When Manon awoke, she felt a great deal better. Her head was clear and her vision was keen as always. But her good mood only lasted a minute, for when she attempted to sit up to better examine her belly, she found that her arms and feet had been shackled to the bedpost with iron chains.
How dare they. How dare they! She wanted to scream and tear someone's throat out at the same time. Who did these mortals think they were? She was the Wing lead…
She was the heir of … of nothing.
Her anger dissolved and she collapsed onto herself breathing hard. She had to think clearly. If she was still alive, it was because they wanted answers. And if she was chained, it because they knew she was dangerous.
They were not fools then.
Right then, the door to her room opened and three people walked in. There was a woman, pretty in a mortal sort of way, with long flowing golden hair that cascaded down her back and keen turquoise eyes that studied her with a wisdom that surely surpassed her age. Manon felt intrigued. She did not smell like an immortal. Nor did she smell human. Demi-Fae she concluded.
Next to her stood a man. He was tall, with close cropped silver hair, like her own, and clear, piercing, pine green eyes. Every inch of him was corded with muscle and he seemed to radiate power. Even without the pointed ears and canines, Manon would have known that this man was pure Fae, and that the woman was his lover. She could tell by the way he stared at Manon, as if he would tear her in half if she so much as insulted the lady.
The second man stood behind the couple. He, too, was very lovely to look at, with dark raven hair that curled around a sharp porcelain face with keen, sapphire blue eyes, like pools of water. He smelled entirely human, but she could also sense the magic that ran through his veins. Despite the fact that he was human, there was something about the way he stood, his back straight and his chin high, and the way he regarded her cooly, without a trace of fear but still with respect, that reminded her of the braver humans she had met over the centuries, the kind that led men into battle, or the kind that went on to become kings or emperors. She wondered which one this man would be.
Behind them was another man. A very, very pretty man. He was slightly smaller than the silver-haired Fae, with blonde hair that curled endearingly around his pointed ears like a golden cloud, and dark onyx eyes that stood in stark contrast to his bronze skin. But Manon was not fooled by his beauty or by his canines and pointed ears. She snarled at him and allowed her iron teeth to slide free.
"Who is THAT?" She demanded.
"Oh" Said the woman with the golden hair, turning her head to face what Manon was glaring at. "That's just Fenrys, he is Fae"
"No" Manon said "He is not". She could scent him from where she was, the bitter smell of something rotten, something that had festered inside of him.
The beautiful man smiled then and started to morph into his true form. A monster. It sort of looked like a huge blue dog, at least the size of a small house, with rippling blue scales and beady yellow eyes. It snarled and lunged itself at Manon. But right then, the man with the pretty sapphire eyes reached out towards her and twisted his wrist, as though he were opening a door, and Manon felt her chains burst just as the monster hurled itself at her. Centuries of training kept her alive in that moment, and she slipped between the dog's hideous hind legs. She reached for Wind Cleaver, which was sitting on a table a good distance from the bed she'd been chained to, and stood up, glaring at the monster, and allowed her iron nails to slide free. Then something happened that made even Manon's blood run cold. The monster laughed. And it wasn't a deep growl, or the sort of sound you'd expect from such a beast. Instead, it sounded utterly human.
That's when Manon noticed that the beast's eyes, though yellow were almond shaped, with round pupils. Human eyes. Sickness unfurled in Manon's core. Could it be that this monster had been mortal once?
Then the beast began to speak.
"Hello Aelin Galathynius" It's voice was low and gravelly, and it sounded as though every word hurt to pronounce. It addressed the blonde woman, who drew out a sword with one hand and held a ball of fire in the other. The woman had magic too then. Interesting. "Erawan has sent me with a message" Everyone in the room tensed at those words. "He believes you have something of his and you should expect him to send more minions out to retrieve it. He is no fool, nor is he a menial crime lord that you can crush on a whim. He will come for you, and you would do well to surrender when he does." Then it turned it's ghastly eyes on Manon. It almost hurt to look at it. "As for you Crochan you and I have a debt to settle". It lunged at Manon who leapt out of the way with lightening speed and slashed at the beast's legs with her sword. But to her horror, the steel bounced off the creature's scaled as though they were made of rock. Manon did not have the slightest clue of what she might have done to this creature in it's past life. There were so many possibilities. So many people she had hurt, killed and tortured. But now wasn't the time to think about all that; so Manon threw her blade away and stood poised with nothing but her iron nails and teeth as weapons. Then, all of a sudden the air turned ice cold and Manon felt the tips of her fingers go numb as frost began to climb the walls of the cabin. The man with the raven hair and blue eyes stepped forward, his gaze fixed on the monster who began to freeze. It's hind legs buckled, as though someone had kicked them out from underneath them. The beautiful man's eyes seemed to light up with a kind of hunger that Manon knew all too well. He pressed his lips together and Manon noticed a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead. The beast was shaking now, seeming unable to move anything but it's eyes which were widening in what Manon assumed was pain and fear. She had seen that look many times in the eyes of humans before she spilled their throats. Finally the beast shuddered and collapsed completely. Finally the beast shuddered and collapsed completely. There was silence in the room for a while, as though no one was entirely sure what to do next. Finally, the one named Aelin Galathynius turned to face her.
"Why did he call you a Crochan?"
"It's a long story" Manon said simply. She did not feel like explaining the complexity of her heritage. Nor how she felt about it. The way something sparked inside her every time she thought of her mother, killed by her grandmother, the woman she had served her whole life, and her father…
Blackbeaks were not supposed to care who their fathers were. It did not matter, because they were not Ironteeth. But… Manon realized with disgust that she felt longing. A longing to know what it would have felt like to have been raised by two parents who loved her, who would raise her to be the one to break the Irontooth curse.
Manon shook her head and walked out of her cabin, fully aware of the heads that turned to watch her leave in curiosity, as if she were some kind of exotic, wild animal. She clenched her fists at the thought. She may very well be stuck on this boat for now, but soon she would find her grandmother and avenge not just herself, but her parents too. But that was a secret she would never, ever tell anyone. No one could know that the Blackbeak heir cared for anyone, much less parents she had never met.
Finally the beast shuddered and collapsed completely. There was silence in the room for a while, as though no one was entirely sure what to do next. Finally, the one named Aelin Galathynius turned to face her.
"Why did he call you a Crochan?"
"It's a long story" Manon said simply. She did not feel like explaining the complexity of her heritage. Nor how she felt about it. The way something sparked inside her every time she thought of her mother, killed by her grandmother, the woman she had served her whole life, and her father…
Blackbeaks were not supposed to care who their fathers were. It did not matter, because they were not Ironteeth. But… Manon realized with disgust that she felt longing. A longing to know what it would have felt like to have been raised by two parents who loved her, who would raise her to be the one to break the Irontooth curse.
Manon shook her head and walked out of her cabin, fully aware of the heads that turned to watch her leave in curiosity, as if she were some kind of exotic, wild animal. She clenched her fists at the thought. She may very well be stuck on this boat for now, but soon she would find her grandmother and avenge not just herself, but her parents too. But that was a secret she would never, ever tell. No one could know that the Blackbeak heir cared for anyone, much less parents she had never met.