Wildfire and Stars Eternal

Chapter 31: The Immortals

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun, little Aelin," Deanna purred, stroking Aelin's matted hair between her fingers. 

"Why not get it over with, Deanna?" Aelin hissed, snapping her teeth in Deanna's general direction. It was about all she could do while under Deanna's thrall. Deanna had seated her on a rock in a wide stretch of land. Aelin had no idea which Court they were in, but she could at least surmise it wasn't Winter. It was far too warm for that, even at night. 

"One doesn't rush something made to savor," Deanna replied, letting Aelin's hair fall back to her shoulder. "I want to enjoy this." She backed up a step, a hand rested on Goldryn, which was sheathed at her waist. Aelin couldn't look at the sword without seeing red. 

Or more accurately, black. Aelin had no idea how the magic she'd stolen from Feyre and Rhys might be affecting her. Her tears had run dry an hour ago, her terror fleeing with them. She couldn't undo what had been done. She couldn't escape from her twisted ancestor. All she could do now was survive long enough to see herself find some way to stop... well, herself. 

"You promised Mala you'd reunite her with Elena. Why?" Aelin asked. "And how? No magic can bring back the dead. And nothing could possibly bring back a destroyed soul." 

"Dear girl, no soul can ever truly be destroyed. We are all matter of the universe. We cannot simply cease to exist." Deanna sat on another rock nearby, seeming perfectly content to indulge Aelin's stalling. "I merely sent my sweet niece to a different, harsher realm than that of our afterlife."

"And you intended to send Mala there?" Aelin asked. Deanna grinned, a wicked light growing in her eyes. 

"Oh, yes. After that lovely trick my sister pulled, using her magic and her dastardly son-in-law to warn you, I planned from the beginning to end her. I merely left out the part where I'd do it slow, and painful." 

Aelin shook her head, clearing her head of her own memories of 'slow and painful.' "What about Feyre's wolves? How'd they cross worlds?" 

Deanna scowled at the change in subject. "I hate Prythian. Such powerful magic, but it tends to have a mind of its own." The grin returned, if not a little smug now. "That is, until it learns who the master is." 

Aelin had heard enough. "Deanna, you've won. You have me, you have the magic of Prythian, you have every upper hand. So why are we just sitting here-" She glanced around again, trying to gauge where she could be. "-Wherever here is, instead of 'destroying two worlds?'" She put a mocking tone in the last three words, and to her satisfaction, Deanna's smile tightened in anger.

"I do not have to explain myself to you, little Aelin," She snapped, her careful demeanor breaking for a moment. A slow grin bloomed on Aelin's face as something occurred to her. 

"You can't, can you?" She asked, her grin only growing when Deanna shot to her feet and began pacing. "You still don't have the power." 

"I will," Deanna snarled, drawing Goldryn and pointing it in Aelin's face. Aelin only laughed. 

"What are you possibly waiting for?" She crowed. "More of your immortal friends? Hellas is trapped in Night. The rest of your kin is still in the hell-world. Or are you waiting for more power? Feyre and Rhys will have warned the other High Lords about me by now. They will not come near me." 

"Never underestimate the power of gods, Fire-bringer," Deanna said softly, sheathing Goldryn and turning away. Aelin's laughter stopped abruptly, and she choked on her own breath for a moment before Deanna released her. "My kin is coming. The portals are open, you remember. And when they get here, we will take this world. They will help me bring its leaders to their knees."

"Why do you need Prythian in submission? Does that somehow make it easier to destroy?" Aelin asked, the sarcasm thick in her voice. In reality, she was terrified by what Deanna was saying. The other gods were coming? But sarcasm and snark had always been her protection. It wasn't hard to bring it forward now to hide behind. 

"No," Deanna said, her voice deathly cold. "But they will make it easier to hold you down while I kill your High Lord and Lady in front of you." She turned back to Aelin, the silver in her eyes molten with hatred. "And your mate." She took one step closer. "And the Illyrian General." Another step. "The Shadowsinger." Another. "The Morrigan. The Second to the High Lord." Another step closer, until she was close enough to grab Aelin's chin. Aelin clenched her jaw tight, holding every muscle taut as she forced herself not to react. 

"And then, little Aelin," Deanna purred. "I'll move on to Erilea. The King of Adarlan will be the first to go, followed by his Ironteeth Queen. Then-" She dragged her nails down Aelin's cheek, drawing blood. "I will personally kill every single mortal that dared to defy me. The Hand of the King, and his witch healer wife. Your wretched cousin, and that Shapeshifter friend of yours. Those who served Maeve, the wolf and the death-bringer. The crippled Lady of Perranth." Her grin turned feral. "That little Lady of Arran." 

"We beat the Queen of the Valg," Aelin hissed, her anger finally getting the best of her. "We'll defeat you, too." 

Deanna sighed slightly, as though disappointed. "Dearest girl, your hope is unbearably naive." She stepped back again, her gaze turning to the skies. "Besides, it is as you said." She raised a hand, and a pillar of Moon-fire shot from her palm, straight into the clouds. She turned back to Aelin, the glow of her fire lighting up her features. "I have every upper hand." She turned back to the skies, laughing.

Aelin followed her gaze, and saw a portal spinning far off in the sky. As she watched, large, humanoid figures began falling through, one after the other. 

The gods had arrived.

Aelin cosplay by brirose_arts!