smile. "Here we go again," Fenrys murmured.
"Aedion is my cousin, and Elide was the daughter of a lady in my court, so I grew up with both of them in the palace. Fast forwarding to when I was 18ish, I was a slave, but then Dorian got me out due to.....complicated reasons. Chaol was also there and---" Aelin started, and then stopped in realization.
"What is it?" Rowan asked, worry on his face as he narrowed his eyes on Aelin. Aelin just turned her head, mouth open, and locked eyes with Dorian.
"Oh. My. God. That was you that night," Aelin said to Dorian in shock. "You wanted to dance with me."
Dorian cleared his throat and asked, "Care to explain." Aelin's jaw was still open when she murmured, "My name is Wind. And Rain. And Bone and Dust. My name is a snippet of a half-remembered song." Dorian jaw hit the ground.
"That was you?" Dorian said in shock. Aelin was just as surprised as she realized who's blue eyes she was looking at, and who his friend with the sword had been.
"Wait, so who was that man?" Dorian commented.
"That was Sam," Aelin responded carefully. Dorian just looked even more shocked.
"That was Sam?"
Aelin nodded, her mind flashing back to the memory. Aelin was stupidly drunk that night, how she was able to remember it, she didn't know.
"Was I there for this?" Chaol asked.
"Remember when we went to the Harvest Moon party. And you weren't happy to be there, but I wanted to go, so you had to," Dorain told his friend.
"There were a lot of parties like that," Chaol responded carefully, his face looking like he was searching for the memory.
"This was the one where we showed up at 3 am in the morning, and it was a masked ball. It was before the whole king's champion mess, " Dorian commented. Chaol eyes widened in realization.
"That was you?" He asked in shock.
"YES!" Aelin responded back in disbelief.
"I'm so confused," Aedion murmured to himself, everyone else nodding in agreement.
"You really can't get enough of me," Aelin told Dorian with a smile. Manon only frowned as Dorian chuckled, "I guess so."
"Oh my god. You flirted with Celaena Sardothien, when she was an assassin. Were you there to kill someone?" Chaol asked in horror.
"Not necessarily, I went there to get the information that I needed," Aelin stated.
"To kill someone?" Chaol asked.
"To kill someone," Aelin replied with a smile. "You know Arobynn was at that party too."
"He was?" Dorian asked.
"I took the Crown Prince to a party that was full of assassins," Chaol murmured to himself in disbelief and horror.
"Can someone explain," Aedion interrupted.
"One of my jobs when I was Celaena, led me to this ball. I went there with Sam and Arobynn. I flirted with some people for information, and then I got drunk. At which point, the Crown Prince showed up. We were going to have some fun, until Sam interrupted us," Aelin said carefully. Feyre and her inner circle didn't know who Sam was, or what he meant to her.
"Only Dorian would flirt with Celaena Sardothien," Aedion grumbled.
"It didn't know it was Celaena at the time," Dorian said quickly. "Plus she started it, with her dancing and everything." Aelin only flashed him a grin.
"You flirted with Celaena, when you knew exactly who she was," Chaol grumbled.
"Yet a couple months later, you did the same," Dorian said to his friend with a smile. Chaol frowned.
"Aelin had every man she has ever met, falling head over heels for her," Lysandra said with a grin. "Also, was I there when this happened?"
"I thought you guys hated each back then. Why would you be there?" Dorian asked.
"I've tagged along with Arobynn more than once," Lysandra said smoothly. Dorian just gave a faint nod, understanding what she meant.
"You weren't there this time," Aelin responded. "Which is honestly a good thing, because I probably would've killed you if you were."
"Shit does your world sound like fun," Mor mused, as she finished her wine.
"Only when everyone is drunk," Aelin smirked. "But going back to how we all know each other. Dorian got me out of slavery to have me fight in this competion, and Chaol was captain of the royal guard at the time. I knew Lysandra from my time as Celaena, because she worked with Arobynn. I met Rowan when I went to go see Maeve. And I don't think there has ever been anyone who has hated me more, based on first impressions."
"You were a drunk mess," Rowan added with a slight smile.
