Chapter 2/Feyre

I was sparring outside with a very hungover Cassian when I felt Rhys tug on the bond.

Azriel discovered a portal near the border of The Day Court. Wanna come check it out with me?

I knew that my attempts at sparring with Cassian would be futile so I quickly winnowed to Rhys. Who then winnowed us to the site of the portal.

We had landed outside of a clearing surrounded by dense trees. I took a few steps through the trees to get closer to this so called portal. As I pushed through the thick forest, sure enough there was a large glittering black portal with strange marks surrounding it. Rhys crawled on all fours behind me. What was my mate doing now? I just rolled my eyes and continued. Behind the clearing was the beautiful view of mountain tops. This place would be breathtaking at night, with the stars and moon. Suddenly a loud snort startled me and shook me from my thoughts. Rhys froze with expert stillness and I froze with slightly less expertise. I heard more feminine laughter and a

"Come and get it, you know you want to." A young female voice sang.

"Aelin, really." A flat male voice grumbled.

"Uh huh, do your worst." The girl sneered playfully, and she didn't sound like she could be older than 18.

The sounds of running echoed through the clearing and soon after I peeked through the trees to see two forms wrestling on the ground. Which soon turned to heavy making out on the ground. I looked back at Rhys feeling like I was intruding.

When are we going to reveal ourselves?

I want to know if they're dangerous before showing ourselves. What do you think?

I agree.

So we moved to sit on the ground. I got a glimpse of the woman's back through the heavy kissing and when her shirt came off and saw it was scarred, very scarred. As soon as the shirt came off, the male stopped the make out session.

"Come on Aelin, let's go. We can't have sex in a forest."

"Umm, yes we can. We had it on a beach. Remember?"

My eyes widened and I slapped my hand over Rhys mouth to cover the snort I knew was coming.

"Yes, yes, I do." The man grumbled, his annoyance clear.

However the woman listened to the man, and I heard the rustlings of a shirt being put back on. They had moved so we could no longer see them.

"Okay." The girl drawled. "Which way should we go?"

"I say left, towards the forest area."

"Well, I say right, towards the mountains." The girl replied.

"Rock, paper, scissors." The man challenged.

I heard the sound of their fists hitting their palms and when I heard the girl moan

"But, that's not fair, I challenge you to a rematch. Two out of three."

I knew she had lost. They repeated this seventeen times until the girl got tired of losing over and over again.

"Rowan." I could hear the smirk in her voice, she was so smug. "We're going right. I'm pulling the Queen card."

What. There was no way this teenage sounding girl could be a Queen, and with a male that sounded hundreds of years old, at least. Impossible. I then tried to entire her mind and found it shielded by an impenetrable wall of fire. I urged Rhys to try but he was locked out as well. I attempted to get in the males head but was blown back with an icy gust of wind. I staggered back at the power in that wind. Who had that type of power?

"Let's move bird-boy. I'm hungry, and for something other than meat on a stick." The female commented.

They walked to the left and I started walking trying to follow them and see their faces, when I stepped on a dry twig. The sound echoed through the clearing, and the pair, immediately stopped and scoured the area, and I caught a glimpse of weapons being unsheathed. Rhys grimaced behind me.

"Aelin, did you hear that?"

"Of course I heard that, I'm not deaf. There might as well been an elephant stomping through the forest these past minutes."

"What." The man questioned. It was really more like a demand.

"Haven't you noticed the footsteps and the hushed voices from the forest?"

When the man didn't reply, the girl began to cackle.

"You're... getting... so... old." The girl managed to squeeze out between her loud laughter.

"You wanted to have sex... even when you knew that there were people watching us from the forest." He stated flatly.

"What can I say, I'm adventurous. Now, now, don't be mad you didn't hear the two Fae, so let's just kill them and be done with it. Ten gold coins say that I can kill one of them in under ten seconds."

I heard Rhys suck in a breath. "30 gold coins say that I can kill one of them in under five." Rhys said obviously offended.

"Aelin, you are not fighting." The man stated calmly, as if it was obvious.

"Yes, I AM!" The girl screeched.

"No, you are not."

"Am too!"

Their bickering continued, and while I wondered what their relationship was, I could tell Rhys was getting impatient so I tugged on his sleeve and we left the tall, pine trees behind us and walked into the clearing. Standing with their backs to us, was a muscular male with long silver hair. Next to him was a female with blonde hair down to her collarbones. I noted a small crown made of fire flickering at the top of her head. As I looked closer I could see the tips of pointed ears through the hair. She was fae, it didn't seem like it though. Then I saw the array of weapons at their feet. There were multiple daggers, a set of twin blades, numerous swords, and a wicked looking hatchet. This might not be so easy.

Suddenly the pair whirled and I was so startled by the state of the female, I was almost impaled by a dagger. The man was handsome with pine green eyes, and a wicked tattoo down the side of his face. While the woman had an ancient look to her face, but was still impeccably beautiful. She had a frightening sneer that made me feel as if I was a helpless mortal and not a High Lady.

She was also quite obviously... pregnant. Now all their bickering made more sense. Rhys attempted to contain his laughter, but when multiple daggers were being thrown at his face, he became annoyed and plunged the clearing into darkness.