Throne of Glass and ACOTAR Crossover (complete)

Chapter 47 - Aelin

I can't breath. We are so close, so damn close, and we're going to fail because of this great lump of useless bastard. I can sense Rowan beside me, his anger rolling off him in tangible waves. I want to tear the king apart, want to feel his blood on my hands as I watch the life leave his eyes, but I can't move. I'm frozen to the spot. 

Rhys is smiling, but it's a strained smile. "Hello Majesty, How've you been?"

The king grins at him, more a baring of the teeth than a smile. "Why don't you ask your lovely little mate there? I enjoyed the pleasure of her company these last weeks."

Rhys swallows hard, but doesn't reply. I wonder why, and then I realize. He's waiting for Feyre to say something. But she doesn't look as though she's going to. Her eyes have gone glassy, her stare vacant. She's gone, where I don't know. 

Hybern's smile widens. 

Finally, to break the awful silence I say "Where are you lackeys? Scared to have an audience for your defeat?"

A shadow of fury passes over Hybern's features, but he hides it quickly. "They're off fighting a war dear, they don't have time to deal with minutia."

"And you do?" Rowan's voice is hard and cold, like ice and biting winter wind. 

"I just wanted to see Rhysand's face when he lost." the kind replies, "the powerful warrior, bowing at my feet. I've been waiting for it for far too long."

Rhys breaths out, a heavy sound, but doesn't do anything else. His eyes are still glued on Feyre, as though he's trying to pull her thoughts out of her head, to find and fix whatever's hurting her. Suddenly his posture relaxes, the barest hint of a smile playing over his eyes. 

Hybern, his gloating eyes glued on Rhys, notices and narrows his gaze in suspicion. I almost want to mirror him. What could possibly cause Rhys to calm down at a moment like this?

"Something you'd like to share Rhysand?" Hybern inquires.

Rhys just smiles, a real smile and says "Yes, many many things actually. 1. I would like to share my complete and utter contempt for you. I hate you with a passion. You are simply awful. You are a bit of meat that got left out in to sun so long, that you began to rot. You are to out world as an infestation of maggots is to a meal." His tone is cheery,  happy. 

He continues "I would also like to mention that you have absolutely abysmal decorating tastes. I mean, really. Thousands of years of time, and you couldn't set up a single ornamental rug? I curtain? Nothing?"

I flick my eyes to Rowan, only to find him staring back at me, my own confusion mirrored in his face. Has Rhys actually lost his mind? 

Hybern seems to be thinking along the same lines. He's frowning slightly. "What a shame. You really were a great commander Rhysand. On the wrong side of history, yes, but I had hoped that once your pretty little dreams were rubble you would come to see things from my point of view. We could have built a shining new empire together."

"I don't think anybody's going to be empire building any time soon" Rhys says, his voice now as serious as I have ever heard it.

"Hybern's eyebrows draw together at the abrupt change. "And why is that?" the cheery note has gone from his voice too. 

"Because" Rhys says, as though to a very small child, "You forgot to watch Feyre."

My eyes whip to the place where Feyre is standing, where she was standing. 

I don't know how she did it, but she's gone, the spell holding us in place broken. 

Hybern notices at the same moment I do. He whips his head around the room. 

I find her, standing at the far side of the room, over a black mass I recognize as the cauldron. She looks at it, then back at us. It's hard to tell with the distance and the dark, but I think she's crying. 

Looking at Rhys, her mouth forms words. "I  love you"

Then she drops the book into the cauldron. 

Hey All!

Sorry for the long wait, I'll try to post more often. 

With that in mind, it will probably be a little bit until the next update, as I will be posting several chapters at once.

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