"That is true, but moving on. And then when I was training with Rowan, a bunch of Valg shit went down, cue Lorcan, Connall, and Fenrys. Fast forward to a few weeks later, I get reunited with Lysandra, Chaol, and Aedion. I met some other people who aren't here right now. Lorcan shows up wanting to kill me, and then Rowan shows up wanting to save me. I eventually meet Manon, who tried to kill everyone. Dorian becomes free, and then we all go our separate ways to try and stop Erawan. Chaol went to another kingdom, where he met Yrene, and they later came back to us with an army. That is the very simplified version of how I met everyone," Aelin finished. Aelin had decided that she could trust them. With everything that they had gone through together, everything that Feyre and Aelin had gone through, Aelin decided that they weren't going to backstab them.
"So do you guys have some cool story of how y'all met. We know about Feyre, but what about the rest of you guys," Aelin asked.
"Without trying to lower the positive energy in the room," Rhys said smoothly. "Cassian, Azriel, and I all met in Illyrian War Bands. We met Mor a couple of years, later as she was my cousin. And Amren...well once she got out of a certain place then I met her."
Cassian whistled, "That really was simplified."
"When I asked you the first time I met you guys, you went into a full length story about how you guys met," Feyre chuckled.
"Ah, but we need to convince you to work with us. And what better way than tell you our tragic backstories," Cassian commented with a smile, shifting in his seat.
"And here I thought you were trying to charm her into working with us," Rhys smirked to Cassian.
"I thought that was what you were doing," Cassian retorted.
"Oh he tried. Did he ever tell you what he made me write," Feyre commented.
"Yep, it was Mor's idea actually," Rhys replied with a sly smile.
"I said that as a joke! I didn't actually want you to force her to write Rhysand is the most handsome High Lord 100 times," Mor snapped back.
"I think it got stuck in her head though, considering where we are today," Cassian added.
"I think Rhys just flirts with any and everyone he comes across," Mor said simply.
"He has always been an arrogant bastard," Amren stated. Rhys cracked a grin.
"Sounds like someone I know," Nesta grumbled, gulping from her wine.
"I know that you don't mean me," Cassian purred, putting his arm around her.
"No, I mean Azriel," Nesta responded coldly, glaring at Cassian. Azriel stopped eating his food, and narrowed his eyes on Nesta.
Cassian chuckled and said, "Good, because I thought there for a second, that you were being sarcastic and were talking about your lovely mate."
"No, of course not sweetie. I would never talk bad of you. Especially not in front of our guests," Nesta commented, in an unnaturally high voice as she batted her eyelashes at him. Cassian grinned from ear to ear as he said , "I'm glad to--"
"Asshole," Nesta coughed. Cassian just blew her a kiss, as Nesta rolled her eyes.
"I change my mind, the cutest couple award goes to Nesta and Cassian," Aelin said, while she gulped down her wine.
"How did I marry into this mess," Manon grumbled to herself.
"That's what I've been asking myself," Rowan muttered. Aelin kicked him under the table at Rowan's grin.
"If I asked you, Aelin, to come with me to the Court of Nightmares would you come," Mor asked smoothly, her eyebrows raised.
"What's the Court of Nightmares?" Aedion asked.
"Think of it as a city full of Tamlin's," Mor answered, taking a sip of her wine, hope in her eyes.
"Happily," Aelin responded, with a wicked grin. Mor grinned from ear to ear at her response.
"I would actually love to see your father against Aelin," Rhys commented.
"What's wrong with your father?" Dorian asked. Mor ran her fingers through her hair as she said, "We don't have the best relationship to say the least."
Cassian snorted, "That's putting it mildly."
"Who's your father, we might know him?" Connall asked.
"You probably don't, he rules over The Court of Nightmares, his name is Keir," Mor responded smoothly. Fenrys and Connall's jaws went still.
"That's who your father is," Connall said in disbelief.
"I actually feel bad for you," Fenrys murmured as he shook his head in shock.
"How do you know him?" Amren asked.
"Even when Velaris was a secret, every citizen is well aware of what is going on in the outside world. And we have heard the stories about Keir," Connall responded.
"And none of them are good," Fenrys added.
