Their Fireheart

Chapter Twenty Four

Rhysand

I was beyond thankful that the High Lords meeting was finally over. I hated these meetings on principle, but combine that with the stress, surprises and revelations of the last few days? Yeah, I was done. I was done with dealing with the arrogance of the other Lords, and I was more than ready to get some answers from my goddess.

Helion's words had been playing on repeat through my head for the last day, and no matter how hard I tried to block the questions circling in my mind, I couldn't shut them out. I wanted to grab ahold of Aelin and demand to know exactly what she knew and how long she had known it. I knew mate bonds weren't an exact science, but clearly she knew something. She could hardly avoid us as deftly as she had without a clue as to what was going on.

Mind made up to demand, hell beg, some for answers, when I whirled around both Aelin and Rowan were already gone. I made to storm away and find them, when Mor stopped me in my tracks. I leveled a fierce glare at her, but she merely gestured towards the sitting area where Azriel stood silently and Cassian was already pacing. I growled under my breath but grudgingly followed them.

Cassian snarled, clearly on edge, "Where is Aelin?"

Mor responded with a careful patience, "She had to go talk to Rowan." When Cassian tried to storm past her, just as I had done a few moments again, she halted him with a growled, "Alone."

He leveled a hateful look at Mor, practically spitting vitriol from his eyes. "Well they can be alone with me there."

Mor lost what little patience she had left as she snarled, "Sit your ass down, Cassian. I know you want answers, and you'll get them, but only when Aelin is ready."

The fierce defense of our potential mate seemed to mollify Cass slightly, although he still cursed her under his breath as he slumped down against the couch. We sat in a tense silence for a few minutes, stewing in our own thoughts before Cass grumbled, "So what do we do?"

Mor sank into a chair across from us with a heavy sigh, "You have to give her time to come to you. I know it isn't easy, but she is already beginning."

That caught my attention. Did that mean she was talking to Rowan about being his mate? "What are you talking about?" I asked Mor sharply.

She let out another heavy breath, about to answer when Azriel jerked to attention, looking concerned. "Mor. You have to take her somewhere secluded. Somewhere that we can't easily get to, and you have to do it fast." The urgency in his words alarmed me as much as what he said confused me. Mor's brow was furrowed in confusion but when she opened her mouth to question him, Aelin stumbled into the room.

Instantly, I was on my feet, Cassian and Azriel next to me. Something was wrong. Aelin was shaking slightly, eyes unfocused until they landed on Mor. Terror was coursing through my blood, I had never seen Aelin look so bereft, shaken, so...broken. I reached down the bond but I felt nothing. She had shut me out so effectively I could only barely sense that she was alive. My lack of access to her was like a toxic shock, and I was instantly enraged and terrified.

My heart split in two when Aelin gasped out, "Mor. I need to you take me somewhere, now." Her beautiful voice, usually so strong and sure, so filled with life, was empty and cracked. If I never had to see her like this again it would still be too many times she was devastated like this.

I wasn't even aware that I was cursing viciously alongside Cass and Az as Mor grabbed her arm and they winnowed out of the house. My primal urges screamed in rage as my hurting mate was taken to me, and it took every ounce of my willpower not to immediately follow them. Teeth gritted, I turned to Azriel, "What the fuck just happened."