hearts of metal

xxi. are you mad?

"Dude, fuck no," Fenrys was saying, gesturing widly with his hands.

Vaughan rolled his eyes, while Aelin watched on in amused confusion from the edge of the living room.

Fen noticed her by the door and waved her over, cutting off Vaughan. Both sets of eyes fell on her, before the two started talking in overlapping sentences.

"We were just-"

"-had a question-"

"-talking about you-"

"-is it true?"

Aelin blinked at them. "Um, what?"

The two settled down, exchanging glances.

She strode over to join the two on the couch. "Have you seen any of the others today?" The house was suspiciously quiet since yesterday's events, and it left her feeling a bit uneasy. She'd fallen asleep with Aedion by her side and awoke to find him nowhere in the house.

Vaughan broke in, "business stuff."

She raised an eyebrow. "How much do you know about the 'business?'" she asked, finger quoting the word with a small smirk.

Sheepishly, the two exchanged glances. Vaughan explained, "Fenrys is only just getting more involved, though he knew about it before. Rhoe likes to wait till we turn 18 for the official stuff. I'm usually more involved, but you know. Concussion." He waved to his head.

Aelin frowned. "Right. How's your head?"

"Totally fine," he said, but Aelin and Fenrys sent him skeptical glances. "Anyway," he continued, "circling back around to our original question-"

"Oh, yeah," Fenrys jumped. The two started talking over one another again, before Aelin stopped them with a hand.

"Vaughan, talk," she said.

"Okay, so we heard a rumor and we wanted to know if it's true. Did you actually kill a man with a hair pin, once?"

She snorted, before realizing the two were dead serious. Gods above, people actually talked about that? "Uh, kind of. He didn't die, just had to go to the hospital. And he had a knife when he wasn't allowed to, so you know."

The two nodded solemnly, before Fenrys suddenly smacked Vaughan across the shoulder.

"I told you it was true!" Fenrys exclaimed.

"Ow," Vaughan complained, clutching his shoulder. "I'm injured, remember?"

Fenrys rolled his eyes. "You have a concussion. Your shoulder is fine, dumbass."

The two settled back into the couch pillows. Cautiously, Aelin asked, "it doesn't bother you at all?"

They sent her startled glances. "You being Adarlan's assassin?" Vaughan asked.

She nodded, fingers playing with Sam's locket.

"Oh, Ace. We've seen plenty of bad things. Nothing you could do would drive us away," Vaughan said, shifting closer to her. "We love you."

Aelin felt tears spring to her eyes. Vaughan immediately pulled her into a hug, and she sniffed against his shoulder. Fenrys moved to her other side, so that she was sandwiched between the two.

It had been so long since she'd felt loved. Not since Sam and Ben, and the fact that her family didn't hate her despite the truth sent a reassuring warmth through her.

Between the two of them, she felt that perhaps she'd found more family than she'd bargained for. Despite not being blood, the two on either side of her felt as much her brothers as Aedion.

She basked in their warmth, before pulling away with a watery smile. "Love you too," she breathed.

A smile lit up Vaughan's face, and she turned to find a similar one on Fenrys' face.

"Aw, how cute," came a droll voice.

She turned, embarrassed to find Lorcan and Connal by the door, Lorcan having been the one who spoke. Instead of showing her embarrassment, she sent him an obscene gesture from the couch.

He smirked and waltzed across the room, sitting on the couch opposite them. Connal simply turned on his heel and left, causing a frown to arise on her face. She sent his twin a confused glance, and Fenrys shrugged.

"I think," he said, "you should go talk to Connal."

Aelin got up and waved goodbye to Fenrys and Vaughan, all but ignoring Lorcan who was unfazed. She found her nerves buzzing slightly as she followed Connal's figure towards the garden.

When she arrived, she found him sitting on the porch right outside. Cautiously, she sat down beside him. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," he said shortly.

Silence flitted between them as they observed the garden. Aelin turned her head to find Con's jaw clenched slightly.

"Are you mad?" she asked. She started fiddling with her locket again, but stopped once she noticed.

"No."

Another few seconds stretched out in silence.

"You were awfully quiet last night," she started.

"Fine, damn it!" he said, and Aelin jumped. She didn't think she'd ever heard Con raise his voice, but he immediately slumped and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "Maybe I am mad, Ace."

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"Are you?"

She hesitated. "I'm sorry you found out like that. But what was I supposed to do? Tell the strangers I just met that I'm secretly some underground fighter?" she reasoned.

He sighed. "I get that. I just thought that by now...Did you not trust us?"

"I was scared of your reaction," she admitted. "I didn't want you to hate me."

Con sent her an alarmed glance. "That's not what this is. I don't hate you, Ace, I just wish you'd told me."

"I know. I wish I'd known about the mafia, though," she reminded.

He winced. "I did vote for telling you. Rhoe and the others were against it."

Aelin ignored the flicker of irritation she felt at the thought of them hiding it from her. Despite it being for her protection, Aelin was far too used to fending for herself to accept it easily. Even now, she had no idea where her father was. She didn't exactly like being left in the dark.

But she thought she understood where Connal was coming from. It wasn't her intention to push them away with this. "I really do trust you, Con," she said earnestly.

He glanced at her, dark brown eyes examining. "Good, I'm glad," he finally answered. "I have another question, though."

"Shoot," she said.

"Did you already know about the mafia?"

And she was exposed. Aelin figured she'd simply admit it, with a sheepish smile. "Yes? How'd you know?"

"You're a decent actor, but I'm pretty good at sensing lies." Note to self, avoid lie detector Connal when doing something that'll get you in trouble. "How'd you know?"

"You were all pretty suspicious," she said. "You really expected me to not be curious?"

Con broke into a small smile, which Aelin considered a victory. "Yeah, you're right."

"I'm always right," she said smugly, earning her a nudge and an eye roll.

"Don't let it get to your ego."