Mor just flashed them all a grin, "Any of you guys have daddy problems?" Everyone's eyes wandered over to Chaol, as he raised his hand a little. Mor flashed him a grin and said, "So you know what I mean, when I say that our fathers can go fuck themselves." Chaol's response was a faint nod in agreement.
"What did your father do?" Rhys asked politely.
"He disowned me after I refused to become Lord of Annielle, and left for Rifthold so I could be with Dorian," Chaol responded smoothly. Dorian snorted. "That's putting it mildly." Chaol only shrugged and drank from his wine.
"Any of you guys have family problems?" Aedion asked Feyre's inner circle. Cassian just grinned.
"You'll find that it's a common theme in our world," Azriel said calmly.
"How much are you willingly to bet that we have had it worse," Aelin said, flashing them a grin.
"A lot. Like a lot, a lot" Cassian replied with a wicked grin.
"Don't make that bet Aelin, you would lose a lot of money. Trust me when I say that they do have worse," Amren commented, while swirling her wine.
"What Amren is trying to say is that there is a lot of feuds between our families and other courts," said Rhys.
"What family issues do you guys have?" Azriel asked politely. Aelin's drifted over her court.
"I could've had a better Grandmother," Manon stated, while giving death glare to everyone, daring them to say otherwise.
Elide added, "My uncle was not the kindest person."
"I don't even know what's going on with my mother and brother," Dorian commented. "And then there's my father." Very few people knew the truth about Dorian's father, how he was controlled by Erawan the entire time. And they sure as hell weren't going to tell their new friends anytime soon.
"Likewise," Chaol stated.
"My mother was also not the kindest person," Lysandra said simply.
"You're the best mother," Evangeline said bending over from her chair to hug Lysandra. Lysandra hugged her right back and kissed her forehead.
"You're so sweet," Lysandra told her. "I'm so sorry that we allowed Maeve to take you." Evangeline just shrugged, and went back to eating her food.
"What about you guys?" Aedion asked.
"For me at least, let's just say that besides Feyre, Mor is my only other surviving family member," Rhys said smoothly.
"And the rest of us don't have really good relationships with our parents," Mor added.
"That's fun. Most of our parents are dead, because a certain demon king went around and killed everyone," Aelin said, her eyes flaring with rage and humor. Fenrys coughed.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Rhys told them, empathy in his eyes. Aelin shrugged.
"Since we're on the topic. Did any of our parents die from natural causes?" Aelin asked her inner circle. Every stayed silent, contemplating if there was no one's parents that hadn't been murdered. The sad truth was no.
"Is what you did to my uncle considered natural?" Elide asked Aelin.
"I think it is," Aelin responded smoothly.
"What the fuck is your definition of natural?" Fenrys snorted, Rowan humming in agreement.
"I think that dying from hunger and dehydration is natural," Aelin replied coldly. Aelin's entire court seemed to sigh. The only person who didn't was Manon, who's wicked grin agreed with Aelin.
"How did he die?" Rhys asked.
"He died from hunger and dehydration," Aelin responded quickly. They had checked a couple of weeks later after the final battle to see if he was really dead. And he was.
"He died, because Aelin left him chained to a chair and locked inside a room, with no one around to feed him or give him water," Rowan clarified. Aelin glared at her husband, who glared right back.
"That seems...effective," Rhys mused, swirling his wine.
"Well I promised him we wouldn't kill him, if he told us what we wanted to know. So I let natural causes kill him," Aelin said smoothly. "Besides, Elide gave me her blessing."
"I said make it quick. Not let him die over the course of three days," Elide snapped back. Aelin only shrugged.
"And I guess the answer to my question earlier was no," Aelin stated gruffly. "Wait, no. Aedion's mother died from illness." Aedion gave a faint nod in agreement. They both knew that she could've been saved if she allowed a healer to help her. But she had refused, for the fear that the truth of Gavriel's father would be revealed.
"So will you be going back to Terrasen tomorrow," Rhys asked them. Aelin put down and glass and said, "There isn't really a rush. We can help with any damages here if you need it, or any back in Dawn Court."
"Thank you," Rhys told them all. Everyone gave a faint nod in response.
"And I never did get a tour of the city."
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Were almost at the end :)