A Court of Fear and Longing

Chapter 39

This has nothing to do with the current chapter, but I was rewatching the Greatest Showman (10/10 would recommend), and this one scene called out to me. I thought of Azriel and Petrah😭. Thought I would share it. It doesn't perfectly match, but there you go. A little bit of sweet stuff before it gets real. And it really does in this chapter. 

Also, I want a ship name for those two, but I'd be terrible at making one up. Any suggestions? 

................

It was a dance, and one that Aelin had spent her entire life practicing. 

Not just the movements of her sword, her shield. But the smirk she kept on her face as she met each blast of darkness, as she realized over and over and over who her dance partners were. 

Where they advanced a step, Aelin sent out a plume of fire. Didn't let her own doubt show, didn't dare wonder if they could tell how hard it was to keep that fire contained. 

The dodged it. Avoided it. 

Waiting for her to plunge down deep, to make that killing blow they anticipated. 

And though her fire deflected the darkness, though Goldryn was a burning song in her hand, she knew her power would break loose soon. 

The keys were gone. And so were the gods. 

But there was still her, with the weight of the godly power on her shoulders, the magic of the twelve most powerful beings in the world slowly growing inside her each day. If she was gifted the powers all at once, she would have died, burned herself with each emotion. This was almost as bad. 

To feel the weight grow each day, to feel the need to let it go. The power was almost fully hers now. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Aelin lunged with Goldryn, spearing for Erawan as she raised her shield against Maeve. She sent a wave of flame searing for their sides, herding them closer together. 

But Maeve stopped. "For a god," she said, "You seem to be having a very hard time controlling your powers." 

Aelin laughed. "My power is fine. It's my hatred of you that's harder to contain." She attacked again. 

"Enough," Maeve slammed out her power, and Aelin lifted her shield, flame deflecting the onslaught. 

Her own power slammed into her, begging to destroy everything. But it wouldn't work. Not until the time was right. 

"I know your secret, Heir of Fire," Maeve crooned, and struck again.  

.................

"I never thought you'd do it, you know," Maeve said, her dark power coiling around her. "That you'd be foolish enough to put the keys back into the gate. What happened to that glorious vision you once showed me, Aelin? Of you in this very city, your worshipping masses crying your name. Was it simply too dull for you, to be revered?" 

Aelin plunged deeper into her power, Goldryn burning bright. 

Let her talk- let her gloat and ramble. Every second counted. Until the time was right. 

"I had always hoped you and I were equals, in a way,"Maeve went on. "That you, more than Erawan, understood the true nature of power. Of what it means to wield it. What a disappointment that deep down, you wished to be so ordinary." 

The darkness around Maeve writhed. "The Queen who was promised. The Fireblessed. The Goddess." She said. "I see nothing more than an assassin with a crown. And too much magic for your own good."