hellodeedles

[hellodeedles]

rowaelin drabble my main masterlist

warnings: mentions of parental death, but mostly hurt/comfort

The Toll of Silence

She stood in the middle of the living room; feet bare, hair tousled, and her night gown askew.  She had a haunted look in her eyes as she stared straight ahead into the wall.  It was something Rowan had grown accustomed to, the sleepwalking and the restlessness.

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[hellodeedles]

Rowans POV

Rowan Whitethorn was seriously pissed. Not only had Fenrys, Connall and Vaughan agreed to let this girl into their group, they all seemed rather happy about it. Rowan couldn't see what the big deal was about her. It had barely taken him a few moments to render her helpless at the mouth of the cave a little less than a day ago and here Fenrys was treating her like some kind of warrior goddess all because she had fought off some measly Terrasen soldiers.

Rowan scoffs at the thought. In his twenty-eight years he had been to several wars and back and had the scars to prove it. His aunt was always sending him as a spy of sorts to gather information for her to determine if the cause was worth helping or not. And this war, out of all of them, was not one of the more exciting ones.

Sure, it had dragged on for nearly a decade, but that fact couldn't overshadow the knowledge that the real reason behind this was was pure selfishness. Why Maeve ever thought aiding the King of Terrasen would be a good idea is one Rowan simply cannot wrap his head around. But then again Maeve never shared her true motives with him, especially when it involved him.

Rowan looks ahead towards the blonde female leading the group with Fenrys, her hair having come undone from its braid is slowing in the slight breeze that is doing a decent job at keeping them all cool in the increasing heat of the day. Without really meaning to Rowan notices that Celeana's hair is so long that whenever the wind does pick up it is able to tickle Fenrys arm as she walks closely alongside of him.

Rowan rolls his eyes as he watches Fentys grab a piece and twirl it around his finger giving it a slight tug. Celaena turns to glare at him and shoves him in retaliation a slight smirk on her face when he stumbles and trips over a rock. Must he flirt with everything that smiles at him; Rowan thinks to himself.

He has just about had enough when he notices Fenrys going in to pinch Celaena'a side causing her to let out a small yelp. Rowan is opening his mouth to scold the two of them when he feels a hand on his arm stopping him from walking. He turns and sees Vaughn shaking his head at him.

"Don't bother," he says quietly. "You know it's only going to do more harm than good. Fenrys loves pissing everyone off."

Rowan gruffs and shrugs his arm out of Vaughn's grasp and continues to follow the two idiots in front of him. "He shouldn't be making more noise than necessary. He knows better."

Vaughn just shrugs at him. "Can you blame him? He hasn't seen a woman in months, this is probably the most excited he's been since then."

"He saw plenty the last time we went to Rosamel," Rowan argues while he glares at the pair in front of him. His frown deepens when realizes that Celaena is now walking backwards while telling Fenrys a story very animatedly, waving her arms around while she recounts her tale. Much to his growing displeasure he notices Connell walk up to them to join in on their conversation.

Rowan groans internally when he notices the infatuated look on Fenrys face as he takes in Celaena. Vaughn sensing his discomfort chuckles.

"Come on Rowan," he says grabbing his shoulders in a slightly playful manner. "Haven't you been saying since day one that we need mroe people to help us with out plans? She's more people, and a skilled one at that."

He scoffs at the statement. "How good can re really be, I had her powerless in less than a minute, she didn't even try to go for the sword at her side, and none of us have seen her fight, so how do you know she is skilled?"

"She was able to elude the royal guards all on her own," Vaughn points out. "And she managed to take down a few and stop that boys whipping."

Rowan rolls his eyes again. "How do we even know if any of that is true? She could be a liar and thief for all we know."

"Well, she didn't try stealing any of our stuff and sneak away in the dead of night if that helps."

"Like she would have been able to with me standing guard at the entrance to the cave. There would have been nowhere for her to go. That wouldn't make her a very good thief if she didn't have an escape plan now, would it? Plus, we don't have anything worth stealing."

"I don' t know Fenrys bow is pretty nice," Vaughn muses to himself.

"Please, he sleeps curled up with that thing likes it's his fucking wife, there is no way anyone is getting their hands on it without permission," Rowan spits out with a hint of disgust, thinking about the time he walked in on Fenrys practically humping his bow in his sleep.

A small shudder runs through his body as Vaughn snorts when he realizes what image has just crossed Rowan's mind.

"Relax Ro, I get why you're hesitant to trust her, I remember what it was like when you found us and wanted to join. Lorcan put you through the ringer being from where you're from, but we'll keep an eye on her while we're making out way back to camp. And if she proves untrustworthy," He shrugs. "Well, then we'll deal with her, and I'll be the first to let you tell me 'I told you so'".

Rowan scowls and looks down thinking hard. He has come to trust the judgement of his group over the last few months, and he did sincerely hope they were right about this girl.

Vaughn wasn't wrong. Rowan had been saying ever since he joined that they needed more people to help them with their pilfering of supplies from the army. They could rely on local villagers but mainly just for information, barely any of them were suited to fight as all the able-bodied ones were already off fighting on the front.

If what this Celaena girl said about her fighting skills was indeed true than she would be practically invaluable to them. And from what she told them last night she had a decently good reason for wanting this war to end.

The real question is, where the hell did she come from? She definitely from Terrasen, her accent a dead giveaway, especially compared to Rowan's foreign one. It's true ever since the war broke out a few women have been trained in combat skills, but that was more for their own protection than anything else.

If he believed what she said about stopping the whipping was true, she certainly had be trained in more than just self defense. There would have been multiple soldiers at the whipping, and to take down not just one but all of them, without a single scratch. It would make her damn impressive, Rowan thought bitterly to himself.

Looking up from the ground Rowan observes Celaena who is now walking normally again in between the twins. Really taking in her appearance Rowan studies her clothes and weapons. her clothes are dirty and slightly ragged, but that could just be because she has spent a decent amount of time out in the Oakwald. The leather jacket she is wearing is several sizes too big for her. Possibly it could belong to an older brother, maybe her father? That would explain where the training came from. Overall, she looks like almost every other girl Rowan has come across in his short time in this kingdom. perhaps she was a little bit bolder than most, but she would have to be in order to venture off all on her own in the middle of a war.

Her weapons on the other hand told a different story than a simple village girl. The sword sheathed at her side appeared to be of a finer make judging by the slight detailing he could see on the hilt. No blacksmith would take the time to add any sort of artistry if it was a blade meant for the front, meaning it must have been commissioned.

On top of the sword, she also has a dagger strapped to her thigh. From what he could make out from how far way he is the detailing doesn't match that of the sword but it is just as fine. So, the two weapons weren't part of a set, didn't mean that it probably cost more than most people see in a month.

Takin in all of these small details allows Rowan to conclude that Celaena is either someone with a lot of money, or that she is a thief.

It is quite possible that she stole her weapons if she is from some poor village around here. Whoever the jacket belongs to must have taken most, if not all of the weapons her family owns when they were called to the front. And if she stole them, that would in face make her a thief.

Rowan smirks and prides himself on his deduction but then frowns as he realizes she would have been a fool to go wandering through the Oakwald, in the middle of a war, without a decent weapon. So fine, maybe that make her a thief by necessity, and he can't really fault her for that.

Rowan himself had even been known to steal when he was truly desperate. A long time ago, during a different war, in a much crueler kingdom. One where he had been on the losing side of a battle and was lucky to make it out with his life.

He sighs to himself. He knows deep down that he really couldn't judge the girl for how she came to be. Most of the people of this kingdom had done something unsavory throughout the duration of this war and Celaena is probably no different.

Didn't stop her from being annoying pain in his ass though.

~ ~ ~

Just as dusk approaches, the group of five have finally made it back to their camp. As they near the boundary, Rowan watches as Fenrys reaches for Celaena to stop her before she can trigger any of the traps the rest of the group would have laid out while the four of them were gone.

She gives him a confused look and Fenrys smirks in response, cocky with knowledge she did not have. Without missing a beat Fenrys whistles a short burst of notes alerting those on watch that they have returned.

Rowan waits with bated breath for the all clear. Every time no matter how frequently he does this there is always the fear that the rest of th group will not be where they're supposed to be.

The same tune of notes is repeated back a moment later, and Rowan lets out a quiet huff of relief as they continue to make their way towards the rest of the group.

After another few minutes of walking, they finally break into a clearing. The camp itself wasn't much to boast about. It is a fairly simple set up with a large campfire in the middle with logs and large pieces of wood set out for sitting. Scattered around the rest of the clearing were tents for people to sleep in. Some nights if the weather was nice enough, many people would bring their bed rolls out to sleep near the fire under the stars and recount old legends of the prosperous and beautiful kingdom Terrasen once was.

Some of the men, like the quiet older soldier, Brullo, have trouble sleeping in confined spaces. Something to do with being forced into too tight quarters the nights before big battles when he had been drafted to to fight, and sleeping out in the open helped ease those anxious feelings.

Scanning the clearing quickly Rowan spots the person he had been hoping to find, his arms full of firewood for tonight's campfire. Lorcan Salvaterre, the leader of their group, was a beast of a man. Standing at nearly seven feet tall he was intimidating enough on size alone. Along with his impressive fighting skills and ability to always looked pissed off he made an impressive foe and an even better ally, if you could get him on your side.

Lorcan was a hard man to get to know, but somehow Rowan had managed to do it well enough in the months that he had been here to eqate himself to Lorcan's right hand man. And while they didn't always agree on everything Rowan hopes he will see eye to eye with him on the matter of Celaena.

Rowan never thought in his whole life he would be so relieved to see him. After giving Rowan a quick nod of acknowledgment Lorcan's eyes lock onto Celaena who was now being introduced to Gavtiel by Fenrys. Dropping the wood haphazardly next to firepit, Lorcan makes his way over to Rowan never taking his eyes of Celaena and Fenrys.

"Who is she?" He asks bluntly not bothering with a formal greeting.

"Says her name is Celaena Sardothien," Rowan replies, still watching the pair as Fenrys continues to introduce her to more and more people. Clearly trying to steer her away from Lorcan and his brooding form.

Lorcan snorts a slight smirk on his face. "Bit of a pompous name ain't it?"

Rowan shrugs. "It can't be any worse than Moonbeam," he says referring to Fenrys and Connell's surename. When Rowan heard it for the first time, he had nearly choked on his water and had refused to believe the twins for a solid hour, until Lorcan sighed and told him it was true having read it a few times on different roll call lists from when they were still all serving.

"True. Where the hell did you find her?"

"She ran into the cave we were hiding in about two miles away from the village where the medicine was stolen from."

"What was she running from?"

"The Royal Guard. According to her, she stopped the whipping of a young boy. Took out some soldiers doing it and they were after her for it."

Lorcan raises his brow in surprise, then quickly furrows it while he thinks for a moment. "Do you believe her?"

"Some of what she said has to be true, she was being chased by the Guard, that's for certain, it screwed up our recon on their movements. Whether it was because she stopped a whipping and took out those soldiers I can't say for certain. Took me about thirty seconds to disable her at the entrance to the cave. She didn't even sense I was there."

"Could be because she was so focused on the soldiers chasing her, she wasn't thinking clearly," Lorcan offers.

Rowan shrugs in a noncommittal sort of way. He knew never to let any of his senses grow dull, even in the height of battle. Although, he is a soldier who had been trained his entire life and had been to countless wars and back, and Celeana is obviously much younger than him. He doubts she has ever had any actual formal training, so it is plausible that she wouldn't be able to shut out the panic that comes with being chased.

"She walks like that sword isn't something that is new to her," Lorcan points out, noticing how even her gait is the constant swinging of the heavy weapon.

Again, Rowan shrugs, "You know it's not that uncommon for women to have been given some sort of training now a days."

"Yes," Lorcan agrees. "But in self defense, usually with a dagger or whatever weapon they could get their hands on, not a sword."

Rowan is quiet as he lets Lorcan think about how he wants to continue his approach with Celaena. After nearly a minute of complete silence as he continues to observe her Lorcan says, "She'll do." Then he turns away from Rowan and walks over to the fire pit.

Rowan whips around, eyes wide with confusion. He walks up to Lorcan who has now crouched down to try to start the fire.

"What do you mean she'll do?" Rowan hisses in his ear. "We don't know anything about her?"

"We know enough for now," Lorcan says stacking the logs into a neat pile. "We'll learn more as time goes on and she sarts to trust us and vice versa."

"I don't trust her now," he says in a harsh whisper.

Lorcan turns his head to Rowan his eyebrows raised in annoyance. "You clearly trust her enough to bring her back to camp. If she wasn't trustworthy enough when all of you first questioned her you would have never brought her back here to the rest of us."

Rowan shakes his head in disbelief. How could he have possibly not brought her back when Fenrys, Connell, and Vaughn were all in agreement about her. Not to mention with how smitten Fenrys was with the girl.

"That's beside the point. You're letting her in too easily. You're not even going to question her yourself?"

"Vaughn was with you. He already knows all of the questions I usually ask, and I am sure he asked them all to her already. But if it will make you feel better, I can ask them all again after dinner to verify."

"You vetted me for hours when I tried to join," Rowan reminds him.

"That was because you stumbled upon us with a foreign accent and a girl who looked like she had taken several beatings. And you refused to answer any of questions about it. This is a completely different scenario Rowan, and you know it. You're letting your ego get in the way of your mind thinking clearly. I will question her again with Vaughn after we ear and that is the end of this. Now go help the others finish setting up the tents, you know Ress can never do it right."

At the mention of Lysandra Rowan grows guilty, she was his responsibility, and he hadn't even checked for her yet.

"Where is she?" He asks.

"At the next town over with Nox, gathering information on troop movements."

"You sent her where?" Rowan practically yells.

"She volunteered for it, she knows Nox is much less conspicuous when he is accompanied by a women, it makes him less threatening. She'll be back in a day or two. Now go help Ress."

Pissed off that Lorcan was accepting Celaena just like that and letting Lysandra go off with Nox without telling him Rowan imagines punching Lorcan for a brief moment before walking over to the young man Ress to help him with setting up the rest of the tents.

He was not letting his ego get in the way of him thinking rationally. Sure, he was cautious, but he had every right to be. Being with this group is in direct violation of his aunt's orders and he knows it. New people joining their group were dangerous to him. One letter to his aunt and everything Rowan had worked for over the last few months would be ruined. Not to mention he would be forced to go back to the original reason he was Terrasen, and he simply refused to do that no matter how important his aunt said it was. he absolutely refuses to marry Aelin Galathynius.

~ ~ ~

Dinner is an aggravating affair for Rowan. it should have been a happy one now that they were reunited with their group. Except, all of the attention is on Celaena and how marvelous she is for being able to take on the Kings soldiers all by herself and escape them unscathed. The longer the dinner goes on the more Rowan realizes that he can't stand her. She is loud, Rowan learns, and is obnoxious when telling stories. She seems to have little regard for violence and threatens it constantly. Everyone is eating it up.

After what seems like ages, the dishes start to get cleared away by those who are on clean up duty for the week. Rowan's eyes quickly jump to where Lorcan is seated next to Vaughn a few people down to his right, as he waits for the two of them to go and question Celaena. The pair is talking n hushed tones about something, and Vaughn looks exhausted, but he nods, and the two men begin to get up.

Rowan watches as Vaughn approaches Celaena and asks her something. She looks over at Lorcan sizing him up, then nods her head and follows Vaughn over to the imposing man.

It's about time, Rowan thinks to himself happy Lorcan is about to finally question the boisterous girl. Rowan sees Celaena take a seat across from Lorcan her arms crossed as she begins to talk with him her guard up as they begin.

To distract himself so as not to keep looking over at the trio Rowan goes over to help with clean up despite being off duty for evening. He needs to do something, or he'll go crazy and try to get involved in the conversation. And with how Lorcan reacted to him earlier he knows that it is not a wise idea.

Once Rowan is almost done drying the plates in front of him, he hears Lorcan call his name. Turning to face commanding man Rowan sees Lorcan standing arms crossed face unreadable and he braces himself for what Lorcan is about to tell him.

"She's fine Rowan, I believe her, she's going to stay."

Disappointment crashes through Rowan and he scolds himself for feeling that way. He knew the chances of her being kicked out of camp were slim to none if Vaughn already approved of her. Nodding at Lorcan Rowan goes back to drying his dishes albeit a bit more aggressive than he had been previously doing.

