Cursebreaker and Fireheart

Chapter 18: The Wyrdgate

"I'm so sorry, Feyre."

The Wyrdgates are open once more.

"She will not be yours to control."

I snapped awake, and once again found myself sitting up in bed. It took a moment to realize why I couldn't breathe. My shoulder was still burning with pain. I sucked in a broken breath, my throat dry and cracked. My vision slowly cleared. 

I was sitting in my bed, but this time I was alone. I shoved off the blankets and stood up, but immediately regretted it. My head spun so bad I had to sit down again, clutching my throbbing temples. I blearily heard a door open, and suddenly Rhys was by my side. 

"Feyre, what happened?" He demanded. When I looked up at him, he was staring at my shoulder. I risked a glance at it and almost vomited. The skin was red and raw, covered with ugly blisters. 

"I... Deanna came... an archer... Aelin burned me to wake me up." I managed to say. His eyebrows lowered, and he met my gaze. 

"We need to get you to a healer. Come on." Rhys scooped me up in his arms, and I was in too much pain to protest. When he turned around, I got a glimpse of our bed. I felt myself go numb. The covers were blackened and scorched, the pillows covered with ash. Did Aelin really hurt me that badly?

Rhys carried me gently down the hall to a spare room and set me on the bed. I let out an accidental hiss of pain when his hand brushed my shoulder. He stilled, then pulled his hands away and sat next to me. 

"I've told Az to get Madja," Rhys said. "She'll be here soon." I nod, not really wanting to talk. "Feyre... you said Aelin burned you to wake you up. Were you in some kind of danger?" 

I nodded. An archer named Deanna showed up. I told him through the bond. She was one of the gods who attacked me the first time, I think. She seemed to know Aelin and Rowan. 

Rowan? Rhys repeated. I decided to just show him what had happened. I let down my shields, and let him see the whole scene play out. I felt him grow angrier and angrier by the end. 

"So Aelin saved your life again." He said. I nodded. "But who is this Deanna? We still don't know why they're after you!" He looked so furious I thought for a moment he was going to throw something. "We probably know even less now than before." 

I rested my hand on his, squeezing gently. "We know a name. Which is more than we knew yesterday." I winced when another flash of pain lanced through my skin. "And we know that Aelin is on our side. Or at least, opposite the side of the gods." 

"Holy Mother." I heard from the doorway. I didn't even have to look to see that Cassian had arrived. "What the hell happened?" 

"Stand back, please." A new voice ordered. Madja came into my line of sight, her face set in stone. Azriel and Cassian also came closer, the latter looking rather angry. 

"This doesn't make any sense," Cassian growled. I assumed Rhys had already filled them in. "Az and I combed through the library yesterday. We never saw any mention of a goddess named Deanna." 

"You might try older books," I suggested through my teeth as Madja began working on my shoulder. "Aelin said she found a very old book about Prythian in her own library. But Deanna's not all we need to look for. We need to know more about-"

A gasp escaped from me as Madja's magic finally sank in, cooling the burn. Cassian finished my thought. 

"Word-gates?" Cassian asked. "What is a Word-gate?"

Gate. Elain had said something about a gate. I looked around and saw that she was hovering in the doorway. Her eyes were glassy. 

"Not word. Wyrd." She said. Everyone else turned to look at her. "W-y-r-d. Wyrd." 

"Wyrd?" Cassian repeated. Elain nodded. 

"The gate I saw... it's something called a Wyrdgate. A doorway between worlds." She seemed to realize we were all staring at her, even Madja, and blushed slightly. 

"A doorway between worlds?" Cassian said, a slight hint of humor in his voice. "That doesn't sound good."

 Madja straightened up, the last of her magic seeping into my shoulder.

"There. That should help." She said. I glanced down at my shoulder. It did look much better. All the blisters were gone, but the skin was still a slight pink. I moved it experimentally, pleased when it didn't hurt.

"Thank you." I told Madja, sitting up."That's much better." 

She smiled at me, nodded at Rhys, and left the room. 

I stood on shaky legs, leaning against the bed for support until Rhys took my arm to prop me up. "Maybe this means something. I left before I heard what Deanna was planning. What if she's planning on coming here?" 

"It's entirely possible." Azriel mused. "But didn't you say she was after Aelin?" 

"Yes, but they've also made it clear they're after Feyre as well," Rhys said. 

"We can worry about their plans later," I said. "For now, we need to learn more about Deanna, and what Wyrdgates can do." 

"Don't tell me we're on library duty again." Cassian moaned. I tried to hide my smile, but ultimately failed. Rhys noticed, and I saw him suppressing his own grin despite how severe our situation had gotten. 

"Sadly, yes. We're all going to be looking this time. Except maybe Amren." He said, looking at the doorway. Elain had vanished, probably because of the attention we'd been giving her. Amren and Mor now stood in the doorway, Amren looking mildly vexed. 

"I refuse to be stuck in there all day." She said. "However, I was planning on a visit to Adriata. I can see if anyone there knows anything about a goddess named Deanna." 

"Thank you." Rhys told her. She nodded once, then was gone. Mor came into the room, and her eyes went right to my shoulder. 

"Do you think Aelin meant to injure you so badly?" She asked, eyeing me warily. 

"I can never tell with her," I said, sighing. "She seems to do whatever the hell pops into her mind. But she also seems like the kind of person who has a plan for everything." 

"In other words, she's unpredictable," Mor says, smiling slightly. "Gee, do we know anyone like that?" 

I honestly could not tell if she was looking at Rhys, me, or both of us. 

Art by Maggie Palmiter!

I am taking a lot of liberties with Elain's Seer powers, but only because we don't really know the extent of it. She only used it once or twice in ACOWAR, so I'm just kind of assuming she can see important stuff when it affects her. 

Also... I actually do not know how Wyrd is pronounced. I have always pronounced it like "Word." I don't know why. I know that's probably not how it's pronounced officially, but whatever, it worked with the chapter so eh. :P