Cage of Darkness

Chapter 20

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~

Blood, there was so much blood on her.

It matted her hair, it covered her skin, her clothes, it seemed to be all over her skin, staining it a crimson red. 

Rowan's own blood heated as he saw the slashes in her clothes, as he saw the source of all that blood.

But he suffocated the wrath burning in his veins, and hid it away, for now. 

Rowan silently carried Aelin in his arms as he walked out of the palace of stone. Gavriel, looked at him, about to ask something, but then saw Aelin in his arms and stopped completely still. Rowan shook his head no, at the question in the Fae male's tawny eyes.

Gavriel whooshed out a breath, and Rowan noticed Lorcan, Elide, Fenrys, and Connall walking towards them.

They all stopped right in front of him, and they seemed to have gone through the battle mostly unscathed.

Lorcan had a nasty scratch on the side of his head, but he barely seemed to notice it as he spoke. "Maeve, is she... is she dead?"

The rest of the group blanched at the question, even Elide.

Rowan took a deep breath in and said. "Yes, Aelin killed her, and for now Doranelle is under Aelin's rule."

Fenrys nodded at the answer, his face a bit lighter than it was a few weeks ago, even in the grim circumstances. "I can't feel the blood oath anymore, it just feels like it had been cut."

"Who handles the politics of Doranelle," Lorcan asked, his dark eyes still gleaming with the spark of the battle.

"Gavriel, Fenrys, and Connall will for now, we will figure out the rest later." Rowan replied. "We need to see who is dead and who is just unconscious, and then dispose of the bodies, starting now."

Rowan turned and walked away, not bothering to see if they listened to him or not. He carried Aelin in his arms as he walked through the streets, which were quiet and noiseless, so different than the usual life filling them.

His residence in Doranelle seemed to be the only option for him right now, but it might have very well been given away.

The manor loomed up in front of him now, the Whitethorn manor. But Rowan simply just passed it, and turned to the small house at the edge of a river.

Rowan smiled at the house, it was small, but it was where he would go to when his cousins became too nosy, or just when his own manor became to large.

The door to the cabin gave way easily as he coaxed it open, and then walked towards his room.

Gently setting Aelin onto the bed, Rowan smiled at her.

Gods, he had been going literally out of his senses these past few weeks. All of what he had been thinking about was her, and now... now Aelin was here, alive and safe.

She had saved herself and killed Maeve while doing it. The power she wielded... it was the strongest Rowan had ever seen of her. He was not afraid of her flames, no, he would never be afraid of her. He afraid of what that power might do to her, of what the power would bring for them back in Terrasen.