He knows his thinking is out of line. He had been on edge ever since they heard the whispers in the last village they had stopped in, about the supposed engagement of princess Aelin to a mysterious foreign prince who was supposed to help save the kingdom. And that princess Aelin was going to be the salvation of the kingdom for doing this for Terrasen. Whispers about how they were in love and had been exchanging letters for months about the state of the war and how to help lead Terrasen to victory.

Rowan scoffs to himself and throws down the rag he had been using to dry the dishes. Princess Aelin was nothing important. She was a figure head to her father. She had been an adult for nearly two years, and she had done nothing to help end this war. She was basically useless to the people, a distraction from their horrible lives with a deceitful love story and a sham of a wedding she had agreed to.

Rowan knows the Terrasen tradition for royals is usually to marry for love despite a few of them being arranged and being the man that the princess is supposed to marry and having never met her Rowan could say for certain the princess Aelin was not in love with him.

Whether she was involved in the scheming of her father and his aunt didn’t change the fact that the whole situation was outrageous. How his aunt ever thought this was a good idea in the first place is beyond him. But the fact that this princess lets herself be used as propaganda for the crown is what riles Rowan in a way, he didn't know he could be riled.

Deciding a walk will help him cool his mind, Rowan sets off at a brisk pace towards the outskirts of camp. He is so lost in his own thoughts that he barely registers that he knocks into someone.

"Sorry," he gruffs out not looking at he who he knocked into as he reaches out to steady them.

"It's okay," the voice of the last person he wants to be around right now says.

Rowan looks down at Celaena as she smirks up at him. He immediately lets go of her and takes a step back.

"So," she says after a moment of staring at each other in silence. "Looks like I'm going to be sticking around for a while."

Rowan doesn't respond, he just looks at her his annoyance at the world beginning to reach an alarming level.

At his lack of response Celaena says, "Rowan I'm sad I thought you cared about me." A fake pout appearing on her face.

"I don't care about you," he snaps.

Celaena rolls her eyes. "With how you have been acting am I to think you're not interested in me?

"Not in the slightest," Rowan retorts offended that she thought as such. Rowan knew he didn't come across as joyful to anyone especially to someone he had little regard for in the first place. He begins to walk off already done with the conversation.

"My bad, I must have just gotten the wrong impression from all of the staring you did on the walk back to camp."

Rowan freezes. He had not been staring at her obviously when they walked back.

He turns back to face her and Celaena shrugs with a slight smirk on her face. "Maybe it's just my ass you like, considering you spent the entire time behind me."

Rowan moves. He grabs Celaena and pushes her against the nearest tree his forearm braced against her neck and traps the rest of her body with his own.

"Let's get one thing clear, I do not like you, I do not trust you and your ass is the last thing I am thinking about when I look at you

"That's too bad, I've been told I have a fabulous ass," she muses.

Rowan growls at her and Celaena just smirks at him clearly enjoying how riled up she is making him.

"What could you possibly be smiling about? I had you pinned in an instant. From all the bragging you did about your skill with a blade earlier you have yet to pull one on me."

"You sure about that?

It is then that Rowan feels a blade press into his upper thigh, the tip pressing lightly on a very delicate part of his body.

Pure amusement is showing behind Celaena's eyes as she sees him realize just where her place is place.

With a huff rowan releases her his teeth grinding together as he looks at her.

"Don't be upset Rowan," she says sheathing her dagger at her thigh. "It's okay to admit that you're not the biggest and the baddest around anymore. On second thought," she pauses and glances at spot she just had her blade placed up against. "Maybe you're still the biggest."

"If threatening a man's dick is how you always plan on winning, you're going to be very sorry, one day you're going to need actual skills princess."

All of the color drains from Celaena face. "Don't call me that," she snaps her cocky attitude immediately dropping.

"What? Princess?"

"I said don't call me that!"

"Struck a nerve there, have I? What, don't like being compared to the air head princess who walks around like she's better than everyone else in the kingdom."

"Shut up!"

"Not so big and bad now, are you?" He mocks her.

Celaena is fuming, Rowan can see her breath heaving in and out of her chest while she struggles to get her anger under control.

Rowan smirks at her knowing he's finally gotten under her skin the way she's been getting under his.

The two stare at each other waiting for the other to make the first move when they hear Fenrys voice calling for Celaena.

Rowan huffs a laugh, "Run along princess, don't leave your people waiting."

With a huff of pure anger Celaena stomps off like the priss she is into the woods back to camp.

Tags: @rowaelinismyotp // @sheharahu // @fireheartwhitethorn4ever // @ladyfireheart-and-buzzard // @aelinchocolatelover // @thestoriesyoutell // @peppermint-fae

#Rebels and flames #throne of glass #rowan x aelin #aelin galythinius #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan whitethorn #throne of glass fanfiction #arranged marriage au #rowaelin #aelin #rebels and flames

[hellodeedles]

Walking through the Oakwald nearly a week after her desperate exit from Orynth. Aelin never knew that freedom could taste so sweet.

She thought that she knew what freedom was, she grew up as a princess who had never wanted for anything in her life. She simply had everything she could ever dream of and was fully aware that she was lucky to. She had supposed that, that lack of want may be some form of freedom, because she knew the majority of her people would never have anything close to it.

Aelin had just never realized that, that specific freedom came with its own kind of cage. A cage where she was forced to be someone she is clearly not. Aelin had known from a young age that she would have to work hard to be the perfect princess. Sure, she enjoyed the finer things in life, but she was always too outspoken and too opinionated for the other members of her father's court. She can still hear her etiquette teachers hissing in her ear, to "sit up straighter," and to "keep quiet" because "princesses don't say those kinds of things." And when she couldn't fulfill those requests Aelin always felt as if she was somehow failing her father.

Out on her own however; there is no one here that she needs to impress, the pressures of making everyone around her happy has finally been lifted. Not to mention she is finally free of all of the annoyed glares Darrow gives her when he is upset with her. And most importantly she is out from under her father's thumb and his ridiculous arranged marriage agreement.

A snort escapes from Aelin.

If her father had bothered to ever get to know Aelin at all, he would have never agreed to such a match without her approval. She sighs heavily as she steps over a fallen tree on to a large rock, covered in moss and still wet from the rain that occurred earlier this morning. She is so lost in her own thoughts that she doesn't even realize how slippery it is before the world shifts sideways and she is falling down.

Pulling her hands out to catch her fall, Aelin braces herself for the impact she is about to feel. Crashing down onto the hard ground Aelin gives a groan a pain. Taking a moment to catch her breath Aelin curses herself for being so stupid. She is well out of the part of the Oakwald she used to play in as a child and she knows that she needs to be careful as she is now in unfamiliar territory. An injury could put her down for weeks. Weeks that she doesn't have if she is going to make it Eyllwe before her father goes and does something stupid now that he no longer will have the money from her former betrothed, whoever he may be.

Sitting up slowly Aelin feels a twinge of pain from her left calf. Looking down at her leg, Aelin feels her heart jump into her throat. There's a cut on her calf and its bleeding.

Ripping her pants off at the knee so she has something to wipe away the blood with Aelin groans to herself, Stupid, how could I be so stupid.

Throwing the now useless rag on the ground Aelin puts her head in her hands and takes a few deep breaths to calm herself. Loosing her cool right now is not going to help the situation.

Taking a deep breath Aelin pulls her pack off her back and snags her canteen to pour water onto her leg to get a better look at what she is dealing with. She thinks back to everything she ever learned about injuries and how to take care of them. Remembering an old healing book of her mother's Aelin knows that keeping the wound clean would be the most important thing. The last thing that Aelin needs is to catch an infection, she could lose her leg, or worse if she isn't careful.

The cut doesn't look to terrible. It's deep and might need stitches but Aelin has nothing out here with her that she would be able to use for a needle and thread, bandaging it well is going to be her best bet.

Standing up Aelin begins to test out her leg. It's sore but from the way she can fully put her weight onto it she can tell it's not broken. Still pissed at herself for being so clumsy in the first place, her mood is slightly placated by the fact that her leg isn't broken on top of being cut.

Heading over to a nearby tree, a slight limp in her step, Aelin rips some moss off to help soak up her still leaking wound. Looking around for some way to fasten the moss to her leg she spys her discarded bloody pant leg she used earlier. Tearing it into strips, she is able to attach the moss to her leg to make a somewhat decent bandage.

It'll have to do, Aelin thinks to herself. She'll need to get to a village now, and quickly. She is going to need some real bandages; the moss won't last forever. She sighs heavily once again and beings to make her way due east towards the edge of the Oakwald in the hopes of finding a village before nightfall.

~ ~ ~

Aelin is cursing the gods and all they stand for by the time she finally reaches a village. It took her almost two days to find one. Two days of wandering on the edge of the Oakwald on high alert for any royal guards or soldiers because she knows with her injured leg flight will not be as easy. She hasn't felt this exposed since she left Orynth and Aelin is not a fan of the stress it has caused her.

She made sure to change the moss every couple of hours and to clean her leg each time she did, but she would kill for some real bandages, and some more food. The stash that she nicked from the castle kitchens is nearly gone and while she knew she would have to hunt eventually, the opportunity to buy fresh food is too good to pass up.

Aelin walks into what appears to be the village square and immediately tenses up. There, sitting outside what she assumes must be a tavern are three Terrasen soldiers drinking ale and playing cards.

They are loud and obnoxious. Aelin knew that soldiers like to drink but it was barely noon right now and two of them looked like they were on their way to being very drunk.

Aelin watches them out of the corner of her eye. They are older than her, not as old as Quinn, but still within what should be their prime. Except for the fact that two of them clearly are not. Even from this distance Aelin can make out that the two who appear to be older than the third are heavier than any soldier she has ever seen, most likely from drinking so much ale. The third however, is younger, closer to Aedion’s age, she guesses, and still has strength on his side. He has light brown hair and the Terrasen uniform makes him look like every girls dream.

As she walks past them, the younger one looks at her and Aelin feels like she has just stepped into a vat of oil as his eyes rake down her body. A feeling of dread overtakes her and Aelin thinks, He may look like every young girls dream soldier, but he’s probably closer to their worst nightmare.

Calm down, she thinks. The chances of them recognizing your face is slim to none. And it's true. Very few people outside of the walls of Orynth would know what she looks like. Yes, she may have her mother's Ashryver hair and eyes, but who would really know that beyond the walls of the court. No, her best chance is to act like she is a weary traveler in need of supplies, no one a soldier would even think twice about.

Continuing on her way past the soldiers, her heart beating so loud she could feel it in her ears, Aelin approaches a man running a stand that's selling what appears to be bolts of different types of cloth.

"Excuse me," she asks politely. "Would you be able to point me in the direction of someone who may be able to sell me bandages and take a look at my leg? I hurt it while tripping over a rock the other day and I'm afraid I may need stitches."

The man's eyes flit around her to look at the soldiers and Aelin can almost taste his uneasiness before he answers, "We don't have any healers here, but Elanor lives in the cottage over there," he indicates to his right towards a small house a little further into the village. "She helps deliver all of the babies; she might have what you're looking for."

Aelin smiles and thanks him and begins to head in the direction he indicated. As she beings to make her way she notices out of the corner of her eye the soldiers studying her from their table. Breathe. You are a woman, traveling alone, you’re going to turn some heads, just breathe, she tells herself. Praying they don’t get up to follow her Aelin quickens her pace ever so slightly.

~ ~ ~

Elanor turns out to be a sweet older woman who has seen Aelin’s kind of injury before.

“Silly girl,” Elanor lightly scolds her as she wraps Aelins leg in clean bandage after she had finished stitching up her wound. “You should have known better than to go tramping out in the woods all by yourself. Where is your husband and why isn’t he taking better care of you?”

Completely caught off guard by her questions, Aelin balks and tries to recover quickly. “He… he’s out fighting on the front,” she swiftly invents. “He hasn’t been home in months.”

Elanor hums at her in a way that tells Aelin that she doesn’t believe her, hell Aelin wouldn’t believe the fib herself either.

“He sent me a letter,” Aelin continues, trying to make her story more believable. “That his unit was going to be in Perranth soon. I am traveling to see him and visit some family we have there.”

“But why not take the road to Perranth, it would be a much less treacherous path,” she inquires.

Thinking back to the slight fear from the cloth man from earlier and her own feelings towards the soldiers leering at her Aelin looks down at her hands and says, “There are not always good people on the road.”

Elanor’s face darkens. “Indeed,” she says as she finishes wrapping Aelins leg.

Aelin is about to thank the woman and pay her for her services when a cry of pain comes from outside startling the two. Aelin jumps up and races to the window to see what all of the commotion is and to her horror she sees the one of the soldiers from earlier dragging a very dirty boy who appears to be no older than fourteen.

Aelin turns to Elanor panic clear in her voice as she asks, “What is going on?”

Elanor shakes her head. “That’s Micha,” she says softly. “He was conscripted into the war a week ago.”

“How? He barely looks older than fourteen, conscription age is eighteen. That’s the law.”

Elanor shakes her head again. “Those soldiers,” she whispers. “They were ransacking his mother’s stall, that’s how all of this started. His father and two older brothers have all gone off to fight leaving Micha and his mother defenseless against any arrogant soldier who thinks they can just take what they want, when they want it because they wear that uniform. Micha had, had enough of their bullying and comments towards his mother so he pulled a knife on one of them and threatened them that if they ever came back, he would make them pay. A few hours later they were rounding him up saying that if he was old enough to pull a knife, he was old enough to serve in the Kings army. He managed to escape and ran away. It looks like they found him now.”

“What will happen to him?” Aelin whispers horror stricken.

“He’ll be whipped in the village square, then if he survives the whipping, he’ll be shipped off to the front to help run messages mostly with all the rest of the boys that are out there too young to fight. No one disobeys those men and gets away without punishment. Those men are supposed to protect us, but they are more monster than anything I have ever faced in all my life.”

Disgust rolls in Aelins stomach. How can Terrasen soldiers do something so horrible to their own people? How could her father have let this happen? This kid was exactly that, a child. He was only defending his mother; he did not deserve this. Aelin knows that she cannot let this happen.

Aelin reaches for the door to try to stop the abomination she knows that is about to occur when she feels herself being dragged back by her arm.

“No!” Elanor whisper shouts to her. “You cannot interfere. They’ll tie you to the post next to him to make an example out of you.”

“I can’t do nothing,” Aelin says. Then she shakes her arm loose from Elanor’s iron clad grip and is racing out the door towards the soldier who is now tying Micha to the whipping post.

Aelin's eyes widen as she watches another one of the soldiers from earlier raise a whip. Her cry of, "Stop!" is lost in the first crack of the whip against the poor boys back and his cry of pain.

Aelin barely registers what she is doing before she slams into the soldier holding the whip as he is raises his arm to give another lash.

The soldier gives a cry of surprise as he is thrown off balance and falls into the dirt. His two companions stand there mouths open, too shocked at what just occurred to do anything.

"I order you to stop!" Aelin yells as she moves to block the boy from the soldiers. "This boy has done nothing wrong."

"And what the hell would you know about that? The soldier with the whip asks as he gets to his feet. "You don't live here; I saw you walk into town for the first time today barely an hour ago. You don't know anything about what this boy has done."

"I know he was just defending his mother from cowards like you," She snaps at him.

Aelin always had a problem when it came to controlling her anger. She usually let it get the best of her and she was quick to snap out things without thinking them through. When she sees the three soldiers faces contort in anger, she knows she has probably crossed a line she didn't want to cross.

"Cowards?" The one with the whip hisses. "I'll show you a coward," then he's lunging for her.

Aelin smiles, watching his feet and taking note that he is thinking with all rage and no brain, she side steps the man just as he is about to reach her, allowing him to fall face first into the mud at her feet.

He groans as he spits out the mouthful of mud he got along with his fall.

“Is that the best you can do?” she taunts.

The man growls in anger, shooting up he pulls his sword from his belt and swings at her.

Aelin ducks under his over arched swing and he loses his balance once again as his sword connects with only air. Taking advantage of his unsteady gait Aelin raises her leg and kicks him on the right side of his rib cage, effectively knocking the air from him and forcing him to the ground once again.

“Doesn’t surprise me that a boy no older than fourteen got the jump on you if that is the best you can do,” Aelin quips as she watches him struggle to breathe.

The soldier on the ground gasps while getting to his hands and knees. He tries to wipe the mud from his rage filled face with little success and looks at his two companions and yells, “Why are you just standing there? Get her!”

The two other soldiers who have been just staring at her dumbfounded until now spring into action and draw their swords.

