Cursebreaker and Fireheart

Chapter 26: The Rescue

"Where did she-" 

BOOM. I snapped my head towards the noise, my heart dropping. The woman I'd been speaking to gasped. 

"The Rainbow!" She cried. "She was heading for the Rainbow!" 

Where the explosion had come from. I thanked her quickly and sprinted back to Rhys. 

"The Rainbow!" I yelled, grabbing his hand. He winnowed us both to the center of the square before I'd even stopped moving. 

There was no way Aelin had made that explosion. There was no way she'd betrayed us. That wasn't who she was. I knew enough about her now to know that what she'd told me wasn't a lie. She really was here to help. 

When we appeared in the square, I felt all of the blood drain from my face. The main theatre had imploded, with pieces of white marble lying everywhere. The golden roof was still intact, lying in the middle of the rubble. A woman with white-blonde hair was trying uselessly to break through it. 

"What happened?" I ran over to her. She had a crazed look in her eyes as she met my gaze. 

"My daughter- my daughter is inside!" She resumed her attempts to break the roof. "TESSIA!! ANSWER ME!!"

I grabbed her arm and pulled her back out of the way. Before she could protest, Rhys was there, punching easily through the gilded roof. When he stepped back, I let go of the woman, who dove towards the opening just as a young Fae girl practically fell through, her thick braid stained with dust. 

"Mother!" She cried, throwing her arms around the woman. But then her eyes landed on me, and she let go of her mother, pointing back inside. 

"She's trapped! She jumped on top of me when the building exploded, and the male won't leave her!" 

"Aelin?" I asked, and at her frantic nod, I climbed into the hole. 

"Feyre, wait!" I could hear Rhys yelling at me, then punching the hole to make it bigger so he could fit. But I didn't wait for him. If Aelin was trapped somewhere, there was no way in hell I was just going to wait around for her to be crushed. 

I pushed aside some rubble and saw a tiny flame glowing ahead. 

"Aelin?" I yelled, coughing on the thick dust. "AELIN!"

"Here!" I heard from the flame. When I finally came up to them, Rowan was kneeling beside her, trying in vain to push a huge marble slab off of her legs. She was lying on her stomach, with her knees vanishing beneath the stone. 

"Feyre, where's Tessia? Did she get out?" Aelin demanded. I nodded, joining Rowan near her legs. 

"She's with her mother. What the hell happened?" 

"Hell if I-" She let out a strangled yell when we tried to move the block. The fire she'd summoned sputtered weakly. I immediately stopped moving. 

"I'm sorry! We need more people. I'll be back." I promised, and began picking my way back outside. I met Rhys about halfway there. 

"Is she in there?" He asked me, pointing behind me. I nodded. 

"She's stuck beneath a huge slab of marble. We're going to-" 

"Say no more." I looked behind Rhys to see that Cassian and Azriel had also managed to squeeze into the opening. 

"Perfect. Follow me, please." I led them back to Aelin, who laughed mirthlessly when she saw them. 

"Ah, the whole bat squad is here." She groaned. "Please get this damn rock off of me." 

"Hmph. You're lucky Rhys and Feyre are on your side." Cassian told her, going around to her other side. He rotated his shoulder a few times, and I could tell it still bothered him. "Otherwise I'd let you rot here." 

"Aw, it's cute you think I wouldn't eventually get out myself." Aelin managed to be sassy even in obvious pain. I tried not to roll my eyes. 

"Alright. Everyone grab on." Rhys said. Each male grabbed a corner of the slab, and I latched on to Aelin's wrists, preparing to pull her out. She closed her eyes, bracing herself. 

"Now!" They all lifted the block about a foot off of Aelin's legs, and I dragged her a few feet away, setting her down when she let a groan. 

"I do believe I broke a bone." She said through her teeth. I could see that her eyes were glassy, and she was trying to fight the tears. Rowan came over once they'd dropped the block back to the ground. 

"I believe you broke more than one, Aelin." He said, kneeling next to her and examining her legs. I tried not to look at them. She'd changed out of her assassin suit before she'd left, and the light green pants she now wore were marred with blossoms of red. I could tell she'd shattered at least one kneecap, from the angle of her leg.

"Damn it." 

"Don't worry, we have an excellent healer. For now, let's get out of here." Rhys said, standing up. "We can figure out what happened later." 

Cassian groaned, rotating his shoulder again. "Why is it, every time I see this queen, I get more injuries?" 

"Because you're an Illyrian baby who can't handle pain," Aelin called from the floor. Cassian rounded on me. 

"Damn it, Feyre, is everyone going to be calling us that now?" 

"Cassian," Rhys growled. "Now is not the time." 

Rowan scooped Aelin into his arms, and while she didn't make any more noise, I could tell she was in a lot of pain. I felt horrible for her. She'd risked her life jumping on top of a Fae she didn't know. If she hadn't had my trust before, she certainly would have now. 

I led the way back outside. We had to give Aelin to Rhys through the hole because Rowan was too big to fit while holding her. Aelin obviously didn't like being carried. Whether it was because of the pain or because she was used to doing things herself, I didn't know. But I wanted to get her to Madja as quickly as possible. 

"We're going to winnow back to the house, alright? Madja, our best healer, is already there." Rhys told Aelin, who was back in Rowan's arms at that point. She nodded miserably, closing her eyes and leaning her head against Rowan's chest.

"Wait!!" We all turned to see the mother and daughter from earlier running towards us. 

"You saved my daughter." The mother wept. "Thank you, thank you." 

"You're welcome. I'm sorry about your theatre." Aelin told her. "It was beautiful." 

"It can be rebuilt." The daughter, Tessia, smiled sadly at the rubble. "But I cannot. Thank you, Aelin. I assume you won't be staying in Velaris long enough to see the theatre restored?" 

"Probably not," Aelin said, smiling bitterly. 

"Well, I hope you return someday." Tessia bowed her head to the group and led her mother away, still crying. 

We winnowed home, but I looked at Aelin right before we left. She was staring over Rowan's shoulder at the rubble of the theatre. She stared at it as if it was the saddest thing she'd ever seen. 

Art by Gabriella Bujdoso!

Today is Winter Solstice!! Happy birthday to the greatest High Lady of them all, Feyre Archeron!! :D Feyre has always been my favorite of Sarah J Maas's leading ladies. I like Aelin and Bryce, but something about Feyre has always made me want to read her story more. Maybe it's just because it was the first series I read, but I relate to Feyre a lot. Also, again, I am a sucker for Beauty and The Beast retellings XD Happy birthday Feyre!!