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But Evalin Ashryver held Aelin’s gaze, the softness turning hard and gleath of this thatinto her chest as she th of this
Evalin nodded
Cairn’s hissed threats danced through the coffin, his knife scraping and scraping
Evalin’s face didn’t falter You are hty bloodlines That strength flows through you Lives in you
Evalin’s face blazed with the fierceness of the women who had come before them, all the way back to the Faerie Queen whose eyes they both bore
You do not yield
Then she was gone, like dew under the ered
Blossoht as a kindled eer over the ht above her head "When I cut you up this ti to--"
Aelin slammed her hand into the lid
Cairn paused
Aelin pounded her fist into the iron again Again
You do not yield
Again
You do not yield
Again Again
Until she was alive with it, until her blood was raining onto her face, washing away the tears, until every pound of her fist into the iron was a battle cry
You do not yield
You do not yield
You do not yield
It rose in her, burning and roaring, and she gave herself wholly to it Distantly, close by, wood crashed Like so
Aelin ha and cresting, a tidal wave racing for the shore
"GetWould always be nothing
Over and over, she pounded against the lid Over and over, that song of fire and darkness flared through her, out of her, into the world
You do not yield
Soh the lid
But Aelin kept striking Kept striking until the sed her under and away
And when she awoke chained on the altar, she beheld what she had done to the iron coffin
The top of the lid had been warped A great hump now protruded, the metal stretched thin
As if it had co entirely
On a dark hilltop overlooking a sleeping kingdom, Rowan froze
The others were already halfway down the hill, leading the horses along the dried slope that would take them over Akkadia’s border and onto the arid plains below
His hand dropped froined it
He scanned the starry sky, the slu lands beyond, the Lord of the North above
It hit him a heartbeat later Erupted around him and roared
Over and over and over, as if it were a haing, fiery song charged closer Through hi bond Down into his very soul