Manon's Child

Part 70

Aelin and her court arrive the next morning - earlier than I expected, but I'm not complaining.

We meet in the war room that afternoon, after Aelin had seen Dorian and got the few members of her court settled. Dorian himself isn't here at the war meeting, and Aelin keeps shooting me weird looks, but I'm ignoring it.

Around the table are me, my High Witches and Minne, Chaol and the Captain of the Guards and another soldier captain and Adarlanians, and Aelin, Rowan and the fae of her inner court. They're all looking at me, as I look at the map. Everyone's already been briefed on why they're here.

"The witches who tried to kill your king are hiding here," I say, pointing out the Ferian Gap. "It seems well protected, but on closer inspection, it isn't. They may try to overwhelm us with numbers, but I doubt they're properly trained."

"How many are there?" Aelin asks.

I signal Minne to reply. "Just over 7 covens," she says. At the humans blank stares, she clarifies, "About a hundred."

Someone scoffs. "A hundred? That's barely any."

"It was enough to almost kill our king," Chaol says quietly.

"It's more than us. And you're forgetting - they're witches. Humans are almost no match against us," I say.

"Which is why you called us fae down," Aelin says, easily catching my train of thought. She looks to me, gestures at the map. "May I?"

I step back, letting the Queen think.

"I'm assuming," she says, moving around the little war people. "That you'll want to do this, and have a few of us out here -"

We plan thoroughly and long into the afternoon. I am not surprised that Aelin is a great help - I didn't just call her down here for her fighting skills.

It takes awhile, but my plan eventually evolves into something much stronger. The fae will arrive in small numbers to lure them out. They should be able to dispatch them easily. Then the rest of us fly in. We can easily take over the resistance from there. It's not complicated, but it should work. 

"One last thing," Petrah says. "It would not be wise to forget that the Ferian Gap is one of the first places the witches gathered in Erawan's war. There may still be... stuff left over."

"You think that's a possibility?" Chaol looks mildly alarmed. 

"Unlikely," Petrah says. "Just -"

"Minne," I interrupt. "You were there. Anything unusual?"

She hesitates. "Not really."

"Not really or no?"

"There were rumours about the leader there," she says, "I don't know exactly what they were, because I was only there for a few days. Besides, I saw her - albeit cloaked - and there was nothing wrong about her, as far as I could sense."

"So be careful," Aelin says. "You're right - it's probably nothing. There are often rumours surrounding authority figures to make them seem more dangerous. And powerful. When are we leaving?"

"We'll need at least two days to get the weapons ready," an Adarlanian says. "Plus food                supplies -"

"Three days time." I say. "We'll leave in three days."

*****

Everyone's barely out of the room before Petrah and Bronwen round on me.

"We?" 

"I'm coming," I say coolly.

"Manon, you're -"

"If you dare say 'pregnant' as a reason I can't come, I will strangle you," I warn.

Bronwen shuts up. Petrah says, "Still, Manon, it's not -"

"Safe?" I round on them. "Do you honestly think I care? I am Manon Blackbeak-Crochan, High Queen of the Witches, Uniter of the Ironteeth and Crochans. Neither me not my witchlings will die in a petty battle with some traitors. Try to stop me if you want, but I warn you, it will end in your death."

Both my High Witches look like they want to protest, but wisely say nothing.

I turn to face the window. "They tried to kill the King of Adarlan. I know we are no longer together, I know that, but I love him. I know it's foolish. I have to get revenge on them, even if I never think of him again afterwards."

There's a moment of silence. I don't turn around, but I know they're bowing when they say in unison, "Yes, High-Queen."

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HI peoples,

for the second time today

yes i know this short is very chapter but the next one will be rly long  (like properly long) and given that this is the second update in a day im sure you can forgive it

anway on a different note, to all you peoples who get periods, do any of you get like trainwreck periods? so like obv ur usual period is shit but then one month your cycle comes and it's just like 10x worse for no apparent reason and then next month it goes back to normal? or is that just me? 

hope you enjoy this unusually short part (seriously it's only like 800 words) 

stay safe :)