A Court Of Fire And Pain

Dismay

Chapter 24 Aelin:

It could have been years, days, or seconds since I'd been in here. My fist was raw and bloody and the lid remained intact. And slowly the conviction that this was some kind of trick faded away.

This was real.

I had never left. I had been here this entire time. I didn't have children, nor did the rest. I was only 19. I never lost my power for the lock, I never saw Feyre and Rhys on the mountain.

Feyre and Rhys weren't even real. They were made up. Some sort of trick.

At least this meant Gavriel and Connal were still alive. Not that that would help me in any way.

Now I was questioning everything. If I never left that meant I never saw Chaol after he returned from the healers. So he might still be in a wheelchair. And did that mean Yrene was also fake? Everything was so confusing.

And it was so dark. And cold. I had no idea what was real anymore. I couldn't bring myself to pound against the lid anymore. What was the point?

Nothing mattered anymore. The world would move on and I would still be here, forgotten.

Then I heard someone outside of the coffin. "I'm glad you stopped your little tantrum." I shrunk back in fear. "We wouldn't want to hurt you anymore now, would we? You've given us what we needed and I've been ordered to stand down. But that could change. So please, give me a reason to open this lid."

I stayed quiet and he laughed.

"I thought so."

I heard his footsteps that indicated he left the room. But even when he was gone I still didn't feel safe.

Gods how I hated Cairn.

Lyria:

I wrinkled my nose in distaste. "Ew. Can you smell that?"

Nehemia's voice sounded to my left. "No. Must be too far away. What is it?"

Figures. Because of my blindness my other senses were even better than a normal Fae. "Someone's scared. Like very very scared. And feeling.... what's the word for when you have no hope?"

"Erm.... hopelessness? Dismay?"

"Yeah that's it. That's the scent I'm getting."

It could be a lot better than I thought it was, since there was a lot of dismay in this room. Especially coming from the strange boy to my right.

"Oh and there's the scent of the guy with the changing voices. That's probably why they're scared."

"Can you tell who it is?""

I concentrated. Then my blood ran cold. "No." I muttered. "That's not right."

"What is it?" Nehemia was getting impatient.

"It's mother."

Rowan:

I frantically flew back towards the rendezvous location. Once there I told Rhys to contact everyone and call them back. Once we returned to night court I shared what I saw.

"Did you find Aelin?" Feyre asked.

"No. But I found something else. When I flew past one of the windows I got a glimpse of something. An iron coffin."

Feyre's court looked disturbed by the thought of a coffin, but the rest knew the implications of this find.

"Shit." Aedion breathed. "This is bad. Even if we get her out she might not be able to recover."

"Wait, I feel like we're missing something," Rhys cut in.

This would be tough. I explained what our past experiences with the iron coffin had been. By the end of it they were all pale. "Well that's not good. But we're not sure she's in there."

"Oh she's in there all right. A Valg would want to thoroughly break her. There are only 2 things she's afraid of. Losing the people she loves and that coffin. And he knows it."

"We need to get her out of there," Lysandra ran her fingers through her hair. "I won't let her endure that again. Last time I was no help to her. This time will be different."

I nodded. "We need a plan, fast. We can't leave her in there for too long, or who knows what she might do."

I didn't say it aloud, but all of us who were on the first rescue mission remembered how Aelin was willing to kill herself by the end of her first imprisonment. Outwards I appeared calm, but inside I was boiling with rage.

She had endured enough. She deserved a break, a time where she could be free. Even though the past 6 years had been peaceful, I could tell she wasn't comfortable. Aelin wasn't cut out for politics. She needs adventure and freedom, not the shackles of a crown.

Not that I would ever say that to her. She still felt that she owed her people, that she was to blame for their suffering. And I knew she would never help herself, instead she would only focus on others.

And now this. Oh I was mad

I know this chapter is shorter but at least I did it. Yay.