𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐬

Ch 13: The little folk

"Kaltain."

Aelin POV
My knees suddenly felt weak, looking at the girl who had sacrificed her life, saving me and everyone else.
Without wasting another second trying to digest what just happened, I broke out of my trance and into a sprint, running straight at her with all the respect I had for the girl who survived so much. I barrelled into her, crushing her into a bone grinding hug.
"You're alive." I whispered, tears streaming down my face, "thank you. You saved everyone, gave us more time. I will forever be grateful." I continued whispering. She didn't respond, just stood there while I hugged it out.

"Who is Celaena?" asked Beron, interrupting the reunion. Before Kaltain or Fenrys could interrupt and ruin everything I answered, "it's an alias I used when I met her."
Not entirely true but not a complete lie either. Thankfully Kaltain had the good sense to not question me right now. Beron just grunted in acknowlegement, like he hated that he couldn't catch any lies. I turned back to Kaltain, "how are you alive, you exlpoded, gave Elide the key." I asked, still whispering. "The keys left their essence in me, at least enough to allow me to transport myself to another world, supported with my black-fire." she answered. Elide had told me about her magic, how it took out almost a third of Morath in its wake. Powerful.

I was about to ask her how she knew that I was here, and how she met Feyre, but before I could I doubled over with nausea. Fenrys, again, was instantly beside me. "What's wrong with me? The starvation should have gone away by now." I asked the one with the glowing skin. He had a healer's aura- calm and soothing.
He strode towards me and rested his hand on my shoulder, his eyebrows crinkling, in confusion or concentration I had no idea. His eyes opened after a minute, and they had a new emotion in them, sort of like recognition. He looked me straight in the eyes, and then turned to Rhysand and was about to open his mouth to reveal something I didn't need anyone else knowing so I put my hand on his shoulder, turning him towards me. "Don't" I said, with an almost pleading look in my eyes. He sighed, and for a moment I thought he would tell everyone about my relation with Rhysand, but then he nodded, his eyes closed with resignation. "What's wrong with me?" I asked again. He glanced towards Fenrys and I could feel him give a small nod behind me, and then the healer said the words that broke and made me in a split second.
"You're pregnant."

---------------------------------------------

Lorcan POV

Leaving Whitehorn was making me feel uncharacteristically guilty, not that I would tell anyone that....ever. Now since we had lost our head lunatic who was guiding us till now, we were slightly lost, but first destination was Elide. She was always the smart one anyways, and worrying for her was eating me alive.

We were walking outside the border, inching towards the darkness of the forest beyond. Turns out, Gavriel wasn't lying about still having friends, who had managed to discreetly transport us out of the stone border. All through the journey, all I thought about was how Elide would react to us leaving her queen's mate behind. She would kill me, and I won't be able to stop her, the hurt would be too much.

I was brought out of my hate spiral when the one I loved came into view, standing right in our path. "Thank the wyrd I have a limp!" she exclaimed before she barrelled into me, crushing me with a hug, and I held onto her like it was life and death because this contact might be the last I ever get from her. She separated from me after a moment and looked around, realization clouding her features and her smile disappearing completely. "Where's Rowan?"

I sighed and looked at Gavriel for a little help, and thankfully he stepped forward. "Maeve has him, we weren't able to free him because of some spell Maeve did on his chains. He told us to go find Aelin without him." he explained, sorrow and guilt overflowing from his being. Elide just stood there, her face expressionless, which for some reason hurt more than her anger would have. She took a step back, her face morphing into one of horror. "I know we shouldn't have left him, but we need to save Aelin, everyone agrees on that, so let's do it and then watch the fire-breathing-bitch-queen burn Maeve alive." I said, before she went into shock or did something to waste time.

She didn't say a word, just nodded her head in a daze and turned towards where we were going. Took a step, and then another, leaving me and Gavriel behind to watch her with caution, incase the situation hit her with realization and made her stop or fall. She didn't look back, not even once, and we got the message and so we moved after her, following into the trees.

Gavriel POV
We had been walking, with no destination in mind, for over an hour now. Elide not saying a word and Lorcan giving me continuous worried glances. The bushes had been moving around us, just a little, enough that I chalked it up to the wind or rabbits. I was proven wrong when a little fae stepped out, and then another, and then another. "The Little Folk" I heard Lorcan whisper before he knelt down and extended his hand, urging them to approach.

They glanced at him and then turned towards me. The one that had stepped out first now had a crown in its hands, with which it stepped forward. It stopped infront of me and dropped the crown infront of my feet, grabbing my pants with its now empty hands and pulling me with it as if asking me to follow. I did, picking up the crown and examining it on my way when I stopped in my tracks, "The crown of Mab" I whispered, realizing its significance. The little folk didn't stop pulling me, and so recovering from my daze, I followed it.

It led me and my companions deeper into the forest, more Little folk stepping out of every bush we crossed. The trees seemed to get darker, and the sun seems to have disappeared making the air rich with water, a little too humid. The fae stopped pulling me, making me stumble a little with the sudden stop, I looked around to find Elide and Lorcan standing beside me looking around, just like I was. There were little folk all around us, staring at us intently and the feeling of dark power humming in the air wasn't helping. They started saying something, every little pair of lips moving in sync, mumbling something even my fae ears couldn't hear, Lorcan seemed to be having the same problem if his strained expression was any indication.

They were chanting I deduced, moving around us with their little feet, all of their eyes closed. The winds picked up, and they broke their circle, their mouths still moving and their eyes still closed. Panic was threatening to pierce me because I didn't know what to do. The little folk were moving around us now, in no order what-so-ever, weaving between me and my companions, their mouths still moving. I felt a sudden sharp pain in my calf which had me looking down at the cause and saw a shallow wound there, bleeding slightly. My nose picked up more blood, Elide's and Lorcan's. Their chanting grew louder, their feet and the air gaining speed by the minute. I could feel my blood flow down my leg and into the ground, which seemed to help what they were doing because the ground started glowing blue, then the ground beneath Elide did the same, and then Lorcan's too.

Everything went black suddenly and the feeling of falling overtook my senses. Panic settled into my bones, making me blindly move my hands around in an attempt to catch onto something, my attempts turned out to be futile when my back suddenly erupted with pain. Grunts could be heard next to me which calmed me a little, knowing that Lorcan and Elide had been falling with me. "Great. More people from Aelin's world I am guessing." said a female voice above me.

I opened my eyes to find myself on a stone table, Elide and Lorcan on my either side, and a silver-eyed fae with midnight black hair staring at me, a bored expression on her face with a fork halfway to her mouth. I closed my eyes and breathed in the air, which smelled like Aelin. My eyes shot open, finally registering what the female had said, 'Aelin's world'. Aelin. She was here.