A Court of Fire and Ash

Aelin

When I opened my eyes everything was black.
Pitch black.
No light, no fire.
There was a fabric over my eyes.
And I couldn't depend on my other senses.

Not in this form.

But I couldn't shift myself now.
I needed to have the element of surprise on my side.

But there was one thing I could do.
Free myself of those shackles.
I couldn't see the material but I bet it was that wood again.
Their weakness.
Theirs.
Not mine.

Freeing myself didn't take long.
And as I took the blindfold of I nearly burst out laughing.

A forest?
Who hides their victims in a forest?
In broad daylight?

But the feeling of laughing was gone as soon as I turned my head and saw Feyre laying on the ground covered in dirt and blood.
She didn't move.
And there was blood running out of her nose and ears.

This wasn't good.
I needed to wake her up.
Now.

„Feyre?"
I tried to push her as gently as I could but she didn't move.
„Feyre, wake up!"

„You don't need to try. She won't wake up. At least not now."
Shit.
I had been so distracted trying to wake Feyre up that I hadn't heard them coming.

It was that woman again.
The one with the blue stone on her forehead.
Only that now it wasn't glowing.

„I see you freed yourself from those shackles. Well I guess we were right about ash wood not being your weakness. We'll just have to find out what it is, don't we?"
She smiled at me like she was insane.

Her raven black hair fell over her shoulders and was adorned with a silver crown.
Her eyes were light blue and matched the blue stone, which was attached to the crown.
They were painted black and the black color made her eyes stand out.
She was wearing a white robe with silver ornaments, which shined in the sunlight.
She looked gorgeous.
But also insane.

And suddenly she wasn't alone anymore.
They were here again.
Wearing their masks.

„So, what's your weakness, my strange little bird from another world?"
How did she know that?
„Oh I can see that you wonder why I know that. Well I'm the one who brought you here. All I needed was this."
Suddenly her hands were filled with fire.
And again her followers bowed down.
Like she was a queen.
A leader.
Not just a crazy woman with power.

„Oh I'm getting bored. So I'll ask you one last time. What's your weakness?"
I wouldn't tell her that and she knew it.
I had to act now.
But as I wanted to stand up chains made out of fire tied me to two trees.
With every step she came closer I tried to free myself of the chains.
But every time I moved the chains burned my flesh.

And suddenly there was this pressure again.
It forced me on my knees and the pressure build the more I moved.

„Do you feel that, little bird? The pressure pushing you down. Well let me tell you why you feel that.
Last starfall I watched the souls falling through the sky as I usually do. But one soul was different. It glowed and it radiated with power. It looked like it was on fire. But the fire didn't stay with the soul. It fell down. And it found me. Heir to the long lost firewielders of this world. But I couldn't control it fully, it was like there was a part missing. The most important part. And it made the fire roar and attack. But now I finally found the missing part.
You.
And after you will have given it to me. I'll just have to kill the highlady and heir to the nightcourt and Velaris will be mine.
So now why don't you just give me the source of this power? You could prevent yourself from a lot of pain.”

Never.

So when the pain started I didn't allow myself to scream.
Not for her.

Why didn't the gods just take my power away from any world?
My power had been the price of forging the lock.
Why would they just give it to another person?
That didn't make any sense.

The pain went on and on.
I didn't know how much time had passed.
But I could feel that she became impatient.
Impatient with me not bowing to her.
Impatient with me not giving in to the pain.

But when Feyre started to scream something inside of me cracked.
It was like I broke out of the cage I had build around myself.
And there I was in my Fae form ready to destroy them.