Maeve's Daughter ~ Throne of Glass

Chapter 25- Oblivion

In her mind, she had somehow grabbed the leash, pulling it into her grip, while its other end was distracted with her taunts. Yanking hard, she managed to regain control of her body, panting, face furious.

She growled, with such anger and hate in animalistic intensity they had never seen before, from the usually reserved female, it ripped through her as she turned to face her mother behind her.

"Enough."

Maeve only laughed, "Enough of what, ...betraying your friends, spying on their movements?"
She flinched and  Fenrys croaked incredulously, "What?!"

She couldn't bear to look at him, to turn her gaze to his face, full of betrayal, a golden mirror of the image she'd seen on Connall's face, all those years ago. Aelin spoke though,

"When you came back, to the mountains...you kept your distance. You-" she choked, "You went away to help Aedion, and to protect us."

Realisation was clear in the queen's voice and any doubts that may have lingered in her mind were replaced with pride and sorrow in her shadow before her.

"Freya." Fenrys whispered. A plea, for her to just look at him.
She did not.

"Enough of it all." She said firmly to her bored looking mother.
"Daughter, why ask something you know you cannot achieve?"

"So I've said it, so I've told you as I looked you in the eyes." Her eyes glittered with gold now, darkness swirling in their depths, as she held the bond between them so strongly now, her mother could feel it, "All these years, I've felt this bond, learned it, honed it. You could never even feel it with your 'almighty' power." Her voice dripped with mockery, but was laced with venom.

She turned to speak to them then, not giving Maeve a chance to speak, she looked at Aelin.

"I know what it is you plan to do," her softened gaze flickered to Goldryn at her queen's side, it's ruby glittering with the burning magic Aelin had imbued it with, before giving her power to the Lock.

"But it will not do what you wish it to," she smiled sadly, calmly, "For if you try to kill my mother, you will kill me too."

"No!" Fenrys rasped, glaring at Aelin, who's face was cast in horror, for she would not sacrifice her friend, she would find another way.
"But there is only one way." Freya finished her thought for her, as if she knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Oh gods." Aelin whispered in realisation, at which Maeve only cackled, oblivious, "What gods? They're gone, you sent them."

Dark shadows, began emanating from the woman before them, from her fingertips, writhing from her dark hair, moving through the air as though it was alive. It enveloped Maeve, a flicker of fear flashing across her face before she disappeared, and was reaching towards Freya, but then halted, as she looked back at Fenrys.

The male had desperation pouring from him, mixed with confusion. "What..what are you doing?!"
She ignored the question, smiling so softly as she recorded his face, storing every detail, every freckle and scar, in her mind.

"I love you." She whispered, joy and light written upon her face, "I've loved you for a thousand years."

He had gone still, dark eyes, filling with tears, locked to hers, shaking his head in silence, not to the words but to why she might say them.

"I loved you, even when you didn't know me," she continued, "And I always will.
You. Are. My. Mate."

An apology was written across her face, clear as day, as she turned, ignoring his desperate, heart-breaking cries, and walked straight into the swirling torrent of darkness, completely devoid of any light.

This was the first clear choice she'd made. One she knew was wholly right. She would not be afraid.

For a few moments, unbeknownst to those outside, Freya paused to look down at her mother's beautiful face.

"I will never understand why you did it all. What horror you must've been subjected to by your husband, or whether you were just born to be followed by Death.

I think...I think you loved my father, in your own way." Her mother's eyes widened a fraction, at the rare mention of her beloved Athril, but she did not reply.

"I don't know if you ever loved me, but I know that destroying you will be harder for me than anyone could have thought."

"Why, ...because you will destroy yourself too?"
Maeve put simply, an untwisted voice, clear of any deceit for once, curious even in the face of death.

"No." She smiled, for the last time... unafraid, "Because you were right, mother." And that word conveyed all the strange love she felt, despite the evil that had long ago corrupted her mother's heart.

Then she asked a question, one that didn't really matter, but had flickered through her mind all the same, "Why did you never send for me, why did I never meet him?" Erawan.

She saw what could've been a flicker of something, she had never seen before, flash in those obsidian eyes, and Maeve opened her mouth slightly, thinking for a moment,

"He would have wanted you, would have made you his."

Despite the harshness of her tone, Freya found she understood her mother then, for the first time ever. How she loved things, how she protected them.

And then Freya let rip into the endless hole of worlds ending black magic inside of her.

To the others it looks as though the dark mass swelled for a moment, impossibly large, it caused strong winds to whip furiously around them pushing them away from it, so they couldn't enter.
An worldly hum emitting from it's core.

Then, with almighty crack, that shook the very air, it swallowed itself whole.
Vanishing. Into nothing. Emptiness.

Leaving nothing behind but a few wisps of dark ash floating down through the air.

They were both gone.

Shrill Valg screams all around them, faded out of hearing, the black armies drifting away into the wind.
They knew then, where Erawan had gone too.

Fenrys fell to his knees.

She was gone.

***
The End,

of the War.
***

Aelin felt in her pocket for Athril's golden ring.

It was gone.