Copying their move, Aelin draws hers as well. She knows she has what it takes to take on the two idiots in front of her, but her main concern is for the boy still tied to the whipping post. She needs to get him out of here

The two soldiers try to rush her but with their armor and their extra weight, they’re clunky and slow. Just when they are within striking range, Aelin moves, kicking up the mud into their faces. The two yell out in confusion as their hands fly to their eyes. One even drops his sword. With their faces covered Aelin kicks one in the abdomen and hits the other one with the hilt of her sword. She whacks both of them on the back of the head for good measure and with them thoroughly distracted Aelin takes off running for Micha.

“That was so cool!” He says to her when she reaches him.

Slicing her sword through his bonds, Aelin makes quick work of freeing him. The boy winces and rubs his wrists where the rope tightly bound him as he whirls on her a bright smile shining through his filthy face.

Aelin grabs his shoulders to make him look at her so he'll clearly hear her order. “Go home, take your mother and run into the Oakwald, stay hidden for as long as you can then make your way down to Perranth, you’ll be safe there.”

“No, I want to stay and help you,” the boy pleads with her.

“You have to get away from here, it’s the only way you’ll be safe.”

He's about to argue some more when his eyes widen suddenly. “Look out!”

Aelin turns to find the younger soldier practically upon her, sword out ready to strike, having recovered much faster than Aelin anticipated. Aelin raises her sword to meet his and yells “Run!” to Micha.

Their swords clash, the metals singing against each other. While he may have been sloppy before due to his rage, the brown-haired man has finally managed to wrangle it all in to get his head on straight.

He is advancing quickly on her and it’s all Aelin can do to keep up with his rapid blows. Despite her current situation Aelin can’t help but think this is why this man seems like the leader over his two older companions.

Sweat beings to bead at her head while she thinks back to everything Quinn taught her about sword fighting. The trick is to look for a weakness in your opponent and then exploit it. Unfortunately, this man doesn’t appear to have any weaknesses.

Aelin can feel her form slipping as her arms begin to tire against the forceful strikes of her opponent. The man must feel her quickly rising dread because he smirks at her, his eyes becoming more deranged by the minute.

“Who are you calling a coward now, you bitch,” he spits at her.

And that’s when she sees it, her opening. He lifts his right elbow too high when he goes to cut high at her neck. Aelin hides her smirk and redoubles her effort trying to force him into the move again.

Shocked by her sudden surge of determination, Aelin can see in his face his confusion about what changed. He swings high for her neck again but this time he doesn’t leave the opening. Dismay begins to take over, thinking it was a onetime thing, until an idea suddenly strikes her.

“How does it feel,” Aelin huffs, trying not to show how out of breath she is, “To know that you’ve been bested by a fourteen year old boy, and a girl?”

The man howls in rage, swinging his sword high once again, Aelin sees his elbow lift too high, just as she hoped it would, and she's ducking under his sword driving her fist into his ribs, right where she kicked him earlier.

The soldier twists away in pain, falling to his knees and gasping for air.

Aelin quickly looks up and sees that Micha is gone, hopefully he’s run off to grab his mother and the two of them are on the run. The trick now will be getting them to follow her and not them. And Aelin knows just how to do that.

“I take it back,” Aelin says looking at the man on his knees, taking in all the hate the solider is looking at her with. “You’re not just cowards. You’re weaklings as well. There’s clearly a reason none of you are stationed anywhere near the front.”

“You better run,” he says to her in a dangerous voice.

Aelin shrugs. “As if you could catch me.” Then she takes off.

~ ~ ~

Breath heaving in and out of her chest Aelin races her way through the darkness of the Oakwalk, the sound of the royal hounds now fading away with every passing minute. Covered in mud from head to toe in a last-ditch effort to hide her scent Aelin is exhausted. She has been running from the royal guards those soldiers called after her for three days now and is in desperate need of rest.

Quickly taking in her surroundings she spots a cave nearly hidden by a clump of brush and almost sighs with relief. Making her way over to it, practically tripping on the debris, Aelin thinks maybe the gods are not as cruel as everyone makes them out to be.

Standing at the edge of the cave Aelin is so focused on listening for the dogs that she forgets to keep the rest of her senses open to other things. It's only when she feels the knife pressed to her throat does, she realize that she's not alone.

“Scream and I’ll cut your throat,” a deadly voice whispers in her ear. Panic fills Aelin as she feels the sharp edge of the blade dig into her throat. Aelin stays silent knowing that if she goes to shake her head in anyway, she’ll risk slitting her own throat.

“Good,” the voice mummers to her as if he’s trying to sooth a wild beast. “Good. Now we’re going to walk back into the cave and you’re going to stay quiet while we do.”

Aelin tenses up at his command. This is it; she thinks. This is where I die.

“Calm down,” the voice hisses. “We’re just going where it's safe to talk and no one will bother us.”

“Easy for you to say,” Aelin spits back. “You’re not the one with a knife to your throat.”

The mysterious man behind her chuckles, “Fair enough princess.” And the knife disappears from around her neck.

Aelin whirls on her capture, reaching for her knife, fire raging in her veins. In the darkness Aelin can’t make out much. All Aelin can see is that the stranger is tall, very tall. Possibly taller than Aedion who is the biggest person she knows.

“Don’t call me that,” she hisses at him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the stranger says nodding towards her knife. Glaring at him, Aelin takes in as much as she can in the darkness of cave. On top of being a giant he is powerfully built. Aelin would be a fool to try to take him right now, she may have some skill with a blade, but it won’t be anything compared to his brute strength, especially in this enclosed of a space and with how exhausted she is.

“You’re going to follow me back into the cave where we can talk and no one will bother us,” He says to her. He watches as Aelin visibly tenses at his words. “I’m not going to kill you. I only want to make sure we aren’t heard by anyone outside.”

Aelin thinks for a moment. She cannot go back out into the woods, not with the soldiers so closely behind her, and she cannot fight this man off when she is so utterly drained. Not being able to see another way out of her current situation Aelin nods to the stranger.

He gestures for her to lead the way deeper into the cave. Aelin senses go on high alert as she steps around him to walk deeper into the cave not knowing what to expect. She keeps her hand on her dagger at her side unsure if the stranger is going to grab her again.

They reach a natural curve in the cave and Aelin can begin to make out other voices along with a very dim light. Coming to a large open space tucked away behind the bend she gasps

In the light she can make out a small group of men, two of whom appear to be twins. Now that she is in view of the group the man behind her comes around to her side. Aelin glances over and takes him in with wide eyes. Aelin was right about him being a giant, he truly is huge. That’s not what surprises her though, as she scans his face. It’s the fact that he is, for lack of a better word, handsome and Aelin is annoyed at herself for thinking so with his pine green eyes and short silver hair.

Aelin almost thinks that this man might be kind for pulling her back here despite the knife to the throat.

“Who are you and why are the royal guards after you?” he asks her coldly.

Well that didn’t last very long.

“No one important,” she deflects.

One of the twins, the blond, huffs a laugh. “Yeah because the royal guard just always chases people who aren’t important for fun.”

The man with the silver hair shoots him a glare before turning it back towards Aelin. He looks her up and down before saying, “You couldn’t have possibly done anything that severe.”

Aelin takes offense to that.

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Because I had you by the throat in an instant. Plus, you don’t look dangerous enough to have caused a riot. So, what was it Princess, did you just get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

“Don’t call me that!” Aelin growls, going for her dagger again.

“Whoa, calm down,” the blond twin says bringing his hands up in front of him “We just need to know because with the royal guard out there it's throwing a wrench into our plans to nick all of their supplies.”

“Shut up Fenrys!” he twin hisses at him. And the two brothers begin to argue in whispers.

Plans to take supplies? Aelin had just assumed when she saw the group of them, that they were soldiers, maybe from Adarlan, here on mission of some sort, with there being only four of them. But really looking at all of them now Aelin can see that they are clearly not. Not a single one of them is wearing any kind of insignia that would give you the impression that they fight for any one kingdom.

Aelin furrows her brow in confusion. “Who, who are you?”

“No one important,” The silver haired man says her, repeating her earlier statement.

Aelin glares at him. She knows she’s not going to get anywhere with him speaking to her like he is right now. She needs to give them something to get them to trust her, even if it's only to let her go on her way. Taking a deep breath through her nose she says, “I stopped the whipping of a fourteen year old boy.”

The twins stop bickering and turn and look at her surprise written all over their face. The silver haired man comes around the side of her to face her directly and just stares at her in what appears to be bewilderment. Aelin looks into his pine green eyes and tries to decipher what he could possibly be thinking about her but she can't get a read on him.

The dark haired one in the corner, the one who hasn’t spoken yet asks her, “You stopped a whipping?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” The silver haired one asks harshly.

“He didn’t deserve it,” Aelin says. “These soldiers were harassing his mother, and when he went to defend her, they tried to drag him off to the war. He ran away but they found him. They were going to whip him, then send him to the front. I couldn’t let that happen, so I fought off the three soldiers holding him and freed the boy. Told him to run and find his mother and to get out.”

“You fought off three Terrasen soldiers all by yourself?” The dark haired twin ask.

Aelin nods. She wasn’t about to add in that two of them were fat and could barely wield a sword. Right now, she needed to sound as impressive as she could possibly be.

It's silent for another moment before the blond one says, “She sounds like she would fit right in. Where are you headed?”

Not expecting his statement Aelin stutters for a moment then says, “Eyllwe.”

“Why there?” The dark haired one asks.

Aelin shrugs. “I heard that there was a rebel group forming down there, I wanted to go and help them?”

“Why?” The silver one asks again, apparently 'why' is his favorite word. “You’re clearly from Terrasen, why aid people fighting against your own kingdom.

Aelin pauses for a moment. She knows what she says here will most likely make or break her. Though from what the blond twin, Fenrys, let slip the truth will probably be her best shot. Well, most of the truth anyway.

“I am sick and tired of this war, like most of the people here. It needs to end. I am sick of Terrasen soldiers acting like they are better than everyone just because they wear a uniform and I am sick of my people not getting the help they need as their taxes are raised and their husbands and sons are shipped off to fight in a war they no longer believe in. I need to help my people. And if helping rebels from Eyllwe is the best way to do it then that’s what I’ll do.”

The four men look at her, then at each other as if they’re having their own silent conversation. The silver haired one seems annoyed at whatever the other three seemed to have agreed upon because he turns away and walks back out towards the entrance of the cave with a scoff.

Fenrys turns to her and smiles. “Just one more question,” he says. “Do you want to join us?”

Aelin can’t help it, her mouth drops open. Fenrys smirks at her. “Close your mouth it’s not that outrageous of an offer. Your interests appear to align directly with ours.”

“And what exactly are your interests?” Aelin asks curiously.

Fenrys shrugs. “We similar to you, we were all soldiers at one point, came from a bunch of different areas. We got sick at the way the people were being treated in this war and decided we didn’t want to fight anymore we wanted to help them instead. So now that’s what we do, we help those who cannot help themselves.”

“And how do you do that?”

He shrugs again. “Mostly taking extra supplies from soldiers who don’t need it and giving it to those who do, stopping soldiers from attacking innocent villages, stopping pointless whippings.” He smirks at her his eyes sparkling with mischief .

“And you want me to join you?”

“It beats trekking all the way down to Eyllwe,” the quiet dark haired one says. “Why travel all the way down there when you can stay with us and do exactly what you said you want to do.”

Aelin bites her lip and thinks. She never intended to stay in Terrasen. Her chances of being recognized here are a hundred times greater than those in Eyllwe. Although, she never heard anything about rebels in Terrasen itself. It's plausible that this group is small enough to stay under the radar but skilled enough to actually make some sort of difference. Plus, with staying this close to home Aelin can keep a better tab on her father and the search for her. Any news she would receive in Eyllwe would be weeks old and probably not that reliable after it exchanged so many hands. She just needs more information.

Aelin looks towards Fenrys, clearly the friendliest of the group and asks, “How many of you are there?”

“Ten in total who travel together, though we do have people who help out whenever we come across their homes.”

“How long have you been doing this.”

“Con and I,” he gestures to his brother, “Have been in for a little less than a year. Vaughn,” he nods towards the quiet man in the corner. “Has been in the group from the start along with a few others back at camp.”

“You said you were planning on nicking supplies from the royal guard, what are you going to do with it.”

Fenrys opens his mouth to reply but he is cut off by Vaughn.

“Some of it we need. The rest will go to a nearby town, mostly medicine, their supply was wiped out a few days ago when soldiers came through and took everything they had.”

“You don’t think soldiers at the front need medicine.” Aelin furrows her brow at him thinking of Aedion.

“This supply wagon isn’t going to the front,” Vaughn says. “There was a fire a few days before the soldiers came, many people were burned. The soldiers saw that and confiscated the medicine because they could, claiming it was for the front. We know for a fact however that these wagons never make it there. These men just take because they can.”

Aelin nods her head processing all of the information they just told her. Staying with them is starting to sound like a good idea. Despite the risk of being recognized Aelin thinks that the benefits just might outweigh the risks. Not to mention she’ll be able to help her own people directly here. She wouldn’t be able to do that in Eyllwe.

“Okay,” she says hesitantly. “I’m in.”

Fenrys breaks into a wide grin. “What’s your name?” He asks her.

Aelin knew this was coming, she takes a breath and says, “Celaena, Celaena Sardothien.”

~ ~ ~

Aelin spent the night in the cave with Vaughn, Fenrys, and his twin Connall. It’s the first real rest she’s had in days, even if she didn’t sleep. Just resting her body and her eyes was enough to rejuvenate her so that she didn’t feel like she was about to pass out every few feet.

The five of them, now that the silver haired man had deigned to rejoin them, were walking through the Oakwald on their way to meet up with the rest of the group, needing a new plan on how to take back the medicine stolen from the nearby town.

Having had no time to converse with the mysterious man who held her at knife point the night before Aelin speeds up her walking to join him at the front of the group.

He ignores her when she walks up beside him and Aelin can see his determination to keep staring ahead instead of looking at her.

“I never got your name,” she says to him, keeping her eyes forward as well.

Aelin can see him out of the corner of her eye as he turns his head and looks her up and down, eyes full of distain. It feels like he can read her whole life from just taking her in. He is silent for a moment before he turns and looks ahead again. Disappointment fills her. He may be an asshole, but she would have at least thought he would be decent enough to give her his name.

Aelin is just about to slow down and walk next to Fenrys when he says, “Rowan.”

a/n: Sorry this took me so long, I've been stuck doing prep work for a certification I need for work. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out sooner.

Let me know if you want to be tagged!

Tags: @rowaelinismyotp // @sheharahu // @fireheartwhitethorn4ever // @ladyfireheart-and-buzzard // @aelinchocolatelover

[hellodeedles]

Hi in case you missed my earlier post this is a new multichapter fic that I have been working on for a while. Enjoy!

6k words:

~ ~ ~

Breath heaving in and out of her chest Aelin races her way through the darkness of the Oakwalk, the sound of the royal hounds now fading away with every passing minute. Covered in mud from head to toe in a last-ditch effort to hide her scent Aelin is exhausted. She has been running from the royal guards for three days now and is in desperate need of rest.

Quickly taking in her surroundings she spots a cave nearly hidden by a clump of brush and almost sighs with relief. Making her way over to it, practically tripping on the debris, Aelin thinks maybe the gods are not as cruel as everyone makes them out to be.

Standing at the edge of the cave Aelin is so focused on listening for the dogs that she forgets to keep the rest of her senses open to other things. It's only when she feels the knife pressed to her throat does she realize that she's not alone.

Two weeks earlier

War has plagued Terrasen for the last decade. In all honesty it was almost the only Terrasen Aelin knew. She barely remembers a time when her family was whole and happy, when her people had not shouldered the burden of a war with no end in sight. Yet, this was the life she lived and Aelin wanted nothing more than for it to end.

I can't do that if I am constantly shut out though. Aelin thinks bitterly to herself after her latest disaster of attempting to sit in on the food and market council.

Walking through the royal garden aimlessly Aelin had hoped that with her upcoming birthday she would finally be allowed to be more involved with the many councils that help her father, King Rhoe, rule their kingdom.

With her mother gone and her father refusing to remarry, Aelin is the sole heir to Terrasen, a fact that she does not take lightly. She knows that even if the opportunity to join any of the meetings is not offered to her after birthday she will need to start demanding it.

She had been taught by Terrasens brightest scholars all her life on the history of Erilea's many different rulers and how each of them left their own mark upon this world.

