A Court Of Fire And Pain

Uncomfortable speeches

Chapter 31 Rowan:
I stood and faced the doors in front of me. As soon as I opened them I would begin to explain to everyone what was going on. It was a lot and now that I was here I understood what Aelin meant. To send these people back into a war... it had to be done. So I opened the doors and stepped out into the balcony.
Hundreds of people stared at me. It had never bothered me before. But now it did.
"People of Terrasen. I'm here to ask for a favour. We all remember Erawan, and the war, the horror he spread. You all remember what I told you about the Valg. Well there's something I hadn't told you, something I hadn't deemed important at the time. Erawan has two brothers."
The people began to mutter.
"One of them is dead. But that still leaves the oldest and most powerful Valg king alive. And angry. He is hell bent on making us suffer for killing his brother. So about a month ago..." My voice broke. And I let it. To ask someone to do this, they should see me as a person. "About a month ago Orcus kidnapped Princesses Lyria and Nehemia, and Prince Sam."
There was a swell of voices as everyone began talking at once. I held up my hand and they quieted.
"I know what you've been through the past years. So I am not forcing anyone to do anything. But I am begging you, not as your ruler, but as a father, please help me get them back."
Families began to whisper to each other. I swallowed down the lump that had formed in my throat. "Queen Aelin is in Adarlan as we speak trying to convince them to fight. And we have new, more powerful allies. So we won't be going into this unprepared. If anyone decides to fight, Lord Aedion will be here tomorrow to lead. Thank you."
Before I turned around, the entire crowd bowed. This wasn't unusual in itself, after all, I was the prince. But it wasn't like that. There was understanding in that pose. They all knew what it was like to lose the people you're closest to.
And that's when I knew they would fight.
They would help me. And I wasn't quite sure I deserved that.
As I made my way back outside to draw the portal I passed the stables. As soon as I neared it demented screeching came from within. Right, that was another thing. I had seen Manon make her way over to me many times the past weeks, but Dorian always held her back. I knew what she wanted.
So I entered the stables to find all the horses and stableboys  pressed against the wall, as far away as they could be from the wyvern.
I just sighed and went up to him, still keeping my distance though. I put my hands up and tried to appear non threatening.
"Hey Abraxos."
He sniffed at me which I took as a good sign. "I'm here to bring you to Manon."
He perked up at her name. Poor guy was just lonely. Dorian talked about him sometimes. Apparently he was always by Manon's side. I understood what it was like to lose a mate.
I reached out to him. "Okay, if you want to see them you have to work with me." I opened the pen door and Abraxos stepped out. "Good. Let's do this."
Aelin:
Dorian and I landed in an empty square a little ways away from the castle. As we made our way towards it he had to drag me away from multiple chocolate stalls. They just smelled really good.
When we were only a few steps away, I stopped.
Dorian turned and faced me. "What are you doing? Aren't we going through the gate?"
"Well that was the plan... but I decided against it."
"Why? They know who we are, they'll tell Chaol we need to speak with him."
I shook my head. "Having two royals would attract unwanted attention, and cause a bigger stir than we need."
In truth, I was stalling. I was not looking forward to this conversation. So.... "we're going to sneak in!"
Dorian facepalmed. "Of course we are. I should have known. If we get caught you're taking the blame because I will shapeshift and get away before anyone sees me."
I waved my hand. "Yeah yeah yeah whatever. We won't be caught."
So we ended up clinging to a wall around 40 feet up. We still had to climb a small bit upwards to reach the window I was aiming for.
Dorian was panting beside me. "Why.. did I... agree to this?"
I laughed and continued to climb. When we reached the window my prediction was correct. There was nothing to stop us from entering. I was about to reach through when Dorian shouted.
"What are you doing! There are clearly wyrdmarks there!"
Right. "Those are only targeted towards the Valg. We can go through no problem."
"Ok then..."
As I said, we entered the hallway without any trouble. When someone passed by I spoke loud enough for them to hear. "The letter on the King's desk seems really important, I wonder what it's about. That should draw his attention. Dorian led me to Chaol's office, where we sat and waited.
Soon enough, the door opened. He inhaled sharply then sighed. "I should have known. How did you get in?"
"Through the window down the hall."
"There are doors you know."
"Yeah but where's the-"
"Where's the fun in that, I know. Now tell me how to up my security."
"Your Wyrdmarks only affect the Valg, but they have humans and Fae working for them so it's kinda useless. And it's made your guards lazy. We walked right up to the wall without them noticing, and they never looked up once."
Chaol sighed again. "Alright. Can you get out of my chair?"
If it was anyone else I would have stayed out, but I knew how Chaol's legs tired out. So I stood and we switched places. Dorian gave Chaol a quick hug then stood beside me.
Chaol sat down and glanced at us. "So what do you want?" Straight to the point. Fine.
I took a breath. "We need your help. More specifically, Yrene."
Chaol bolted up but I continued. "I don't want to ask this of you. But it's been almost a month. My children could be dead or worse. And now we know what we're up against. Orcus and Vaughan and many other powerful enemies. There's no way we can defeat them on our own."
"So you want Adarlan's army and Yrene."
I nodded. "Yes. Yrene is the only one I know who can kill Orcus. Any aid you provide will be a great help, and we aren't alone. If you help us we have many powerful Fae that can protect Yrene. It won't be like last time. She'll be safer."
Chaol shook his exhale " No. There is no way I'm putting her up against Orcus. He's even more powerful than Erawan!"
"I can't take that as an answer. Please. I need them back. Sam and Lyria. And Nehemia."
His eyes locked onto mine at her name. And he understood what I was implying. It was dirty of me, but necessary. He had let the original Nehemia die. But he could save this one.
He put his head on his hands and leaned forward.
"Fine. We'll talk it over."