A Court Of Fire And Pain

Chapter 27

Chapter 27 Feyre:

I stared at the blood soaked queen standing before me. There was nothing remotely human in her face. The fact that she had to go through that... if it wasn't for that I would be enraged that she didn't try to find Suriel. But she was broken. We all were for so many reasons. And we deserved to know why.

"I think we have all been keeping secrets, hiding our true power. There's no way Aelin could have escaped Orcus covered in chains without godlike power."

Rowan faced me with a snarl. "You've also been hiding things 'high lady'. How did you break through the defensive Wyrdmarks?"

I shook my head hurriedly. "I'm not insulting you or anything. We all had our reasons. We didn't know if we could trust each other and decided to play it safe. But we're on the same side now. We should know what we are capable of, and how we can combine our powers instead of separating them."

"You're right." Aelin looked at me and I saw a bleak emptiness in her gaze. "But first let me wash off."

Right, she was still covered in blood despite Lysandra's best efforts. We went to the main room where Cassian (Okay apparently I've been spelling his name wrong I think.) and the rest of my court had gone once we returned. We knew we should give Aelin space so they left. And it appeared that Azriel had brought some food and drinks.

A while later Aelin and her court entered. She looked much better already.

"First off, how long was I there?"

"About a week."

"Second, if this wasn't a dream, then how the fuck is Connall here?"

Oh. Right. Rowan explained everything with Connall occasionally butting in.

"Great. Now that I'm caught up let's get to discussing our powers."

I decided to go first. "We told you about all the courts here and their powers. Well I have a piece of each. I can summon Fire, Water, do a little shapeshifting, glow, control ice, heal, manipulate air, break curses and spells, control darkness, and read minds." I thought it over. "I think that's all."

Everyone was staring at me in shock. Well except for my court of obviously.

Aelin was the only one who seemed able to speak. "So basically you have less strong versions of my court's powers. Nice, continue."

Next Azriel explained his Shadowsinging abilities. To be honest I still didn't fully understand what it was. Then Cassian explained why he wore the red jewels (I can't remember what they are called) Rhys talked about his mind reading and darkness power. Then Mor and Amren, although they seemed to already know about her.

"Your turn."

Aelin started by putting a crown of flames above her head. "I control fire. I have quite a lot of it, possibly the most power currently in my world. Dorian would be equal if you managed to save his power Deanna."

Amren glared at her. "It's Amren. And we only had time for you. Be thankful brat."

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

"My power controls wind."

"I can shapeshift into anything I want."

"Iron teeth and iron nails."

"Possibly winnowing."

"A small bit of everything."

I looked at them. "What about Elide and Lorcan?"

Elide stared at me. "I am a simple human. No powers, no magic."

Lorcan was wearing an expression of despair. "I'm sorry but I'm useless! I gave up my power years ago. While I still have my Fae senses none of my other power remains. I'm sorry."

Elide took his hand and said, "don't worry. You're still strong."

I mean look at him. Magic or not he's not someone you want to cross.

Aelin brought my attention back to her by sending a spark of fire at me. "All of us Fae have heightened senses, and a small bit of healing powers. We can also shift into another form."

That's new. "Like what?"

The room was filled with bright light and when it cleared the room was filled with animals. There was a white wolf and a black one, a white tailed hawk, and Aelin was human.

"Wait..." something occurred to me. "If you can shift then why don't your children do it and get out?"

Aelin sighed. "They don't know how yet. I'm not sure they can or even what their animal forms would be. Besides I'm sure Urcus would have defensive Wyrdmarks to stop that from happening."

"Good point."

"And anyway Feyre darling, that would leave Suriel still stuck."

Oh yeah. I remembered that we should discuss weaknesses. "Another thing is that Ashwood is lethal to us. I'm not sure you have that in your world but as you can probably guess, it's a type of wood."

Aelin nodded. "For us Fae in my world a similar thing happens but with iron."

So that's why she was chained in iron. And why they avoided all our iron utensils. Whoops.

"Okay," Rhys began. "We know all our strengths and weaknesses. Great. Now we need to figure out what to do next.

Aelin:

I couldn't believe Feyre was so powerful. It shouldn't surprise me though. She was high lady after all.

Feyre's comment had me thinking. Nehemia and Lyria already showed signs of powerful magic at this young age. But most people gained full control around their teenage years. I didn't know if they had the power to shift yet. And if they did what would they be? Human or hawk like their parents? Or something different corresponding to their personalities? But this could wait until later. Rhys was right. We needed a plan.

Connall spoke up. "While I was living in the city I found a closed off area. It's near the castle. Once I saw princess Ianthe and a random man enter. I waited around to see what happened, and when they left the man was gone and the princess was smiling. And not a nice smile."

"So they have some sort of creature." I pondered. "It could be like the ilken or completely different. We are at an extreme disadvantage here. They know everything about us while we know nothing about them."

Connall grinned, "not true. I have a friend who has a friend working in the palace. I could go see if they have any worth while information."

I grinned. "Perfect! You do that."

"Will you be safe Connall?" Fenrys was worried for his brother for obvious reasons. I was still shocked he was actually alive and didn't know how I felt about him. But Fenrys seemed to be overjoyed at his return. Good for him, he deserved the happiness.

For some reason Azriel's gaze narrowed and turned angry at the brother's display of affection. This caused Feyre to furrow her brow and glance between them. I had no idea what was going on so I hit my fist against the table. That hurt a lot since my hands weren't completely healed but oh well.

"Okay listen up! Tomorrow Connall will go to his friend and find out whatever he can. Rowan and I will go check out the closed off area he talked about."

"I'll come with you."

"Okay and Feyre."

Rhys stood up. "If you think I'm letting you go off on your own Feyre darling you need help. I'm coming too."

"Okay... Anyone else? No? Good. This is a stealth mission. The rest of you should learn how to combine your powers in the best possible way. Our courts need to work together easily and efficiently."

Cassian grinned. "When you get back, wanna fight? Apparently you're one of the best where you come from. I want to test that out."

"Sure." Your downfall.

Rowan hauled me to my feet. "For now we should rest. Mor and Fenrys you are on watch tonight. See you in the morning."

I stumbled into our room and fell onto the bed. So soft. Iron doesn't do much for the body.

"Fireheart are you okay?"

I was already asleep.