Now it is my time to make my own mark on this world. Aelin thinks as she continues to wonder with no real path in mind.

The unfortunate part is that Aelin has very little knowledge of the world to begin with. She did spend a decent amount of time out in the streets of Orynth, the capital of Terrasen, among her people trying to learn their opinions about the war and how it was affecting them. And while Aelin tried to sympathize with their troubles she had been to young when the war began, the reasonings behind the start of it too complex for a child of eight to grasp. This led to her to not being able to answer many of the questions her people asked her.

Her lack of knowledge about a multitude of areas drove her to constantly hound her father advisors for when she would be allowed to attend council meetings. The answers were always ones that she hated to hear, "You're too young, you must wait until you are older, you won't understand what is going on and your questions will just get in the way."

Ever the stubborn person she was, she never let those weak excused about her age get in the way. She kept pestering the advisors to let her in, even going as far as to try to sneak into a few meetings, which all ended terribly of course. She kept insisting that her private tutors educator her in all of the wars Erilea has seen, the victories and the downfalls so she might learn where they went wrong and right and how every ruler of Terrasen affected the kingdom whether good or bad. Aelin was more prepared to enter any of the council rooms and discuss war and policies than any of those stingy council members ever thought. If only they would just let her.

Then the thought hits her so suddenly she stops walking. She didn't have to let them tell her anything. She is a princess, heir to the throne of Terrasen. She outranks every single one of those crochety old men who ever told her no. She simply would do what she knows she needs to do in order to further her education as a future ruler. A smile breaks out on Aelin's face as she hurries inside to begin her next plan.

The next morning Aelin is already sitting in the room where the weekly war meetings are held, five minutes before the meeting is to take place. When the sound of the door opening reaches her ears, Aelin sits up a little straighter and hides her slightly sweaty palms in the folds of her dress. The first group of men begin to enter the room and with them is the last person she wants to be one of the first people to arrive. Darrow, her uncle, the late King Orlon's, most trusted advisor and lover. Her stomach sinks for a moment, against a lower member of the council she might have stood a chance to sweet talk or argue her way into staying but she now knows her chances have almost shrunk to zero with his appearance.

Darrow looks at her for a moment, confusion written written across his face, then he's back to his usual unreadable expression.

"Your Highness?" He asks sighing with frustration. "What are you doing here? The war council is set to meet in here in a few minutes. You need to leave."

"I am here for the war council meeting Darrow," Aelin says, praying she sounds more confident than she feels. Darrow has never outright stated that she isn't allowed in one of these meetings. In fact, maybe he was waiting for her to truly initiate herself into this situation all alone. It would be something he would do.

Darrow furrows his brow at her. "You cannot sit in on the war council Princess."

Well, so much for hoping.

"And why is that?" Aelin asks willing calmness into her voice. She tilts her head to the side feigning confusion. "Am I not the sole heir to Terrasen." She knows Darrow will see through the act but Aelin is hoping to win over a few of the other advisors with her performance.

"Yes, your highness but-"

"Then I don't see why the future Queen of this Kingdom is not allowed to sit in on these meetings, as they will be affecting my reign one way or another."

"We don't know that, Aelin. You are not set to become Queen for many years." Darrow says irritation growing in his eyes.

Aelin tries not to bristle at his words. The use of her name instead of her title. Even though she has known him since her birth he has always addressed her with her proper title and rank rather than her name in front of other who are not family. The use of her name now lets her know that he is talking down to her, that he thinks her more of a child playing ruler than an actual one, and he wants her to know it.

Aelin opens her mouth to respond but the door to the meeting room opens again and in files the rest of the war council including her father.

He was once a handsome man full of life, Aelin had been told, but the stress of losing her mother, her uncle, and the war has aged him in a way that is not kind. His hair, once full and dark is now thin and streaked with grey. His face is now lined with wrinkles that Aelin had not previously noticed the last time she saw him. His eyes though were the worst of him. They had never regained the brightness she always remembers seeing when he looked at her mother. Sometimes she thought she might see it when he looks at her, but it always is gone so quickly, like seeing Aelin was just a reminder that her mother is no longer here.

It is how he looks at her now, a small glimmer of the man that used to be before it is quickly replaced by the cold features that she has come to know as his.

"What are you doing here Aelin?" He asks sharply.

Aelin is shocked by his presence. This was not a part of her plan. Her father was not supposed to attend this meeting. She made sure of it, even going as far as blatantly flirting with her father's personal secretary, in order to get his schedule for today.

Adjusting quickly Aelin curtseys to him and says, "Father, I am here to sit in on the meeting to observe how these gatherings work and to learn about the state of the war."

"You cannot do that Aelin," her father objects.

"I thought that-"

"You thought wrong."

All the thoughts empty out of Aelins head at that statement. How could her own father have decided so quickly that she cannot attend these meetings when she knew for a fact that he had been sitting at the right hand of her uncle for everything when he was half her age.

"Father, I am the future of this kingdom, I am almost twenty it is high time I start learning how to run it."

"This is not up for discussion. You and I will have a talk about your future at a later point in time. Now, you are currently the furthest thing from productive, so leave Aelin and let us get on with our business." The words were so clipped and full of distain that Aelin wonders in that moment if the man she knew and loved died along with her mother.

The tension in the room is palpable and Aelin knows that risking her father's wrath in public is not going to win her any point right now. Glaring at her father, Aelin looks over at all of the other advisors, at Darrow, and let them see in her face that she would not forget this slight to her when she one day sits on the antler throne. Aelin turns, back straight, head held high, and walks out of the room, defeated for now but absolutely not finished.

~ ~ ~

Sometime later Aelin found herself in her favorite chair in the royal family's private library near the window overlooking the gardens with one of her favorite books. However, Aelin was too pissed off to focus on the antics of the rebel prince she usually loved and for the last several minutes she had been reading the same page over and over again.

Discuss her future later. Like she was some kind of pet. Just because she is a woman does not mean that she is entirely useless. Woman are the ones who do the actual production of heirs for Mala's sake.

And what did he mean by her future. She knows what her future is. She has known it since she was barely old enough for think for herself, she is the sole heir to Terrasen. Unless...

Aedion is her cousin on her mother's side, the son of her mother's favorite cousin, and had grown up with Aelin making him more like a brother to her than anything else, despite him being five years older than her. He is a skilled warrior and had risen through the ranks of her father's army at an alarmingly quick pace. Known for his cunning strategy and brutal efficiency on the killing field he earned himself the title, General of the Bane, along with his own legion to command.

Aedion has no claim to her father's throne, he is not a Galathynius, but what if her father decided that she was not fit to take the throne and Aedion was. He was invited into the war meetings whenever he deigned to return home, bringing crucial information from the front to her father. Information that he never shared her, and every time she asked, he would just smile and ruffle her hair telling her it wasn't really important anyway.

Though, that probably has to do more with the fact that he is an actual commander in this war and not a princess who has never stepped on a battlefield in her life. Aelin thinks numbly.

Sighing in frustration Aelin closes her book and puts her head in her hands, rubbing her temples. She knows there is no hope in trying to guess what her father meant by anything he said to her. She hasn't had an open conversation with him in nearly a decade and truth be told she doesn't know who he is anymore.

The only way to solve her current predicament would be to go and seek her father out to have that conversation about her future, but after the disaster that was this morning, Aelin thinks she would rather chew on broken glass.

A polite knock comes at the door and Aelin's head snaps up. "Come in," she says annoyed figuring it's Darrow to come to chew her out for her behavior from earlier.

To her surprise one her father's personal attendants opens the door and drawls, "Your highness, King Rhoe requires your presence in his private office at once."

Eyebrows shooting up on her head Aelin immediately becomes warry. Of course, she had just been fretting about what her father wanted with her just moments ago but summoning her like this? She can't even recall a memory when a situation like this arose. If her father ever required her, which he never did, he sent Darrow to discuss things with her. She has never been summoned to him directly.

Pushing the panic down that has quickly risen in her chest Aelin nods and gathers herself up to follow the man to her father's offices.

Walking along the corridor of the castle in silence has Aelin spiraling in a way that makes her wish that she hadn't just spent the last hour dissecting every piece of gossip she heard related to herself in the last year.

Once they reach their destination the attendant opens the door and bows his head to her. She gives him one her pretty smiles in return, channeling the poise that her etiquette tutor told her a princess should have and she walks in.

The last time Aelin had been in her father's private office she had been four, maybe five. Her uncle was getting ready to pass the crown to her father and he was planning the ball that would follow the coronation.

That had been a happy time, full of laughter and life. Her mother had yet yo become sick, her uncle was still with them and her father looked at her like she was the light of his life. She remembers running around the space attempting to practice the dances she had seen her mother and father perform together at the last ball because she insisted that she would get to have her very own dance with her father all to herself.

She never did get that dance, she thinks sadly as she takes her father in, stoned faced sitting behind his desk writing what appears to be a letter.

"Father," Aelin says curtsying before him once she is close enough to his desk. "You wanted to see me?"

The King does not look up from the letter he is writing and instead lets Aelin hold her bow until he deigns to acknowledge her.

Red flashes across Aelins eyes at the insinuation that she is not important enough for him to recognize her right away. Why is he doing this to her? Is it because she showed up to all those meetings? Did she embarrass him by doing so and in turn is this now part of her punishment to show her that she is in face not as important as she thinks?

"Aelin," her father drones all the emotion she remembered he once said her name with now gone. "Thank you for coming to see me."

"Of course." Like I had any choice after this morning she thinks bitterly to herself. "What is it you need to discuss with me father?"

"It has come time that the two of us begin to consider the future of our kingdom." He nods towards the lone chair in from of his desk.

Her breath catches in her throat as she takes the seat her father indicated to her. Her heartbeat so loud in her ears that she fears she may not hear what he has to say.

"You are going to be twenty in a few months," he says as a matter of fact and Aelin nods. Her birthday is right after Beltane, Fire Night, her favorite night of the year. "With you finally reaching an age of maturity, I had hoped that you would have begun to show the signs that you are ready to start learning how to rule this kingdom." He lifts his head to look at her, judgement clear in his eyes as he takes her in.

"After today however, it is clear that you are still woefully unprepared."

it is a blow, one that she feels in gut. "I meant no insult earlier father I jus-"

"Do not interrupt me," he snaps at her, distain written all over his face.

Eyes wide Aelin is shocked, he has never spoken to her like that. Sure, he has lacked emotion and warmth over the years, but never has he talked with so much contempt for her.

She casts her eyes down towards her neatly folded hands in her lap, guilt creeping up her neck causing her face to flush red.

Once she sees that she isn't going to respond he continues, "It is high time you marry."

Aelin head whips up so quickly she can feel it crack, her response already flowing from her lips despite seeing her father's furious expression at the thought of being interrupted again, "What?"

He glares at her clearly not pleased that she spoke out of turn again.

"Yes," he seethes. "You are nearly twenty, most women in this kingdom who are your age already have children. It is high time you learned some responsibility."

"Other women in this kingdom are not going to be Queen one day!" she argues back.

"That is the exact kind of thinking that makes you not ready to be Queen. You are not above anyone else in this Kingdom Aelin."

Aelin is taken aback by that statement. She knows she is not above anyone. That was why she spent most her days when she was not in lessons out in Orynth with her people learning about them and the problems they are facing, because she knows that she may not be above them but she will one day have the power to do something for them.

Anger hot and red begins to fill her up at the implication she is arrogant enough to think that highly of herself. Her mother taught her better than that. She cannot help it when she fumes, "Is that not the kind of thinking that started this war in the first place?"

Rage rolls over her father, his face becoming a shade of red Aelin didn't think possible.

“You will marry before the year is up.”

“Why now? You have never brought this up before, there have been no discussions of this ever brought to my attention.”

Her father became quiet at her statement and Aelin can see the conflict turning within him about whether or not to explain himself. On one hand she might concede, and this argument will be over, on the other he will revel information he just stated he does not think she is ready to learn.

“The money has run out?”

“What money?” She spits.

The king sighs his anger going with it and emotion closer to fear takes its place. “The kingdoms money Aelin, our coffers are nearly empty. War is expensive and I cannot raise taxes again, our own people will revolt against us if I do.”

Aelin sits quietly for a moment taking the information in. Terrasen is a wealthy kingdom she always had been told that, but her father was right, war is expensive, the cost of feeding and paying troops is astronomical alone, and after nearly a decade of waging it, with almost nothing to show for it, it would make sense that the kingdom has reached a point of severe financial and moral distress.

Aelin does the calculations in her head and at last understands what her father is saying.

“So, what you are telling me is,” Aelin hisses. “That I am going to be sold off to the highest bidder to refund this war?”

Her father looks away from her, “That is not what is happening Aelin.”

“That is exactly what is happening! You’re letting me be sold like cattle at auction!” Aelin stands up from her chair to enraged to sit.

“I am not auctioning you off. An arrangement has already been agreed upon.”

“With who?” Aelin seethes.

“It doesn’t matter who, all that matters is that they have agreed to our terms and we are now in a very fortuitus alliance.”

“It doesn’t matter? Of course, it matters! I refuse to marry some nameless stranger that I know absolutely nothing about! Do you know if he is cruel or kind? Do you know about any of his intentions for Terrasen?”

Her father grows quiet again and did not look at her as she continues to rage at him her anger spewing out of her.

“And what exactly does this arrangement entail? Is he to be my consort or will he be King as well and rule at my side? You think the people of Terrasen will accept a foreign King ruling over them?”

Breath heaves in and out of Aelins chest as her anger continues to fester inside her, while her father remains quiet. After a moment he says, “I didn’t know anything about your mother when we were married.”

Just like that, the anger dissipates, and she is left feeling cold and empty. Not once in the ten years since her mother has been gone has her father spoken about her. She can see it now, the slight hope in her father’s eyes that maybe just maybe this will work out and Aelin will be as happy with this man as her parents were before her.

Calm now Aelin asks quietly, “What is his name?”

He shakes his head. “I do not know. All I know is that he is the nephew of the Queen who rules the country we are aligning ourselves with.”

Aelin does not respond.

“Please, Aelin,” her father begs, a weariness to his voice that she has never heard before, “It is a good match, this kingdom has been known to always choose the winning side in wars and now they have chosen us. This is a good thing.”

Aelin only nods not able to calm all of the thoughts racing across her mind.

“Terrasen needs you to do this, I need you to do this Fireheart.”

Her eyes snap to him. The use of her mother’s nickname for her feels like a stab right through her heart and she can feel the tears welling up despite herself. No one has called her that since her mother was alive.

Aelin almost agrees just from that but she stops herself. Power. Right now, she has more power than she has ever had in her entire life. If she doesn’t agree to this match her father will lose the war. She knows her people are as sick of this war as she is and maybe she might be able to end it right here, right now.

Straightening her spine and with more conviction than she has ever felt she says, “I will marry him.”

Her father sighs with relief.

“On the condition that after I marry him, you end the war and use whatever money they give you to help rebuild our kingdom.”

“I cannot do that Aelin. The Queen expects her nephew to be King of a continent one day not just Terrasen.”

“Did you specifically promise her he would be?”

The King thinks for a moment then shakes his head.

“Then it’s settled then,” she says.

Aelin can see that her father is hesitant to agree.

“Father,” she says softly but firmly sitting down across from him again. “We have been at war for nearly a decade and we have very little to show for it. Our people are running out of patience and they are starved for peace. Do not deny them this chance because of some implied agreement between you and a foreign queen. I will refuse to marry him otherwise.”

Conflict races across her father’s face, as he digests her words, for a king he has always had very little control over showing exactly what he was feeling.

After a tense minute of silence, he sighs in what appears to be defeat. “Okay Fireheart, I agree to your terms.”

Smiling she reaches over and takes her father had squeezing it tightly. “This will be the best thing for Terrasen father. I am sure of it.”

Turning his palm up to hold hers he squeezes her hand back. “I hope you are right Aelin.”

Nodding Aelin squeezes his hand once more before standing and taking her leave.

Walking back to her rooms Aelin felt that for the first time ever she was in control. She had, had enough. Enough of being left in the dark while decisions about her country, about her life were being made behind closed doors. No longer would she be the quiet princess who did exactly as she was told and let others have the power of controlling her and her life. It is time, Aelin had decided, to take some of that power back.

~ ~ ~

The panic settles in about an hour later.

Making her way towards the kitchen, in the hopes of sweet taking the chef into making some of her favorite chocolate hazelnut cake for dessert tonight, Aelin begins to spiral ten times worse than she was earlier.

