Hellfire

Aedion

Aedion yawned, stretching. Lysandra had been awake before him, and was washing up quietly. Aedion was glad to see her in her preferred human skin, and not wearing his cousin's, which she did almost all the time now. That couldn't be helped, Aedion knew, for their allied needed to know that Aelin was with them. Needed to be reassured that the Queen of Fire was still burning. Even when the rest of them knew she was far from it. Aedion rubbed his face as he sat up, the darkening thoughts threatening to overcome his body. He felt her ever-changing scent hit him as she sat next to him, the mattress groaning.

"We will get her back, Aedion," Lysandra said quietly.

"I know we will," Aedion responded, lifting his face to meet her gaze. "But we don't know when and we don't know in what condition." Lysandra's green eyes were steadfast. "It matters that we get her back. Then we work from there." Aedion nodded, cursing himself. He needed to be the General right now, the General Wolf who commanded the Bane and who had slain a Sea Wyvern with one arrow. "You're right." Lysandra smiled sadly. "At least we can agree on that for now." He chuckled quietly before standing and stretching. Frantic knocking sounded on the door. Half a second had Lysandra shifting in his cousin's face. He flinched a bit, the sight punching a hole in his heart. He strode to the door, yanking it open. A guard stood there, one of Ansel's soldiers. "What is it?" he asked gruffly. But it was to Lysandra - wearing Aelin's skin - that the guard looked to. "Your consort has returned."

Lysandra played the part well. "He has?" Her tone lifted, and Aedion knew the hope rising in her voice was not faked. Aedion and Lysandra followed the guard onto the deck of the ship. They had arrived in Orynth only a day ago, as they had stopped a few times along the way to get supplied and check on Melisande. The man handed Lysandra a spyglass, and she trained it on a small ship nearing their fleet. Rowan's silver hair glinted in the morning sun. Suddenly, light flared, and a hawk was soaring towards them. Rowan reached them, and shifted back in flash of light before his feet reached the deck. Lysandra put down the spyglass and faced him. "Welcome back," she breathed, smiling, then looked to the guard. His face reddened, and he descended into the ship to presumably let the rest of the fleet know that Rowan had returned.

"Did you get her back?" Aedion's voice cracked as he said the words. Rowan nodded, and Aedion felt the tears begin to build in his eyes. "Thank you," Lysandra choked.

"I need you both to come with me," Rowan said, his eyes bright once more. Aedion's own eyes narrowed. "To the ship. There are matters to be discussed." Lysandra nodded, folding up the spyglass and placing it on the deck. They turned towards the stairs and found Rowan's cousin Endymion striding up them.

"Rowan. Good to see you have returned," said warmly, clasping his forearm. Rowan nodded, then leaned forward and whispered something in his cousin's ear. Aedion caught the last of it. "...tell no one." Endymion's face changed, growing contemplative, then nodded, shifting with a flash of light and soaring off.

"What did you say to him?" Lysandra asked, hurrying to keep up with Rowan's quick steps as they made their way to the small ship. "He will meet us on the ship. I want to explain everything to him. He's good at negotiations, formal meetings, that sort of thing, and I think he'll be useful when we confront Darrow."

"You could have run the decision by us before you went and told him," Aedion growled, his nerves loosening her tongue before the words fully processed. Rowan glanced at him. "I could have, but you would have likely shot it down, losing our chance of having a foothold against Darrow." Aedion opened his mouth, but Lysandra gave him a look that told him to not push it. So he held his tongue. Eventually, they boarded the boat, and slipped below decks.

"Lock the door behind you, Aedion," Rowan called up to him as they filed down the stairs. He made quick work of the door before following Rowan's quickening footsteps that led into the dining room. Lysandra's breath caught, and as Aedion strode towards her, he stopped remembering how to breathe.

"Hello, Aedion," said Aelin.