Cursebreaker and Fireheart

Chapter 31: The Meeting

Aelin didn't know Tamlin. She'd never even met him before. But the moment he'd walked in the room, she'd known exactly who he was. Looking at the male, she couldn't fathom how Feyre had ever been in love with him. He was so different from Rhysand it was almost funny. 

Even if she hadn't been told the whole story, Aelin would have known exactly what type of male Tamlin was just by seeing him. He reminded her so much of Arobynn in the way he acted, the way he moved. She wanted nothing more than to take the knife hidden under her dress and do a number to this bastard's face. 

She felt Rowan's hand gently squeeze her arm, and she blinked, tucking that anger into a corner of her mind. She'd have to deal with that son of a bitch later. 

"Well, I suppose I should start at the beginning." She told the assembled High Lords. Feyre nodded encouragingly at her, so Aelin took a deep breath and began to talk. 

She told the High Lords everything she knew about the gods and the Lock. She explained what she'd gone through to forge it, and what they believed had happened to it now. She talked about the magic running loose in both their worlds, her and Feyre being pulled together, Deanna attacking Orynth, and finally, stealing the Cauldron. 

When she told them about the gods taking the Cauldron, Beron slammed his fist onto the arm of his chair. "I knew you bastards took it!!" He pointed an accusing finger at the Night Court. "What gave you that right? You-" 

"Calm yourself, Beron," Helion said lazily. "They probably only hid it to keep it out of your sticky paws. Everyone knows what you'd do with unimaginable power." 

Beron flapped his mouth like a fish, his face red. Aelin glanced over at Rhysand and saw that he was smiling a bit. 

"Let the queen finish, Beron," He said, waving his hand and releasing his hold on the High Lord's voice. "We can fight over the Cauldron later, when it's not in the hands of an enemy." 

"Which, we know for a fact it is," Aelin said. "And not just because of the eyewitness seeing it occur. They used it to attack the Night Court a few days ago, destroying a theatre that Rowan and I were in at the time." 

"How are you alive, then? We've all seen the Cauldron's power. It can wipe out entire armies," Tarquin said, leaning forward. 

"Feyre and I had actually talked about that," Aelin replied, looking over at Feyre and recalling one of their conversations from the day before. 

"I believe the gods have done something to it. We know they stole Aelin's magic from her Lock, and it's been running all over worlds. But since we've been seeing my magic as well..." Feyre hesitated and met Aelin's gaze again.

"We thought that maybe they'd somehow figured out how to remove Feyre's magic from the Cauldron." Aelin finished. "So by removing the magic she gave to fix it, they've somehow made it weaker." 

"That would explain how you survived a blast from it." Thesan mused. "But if they've done that, how are we still here? The Cauldron would have broken." 

"Maybe they've stabilized it with their own magic," Kallias suggested. "They certainly have enough." 

"But this doesn't make any sense!" Viviane said, resting her chin in her hand. "If the gods have so much power, can't they close the door in their world themselves? Why do they need Prythian's magic?" 

"That is a very good question," Aelin said, mildly impressed. "The truth of the matter is, we still don't know a very big chunk of what's happening here."

"Which puts us at a disadvantage. Which is why Aelin called this meeting," Rowan said. "We need to prepare for whatever it is the gods will be attacking with, whether it be the Cauldron or just themselves."

"And how do you propose we prepare for this?" Tamlin said. Aelin resisted the overwhelming urge to throw a fireball at him and laced her hands together. 

"I have a plan." She said mildly. The room was silent as the High Lords waited for her to elaborate. She didn't.

"Well? What is it?" Beron finally hissed. Aelin smiled slowly. 

"You all know of the methods I took to get here, yes?" 

"Wyrdmarks, you mean," Tarquin said, repeating the word warily. 

"Yes. Wyrdmarks can do more than open doors, however. They are a language of magic, and are capable of many things... including holding things in place."

"You mean a trap?" Helion mused. "What are you proposing we trap?" 

Aelin's grin only grew. "Not trap. Tether." 

"Tether?" Kallias repeated. His gaze was swiveling between Aelin and Feyre, who'd begun to smile wryly as well. "I'm not sure I like the sound of that." 

"Well, it's quite simple," Aelin said, crossing one leg over the other. "Feyre told me what occurred when the Cauldron was used in battle. So, we have to take it out of the equation." 

"You want to tether the Cauldron?" Tarquin mused. "It's not a bad idea, except for one thing. Do you know where it is?" 

Ah. Well, she'd walked right into that one. 

"I have a few ideas, but I wanted to ask all of you, as you're more familiar with this world," Aelin admitted. 

"Ideas are useless if you don't have solid information," Tamlin said, his tone icy. "The Cauldron could be anywhere. And how do you suggest we get to it? If what you say is true, then it will be heavily guarded by beings of impossible power." 

"Well, we have two advantages to that," Aelin replied, leveling her gaze to the High Lord of Spring. Gods above, she really hated him. The fact that he wore a shade of green similar to hers made it worse, somehow. Green was her color. "Deanna doesn't know I'm here. She believes you all are still clueless about this situation, so we have the upper hand. And..." 

Aelin raised a hand, flicking her wrist and sending a flame snaking around her palm. She watched Tamlin's eyes flick to the fire, then back to her face, now looking rather unsettled. 

Good. Let the bastard squirm a bit. "The Cauldron is not all I plan to trap using Wyrdmarks. And once Deanna is neutralized..." 

Aelin closed her hand into a fist, snuffing out her fire. "I'm going to roast that bitch for threatening me and my kingdom."

Art by alrooney art!!

I finished Queen of Glass (the original draft of Throne of Glass) last night and I AM NOT OKAY. I read it because I didn't want to leave Erilea and the characters of Throne of Glass, but I was thrown into an almost completely different story that ended on a freaking cliffhanger!!! I am upset. I literally know all of the answers to the mysteries that were left unanswered, and I'm still upset. Technically it was a happy ending, but it was left open for more, and I just AAARRGGHH. 

It was seriously amazing tho. There's a lot that I wish had been left in the published Throne of Glass, like Aelin's relationship with Galan and another character named Raal. Also, the fact that Aelin loves to dance. I know in Throne of Glass she loves music, but in Queen of Glass she danced the primary lead in a ballet sequence and it was absolutely beautiful, to me at least.