p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"sO. Rowan and Co. will be coming back this chapter! I know this is earlier than most fanfics, but I don't know how long this story will be, and for progression, our favorite territorial fae need to be present/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" No. It was impossible. Impossible. Amren, beside Aelin, had gone equally pale, her wan lips forming silent words in a language she didn't know. The Inner Circle was staring, appalled at the reaction to a simple ring of stone. Amren took a step back, putting several feet of distance between herself and the Wyrdstone./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Aelin was tempted to join her. But she wouldn't run. Not when her family was back in Erilea, facing this same problem everywhere they turned. The letter, the main focus of the original message, lay forgotten in the candlelight. So instead, she took a breath, and said "That- is a Wyrdstone ring. No one touch it."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Small gasps ran around the table, Cassian planting his hands flat on the wood. "You mean those rings that the Kings use to control the Valt?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" "It's Valg." Amren corrected. "I think we now have bigger things to worry about than getting you home, Aelin." She held the letter in steady hands. "This letter- it reeks of powerful Valg. Somehow- somehow, they must have found to worldwalk like Maeve did. To get into another world besides Erilea. So they came for this one- that they know I'm in." The unspoken words lingered. The kings. The Valg Kings could possibly be here./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Aelin couldn't help a stab of empathy and pity for the millennia-old queen. She was different than any Valg she had ever met, and had tried so hard to turn her life around. Yet here they were./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" "Well," She said slowly, reaching for the letter. Once it was in her hands, even the embers inside her recoiled. The very essence sang of the Valg. It could have been residue from the ring, but it still made Aelin stand up straighter, taking a deep breath./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" She slid open the envelope, the letter sliding away. The short, cryptic message, was written in Wrydmarks- an archival variation that Aelin could barely read. Amren snatched it away, growing even paler as she read. Her hands didn't tremble, but she was taking slow, deep, breaths./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Azriel was nearly completely cloaked in shadows as the Valg Queen read the letter, bone white. In all of one moment, the letter slipped from her, and Amren braced herself against the table. "So..." Aelin said slowly, ignoring the sinking feeling staining her stomach./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" "Do you remember when Orcus came to find Maeve?" The feeling increased ten fold as the meaning of those words sank in./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Her tone held enough disgust and fear to portray her feelings on the topic. "Well," A long, heavy, sorrowful pause. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" "Mantyx has decided it's time to finally take back his wife." The world dropped out from beneath Aelin, leaving her swinging on open air./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" Rowan/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Rowan was on his knees, both Aedion and Dorian standing with a hand on each of his shoulders. That bond between them- it was fading, fading- fading as the figure of his Fireheart was fading. Her magic was pouring out, in crimson and gold and blue, weaving around her in a fiery web. Strands of pure fiery light, bobbing and twisting. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" He wanted to scream, yell, tell her to stop./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Her golden hair was shimmering in it's light, both terrible and beautiful as she faded around the edges. His only hope lay in those Wyrdmarks in her tattoo, the ones he had so slowly etched. To bring his mate home. That bond between them had been forged out of not just being mates and carranam, but out of pain and love and sorrow./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" And it was stretched thinner than he had ever felt it./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" A final, desperate tug and Aelin's magic flared up in a flame, burning a searing bright enough he had to blink spots from his eyes. When it faded away, the world was left hollow. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"His/em world was hollow. That bond was no more. Aelin was no more. His vision blurred, and tears poured down his face as the pain hit, only solidifying what he already knew./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Gone. Yet another twist the gods had thrown him. Behind him, he could hear the other's sobs, his own magic roiling in answer. Distantly, he knew that if anyone came near him, they would be blocked by a shield of ice. A shield- much like the one he taught Aelin to make at Mistward, months ago./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" All of a sudden, behind him, Aedion shouted something unintelligible. He didn't care what the general had to say. Rowan didn't even know if he could stand to look at those eyes, that hair. He had failed. He had failed, and his Fireheart wasn't coming home./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" A fist rapped on the icy shield. "Rowan! Rowan, you have to get up." It was Lysandra. He didn't respond, only felt another tear roll. "Rowan! You have to get up. She would have wanted you-" Her voice choked in a sob. "She would have wanted you to get up, and keep living without her."