Their Fireheart

Chapter Sixteen

Cassian

I raised my eyebrow towards my little warrior, who looked especially edible today. Her lean curves were encased in tight, black leather that offset the vibrant blonde of her hair, her bright blue eyes piercing as always. She was strapping on weapons for whatever adventure we were about to undertake, the amount of daggers strapped to her person already astronomically high. "So how much trouble are we about to get in?"

She turned over her shoulder to smirk at me. "Let's just say we are going to make many people sorry that the two of us met." She turned back to the weapons wall, and I took the hint, gathering weapons for myself as well. Thankfully I had worn my Illyrian leathers in preparation for training today. No doubt Rhys was going to be absolutely furious with me for potentially endangering Aelin, but really he shouldn't be surprised. Turn down a potentially dangerous adventure with my sexy little warrior? I think not.

Once we were sufficiently armed, Aelin turned towards me, gesturing to my wings. "Lets get out of here before Rowan comes looking for me again. I swear that male is always around recently, the insufferable bastard."

I snorted at that, before widening my eyes and lifting my hands in front of my face in a gesture of faux innocence when she turned narrowed eyes towards me. The male certainly had been stalking Aelin more frequently of late. I was sure it had nothing to do with the fact that three Night Court males had announced their intentions to court his supposed mate.

Not wanting anyone to disrupt our troublemaking mission, I gathered Aelin in my arms and launched us into the sky without saying anything else on the subject. My heart beat faster at having her lean form pressed against me. I needed to be very careful carrying her or my little warrior would have no doubt of how exactly I felt having her close to me.

Aelin's eyes had widened in wonder, and I realized this was the first time she had been flying. I let her take in the sensation as I carried us above Velaris, the colorful city bustling as it was laid out below us. I leaned forward, taking a deep lungful of her unique scent, cursing internally as it went straight to my already painfully hard cock. I breathed out against her neck, grinning when I saw her try to hide a shiver. Oh we would have to play with that more later. "Where to, little warrior?"

Aelin jolted out of her reverie, eyes twinkling when she responded, "Do you know where Hybern's forces are lurking?" My eyes widened a bit as I nodded jerkily. She smirked, "Take us there. We are going to capture ourselves a Valg grunt." The dangerous glint in her eyes told me everything I needed to know, so I grinned back at her and flew towards the mortal cliffs that hid Hybern's advanced forces encampment.

With Aelin pressed against me, the flight went by almost too swiftly. Before I knew it, we were dropping softly into the forest surrounding the camp. Gesturing for me to be quiet, she leaned forward to whisper in my ear. I almost groaned out loud of how her soft lips felt brushing against the shell of my ear. "Look for a soldier with a black ring on their hand - they will be the Valg. You scout the East side of camp, I'll take the West. We can meet back here in 20 to determine next steps."

Without another sound, she turned and all but disappeared in the thick foliage around us. I took a moment to breathe out heavily, willing myself to calm down. After that flight, I was strung as taught as an Illyrian bowstring. The forest steps away from the enemy was not an ideal place to take Aelin for the first time. Maybe if I kept repeating that to myself, my primal urges would shut the fuck up and listen. Doubtful, but maybe.

I turned East, focusing on the task at hand. If I remembered correctly, the black rings and collars signified a Valg host, so I had to keep a careful eye out. We didn't want to escalate this conflict too soon, but if Aelin wanted to capture a Valg, then we would capture a Valg, no matter the consequences. I watched the camp carefully from the shadows of the forest, channeling my inner Azriel. It looked like the most of the captains had the black rings, while the lieutenant in charge of this post had a black collar. That made sense, from everything Aelin had shared, those in charge would have to be controlled by the Valg. I tried to think through the best ways to capture one of the captains would be, but honestly my strategy skills were much more suited towards destroying enemies on a battlefield. Subtle, I was not.