Married. She was to be married before the year is up. Never in her wildest dreams had this been her plan.

Once it was. The thought echo’s in the back of her mind and it takes everything she has to push them away. No, she cannot dwell on those memories, not right now.

Now she has to focus on figuring out who she is going to marry.

Aelin racks her brain for all of the information on foreign kingdoms her lessons taught her. There are several kingdoms that she knows about that are ruled by a queen. Unfortunately, her lessons did not contain every kingdoms family tree unless it directly impacted Terrasen and Aelin cannot think of any with a nephew so important it would warrant learning his name.

Sighing to herself she knows that she won't be able to figure it out on her own and instead she begins to think of who would have known of this plan.

One name comes to mind immediately.

Darrow.

He most likely knew about this crazy scheme before she had any inclination that something was going on. Just because her uncle is no longer King, and he was gone did that mean that he stopped advising. Knowing him he was probably the one who brought forth worthy suitors to her father's attention.

Changing her direction Aelin begins to head towards Darrow's private office, determined to get at least a name out of him.

Lost in thought about how she would convince him to give her his name, Aelin almost doesn't hear the hushed voices that are coming from Darrow's office until she is practically opening the door.

The first voice she knows to be Darrow's easily enough as it is his study, the second voice though confuses her for a moment before she realizes that it is her fathers.

Holding her breath now Aelin leans closer to the crack in the door to hear what they are saying better.

"She truly gave you an ultimatum?" She hears Darrow asks softly.

Her father must nod because she does not hear him speak before she hears Darrow ask again, "And you agreed to it?"

"Of course I agreed to it, I didn't have a choice, she wouldn't have said she would marry the Prince otherwise."

It is silent for a moment and Aelin takes it to make sure no one is coming down the hall before she turns her attention back towards the door.

"So, the plan is changing then?"

"No," her father scoffs. "The plan is staying exactly the same as it was before. Aelin will marry this prince and with the money we will receive from him and his aunt we will be able to refund our efforts against those new rebels in Eyllwe."

"It's not entirely a bad idea," Darrow says carefully after a beat. "Aelin may be right."

"Aelin is too naive to know how war works. And I had hoped that you are not Darrow." Her father responds danger lacing his voice.

Aelin can barely breathe and it takes all of her concentration as she back away quietly and quickly from the door.

Once she is sure that she is out of earshot she takes off down the hallway running for her rooms.

How could she have been so stupid? How could she have let her father play her like that?

Finally safe in her rooms, Aelin lets out a shuddering sob sinking to the floor, as all of her emotions come crashing down on her at once. She is scared and hurt but most of all she feels betrayed.

Her father used her mother's nickname for her, something that he knows is practically sacred to her, to make her more pliable to his wishes. How had she not noticed how quickly his demeanor changed from fury and confrontational to heartbroken and melancholy?

He was manipulating her from the moment she walked into the room. She had expected him to be angry with her, so he showed her what she predicted to see and then flipped the switch and became the exact opposite to throw her off. He had used sentimental tone and memories to get her to think more fondly of him, to get her to remember the man she used to know.

He had played her like a violin.

Outrage begins to replace the fear she is currently feeling.

Get up. She thinks to herself. You need to get up. Slowly getting to her feet Aelin starts to compartmentalize. It will do her no good to break down now. No, now she needs to plan.

She cannot stay here, that much is obvious. She meant what she said earlier, she will not marry some foreign prince that she does not know, who's intentions she has no understanding of, and most definitely she will not marry him to continue to fund her father's pointless war.

The only option, however rash it may sound, is to leave Orynth.

Aelin bites her lip at that conclusion. She needs to be rational about this, her emotions are still running high and are going to influence her no matter what, but she still must stay levelheaded.

What could she possibly do if she leaves? You could find some way to actually help your people, she thinks. Could she possibly find those rebels down in Eyllwe and help them stop her father?

It's not much to go on but, it's something tangible, something Aelin knows that she could do.

While Aelin has lived a life of luxury, never wanting for anything she was not entirely helpless. Before her lessons each morning Aelin trained with Quinn, the former captain of the guard under her uncle, she knew how to defend herself in case of an attack and she knew enough about hunting and gathering to be able to get by on her own.

The more Aelin thinks about it the calmer she gets. This could actually work.

Looking around her rooms Aelin begins to take stock of possible supplies. Clothes are simple, she shouldn't need much, just one pair to wear and a spare set in case her first one gets lost or ruined. She'll have to wear her training clothes, considering they are the only outfits with pants she owns, and dresses are not made for hiking across the continent.

She immediately goes for her dagger next. Quinn gifted to her on her sixteen birthday as a present for doing so well in training but other than that those few things there is nothing in here that would help her survive a trek all the down to Eyllew, save for the jewels she could sell.

Thinking quickly Aelin heads for Aedions rooms where she knows she'll be able to find what she needs.

Opening the door leading to his empty rooms Aelin knows she has hit the jackpot. Aedion not only has everything she could ever need but he also has options.

Aelin grabs a bag to put her extra clothes and the rest of her supplies in, along with one of Aedions leather jackets for the colder nights. Last minute she takes one of his less ostentatious swords. She only recently started training with them, but a dagger alone out there wouldn't make her out to be such a threat, especially one that was that nice. No, she needs a sword no matter how little training she had with it.

Quickly checking to make sure that the cost is clear Aelin heads back to her room and takes stock of her few items feeling more reassured by the minute.

When to leave was the next hurdle to tackle. She knew she couldn't do it tonight. Not when her father most likely was having her watched to gauge her reaction to the arranged marriage. Not to mention the moon was nearly half full last night. She would need near total darkness to make her escape.