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Silence, before the shifter spoke again. "We all miss her. And I'm sorry." Slowly, the icy shield melted, leaving him on the ground. Aedion and Dorian had been pushed away when his shield went up, but Rowan stood and turned to them. He could feel the stares of everyone on him, assessing and weighing./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" They all stood in silence for long moments, while Rowan desperately tried to re-order his own existence. Dorian sensed it first, and he did as well, only moments later. Power. Pure, pulsing, power, coming from the rift in the world that Aelin had created./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Contrary to what Rowan had thought, it hadn't sealed. Instead, a swirling slash in the universe's fabric hung instead. Through it, flashes of worlds flew by, showing him towers and oceans and mountains. Different worlds. A portal. A portal./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" The same Wyrdmark he had created, had inked on Aelin, was flashing on the ground beneath it. He took a step forward, then another, before he kneeled by it. He knew- knew that he had to go through. His magic was basically dragging him, begging him to go through./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" The others had noticed what was happening, and most likely had guessed what Rowan was going to do./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" To his surprise, it was Lorcan who grabbed his elbow. "Whitethorn. Nothing will bring her back. She's gone. There's no point in throwing yourself into a mysterious portal-" Rowan threw him off, snarling. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" "You don't understand." The words were ragged, broken. "That is the Wyrdmark I made to let her come back. When she was thrown in there-" He gestured wildly at the portal. "That would take her back." br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" / Silence reigned. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Lysandra stepped forward, her eyes clear despite the tears. "I'll go." Aedion tensed but agreed. Fenrys was next, along with Chaol and Dorian. The latter caused a stir because Dorian needed to be there to rule Adarlan, and someone needed to lead the armies. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Rowan was growing more and more impatient. He was moments away from lunging through the portal. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Finally, they decided on a group of 4. Rowan, Fenrys, Aedion, and Lysandra. Everyone else needed to stay behind because of their leadership positions. Aelin's court stared at the portal. Before Lysandra said, "I swear if we don't go through right now-" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Rowan had already stepped into it. He wouldn't accept that Aelin was dead. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" And he was heading home. Home, because his home was not where he lived or breathed, but where Aelin was. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" He was heading home. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" No. It was impossible. Impossible. Amren, beside Aelin, had gone equally pale, her wan lips forming silent words in a language she didn't know. The Inner Circle was staring, appalled at the reaction to a simple ring of stone. Amren took a step back, putting several feet of distance between herself and the Wyrdstone./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Aelin was tempted to join her. But she wouldn't run. Not when her family was back in Erilea, facing this same problem everywhere they turned. The letter, the main focus of the original message, lay forgotten in the candlelight. So instead, she took a breath, and said "That- is a Wyrdstone ring. No one touch it."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Small gasps ran around the table, Cassian planting his hands flat on the wood. "You mean those rings that the Kings use to control the Valt?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" "It's Valg." Amren corrected. "I think we now have bigger things to worry about than getting you home, Aelin." She held the letter in steady hands. "This letter- it reeks of powerful Valg. Somehow- somehow, they must have found to worldwalk like Maeve did. To get into another world besides Erilea. So they came for this one- that they know I'm in." The unspoken words lingered. The kings. The Valg Kings could possibly be here./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Aelin couldn't help a stab of empathy and pity for the millennia-old queen. She was different than any Valg she had ever met, and had tried so hard to turn her life around. Yet here they were./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" "Well," She said slowly, reaching for the letter. Once it was in her hands, even the embers inside her recoiled. The very essence sang of the Valg. It could have been residue from the ring, but it still made Aelin stand up straighter, taking a deep breath./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" She slid open the envelope, the letter sliding away. The short, cryptic message, was written in Wrydmarks- an archival variation that Aelin could barely read. Amren snatched it away, growing even paler as she read. Her hands didn't tremble, but she was taking slow, deep, breaths./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Azriel was nearly completely cloaked in shadows as the Valg Queen read the letter, bone white. In all of one moment, the letter slipped from her, and Amren braced herself against the table. "So..." Aelin said slowly, ignoring the sinking feeling staining her stomach./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" "Do you remember when Orcus came to find Maeve?" The feeling increased ten fold as the meaning of those words sank in./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Her tone held enough disgust and fear to portray her feelings on the topic. "Well," A long, heavy, sorrowful pause. