Chapter 16: Aelin

                                    

                                          
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The darkness seemed to be singing to her, its voice a soft purring against the cold silence. Wisps of ice-cold air wove around her, each one freezing her face as they let out their gentle songs.
                          
She sang back to the darkness, her own voice feeble out of tune. The black nothingness seemed to be suffocating her, but no longer would it succeed.
                          
Aelin wove a thread of flame around her fingers, letting the red, orange, and gold of them flames merge together.
                          
A weapon, what she always was for the past years, and what she will now always will be.
                          
But now it was her choice where to aim her fire, her choice where to shoot.
                          
And this time she knew exactly who her target would be.

                          
This day or the next day, whenever she could, she would unleash the abyss of her power upon her dear aunt. 
                          
Oh how she wanted to feel her flames take over the Queen's flesh and soul, oh how she wanted to hear and see the sight of her ashes.
                          
Too many people had suffered because of the Maeve, too many that were a part of Aelin.
                          
Her father, her mother, her cousin, her uncle, her city, her kingdom.
                          
Her mate.
                          
Herself.
                          
And Cairn, he deserved to suffer too. Not just of what he did to her, but what he had most definitely done to countless of other innocents.
                          
Aelin shook her head, clearing the smoke in her mind, letting it slowly fade away.
                          
Such morbid thoughts for this time already, why it wasn't even after her meeting with the wondrous Queen.
                          
Light poured in to the room, and her flames quickly went out, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Guards flooded into the room, ten, if she counted correctly, all armed, all full-fledged Fae warriors.
                          
The reached for her and hauled her up on her feet, jerking her upwards. Aelin's legs wobbled from the force, but they pushed her along the hallway, to the throne room.
                          
Another wonderful  meeting with her Aunt then.
                          
One day, one day was all she wanted.
                          
One day where she wasn't in this wretched place, where she was with her court, her friends, her family.
                          
All she wanted was one more day where she could wake up in Rowan's arms, tell him that she loved him.
                          
Where she could share a laugh with Lysandra, where she could tease Aedion without anything constantly weighing at her shoulders.
                          
Soon, Aelin told herself. Soon, she would escape, and then she would get that one day, she would have it.
                          
At least she hoped that she would. 
                          
A part of her knew that she would have to burn herself away to destroy Maeve. And no matter how much she ignored it, it was still there, staring at her.
                          
Aelin looked at what might become of her, looked at it, and finally accepted that she might never have that day again, no matter how much she told herself she would.
                          
The guards pushed her to her knees in front of the throne, and Aelin silently stood up as they backed off of her.
                          
Maeve stared at her then, and her blood red lips broke out in what some may think a kind smile. 
                          
But there was a brutal coldness in her eyes, and a sort of happiness in there too.
                          
"Hello Aelin," Maeve said to Aelin, her voice as sharp as a knife.
                          
Aelin did not make a single sound, and simply defiantly stared back at her aunt.
                          
"Do you know who is waiting for you, outside these very walls?" 
                          
Aelin again did not say anything, and merely flicked her gaze over Cairn as he took his place at Maeve's side.
                          
The grin that he gave her was enough to send her blood boiling, enough to send a wave of red over her vision. 
                          
With another cold, hard, cruel smile, Maeve answered her own question, "Prince Rowan, has come for you today, and some of your.... court."
                          
All color drained from Aelin's face, and her heart began to thunder in her chest.
                          
No, gods no. No. No. No.
                          
At her expression Maeve's grin widened, and she continued on. "They are still lurking around my city, but don't worry, I will catch them, and kill them."
                          
Breathing had suddenly become difficult, and Aelin struggled to get air into her lungs.
                          
This was why she went willingly, this was why.
                          
She would not be able to handle seeing them all dead, at her hands.
                          
"But of course," her aunt purred, not yet finished. "I will not be the one who is killing them."
                          
With a wave of her thin hand, a guard was brought forward.
                          
"Then who will be," Aelin asked, knowing that she would be the one.
                          
But there was no way in hell that she would accept that, no matter how much they tried, she would never be that desperate.
                          
"You of course," the Queen responded with, her smirk becoming even more vicious.
                          
And then the object that the guard was holding was brought forward, and Aelin's heart clean stopped at what she saw there.
                          
A ring, of the blackest stone, rested upon a blood-red cloth. The stone was the darkest pearl, no light ever reaching into its depths.
                          
And Aelin stared and stared, at the ring of the Valg.
                          
One that was a perfect match, a perfect match for her finger.
                          
Hey guys, please don't kill me for the cliffhanger.. Please vote, comment, and share.  See you later with a new chapter.