I am doing this, she thinks to herself, surprised to find that she feels no panic, only calm, I am really doing this.

~~~

Two days later, Aelin is fully prepared as she waits for darkness to truly settle over the castle.

Once it is nearing midnight, Aelin slips out her room pack in hand as she makes her way towards the kitchen to take some food before she leaves. She is economical about her choices, taking a few handfuls from multiple areas to decrease suspicion that anything was taken in the first place.

After she has taken as much as she dares, Aelin heads for the door that is closest to the Oakwald. Having spent much of her last few days training as much as possible with Quinn, under the guise that she just needed to burn off pent up steam, the only other thing Aelin did was plan her trip down to Eyllwe.

Heading into the Oakwalk was her best bet at disappearing quickly, if she could make it past the known hunting grounds, she would be golden. They would never find her.

Aelin takes a deep breath once she reaches the door. There is no turning back now, she thinks as she quietly opens the door and breathes in the fresh night air, barely believing that she was getting ready to leave the only home she has ever known. She knows that it's crazy, what she's doing but she is totally and irrevocably done with other people controlling her life, and it is time she did something about it.

Her father was right she is naive about warfare, but no more. Now she was going to get right in the middle of it, then she took off out the door and did not look back.

Tags: @rowaelinismyotp // @live-the-fangirl-life

[hellodeedles]

A new sketch featuring a scene from Kingdom of Ash where Aelin and Rowan take a quiet moment during their cave treasure pilfering to exchange rings! This was voted on by my Patreons for the August Sketch-a-Wish!

[hellodeedles]

Aelin and Rowan from Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

DO NOT REPOST MY ART TO OTHER PLATFORMS!

[hellodeedles]

🖊

🖊 Post a snippet from a current WIP.

“So, I thought we’d take a walk down memory lane for a bit.” Aelin leans toward the mic, strumming the guitar once to check that it's working. The hum of the strings echoes throughout the stadium, earning a round of underserved applause. “But I do have one condition.”

Aelin pauses for suspense. The crowd’s excited murmurs make her smile.

She says, “You all have to delete the footage on your phones when I inevitably screw up Rowan’s part.” She plays a few notes, the very beginning of the song. The crowd laughs. An old The Cadre fan screams.

“Seriously,” Aelin insists. “If he finds out, I’ll never be able to go home.”

More laughter. Elide makes eye contact with Aelin and rolls her eyes. There isn’t a soul in this stadium that believes her.

“I’m serious,” Aelin says, gaze flickering between Elide and the crowd. “He’s very judgemental, Rowan Whitethorn. I don’t know what you people see in the guy.”

The crowd goes wild.

Fanfic Ask Game (the movie, the sequel)

[hellodeedles]

A new sketch featuring Poppy and Hawke from From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout. This was voted on by my Patreons for the July Sketch-a-Wish! Such a super fun perspective for one of the more hilarious scenes in the book!

[hellodeedles]

theres something so personal about Aelin wanting to be a healer when she was young and Chaol saying that a healer would make a great queen and then also Yrene being Aelins mirror and also Chaol loving them both for who they are

[hellodeedles]

Nótt was goddess of the night in Norse mythology and the grandmother of Thor. Nótt is listed as the daughter of Nörvi and is associated with the horse Hrímfaxi. Nótt had three marriages. Her third marriage was to Dellingr (God of the dawn) and this resulted in their son Dagr (God of the day). As a proper noun, the word ‘nótt’ appears throughout Old Norse literature. (Elie Saab Fall 2017 Haute Couture Collection)

[hellodeedles]

illicit affairs

lboh masterlist // masterlist // rowaelin // 1385 words based on the song illicit affairs by taylor swift, obvi. stream folklore. also follow my writing blog @highqueenofelfhamewrites​ and turn on post notifications for more reliable updates :) 

“I’m going out for a run,” she yelled through her apartment, zipping her black jacket up her body while she moved toward the front door. Aelin paused in the kitchen and snagged a water bottle from the fridge and then she was half jogging toward the door. 

“Be safe,” Lysandra called back, receiving only a grunt from Aelin in response.

Keep reading

[hellodeedles]

Hello! Can I be tagged in rebels and flames? 🙏❤

Absolutely!

[hellodeedles]

CHARACTER FACIAL EXPRESSIONS (WRITING REFERENCE)

EYES/BROWS

his eyes widened

her eyes went round

her eyelids drooped

his eyes narrowed

his eyes lit up

his eyes darted

he squinted

she blinked

her eyes twinkled

his eyes gleamed

her eyes sparkled

his eyes flashed

his eyes glinted

his eyes burned with…

her eyes blazed with…

her eyes sparked with…

her eyes flickered with…

_____ glowed in his eyes

the corners of his eyes crinkled

she rolled her eyes

he looked heavenward

she glanced up to the ceiling

she winked

tears filled her eyes

his eyes welled up

her eyes swam with tears

his eyes flooded with tears

her eyes were wet

his eyes glistened

tears shimmered in her eyes

tears shone in his eyes

her eyes were glossy

he was fighting back tears

tears ran down her cheeks

his eyes closed

she squeezed her eyes shut

he shut his eyes

his lashes fluttered

she batted her lashes

his brows knitted

her forehead creased

his forehead furrowed

her forehead puckered

a line appeared between her brows

his brows drew together

her brows snapped together

his eyebrows rose

she raised a brow

he lifted an eyebrow

his eyebrows waggled

she gave him a once-over

he sized her up

her eyes bored into him

she took in the sight of…

he glared

she peered

he gazed

she glanced

he stared

she scrutinized

he studied

she gaped

he observed

she surveyed

he gawked

he leered

his pupils (were) dilated

her pupils were huge

his pupils flared

NOSE

her nose crinkled

his nose wrinkled

she sneered

his nostrils flared

she stuck her nose in the air

he sniffed

she sniffled

MOUTH

she smiled

he smirked

she grinned

he simpered

she beamed

her mouth curved into a smile

the corners of his mouth turned up

the corner of her mouth quirked up

a corner of his mouth lifted

his mouth twitched

he gave a half-smile

she gave a lopsided grin

his mouth twisted

he plastered a smile on his face

she forced a smile

he faked a smile

her smile faded

his smile slipped

he pursed his lips

she pouted

his mouth snapped shut

her mouth set in a hard line

he pressed his lips together

she bit her lip

he drew his lower lip between his teeth

she nibbled on her bottom lip

he chewed on his bottom lip

his jaw set

her jaw clenched

his jaw tightened

a muscle in her jaw twitched

he ground his jaw

he snarled/his lips drew back in a snarl

her mouth fell open

his jaw dropped

her jaw went slack

he gritted his teeth

she gnashed her teeth

her lower lip trembled

his lower lip quivered

SKIN

she paled

he blanched

she went white

the color drained out of his face

his face reddened

her cheeks turned pink

his face flushed

she blushed

he turned red

she turned scarlet

he turned crimson

a flush crept up her face

WHOLE FACE, ETC.

he screwed up his face

she scrunched up her face

he grimaced

she winced

she gave him a dirty look

he frowned

she scowled

he glowered

her whole face lit up

she brightened

his face went blank

her face contorted

his face twisted

her expression closed up

his expression dulled

her expression hardened

she went poker-faced

a vein popped out in his neck

awe transformed his face

fear crossed her face

sadness clouded his features

terror overtook his face

recognition dawned on her face

SOURCE

[hellodeedles]

Walking through the Oakwald nearly a week after her desperate exit from Orynth. Aelin never knew that freedom could taste so sweet.

She thought that she knew what freedom was, she grew up as a princess who had never wanted for anything in her life. She simply had everything she could ever dream of and was fully aware that she was lucky to. She had supposed that, that lack of want may be some form of freedom, because she knew the majority of her people would never have anything close to it.

Aelin had just never realized that, that specific freedom came with its own kind of cage. A cage where she was forced to be someone she is clearly not. Aelin had known from a young age that she would have to work hard to be the perfect princess. Sure, she enjoyed the finer things in life, but she was always too outspoken and too opinionated for the other members of her father's court. She can still hear her etiquette teachers hissing in her ear, to "sit up straighter," and to "keep quiet" because "princesses don't say those kinds of things." And when she couldn't fulfill those requests Aelin always felt as if she was somehow failing her father.

Out on her own however; there is no one here that she needs to impress, the pressures of making everyone around her happy has finally been lifted. Not to mention she is finally free of all of the annoyed glares Darrow gives her when he is upset with her. And most importantly she is out from under her father's thumb and his ridiculous arranged marriage agreement.

A snort escapes from Aelin.

If her father had bothered to ever get to know Aelin at all, he would have never agreed to such a match without her approval. She sighs heavily as she steps over a fallen tree on to a large rock, covered in moss and still wet from the rain that occurred earlier this morning. She is so lost in her own thoughts that she doesn't even realize how slippery it is before the world shifts sideways and she is falling down.

Pulling her hands out to catch her fall, Aelin braces herself for the impact she is about to feel. Crashing down onto the hard ground Aelin gives a groan a pain. Taking a moment to catch her breath Aelin curses herself for being so stupid. She is well out of the part of the Oakwald she used to play in as a child and she knows that she needs to be careful as she is now in unfamiliar territory. An injury could put her down for weeks. Weeks that she doesn't have if she is going to make it Eyllwe before her father goes and does something stupid now that he no longer will have the money from her former betrothed, whoever he may be.

Sitting up slowly Aelin feels a twinge of pain from her left calf. Looking down at her leg, Aelin feels her heart jump into her throat. There's a cut on her calf and its bleeding.

Ripping her pants off at the knee so she has something to wipe away the blood with Aelin groans to herself, Stupid, how could I be so stupid.

Throwing the now useless rag on the ground Aelin puts her head in her hands and takes a few deep breaths to calm herself. Loosing her cool right now is not going to help the situation.

Taking a deep breath Aelin pulls her pack off her back and snags her canteen to pour water onto her leg to get a better look at what she is dealing with. She thinks back to everything she ever learned about injuries and how to take care of them. Remembering an old healing book of her mother's Aelin knows that keeping the wound clean would be the most important thing. The last thing that Aelin needs is to catch an infection, she could lose her leg, or worse if she isn't careful.

The cut doesn't look to terrible. It's deep and might need stitches but Aelin has nothing out here with her that she would be able to use for a needle and thread, bandaging it well is going to be her best bet.

Standing up Aelin begins to test out her leg. It's sore but from the way she can fully put her weight onto it she can tell it's not broken. Still pissed at herself for being so clumsy in the first place, her mood is slightly placated by the fact that her leg isn't broken on top of being cut.

Heading over to a nearby tree, a slight limp in her step, Aelin rips some moss off to help soak up her still leaking wound. Looking around for some way to fasten the moss to her leg she spys her discarded bloody pant leg she used earlier. Tearing it into strips, she is able to attach the moss to her leg to make a somewhat decent bandage.

It'll have to do, Aelin thinks to herself. She'll need to get to a village now, and quickly. She is going to need some real bandages; the moss won't last forever. She sighs heavily once again and beings to make her way due east towards the edge of the Oakwald in the hopes of finding a village before nightfall.

~ ~ ~

Aelin is cursing the gods and all they stand for by the time she finally reaches a village. It took her almost two days to find one. Two days of wandering on the edge of the Oakwald on high alert for any royal guards or soldiers because she knows with her injured leg flight will not be as easy. She hasn't felt this exposed since she left Orynth and Aelin is not a fan of the stress it has caused her.

She made sure to change the moss every couple of hours and to clean her leg each time she did, but she would kill for some real bandages, and some more food. The stash that she nicked from the castle kitchens is nearly gone and while she knew she would have to hunt eventually, the opportunity to buy fresh food is too good to pass up.

Aelin walks into what appears to be the village square and immediately tenses up. There, sitting outside what she assumes must be a tavern are three Terrasen soldiers drinking ale and playing cards.

They are loud and obnoxious. Aelin knew that soldiers like to drink but it was barely noon right now and two of them looked like they were on their way to being very drunk.

Aelin watches them out of the corner of her eye. They are older than her, not as old as Quinn, but still within what should be their prime. Except for the fact that two of them clearly are not. Even from this distance Aelin can make out that the two who appear to be older than the third are heavier than any soldier she has ever seen, most likely from drinking so much ale. The third however, is younger, closer to Aedion’s age, she guesses, and still has strength on his side. He has light brown hair and the Terrasen uniform makes him look like every girls dream.

As she walks past them, the younger one looks at her and Aelin feels like she has just stepped into a vat of oil as his eyes rake down her body. A feeling of dread overtakes her and Aelin thinks, He may look like every young girls dream soldier, but he’s probably closer to their worst nightmare.

Calm down, she thinks. The chances of them recognizing your face is slim to none. And it's true. Very few people outside of the walls of Orynth would know what she looks like. Yes, she may have her mother's Ashryver hair and eyes, but who would really know that beyond the walls of the court. No, her best chance is to act like she is a weary traveler in need of supplies, no one a soldier would even think twice about.

Continuing on her way past the soldiers, her heart beating so loud she could feel it in her ears, Aelin approaches a man running a stand that's selling what appears to be bolts of different types of cloth.

"Excuse me," she asks politely. "Would you be able to point me in the direction of someone who may be able to sell me bandages and take a look at my leg? I hurt it while tripping over a rock the other day and I'm afraid I may need stitches."

The man's eyes flit around her to look at the soldiers and Aelin can almost taste his uneasiness before he answers, "We don't have any healers here, but Elanor lives in the cottage over there," he indicates to his right towards a small house a little further into the village. "She helps deliver all of the babies; she might have what you're looking for."

Aelin smiles and thanks him and begins to head in the direction he indicated. As she beings to make her way she notices out of the corner of her eye the soldiers studying her from their table. Breathe. You are a woman, traveling alone, you’re going to turn some heads, just breathe, she tells herself. Praying they don’t get up to follow her Aelin quickens her pace ever so slightly.

~ ~ ~

Elanor turns out to be a sweet older woman who has seen Aelin’s kind of injury before.

“Silly girl,” Elanor lightly scolds her as she wraps Aelins leg in clean bandage after she had finished stitching up her wound. “You should have known better than to go tramping out in the woods all by yourself. Where is your husband and why isn’t he taking better care of you?”

Completely caught off guard by her questions, Aelin balks and tries to recover quickly. “He… he’s out fighting on the front,” she swiftly invents. “He hasn’t been home in months.”

Elanor hums at her in a way that tells Aelin that she doesn’t believe her, hell Aelin wouldn’t believe the fib herself either.

“He sent me a letter,” Aelin continues, trying to make her story more believable. “That his unit was going to be in Perranth soon. I am traveling to see him and visit some family we have there.”

“But why not take the road to Perranth, it would be a much less treacherous path,” she inquires.

Thinking back to the slight fear from the cloth man from earlier and her own feelings towards the soldiers leering at her Aelin looks down at her hands and says, “There are not always good people on the road.”

Elanor’s face darkens. “Indeed,” she says as she finishes wrapping Aelins leg.

Aelin is about to thank the woman and pay her for her services when a cry of pain comes from outside startling the two. Aelin jumps up and races to the window to see what all of the commotion is and to her horror she sees the one of the soldiers from earlier dragging a very dirty boy who appears to be no older than fourteen.

Aelin turns to Elanor panic clear in her voice as she asks, “What is going on?”

Elanor shakes her head. “That’s Micha,” she says softly. “He was conscripted into the war a week ago.”

“How? He barely looks older than fourteen, conscription age is eighteen. That’s the law.”

Elanor shakes her head again. “Those soldiers,” she whispers. “They were ransacking his mother’s stall, that’s how all of this started. His father and two older brothers have all gone off to fight leaving Micha and his mother defenseless against any arrogant soldier who thinks they can just take what they want, when they want it because they wear that uniform. Micha had, had enough of their bullying and comments towards his mother so he pulled a knife on one of them and threatened them that if they ever came back, he would make them pay. A few hours later they were rounding him up saying that if he was old enough to pull a knife, he was old enough to serve in the Kings army. He managed to escape and ran away. It looks like they found him now.”

“What will happen to him?” Aelin whispers horror stricken.

“He’ll be whipped in the village square, then if he survives the whipping, he’ll be shipped off to the front to help run messages mostly with all the rest of the boys that are out there too young to fight. No one disobeys those men and gets away without punishment. Those men are supposed to protect us, but they are more monster than anything I have ever faced in all my life.”

Disgust rolls in Aelins stomach. How can Terrasen soldiers do something so horrible to their own people? How could her father have let this happen? This kid was exactly that, a child. He was only defending his mother; he did not deserve this. Aelin knows that she cannot let this happen.

Aelin reaches for the door to try to stop the abomination she knows that is about to occur when she feels herself being dragged back by her arm.

“No!” Elanor whisper shouts to her. “You cannot interfere. They’ll tie you to the post next to him to make an example out of you.”

“I can’t do nothing,” Aelin says. Then she shakes her arm loose from Elanor’s iron clad grip and is racing out the door towards the soldier who is now tying Micha to the whipping post.

Aelin's eyes widen as she watches another one of the soldiers from earlier raise a whip. Her cry of, "Stop!" is lost in the first crack of the whip against the poor boys back and his cry of pain.

Aelin barely registers what she is doing before she slams into the soldier holding the whip as he is raises his arm to give another lash.

The soldier gives a cry of surprise as he is thrown off balance and falls into the dirt. His two companions stand there mouths open, too shocked at what just occurred to do anything.

"I order you to stop!" Aelin yells as she moves to block the boy from the soldiers. "This boy has done nothing wrong."

"And what the hell would you know about that? The soldier with the whip asks as he gets to his feet. "You don't live here; I saw you walk into town for the first time today barely an hour ago. You don't know anything about what this boy has done."

"I know he was just defending his mother from cowards like you," She snaps at him.

Aelin always had a problem when it came to controlling her anger. She usually let it get the best of her and she was quick to snap out things without thinking them through. When she sees the three soldiers faces contort in anger, she knows she has probably crossed a line she didn't want to cross.

"Cowards?" The one with the whip hisses. "I'll show you a coward," then he's lunging for her.

Aelin smiles, watching his feet and taking note that he is thinking with all rage and no brain, she side steps the man just as he is about to reach her, allowing him to fall face first into the mud at her feet.

He groans as he spits out the mouthful of mud he got along with his fall.

“Is that the best you can do?” she taunts.

The man growls in anger, shooting up he pulls his sword from his belt and swings at her.

Aelin ducks under his over arched swing and he loses his balance once again as his sword connects with only air. Taking advantage of his unsteady gait Aelin raises her leg and kicks him on the right side of his rib cage, effectively knocking the air from him and forcing him to the ground once again.

“Doesn’t surprise me that a boy no older than fourteen got the jump on you if that is the best you can do,” Aelin quips as she watches him struggle to breathe.

The soldier on the ground gasps while getting to his hands and knees. He tries to wipe the mud from his rage filled face with little success and looks at his two companions and yells, “Why are you just standing there? Get her!”

The two other soldiers who have been just staring at her dumbfounded until now spring into action and draw their swords.

Copying their move, Aelin draws hers as well. She knows she has what it takes to take on the two idiots in front of her, but her main concern is for the boy still tied to the whipping post. She needs to get him out of here

The two soldiers try to rush her but with their armor and their extra weight, they’re clunky and slow. Just when they are within striking range, Aelin moves, kicking up the mud into their faces. The two yell out in confusion as their hands fly to their eyes. One even drops his sword. With their faces covered Aelin kicks one in the abdomen and hits the other one with the hilt of her sword. She whacks both of them on the back of the head for good measure and with them thoroughly distracted Aelin takes off running for Micha.

“That was so cool!” He says to her when she reaches him.

Slicing her sword through his bonds, Aelin makes quick work of freeing him. The boy winces and rubs his wrists where the rope tightly bound him as he whirls on her a bright smile shining through his filthy face.

Aelin grabs his shoulders to make him look at her so he'll clearly hear her order. “Go home, take your mother and run into the Oakwald, stay hidden for as long as you can then make your way down to Perranth, you’ll be safe there.”

“No, I want to stay and help you,” the boy pleads with her.

“You have to get away from here, it’s the only way you’ll be safe.”

He's about to argue some more when his eyes widen suddenly. “Look out!”

Aelin turns to find the younger soldier practically upon her, sword out ready to strike, having recovered much faster than Aelin anticipated. Aelin raises her sword to meet his and yells “Run!” to Micha.

Their swords clash, the metals singing against each other. While he may have been sloppy before due to his rage, the brown-haired man has finally managed to wrangle it all in to get his head on straight.