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" "Mantyx has decided it's time to finally take back his wife." The world dropped out from beneath Aelin, leaving her swinging on open air./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" Rowan/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Rowan was on his knees, both Aedion and Dorian standing with a hand on each of his shoulders. That bond between them- it was fading, fading- fading as the figure of his Fireheart was fading. Her magic was pouring out, in crimson and gold and blue, weaving around her in a fiery web. Strands of pure fiery light, bobbing and twisting. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" He wanted to scream, yell, tell her to stop./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Her golden hair was shimmering in it's light, both terrible and beautiful as she faded around the edges. His only hope lay in those Wyrdmarks in her tattoo, the ones he had so slowly etched. To bring his mate home. That bond between them had been forged out of not just being mates and carranam, but out of pain and love and sorrow./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" And it was stretched thinner than he had ever felt it./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" A final, desperate tug and Aelin's magic flared up in a flame, burning a searing bright enough he had to blink spots from his eyes. When it faded away, the world was left hollow. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"His/em world was hollow. That bond was no more. Aelin was no more. His vision blurred, and tears poured down his face as the pain hit, only solidifying what he already knew./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Gone. Yet another twist the gods had thrown him. Behind him, he could hear the other's sobs, his own magic roiling in answer. Distantly, he knew that if anyone came near him, they would be blocked by a shield of ice. A shield- much like the one he taught Aelin to make at Mistward, months ago./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" All of a sudden, behind him, Aedion shouted something unintelligible. He didn't care what the general had to say. Rowan didn't even know if he could stand to look at those eyes, that hair. He had failed. He had failed, and his Fireheart wasn't coming home./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" A fist rapped on the icy shield. "Rowan! Rowan, you have to get up." It was Lysandra. He didn't respond, only felt another tear roll. "Rowan! You have to get up. She would have wanted you-" Her voice choked in a sob. "She would have wanted you to get up, and keep living without her."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Silence, before the shifter spoke again. "We all miss her. And I'm sorry." Slowly, the icy shield melted, leaving him on the ground. Aedion and Dorian had been pushed away when his shield went up, but Rowan stood and turned to them. He could feel the stares of everyone on him, assessing and weighing./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" They all stood in silence for long moments, while Rowan desperately tried to re-order his own existence. Dorian sensed it first, and he did as well, only moments later. Power. Pure, pulsing, power, coming from the rift in the world that Aelin had created./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Contrary to what Rowan had thought, it hadn't sealed. Instead, a swirling slash in the universe's fabric hung instead. Through it, flashes of worlds flew by, showing him towers and oceans and mountains. Different worlds. A portal. A portal./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" The same Wyrdmark he had created, had inked on Aelin, was flashing on the ground beneath it. He took a step forward, then another, before he kneeled by it. He knew- knew that he had to go through. His magic was basically dragging him, begging him to go through./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" The others had noticed what was happening, and most likely had guessed what Rowan was going to do./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" To his surprise, it was Lorcan who grabbed his elbow. "Whitethorn. Nothing will bring her back. She's gone. There's no point in throwing yourself into a mysterious portal-" Rowan threw him off, snarling. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" "You don't understand." The words were ragged, broken. "That is the Wyrdmark I made to let her come back. When she was thrown in there-" He gestured wildly at the portal. "That would take her back." br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" / Silence reigned. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Lysandra stepped forward, her eyes clear despite the tears. "I'll go." Aedion tensed but agreed. Fenrys was next, along with Chaol and Dorian. The latter caused a stir because Dorian needed to be there to rule Adarlan, and someone needed to lead the armies. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Rowan was growing more and more impatient. He was moments away from lunging through the portal. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Finally, they decided on a group of 4. Rowan, Fenrys, Aedion, and Lysandra. Everyone else needed to stay behind because of their leadership positions. Aelin's court stared at the portal. Before Lysandra said, "I swear if we don't go through right now-" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" Rowan had already stepped into it. He wouldn't accept that Aelin was dead. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" And he was heading home. Home, because his home was not where he lived or breathed, but where Aelin was. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" He was heading home. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p