A Court Of Fire And Pain

Old foes

Chapter 10 Aelin:

That man looked so familiar! He was wearing flowing clothes so I couldn't get a sense of his build. The name was just out of reach, but I knew I'd seen him before. He hadn't been just shocked about the coins, I knew that much. He recognised me. Somehow. His eyes had filled with pain as he met mine, but stayed silent. Whoever it was, they needed to be taken care of. Nobody could know I was here.

We walked from place to place, but never saw anything that looked like it would e a symbol. Finally Feyre came up with an idea.

"Hey you remember that man we both talked to our first day here?"

I looked at her, not sure where this was going. "Uh yeah.."

"Well I'm pretty sure he's a regular since he was there when we met too. We should just ask him."

I stared at her. "Won't he think it's odd how there are 2 ladies who know absolutely nothing about this place?"

She sighed like I was an idiot. "No. Because I told him we were working together on a project about this place, and that's why I asked him those questions. All we have to do is say we're asking people what symbol they think represents this town the most and he'll believe it's for the project."

That was actually kind of smart but I wasn't going to let her know that. "Fine. It's the best idea so far, so why not?"

She glared at me, but said nothing as we walked back towards the Duckling. Once we entered I saw that the man was indeed there, in the same seat as before. We headed over to him and his eyes flared with recognition. He gestured for us to sit down, and Feyre did, but I remained standing.

"How's your project going?" He asked with a smile. He seemed nice. I hoped I didn't have to kill him.

Feyre replied, since she obviously knew this man better. "It's going great! We only have a couple more things to write down!" The smile she wore was wide and almost fooled me into thinking she was genuinely excited. But I knew how to read people and it was determination, not excitement in her eyes. There was also pain, like she was recalling a memory.

She continued. "We have another question to ask you, if you don't mind."

I fingered my dagger. He would answer whether he minded or not, but I prefer to not raise suspicions.

"Ask away! I'm glad to help."

I almost felt bad for lying to him. Almost. Feyre grinned wider, which should have been impossible. "We were wondering, what symbol do you think represents this town the best?"

He stayed silent for a moment, probably to think. "I think... it doesn't really have a name, but our ruler uses it as his symbol. I can draw it for you if you want."

This time I spoke. "That would be great." I handed him a spare piece of paper and he began to draw. When he was finished he held the paper out to me. I planned to remain impassive, but once I glanced at the paper I felt all the color leave my face.

"What's wrong?" The man sounded worried. I forced myself to smile.

"You are an amazing artist." Indeed the drawing was perfectly drawn, the details wholly accurate.

He seemed relieved. "That you. I'm an artist, so I'm always happy to receive feedback."

Feyre stood up. "That's lovely. But we really need to go. We're on a deadline and need to get our project done."

She turned to leave, but I stayed. "Who is your ruler?' I asked in a quiet tone that promised death. Anyone in their right mind would answer me, but clearly this man wasn't normal.

He leaned closer and snarled, "We don't speak of him. And even you should know who he is. Now run along and finish your project. But never ask these questions to anyone else, especially that one. He might not take your questioning too kindly." With that, he leaned back, obviously done with me.

I turned and joined Feyre, who was waiting by the door. "What did he say?" She asked, but I just shook my head. Something was very very wrong.

For the symbol the man drew was a perfectly accurate and detailed Wyrdstone collar.

Feyre:

Celaena was obviously shaken by something, but for the life of me I couldn't tell what. Maybe she was still trying to figure out why that man was familiar. But it didn't matter. We had the symbol and now we could make the portal. I started to head back towards the inn, but Celaena stopped me.

"We're both going to have a lot of people come through, we need more space then the small inn room."

Good point. Instead we turned around and started to walk to one of the empty plazas. That was the plan, until we both stopped dead in our tracks, our noses flaring. My son.

That was the scent of my son. Without even looking at each other, we both started running in the direction the scent led. I had no idea how Celaena followed the scent since she was human, but I didn't care. We reached a dead-end at an intersection. There were 3 ways to go, the way we came, to the left, and to the right. But the scent had disappeared.

We turned around, about to head back the way we came, when an all too familiar voice stopped us in our tracks.

And a beautiful blond haired woman stepped in front of us. Her teal eyes flashed with anger as they met mine, but they quickly calmed into a suppressed rage. She smirked.

"I didn't think you would fall into this trap Feyre, I thought you were smarter than that. And you Aelin, my uncle told me you would make a good opponent."

I didn't care why she called Celaena Aelin. As her eyes met mine again I couldn't suppress the snarl that pushed at my throat.

"Ianthe."

No POV

Ianthe grinned at Feyre. "Hello again dear. It's been so long hasn't it been?" Her tone didn't match the cheery words. "I'm disappointed you fell into this trap so easily. But less work for us I guess. Don't worry. You'll be with your children soon, as long as you cooperate."

But Aelin growled. "I don't care who you are, but you will regret stealing my children."

Ianthe laughed. " Aelin, I doubt that." Then she turned serious. "I don't have a score to settle with you, but my uncle does. Oh, you should hear the things he yells in his rage! It was surprisingly hard to find someone to help us from the inside. You've managed to make the whole world be in debt to you, and still love you for it." She sighed like Aelin was a naughty puppy. "But we managed." Then she turned to Feyre.

"It wasn't that hard to find someone to help us with you. I'm not the only one with a score to settle." She turned and looked at the alleyway to the left. "You can come out now dear!"

Feyre stilled, as deep down she knew who would appear. But that didn't stop shock from numbing her body as a wild tool emerged from the shadows.