He is advancing quickly on her and it’s all Aelin can do to keep up with his rapid blows. Despite her current situation Aelin can’t help but think this is why this man seems like the leader over his two older companions.

Sweat beings to bead at her head while she thinks back to everything Quinn taught her about sword fighting. The trick is to look for a weakness in your opponent and then exploit it. Unfortunately, this man doesn’t appear to have any weaknesses.

Aelin can feel her form slipping as her arms begin to tire against the forceful strikes of her opponent. The man must feel her quickly rising dread because he smirks at her, his eyes becoming more deranged by the minute.

“Who are you calling a coward now, you bitch,” he spits at her.

And that’s when she sees it, her opening. He lifts his right elbow too high when he goes to cut high at her neck. Aelin hides her smirk and redoubles her effort trying to force him into the move again.

Shocked by her sudden surge of determination, Aelin can see in his face his confusion about what changed. He swings high for her neck again but this time he doesn’t leave the opening. Dismay begins to take over, thinking it was a onetime thing, until an idea suddenly strikes her.

“How does it feel,” Aelin huffs, trying not to show how out of breath she is, “To know that you’ve been bested by a fourteen year old boy, and a girl?”

The man howls in rage, swinging his sword high once again, Aelin sees his elbow lift too high, just as she hoped it would, and she's ducking under his sword driving her fist into his ribs, right where she kicked him earlier.

The soldier twists away in pain, falling to his knees and gasping for air.

Aelin quickly looks up and sees that Micha is gone, hopefully he’s run off to grab his mother and the two of them are on the run. The trick now will be getting them to follow her and not them. And Aelin knows just how to do that.

“I take it back,” Aelin says looking at the man on his knees, taking in all the hate the solider is looking at her with. “You’re not just cowards. You’re weaklings as well. There’s clearly a reason none of you are stationed anywhere near the front.”

“You better run,” he says to her in a dangerous voice.

Aelin shrugs. “As if you could catch me.” Then she takes off.

~ ~ ~

Breath heaving in and out of her chest Aelin races her way through the darkness of the Oakwalk, the sound of the royal hounds now fading away with every passing minute. Covered in mud from head to toe in a last-ditch effort to hide her scent Aelin is exhausted. She has been running from the royal guards those soldiers called after her for three days now and is in desperate need of rest.

Quickly taking in her surroundings she spots a cave nearly hidden by a clump of brush and almost sighs with relief. Making her way over to it, practically tripping on the debris, Aelin thinks maybe the gods are not as cruel as everyone makes them out to be.

Standing at the edge of the cave Aelin is so focused on listening for the dogs that she forgets to keep the rest of her senses open to other things. It's only when she feels the knife pressed to her throat does, she realize that she's not alone.

“Scream and I’ll cut your throat,” a deadly voice whispers in her ear. Panic fills Aelin as she feels the sharp edge of the blade dig into her throat. Aelin stays silent knowing that if she goes to shake her head in anyway, she’ll risk slitting her own throat.

“Good,” the voice mummers to her as if he’s trying to sooth a wild beast. “Good. Now we’re going to walk back into the cave and you’re going to stay quiet while we do.”

Aelin tenses up at his command. This is it; she thinks. This is where I die.

“Calm down,” the voice hisses. “We’re just going where it's safe to talk and no one will bother us.”

“Easy for you to say,” Aelin spits back. “You’re not the one with a knife to your throat.”

The mysterious man behind her chuckles, “Fair enough princess.” And the knife disappears from around her neck.

Aelin whirls on her capture, reaching for her knife, fire raging in her veins. In the darkness Aelin can’t make out much. All Aelin can see is that the stranger is tall, very tall. Possibly taller than Aedion who is the biggest person she knows.

“Don’t call me that,” she hisses at him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the stranger says nodding towards her knife. Glaring at him, Aelin takes in as much as she can in the darkness of cave. On top of being a giant he is powerfully built. Aelin would be a fool to try to take him right now, she may have some skill with a blade, but it won’t be anything compared to his brute strength, especially in this enclosed of a space and with how exhausted she is.

“You’re going to follow me back into the cave where we can talk and no one will bother us,” He says to her. He watches as Aelin visibly tenses at his words. “I’m not going to kill you. I only want to make sure we aren’t heard by anyone outside.”

Aelin thinks for a moment. She cannot go back out into the woods, not with the soldiers so closely behind her, and she cannot fight this man off when she is so utterly drained. Not being able to see another way out of her current situation Aelin nods to the stranger.

He gestures for her to lead the way deeper into the cave. Aelin senses go on high alert as she steps around him to walk deeper into the cave not knowing what to expect. She keeps her hand on her dagger at her side unsure if the stranger is going to grab her again.

They reach a natural curve in the cave and Aelin can begin to make out other voices along with a very dim light. Coming to a large open space tucked away behind the bend she gasps

In the light she can make out a small group of men, two of whom appear to be twins. Now that she is in view of the group the man behind her comes around to her side. Aelin glances over and takes him in with wide eyes. Aelin was right about him being a giant, he truly is huge. That’s not what surprises her though, as she scans his face. It’s the fact that he is, for lack of a better word, handsome and Aelin is annoyed at herself for thinking so with his pine green eyes and short silver hair.

Aelin almost thinks that this man might be kind for pulling her back here despite the knife to the throat.

“Who are you and why are the royal guards after you?” he asks her coldly.

Well that didn’t last very long.

“No one important,” she deflects.

One of the twins, the blond, huffs a laugh. “Yeah because the royal guard just always chases people who aren’t important for fun.”

The man with the silver hair shoots him a glare before turning it back towards Aelin. He looks her up and down before saying, “You couldn’t have possibly done anything that severe.”

Aelin takes offense to that.

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Because I had you by the throat in an instant. Plus, you don’t look dangerous enough to have caused a riot. So, what was it Princess, did you just get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

“Don’t call me that!” Aelin growls, going for her dagger again.

“Whoa, calm down,” the blond twin says bringing his hands up in front of him “We just need to know because with the royal guard out there it's throwing a wrench into our plans to nick all of their supplies.”

“Shut up Fenrys!” he twin hisses at him. And the two brothers begin to argue in whispers.

Plans to take supplies? Aelin had just assumed when she saw the group of them, that they were soldiers, maybe from Adarlan, here on mission of some sort, with there being only four of them. But really looking at all of them now Aelin can see that they are clearly not. Not a single one of them is wearing any kind of insignia that would give you the impression that they fight for any one kingdom.

Aelin furrows her brow in confusion. “Who, who are you?”

“No one important,” The silver haired man says her, repeating her earlier statement.

Aelin glares at him. She knows she’s not going to get anywhere with him speaking to her like he is right now. She needs to give them something to get them to trust her, even if it's only to let her go on her way. Taking a deep breath through her nose she says, “I stopped the whipping of a fourteen year old boy.”

The twins stop bickering and turn and look at her surprise written all over their face. The silver haired man comes around the side of her to face her directly and just stares at her in what appears to be bewilderment. Aelin looks into his pine green eyes and tries to decipher what he could possibly be thinking about her but she can't get a read on him.

The dark haired one in the corner, the one who hasn’t spoken yet asks her, “You stopped a whipping?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” The silver haired one asks harshly.

“He didn’t deserve it,” Aelin says. “These soldiers were harassing his mother, and when he went to defend her, they tried to drag him off to the war. He ran away but they found him. They were going to whip him, then send him to the front. I couldn’t let that happen, so I fought off the three soldiers holding him and freed the boy. Told him to run and find his mother and to get out.”

“You fought off three Terrasen soldiers all by yourself?” The dark haired twin ask.

Aelin nods. She wasn’t about to add in that two of them were fat and could barely wield a sword. Right now, she needed to sound as impressive as she could possibly be.

It's silent for another moment before the blond one says, “She sounds like she would fit right in. Where are you headed?”

Not expecting his statement Aelin stutters for a moment then says, “Eyllwe.”

“Why there?” The dark haired one asks.

Aelin shrugs. “I heard that there was a rebel group forming down there, I wanted to go and help them?”

“Why?” The silver one asks again, apparently 'why' is his favorite word. “You’re clearly from Terrasen, why aid people fighting against your own kingdom.

Aelin pauses for a moment. She knows what she says here will most likely make or break her. Though from what the blond twin, Fenrys, let slip the truth will probably be her best shot. Well, most of the truth anyway.

“I am sick and tired of this war, like most of the people here. It needs to end. I am sick of Terrasen soldiers acting like they are better than everyone just because they wear a uniform and I am sick of my people not getting the help they need as their taxes are raised and their husbands and sons are shipped off to fight in a war they no longer believe in. I need to help my people. And if helping rebels from Eyllwe is the best way to do it then that’s what I’ll do.”

The four men look at her, then at each other as if they’re having their own silent conversation. The silver haired one seems annoyed at whatever the other three seemed to have agreed upon because he turns away and walks back out towards the entrance of the cave with a scoff.

Fenrys turns to her and smiles. “Just one more question,” he says. “Do you want to join us?”

Aelin can’t help it, her mouth drops open. Fenrys smirks at her. “Close your mouth it’s not that outrageous of an offer. Your interests appear to align directly with ours.”

“And what exactly are your interests?” Aelin asks curiously.

Fenrys shrugs. “We similar to you, we were all soldiers at one point, came from a bunch of different areas. We got sick at the way the people were being treated in this war and decided we didn’t want to fight anymore we wanted to help them instead. So now that’s what we do, we help those who cannot help themselves.”

“And how do you do that?”

He shrugs again. “Mostly taking extra supplies from soldiers who don’t need it and giving it to those who do, stopping soldiers from attacking innocent villages, stopping pointless whippings.” He smirks at her his eyes sparkling with mischief .

“And you want me to join you?”

“It beats trekking all the way down to Eyllwe,” the quiet dark haired one says. “Why travel all the way down there when you can stay with us and do exactly what you said you want to do.”

Aelin bites her lip and thinks. She never intended to stay in Terrasen. Her chances of being recognized here are a hundred times greater than those in Eyllwe. Although, she never heard anything about rebels in Terrasen itself. It's plausible that this group is small enough to stay under the radar but skilled enough to actually make some sort of difference. Plus, with staying this close to home Aelin can keep a better tab on her father and the search for her. Any news she would receive in Eyllwe would be weeks old and probably not that reliable after it exchanged so many hands. She just needs more information.

Aelin looks towards Fenrys, clearly the friendliest of the group and asks, “How many of you are there?”

“Ten in total who travel together, though we do have people who help out whenever we come across their homes.”

“How long have you been doing this.”

“Con and I,” he gestures to his brother, “Have been in for a little less than a year. Vaughn,” he nods towards the quiet man in the corner. “Has been in the group from the start along with a few others back at camp.”

“You said you were planning on nicking supplies from the royal guard, what are you going to do with it.”

Fenrys opens his mouth to reply but he is cut off by Vaughn.

“Some of it we need. The rest will go to a nearby town, mostly medicine, their supply was wiped out a few days ago when soldiers came through and took everything they had.”

“You don’t think soldiers at the front need medicine.” Aelin furrows her brow at him thinking of Aedion.

“This supply wagon isn’t going to the front,” Vaughn says. “There was a fire a few days before the soldiers came, many people were burned. The soldiers saw that and confiscated the medicine because they could, claiming it was for the front. We know for a fact however that these wagons never make it there. These men just take because they can.”

Aelin nods her head processing all of the information they just told her. Staying with them is starting to sound like a good idea. Despite the risk of being recognized Aelin thinks that the benefits just might outweigh the risks. Not to mention she’ll be able to help her own people directly here. She wouldn’t be able to do that in Eyllwe.

“Okay,” she says hesitantly. “I’m in.”

Fenrys breaks into a wide grin. “What’s your name?” He asks her.

Aelin knew this was coming, she takes a breath and says, “Celaena, Celaena Sardothien.”

~ ~ ~

Aelin spent the night in the cave with Vaughn, Fenrys, and his twin Connall. It’s the first real rest she’s had in days, even if she didn’t sleep. Just resting her body and her eyes was enough to rejuvenate her so that she didn’t feel like she was about to pass out every few feet.

The five of them, now that the silver haired man had deigned to rejoin them, were walking through the Oakwald on their way to meet up with the rest of the group, needing a new plan on how to take back the medicine stolen from the nearby town.

Having had no time to converse with the mysterious man who held her at knife point the night before Aelin speeds up her walking to join him at the front of the group.

He ignores her when she walks up beside him and Aelin can see his determination to keep staring ahead instead of looking at her.

“I never got your name,” she says to him, keeping her eyes forward as well.

Aelin can see him out of the corner of her eye as he turns his head and looks her up and down, eyes full of distain. It feels like he can read her whole life from just taking her in. He is silent for a moment before he turns and looks ahead again. Disappointment fills her. He may be an asshole, but she would have at least thought he would be decent enough to give her his name.

Aelin is just about to slow down and walk next to Fenrys when he says, “Rowan.”

a/n: Sorry this took me so long, I've been stuck doing prep work for a certification I need for work. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out sooner.

Let me know if you want to be tagged!

Tags: @rowaelinismyotp // @sheharahu // @fireheartwhitethorn4ever // @ladyfireheart-and-buzzard // @aelinchocolatelover

[hellodeedles]

Walking through the Oakwald nearly a week after her desperate exit from Orynth. Aelin never knew that freedom could taste so sweet.

She thought that she knew what freedom was, she grew up as a princess who had never wanted for anything in her life. She simply had everything she could ever dream of and was fully aware that she was lucky to. She had supposed that, that lack of want may be some form of freedom, because she knew the majority of her people would never have anything close to it.

Aelin had just never realized that, that specific freedom came with its own kind of cage. A cage where she was forced to be someone she is clearly not. Aelin had known from a young age that she would have to work hard to be the perfect princess. Sure, she enjoyed the finer things in life, but she was always too outspoken and too opinionated for the other members of her father's court. She can still hear her etiquette teachers hissing in her ear, to "sit up straighter," and to "keep quiet" because "princesses don't say those kinds of things." And when she couldn't fulfill those requests Aelin always felt as if she was somehow failing her father.

Out on her own however; there is no one here that she needs to impress, the pressures of making everyone around her happy has finally been lifted. Not to mention she is finally free of all of the annoyed glares Darrow gives her when he is upset with her. And most importantly she is out from under her father's thumb and his ridiculous arranged marriage agreement.

A snort escapes from Aelin.

If her father had bothered to ever get to know Aelin at all, he would have never agreed to such a match without her approval. She sighs heavily as she steps over a fallen tree on to a large rock, covered in moss and still wet from the rain that occurred earlier this morning. She is so lost in her own thoughts that she doesn't even realize how slippery it is before the world shifts sideways and she is falling down.

Pulling her hands out to catch her fall, Aelin braces herself for the impact she is about to feel. Crashing down onto the hard ground Aelin gives a groan a pain. Taking a moment to catch her breath Aelin curses herself for being so stupid. She is well out of the part of the Oakwald she used to play in as a child and she knows that she needs to be careful as she is now in unfamiliar territory. An injury could put her down for weeks. Weeks that she doesn't have if she is going to make it Eyllwe before her father goes and does something stupid now that he no longer will have the money from her former betrothed, whoever he may be.

Sitting up slowly Aelin feels a twinge of pain from her left calf. Looking down at her leg, Aelin feels her heart jump into her throat. There's a cut on her calf and its bleeding.

Ripping her pants off at the knee so she has something to wipe away the blood with Aelin groans to herself, Stupid, how could I be so stupid.

Throwing the now useless rag on the ground Aelin puts her head in her hands and takes a few deep breaths to calm herself. Loosing her cool right now is not going to help the situation.

Taking a deep breath Aelin pulls her pack off her back and snags her canteen to pour water onto her leg to get a better look at what she is dealing with. She thinks back to everything she ever learned about injuries and how to take care of them. Remembering an old healing book of her mother's Aelin knows that keeping the wound clean would be the most important thing. The last thing that Aelin needs is to catch an infection, she could lose her leg, or worse if she isn't careful.

The cut doesn't look to terrible. It's deep and might need stitches but Aelin has nothing out here with her that she would be able to use for a needle and thread, bandaging it well is going to be her best bet.

Standing up Aelin begins to test out her leg. It's sore but from the way she can fully put her weight onto it she can tell it's not broken. Still pissed at herself for being so clumsy in the first place, her mood is slightly placated by the fact that her leg isn't broken on top of being cut.

Heading over to a nearby tree, a slight limp in her step, Aelin rips some moss off to help soak up her still leaking wound. Looking around for some way to fasten the moss to her leg she spys her discarded bloody pant leg she used earlier. Tearing it into strips, she is able to attach the moss to her leg to make a somewhat decent bandage.

It'll have to do, Aelin thinks to herself. She'll need to get to a village now, and quickly. She is going to need some real bandages; the moss won't last forever. She sighs heavily once again and beings to make her way due east towards the edge of the Oakwald in the hopes of finding a village before nightfall.

~ ~ ~

Aelin is cursing the gods and all they stand for by the time she finally reaches a village. It took her almost two days to find one. Two days of wandering on the edge of the Oakwald on high alert for any royal guards or soldiers because she knows with her injured leg flight will not be as easy. She hasn't felt this exposed since she left Orynth and Aelin is not a fan of the stress it has caused her.

She made sure to change the moss every couple of hours and to clean her leg each time she did, but she would kill for some real bandages, and some more food. The stash that she nicked from the castle kitchens is nearly gone and while she knew she would have to hunt eventually, the opportunity to buy fresh food is too good to pass up.

Aelin walks into what appears to be the village square and immediately tenses up. There, sitting outside what she assumes must be a tavern are three Terrasen soldiers drinking ale and playing cards.

They are loud and obnoxious. Aelin knew that soldiers like to drink but it was barely noon right now and two of them looked like they were on their way to being very drunk.

Aelin watches them out of the corner of her eye. They are older than her, not as old as Quinn, but still within what should be their prime. Except for the fact that two of them clearly are not. Even from this distance Aelin can make out that the two who appear to be older than the third are heavier than any soldier she has ever seen, most likely from drinking so much ale. The third however, is younger, closer to Aedion’s age, she guesses, and still has strength on his side. He has light brown hair and the Terrasen uniform makes him look like every girls dream.

As she walks past them, the younger one looks at her and Aelin feels like she has just stepped into a vat of oil as his eyes rake down her body. A feeling of dread overtakes her and Aelin thinks, He may look like every young girls dream soldier, but he’s probably closer to their worst nightmare.

Calm down, she thinks. The chances of them recognizing your face is slim to none. And it's true. Very few people outside of the walls of Orynth would know what she looks like. Yes, she may have her mother's Ashryver hair and eyes, but who would really know that beyond the walls of the court. No, her best chance is to act like she is a weary traveler in need of supplies, no one a soldier would even think twice about.

Continuing on her way past the soldiers, her heart beating so loud she could feel it in her ears, Aelin approaches a man running a stand that's selling what appears to be bolts of different types of cloth.

"Excuse me," she asks politely. "Would you be able to point me in the direction of someone who may be able to sell me bandages and take a look at my leg? I hurt it while tripping over a rock the other day and I'm afraid I may need stitches."

The man's eyes flit around her to look at the soldiers and Aelin can almost taste his uneasiness before he answers, "We don't have any healers here, but Elanor lives in the cottage over there," he indicates to his right towards a small house a little further into the village. "She helps deliver all of the babies; she might have what you're looking for."

Aelin smiles and thanks him and begins to head in the direction he indicated. As she beings to make her way she notices out of the corner of her eye the soldiers studying her from their table. Breathe. You are a woman, traveling alone, you’re going to turn some heads, just breathe, she tells herself. Praying they don’t get up to follow her Aelin quickens her pace ever so slightly.

