Aelin watched, still bound to the table, as Cairn staggered back in the face of Fenrys's attack, shock and fear scrawled across his face as he defended against the male strong enough to break a Blood Oath. To break a Blood Oath to Maeve.
And then a grim smile slid back to his lips as he came to the same conclusion she had a moment before.
Horror flooded her at the thought. To break a Blood Oath was to die.
Cairn only had to hold out until then.
Dodging Fenrys's attack, Cairn whirled round to grab a weapon from the brazier.
Seeing his distraction, Aelin began to tug. She yanked with all her might at the chains embedded in the table, and to her surprise, they began to move.
Weakened by the immense heat, the metal slowly yielded the chains to Aelin as she pulled, leaving her hands chained together, but free to move.
She remained still on the table as Cairn was slowly forced back towards her.
With a final snarl, Fenrys leaped at Cairn, shoving him down onto the table on top of her just as Cairn swiped a red-hot blade along his side.
With a small whimper of pain, Fenrys fell back, and Cairn began to rise.
Quick as a snake, Aelin sat up and wrapped her hands around his neck, using the chain to strangle him and pull him back to lie on the table, howling at the heat.
She pushed him down, but her muscles had been weakened by months of disuse, and he shoved her to the ground, her ankle snapping as the chains on her feet were freed from the table.
As he sat back up, however, he was met face first by a mouthful of fangs.
As he struggled to keep Fenrys at arms length, Aelin mustered up the last of her strength and, pushing past the screaming in her broken ankle, stood.
The last thing Cairn saw before he crashed into oblivion was Aelin, a desperate fire sparking in her eyes as she swung a glowing red poker at his face.
Wincing, Aelin lifted Cairn's dagger and sliced it across her palm as she knelt before the white wolf. "Drink," she rasped.
Fenrys lapped up the blood pooling in her hand and she drank from a wound on his forepaw.
And then Aelin gave her first command to the new Blood Sworn warrior before her. "Live."