afflicted

41

"All I'm saying is if we set the building on fire, she'd have to come out and then BOOM, sneak attack," Eris said dramatically, using his hands to mimic an explosion, complete with sound effects. Vera looked at him with sheer disbelief, shaking her head before she rolled her eyes and sighed, burying her head in her hands.

"There are so many issues with that plan," Vera grumbled into her palms.

"Name one," Eris said, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I am going to kill you," Vera said slowly, eyes wide.

"You guys hear how abusive she is?" Eris said in mock surprise, looking around at the group who just stared back at him blankly. The room was awkwardly silent for a moment before Vera caved and smacked his arm.

"I see the vision, man," Cassian nodded, and Nesta smacked him, too. Cass pursed his lips and glared at her as he rubbed the sting on his arm. "Hateful."

"The problem is that there's no room for error," Callie sighed, leaning back against Azriel's chest. "We only have one chance to make the stone work. We have no way to test it out beforehand."

"We go first," Azriel said, his voice a rumble at Callie's back. "She'll be heavily guarded. We go first to ensure your path to her is clear." Callie nodded, mulling it over in her head, trying to visualize any possibilities of it backfiring.

"Even when I get there, I'll have no idea how to wield the stone," Callie said, chewing the insides of her cheeks nervously.

"I wish we had those damn books," Az huffed, and Rhys perked up.

"I do," he said happily, standing and leaving the room, coming back with a huge stack of old books in his arms. He sat them on the table in front of Callie and everyone grabbed one, skimming through them in search of any kind of answer.

"Do any of these have like... pictures or something?" Eris fussed, holding the book in his hands like it was a foreign object.

"Aw, Fey, at least now you're not the illiterate one," Cassian chuckled, and Feyre gasped, chucking a pillow viciously at Cassian's head. He laughed harder, catching it easily and tucking it behind his head. Nesta shook her head like she couldn't believe who she was mated to.

"I'm not illiterate, you prick," Eris grumbled.

"Can you two fuck off?" Azriel scowled, looking angrier than he typically would've. He'd been very on edge since Rhys had mentioned that only healers could use the stone. He'd told her that he couldn't lose her again, that it would kill him. But they'd both known there was no other options.

"Listen, man, no need to be a grump," Cassian laughed, leaning forward to pinch Az's cheeks, promptly getting his hand swatted away.

"Does the fact that Callie could die not mean anything to any of you?" Azriel barked out. "This is not a joke. If we don't prepare for this, we will all die. Callie is our last hope and I'm not sending her into a mission blind." Callie rubbed Az's thigh soothingly.

"It's okay," she whispered to him, but he shook his head and scoffed, looking out the window as he bit his nails. She didn't even have the heart to correct the bad habit.

"The problem we're running into here is that I don't believe anyone ever actually used the stone. From my reading, I have understood that it was created as a precautionary method only. The way they had shut the gates before had required a lot of sacrifice and several wyrdkeys. We have none of those things." Rhys said, flipping the page of the book in his lap, eyes scanning quickly as he kept talking. "But it was created by a healer, and allegedly, only a healer could ever use it banish a higher ranking Valg. At least that's what I understood."

Callie chewed her lip, nodding.

"My friends have graciously allowed us to stay here but required that in turn we do nothing to expose their people. But maybe if I speak with him, we can get weapons and other things," Rhys mused. Cassian and Azriel's heads whipped to him, brows furrowed.

"So, we're..." Az began but stopped.

Rhys nodded.

"Miriam and Drakkon have allowed us the protection of the shield that has hidden their people from being seen or remembered for many generations," Rhys admitted. "They've done much more than they should have ever been asked from us. But if we don't succeed, the continent will die."

Everyone stared at the floor in a depressive silence. There was so much pain and so many regrets shared among the members of this group. There were wounds that would never be fully healed.

Nyx started crying a few rooms over and Feyre rose gracefully, walking into the bedroom with her soothing mother voice on, clicking the door shut behind her as she fed and changed him. Rhys looked longingly at the door, like he wanted to join but didn't know how. Callie hadn't really considered how all of this might be affecting their relationship, especially with a newborn.

"We'll start in the morning," Rhysand said, clearing his throat. "We'll draft a plan and decide everything. Everyone take tonight to get some rest and think things through. Hopefully someone will come up with something helpful." Everyone nodded, quietly peeling off to do their own thing.

Rhys and Azriel talked quietly with one another before heading outside, likely finding a place to talk. Callie yawned, stretching like a cat before heading back to their bedroom and curling up underneath the blankets. She closed her eyes and moments later, darkness consumed her.

A blonde woman snarled, blood trickling down her forehead as she screamed, fountains of fire raging from her hands and consuming the army before her like they were nothing to her. Bodies fell to the ground as the battle raged. The air was thick with the smell of burning hair and flesh.

A woman stood beside her, wielding a power Callie couldn't quite understand.

"Yrene!" The blonde woman screeched, making the girl duck as she hurled fire over her head and at the Valg that had been slowly approaching from behind, hoping to ambush her.

The woman blinked like something had just occurred to her mid fight.

"Aelin!" She yelled at the blonde. Aelin blasted back the front four lines of Valg effortlessly, the wind whipping to her aid and spreading the fire across the field and consequently across the rest of the approaching army.

"Fire purifies," Yrene said, panting as though she had exhausted her abilities. "That's why it kills them. Your fire banishes their darkness." Aelin's brow furrowed as she thought this through. With a banshee like scream, she released as much fire as she could, all at once, like she'd only ever done below the surface of a lake months ago.

"Aelin!" Yrene yelled again, but the blonde Queen was so deep in her own rage that nothing could reach her there. The flames roared all around them, stealing the air and making Yrene feel like her skin was melting from her bones. More to herself than anyone, Yrene started placing the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind.

"You need fire," she said under her breath, eyes searching the scene before her. "Only light can cast out darkness. Only goodness can destroy evil. In order to defeat the darkness, one must be worthy of deciding what deserves to stay, and what must leave. A Queen of Ash and Flame to vanquish a Prince of Darkness."

Callie gasped, sitting straight up in her bed. Her hair was stuck to her neck with sweat, and she felt like she'd truly been breathing in smoke. She coughed, sputtering as she hunched over, feeling like she was dying, like her lungs had been poisoned.

The door banged open and Azriel stood in the doorway, panic etched into his every feature. He was across the room in an instant, pulling Callie into his arms, not even noticing how sweaty and gross she was. Callie kept coughing, feeling like soot had deposited in her lungs. Once she finally gulped down a breath, she looked up at Azriel, a smug smile on her face. His brows furrowed and he looked apprehensive.

"I know how to wield the stone," she sighed in relief, wrapping her arms around Azriel's middle and holding him tight.