Divided (Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses Crossover)

Chapter 47

Aidan and the others stood around the table in House the Wind, studying the map that Cassian was marking up. There had been several more attacks in the Spring Court, and there was no news from Lucien or Elain, Feyre's sister. 

"I don't really see a pattern. It looks like she's just attacking villages that are easily accessible," Cassian explained, marking an X on another village. 

"I don't understand why she's even doing this. Those villages aren't any threat to her," Mor said, 

Aidan snorted and said, "Does she need any reason to do anything? She's Maeve."

"She could be doing it to lure us out. She wants the mirror, and probably something more. She wanted to make Rhys a blood-sworn," Feyre said quietly. 

"What exactly is a blood-sworn?" Cassian asked, looking at Aidan. 

"For centuries, Maeve collected males with the blood oath, who were obedient only to her. They could never leave her service unless she broke the bond. I'm guessing that by travelling through the portal, the bonds broke because once she was gone, Connall was able to do what he wanted. They did everything she wanted them to."

Rhys grimaced and said, "What do we do? Do we wait for to attack and kill another village? We have no idea which one she'll hit next."

"We can start moving the Illryians down the continent. They're getting antsy as it is," Cassian replied. 

"Fine. We should also send messages to the other High Lords. Day is very set on getting revenge for Helion, so they'll be a reliable ally," Rhys said. "I hate to say it, but we might need Tamlin to win this."

"Absolutely not," Azriel growled. "He almost killed Aidan." 

"Aidan, what do you think?" Rhys asked, looking around Azriel. 

She peered down at last remnants of the bruise Tamlin had left on her arm and then up at Azriel's pleading face. 

"Tamlin is a coward, and he almost killed me. But he's one of the most powerful people in Prythian. You're going to need him against Maeve," Aidan said reluctantly. 

When Rhys nodded, Azriel asked, "How do you know we can trust him? He's turned on us before."

"We can't trust him. But we need him, Azriel," Rhys said, ending the discussion. 

They all stared at the map for while longer, studying the towns that might be targeted next before going off one by one. Aidan and Azriel were the last ones sitting around the table. 

Quietly, Azriel asked, "Are you ready to go home?"

"Yeah," she yawned.

Azriel picked her up and flew her through the darkening Velaris sky. He didn't put her down when he landed, carrying her through the apartment to his bedroom and laying her down on the bed. 

He started to say something, but she didn't hear it as she was pulled down into sleep. She felt his arms go around her, and she snuggled against his chest. 

Her dreams were filled with people and places she'd never seen before , speaking in a language foreign to her tongue. Different symbols and words kept flashing before her eyes, and each one came faster and faster until she thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest.

She let out a low scream and jerked away, fighting against Azriel's massive arms and wings. She felt like she was drowning and couldn't get enough oxygen.

"Shh, you're okay. It was just a dream," Azriel said, trying to soothe her. 

Aidan's heart continued to race and sweat poured down her back. He rubbed her shoulders in an attempt to rub the dream away.

When she caught her breath, she said, "Azriel, we need to go back to the House of Wind."

"Why?" he frowned. 

"I'll show you. Please," she whispered, and he nodded. 

A few minutes later, Aidan had Cassian's red marker and was drawing all over the map of Prythian.

"We were looking at the map all wrong. Cassian said there wasn't a pattern, but there is," Aidan said as she went. 

Azriel watched her intently as she drew lines through the map, connecting towns that had no real correlation. 

When she was finished, she capped the marker and looked down at the swirling Wyrdmark on the map below. 

"What is it though?" he asked. 

"It's a Wyrdmark. Aelin had me study them while I was staying with her," Aidan breathed. 

"What does this one do?"

"It looks like Maeve is going to open up a giant portal with this. The blood spilled at these villages must bind the Wyrd," she stopped. "And it looks like she only needs to raze these three villages in the Summer and Winter Courts to complete it." 

"Our army is about a week's journey from the Summer Court," Azriel said. 

"We'll have to hope we're not too late then," Aidan replied. 

Hey everyone! I have three more chapters left in the works! Thank you so much for reading, commenting, voting, and sticking it out until the end. I don't think I ever would have finished so much of this without you!