~ ~ ~

Elanor turns out to be a sweet older woman who has seen Aelin’s kind of injury before.

“Silly girl,” Elanor lightly scolds her as she wraps Aelins leg in clean bandage after she had finished stitching up her wound. “You should have known better than to go tramping out in the woods all by yourself. Where is your husband and why isn’t he taking better care of you?”

Completely caught off guard by her questions, Aelin balks and tries to recover quickly. “He… he’s out fighting on the front,” she swiftly invents. “He hasn’t been home in months.”

Elanor hums at her in a way that tells Aelin that she doesn’t believe her, hell Aelin wouldn’t believe the fib herself either.

“He sent me a letter,” Aelin continues, trying to make her story more believable. “That his unit was going to be in Perranth soon. I am traveling to see him and visit some family we have there.”

“But why not take the road to Perranth, it would be a much less treacherous path,” she inquires.

Thinking back to the slight fear from the cloth man from earlier and her own feelings towards the soldiers leering at her Aelin looks down at her hands and says, “There are not always good people on the road.”

Elanor’s face darkens. “Indeed,” she says as she finishes wrapping Aelins leg.

Aelin is about to thank the woman and pay her for her services when a cry of pain comes from outside startling the two. Aelin jumps up and races to the window to see what all of the commotion is and to her horror she sees the one of the soldiers from earlier dragging a very dirty boy who appears to be no older than fourteen.

Aelin turns to Elanor panic clear in her voice as she asks, “What is going on?”

Elanor shakes her head. “That’s Micha,” she says softly. “He was conscripted into the war a week ago.”

“How? He barely looks older than fourteen, conscription age is eighteen. That’s the law.”

Elanor shakes her head again. “Those soldiers,” she whispers. “They were ransacking his mother’s stall, that’s how all of this started. His father and two older brothers have all gone off to fight leaving Micha and his mother defenseless against any arrogant soldier who thinks they can just take what they want, when they want it because they wear that uniform. Micha had, had enough of their bullying and comments towards his mother so he pulled a knife on one of them and threatened them that if they ever came back, he would make them pay. A few hours later they were rounding him up saying that if he was old enough to pull a knife, he was old enough to serve in the Kings army. He managed to escape and ran away. It looks like they found him now.”

“What will happen to him?” Aelin whispers horror stricken.

“He’ll be whipped in the village square, then if he survives the whipping, he’ll be shipped off to the front to help run messages mostly with all the rest of the boys that are out there too young to fight. No one disobeys those men and gets away without punishment. Those men are supposed to protect us, but they are more monster than anything I have ever faced in all my life.”

Disgust rolls in Aelins stomach. How can Terrasen soldiers do something so horrible to their own people? How could her father have let this happen? This kid was exactly that, a child. He was only defending his mother; he did not deserve this. Aelin knows that she cannot let this happen.

Aelin reaches for the door to try to stop the abomination she knows that is about to occur when she feels herself being dragged back by her arm.

“No!” Elanor whisper shouts to her. “You cannot interfere. They’ll tie you to the post next to him to make an example out of you.”

“I can’t do nothing,” Aelin says. Then she shakes her arm loose from Elanor’s iron clad grip and is racing out the door towards the soldier who is now tying Micha to the whipping post.

Aelin's eyes widen as she watches another one of the soldiers from earlier raise a whip. Her cry of, "Stop!" is lost in the first crack of the whip against the poor boys back and his cry of pain.

Aelin barely registers what she is doing before she slams into the soldier holding the whip as he is raises his arm to give another lash.

The soldier gives a cry of surprise as he is thrown off balance and falls into the dirt. His two companions stand there mouths open, too shocked at what just occurred to do anything.

"I order you to stop!" Aelin yells as she moves to block the boy from the soldiers. "This boy has done nothing wrong."

"And what the hell would you know about that? The soldier with the whip asks as he gets to his feet. "You don't live here; I saw you walk into town for the first time today barely an hour ago. You don't know anything about what this boy has done."

"I know he was just defending his mother from cowards like you," She snaps at him.

Aelin always had a problem when it came to controlling her anger. She usually let it get the best of her and she was quick to snap out things without thinking them through. When she sees the three soldiers faces contort in anger, she knows she has probably crossed a line she didn't want to cross.

"Cowards?" The one with the whip hisses. "I'll show you a coward," then he's lunging for her.

Aelin smiles, watching his feet and taking note that he is thinking with all rage and no brain, she side steps the man just as he is about to reach her, allowing him to fall face first into the mud at her feet.

He groans as he spits out the mouthful of mud he got along with his fall.

“Is that the best you can do?” she taunts.

The man growls in anger, shooting up he pulls his sword from his belt and swings at her.

Aelin ducks under his over arched swing and he loses his balance once again as his sword connects with only air. Taking advantage of his unsteady gait Aelin raises her leg and kicks him on the right side of his rib cage, effectively knocking the air from him and forcing him to the ground once again.

“Doesn’t surprise me that a boy no older than fourteen got the jump on you if that is the best you can do,” Aelin quips as she watches him struggle to breathe.

The soldier on the ground gasps while getting to his hands and knees. He tries to wipe the mud from his rage filled face with little success and looks at his two companions and yells, “Why are you just standing there? Get her!”

The two other soldiers who have been just staring at her dumbfounded until now spring into action and draw their swords.

Copying their move, Aelin draws hers as well. She knows she has what it takes to take on the two idiots in front of her, but her main concern is for the boy still tied to the whipping post. She needs to get him out of here

The two soldiers try to rush her but with their armor and their extra weight, they’re clunky and slow. Just when they are within striking range, Aelin moves, kicking up the mud into their faces. The two yell out in confusion as their hands fly to their eyes. One even drops his sword. With their faces covered Aelin kicks one in the abdomen and hits the other one with the hilt of her sword. She whacks both of them on the back of the head for good measure and with them thoroughly distracted Aelin takes off running for Micha.

“That was so cool!” He says to her when she reaches him.

Slicing her sword through his bonds, Aelin makes quick work of freeing him. The boy winces and rubs his wrists where the rope tightly bound him as he whirls on her a bright smile shining through his filthy face.

Aelin grabs his shoulders to make him look at her so he'll clearly hear her order. “Go home, take your mother and run into the Oakwald, stay hidden for as long as you can then make your way down to Perranth, you’ll be safe there.”

“No, I want to stay and help you,” the boy pleads with her.

“You have to get away from here, it’s the only way you’ll be safe.”

He's about to argue some more when his eyes widen suddenly. “Look out!”

Aelin turns to find the younger soldier practically upon her, sword out ready to strike, having recovered much faster than Aelin anticipated. Aelin raises her sword to meet his and yells “Run!” to Micha.

Their swords clash, the metals singing against each other. While he may have been sloppy before due to his rage, the brown-haired man has finally managed to wrangle it all in to get his head on straight.

He is advancing quickly on her and it’s all Aelin can do to keep up with his rapid blows. Despite her current situation Aelin can’t help but think this is why this man seems like the leader over his two older companions.

Sweat beings to bead at her head while she thinks back to everything Quinn taught her about sword fighting. The trick is to look for a weakness in your opponent and then exploit it. Unfortunately, this man doesn’t appear to have any weaknesses.

Aelin can feel her form slipping as her arms begin to tire against the forceful strikes of her opponent. The man must feel her quickly rising dread because he smirks at her, his eyes becoming more deranged by the minute.

“Who are you calling a coward now, you bitch,” he spits at her.

And that’s when she sees it, her opening. He lifts his right elbow too high when he goes to cut high at her neck. Aelin hides her smirk and redoubles her effort trying to force him into the move again.

Shocked by her sudden surge of determination, Aelin can see in his face his confusion about what changed. He swings high for her neck again but this time he doesn’t leave the opening. Dismay begins to take over, thinking it was a onetime thing, until an idea suddenly strikes her.

“How does it feel,” Aelin huffs, trying not to show how out of breath she is, “To know that you’ve been bested by a fourteen year old boy, and a girl?”

The man howls in rage, swinging his sword high once again, Aelin sees his elbow lift too high, just as she hoped it would, and she's ducking under his sword driving her fist into his ribs, right where she kicked him earlier.

The soldier twists away in pain, falling to his knees and gasping for air.

Aelin quickly looks up and sees that Micha is gone, hopefully he’s run off to grab his mother and the two of them are on the run. The trick now will be getting them to follow her and not them. And Aelin knows just how to do that.

“I take it back,” Aelin says looking at the man on his knees, taking in all the hate the solider is looking at her with. “You’re not just cowards. You’re weaklings as well. There’s clearly a reason none of you are stationed anywhere near the front.”

“You better run,” he says to her in a dangerous voice.

Aelin shrugs. “As if you could catch me.” Then she takes off.

~ ~ ~

Breath heaving in and out of her chest Aelin races her way through the darkness of the Oakwalk, the sound of the royal hounds now fading away with every passing minute. Covered in mud from head to toe in a last-ditch effort to hide her scent Aelin is exhausted. She has been running from the royal guards those soldiers called after her for three days now and is in desperate need of rest.

Quickly taking in her surroundings she spots a cave nearly hidden by a clump of brush and almost sighs with relief. Making her way over to it, practically tripping on the debris, Aelin thinks maybe the gods are not as cruel as everyone makes them out to be.

Standing at the edge of the cave Aelin is so focused on listening for the dogs that she forgets to keep the rest of her senses open to other things. It's only when she feels the knife pressed to her throat does, she realize that she's not alone.

“Scream and I’ll cut your throat,” a deadly voice whispers in her ear. Panic fills Aelin as she feels the sharp edge of the blade dig into her throat. Aelin stays silent knowing that if she goes to shake her head in anyway, she’ll risk slitting her own throat.

“Good,” the voice mummers to her as if he’s trying to sooth a wild beast. “Good. Now we’re going to walk back into the cave and you’re going to stay quiet while we do.”

Aelin tenses up at his command. This is it; she thinks. This is where I die.

“Calm down,” the voice hisses. “We’re just going where it's safe to talk and no one will bother us.”

“Easy for you to say,” Aelin spits back. “You’re not the one with a knife to your throat.”

The mysterious man behind her chuckles, “Fair enough princess.” And the knife disappears from around her neck.

Aelin whirls on her capture, reaching for her knife, fire raging in her veins. In the darkness Aelin can’t make out much. All Aelin can see is that the stranger is tall, very tall. Possibly taller than Aedion who is the biggest person she knows.

“Don’t call me that,” she hisses at him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the stranger says nodding towards her knife. Glaring at him, Aelin takes in as much as she can in the darkness of cave. On top of being a giant he is powerfully built. Aelin would be a fool to try to take him right now, she may have some skill with a blade, but it won’t be anything compared to his brute strength, especially in this enclosed of a space and with how exhausted she is.

“You’re going to follow me back into the cave where we can talk and no one will bother us,” He says to her. He watches as Aelin visibly tenses at his words. “I’m not going to kill you. I only want to make sure we aren’t heard by anyone outside.”

Aelin thinks for a moment. She cannot go back out into the woods, not with the soldiers so closely behind her, and she cannot fight this man off when she is so utterly drained. Not being able to see another way out of her current situation Aelin nods to the stranger.

He gestures for her to lead the way deeper into the cave. Aelin senses go on high alert as she steps around him to walk deeper into the cave not knowing what to expect. She keeps her hand on her dagger at her side unsure if the stranger is going to grab her again.

They reach a natural curve in the cave and Aelin can begin to make out other voices along with a very dim light. Coming to a large open space tucked away behind the bend she gasps

In the light she can make out a small group of men, two of whom appear to be twins. Now that she is in view of the group the man behind her comes around to her side. Aelin glances over and takes him in with wide eyes. Aelin was right about him being a giant, he truly is huge. That’s not what surprises her though, as she scans his face. It’s the fact that he is, for lack of a better word, handsome and Aelin is annoyed at herself for thinking so with his pine green eyes and short silver hair.

Aelin almost thinks that this man might be kind for pulling her back here despite the knife to the throat.

“Who are you and why are the royal guards after you?” he asks her coldly.

Well that didn’t last very long.

“No one important,” she deflects.

One of the twins, the blond, huffs a laugh. “Yeah because the royal guard just always chases people who aren’t important for fun.”

The man with the silver hair shoots him a glare before turning it back towards Aelin. He looks her up and down before saying, “You couldn’t have possibly done anything that severe.”

Aelin takes offense to that.

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Because I had you by the throat in an instant. Plus, you don’t look dangerous enough to have caused a riot. So, what was it Princess, did you just get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

“Don’t call me that!” Aelin growls, going for her dagger again.

“Whoa, calm down,” the blond twin says bringing his hands up in front of him “We just need to know because with the royal guard out there it's throwing a wrench into our plans to nick all of their supplies.”

“Shut up Fenrys!” he twin hisses at him. And the two brothers begin to argue in whispers.

Plans to take supplies? Aelin had just assumed when she saw the group of them, that they were soldiers, maybe from Adarlan, here on mission of some sort, with there being only four of them. But really looking at all of them now Aelin can see that they are clearly not. Not a single one of them is wearing any kind of insignia that would give you the impression that they fight for any one kingdom.

Aelin furrows her brow in confusion. “Who, who are you?”

“No one important,” The silver haired man says her, repeating her earlier statement.

Aelin glares at him. She knows she’s not going to get anywhere with him speaking to her like he is right now. She needs to give them something to get them to trust her, even if it's only to let her go on her way. Taking a deep breath through her nose she says, “I stopped the whipping of a fourteen year old boy.”

The twins stop bickering and turn and look at her surprise written all over their face. The silver haired man comes around the side of her to face her directly and just stares at her in what appears to be bewilderment. Aelin looks into his pine green eyes and tries to decipher what he could possibly be thinking about her but she can't get a read on him.

The dark haired one in the corner, the one who hasn’t spoken yet asks her, “You stopped a whipping?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” The silver haired one asks harshly.

“He didn’t deserve it,” Aelin says. “These soldiers were harassing his mother, and when he went to defend her, they tried to drag him off to the war. He ran away but they found him. They were going to whip him, then send him to the front. I couldn’t let that happen, so I fought off the three soldiers holding him and freed the boy. Told him to run and find his mother and to get out.”

“You fought off three Terrasen soldiers all by yourself?” The dark haired twin ask.

Aelin nods. She wasn’t about to add in that two of them were fat and could barely wield a sword. Right now, she needed to sound as impressive as she could possibly be.

It's silent for another moment before the blond one says, “She sounds like she would fit right in. Where are you headed?”

Not expecting his statement Aelin stutters for a moment then says, “Eyllwe.”

“Why there?” The dark haired one asks.

Aelin shrugs. “I heard that there was a rebel group forming down there, I wanted to go and help them?”

“Why?” The silver one asks again, apparently 'why' is his favorite word. “You’re clearly from Terrasen, why aid people fighting against your own kingdom.

Aelin pauses for a moment. She knows what she says here will most likely make or break her. Though from what the blond twin, Fenrys, let slip the truth will probably be her best shot. Well, most of the truth anyway.

“I am sick and tired of this war, like most of the people here. It needs to end. I am sick of Terrasen soldiers acting like they are better than everyone just because they wear a uniform and I am sick of my people not getting the help they need as their taxes are raised and their husbands and sons are shipped off to fight in a war they no longer believe in. I need to help my people. And if helping rebels from Eyllwe is the best way to do it then that’s what I’ll do.”

The four men look at her, then at each other as if they’re having their own silent conversation. The silver haired one seems annoyed at whatever the other three seemed to have agreed upon because he turns away and walks back out towards the entrance of the cave with a scoff.

Fenrys turns to her and smiles. “Just one more question,” he says. “Do you want to join us?”

Aelin can’t help it, her mouth drops open. Fenrys smirks at her. “Close your mouth it’s not that outrageous of an offer. Your interests appear to align directly with ours.”

“And what exactly are your interests?” Aelin asks curiously.

Fenrys shrugs. “We similar to you, we were all soldiers at one point, came from a bunch of different areas. We got sick at the way the people were being treated in this war and decided we didn’t want to fight anymore we wanted to help them instead. So now that’s what we do, we help those who cannot help themselves.”

“And how do you do that?”

He shrugs again. “Mostly taking extra supplies from soldiers who don’t need it and giving it to those who do, stopping soldiers from attacking innocent villages, stopping pointless whippings.” He smirks at her his eyes sparkling with mischief .

“And you want me to join you?”

“It beats trekking all the way down to Eyllwe,” the quiet dark haired one says. “Why travel all the way down there when you can stay with us and do exactly what you said you want to do.”

Aelin bites her lip and thinks. She never intended to stay in Terrasen. Her chances of being recognized here are a hundred times greater than those in Eyllwe. Although, she never heard anything about rebels in Terrasen itself. It's plausible that this group is small enough to stay under the radar but skilled enough to actually make some sort of difference. Plus, with staying this close to home Aelin can keep a better tab on her father and the search for her. Any news she would receive in Eyllwe would be weeks old and probably not that reliable after it exchanged so many hands. She just needs more information.

Aelin looks towards Fenrys, clearly the friendliest of the group and asks, “How many of you are there?”

“Ten in total who travel together, though we do have people who help out whenever we come across their homes.”

“How long have you been doing this.”

“Con and I,” he gestures to his brother, “Have been in for a little less than a year. Vaughn,” he nods towards the quiet man in the corner. “Has been in the group from the start along with a few others back at camp.”

“You said you were planning on nicking supplies from the royal guard, what are you going to do with it.”

Fenrys opens his mouth to reply but he is cut off by Vaughn.

“Some of it we need. The rest will go to a nearby town, mostly medicine, their supply was wiped out a few days ago when soldiers came through and took everything they had.”

“You don’t think soldiers at the front need medicine.” Aelin furrows her brow at him thinking of Aedion.

“This supply wagon isn’t going to the front,” Vaughn says. “There was a fire a few days before the soldiers came, many people were burned. The soldiers saw that and confiscated the medicine because they could, claiming it was for the front. We know for a fact however that these wagons never make it there. These men just take because they can.”

Aelin nods her head processing all of the information they just told her. Staying with them is starting to sound like a good idea. Despite the risk of being recognized Aelin thinks that the benefits just might outweigh the risks. Not to mention she’ll be able to help her own people directly here. She wouldn’t be able to do that in Eyllwe.

“Okay,” she says hesitantly. “I’m in.”

Fenrys breaks into a wide grin. “What’s your name?” He asks her.

Aelin knew this was coming, she takes a breath and says, “Celaena, Celaena Sardothien.”

~ ~ ~

Aelin spent the night in the cave with Vaughn, Fenrys, and his twin Connall. It’s the first real rest she’s had in days, even if she didn’t sleep. Just resting her body and her eyes was enough to rejuvenate her so that she didn’t feel like she was about to pass out every few feet.

The five of them, now that the silver haired man had deigned to rejoin them, were walking through the Oakwald on their way to meet up with the rest of the group, needing a new plan on how to take back the medicine stolen from the nearby town.

Having had no time to converse with the mysterious man who held her at knife point the night before Aelin speeds up her walking to join him at the front of the group.

He ignores her when she walks up beside him and Aelin can see his determination to keep staring ahead instead of looking at her.

“I never got your name,” she says to him, keeping her eyes forward as well.

Aelin can see him out of the corner of her eye as he turns his head and looks her up and down, eyes full of distain. It feels like he can read her whole life from just taking her in. He is silent for a moment before he turns and looks ahead again. Disappointment fills her. He may be an asshole, but she would have at least thought he would be decent enough to give her his name.

Aelin is just about to slow down and walk next to Fenrys when he says, “Rowan.”

a/n: Sorry this took me so long, I've been stuck doing prep work for a certification I need for work. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out sooner.

Let me know if you want to be tagged!

Tags: @rowaelinismyotp // @sheharahu // @fireheartwhitethorn4ever // @ladyfireheart-and-buzzard // @aelinchocolatelover

[hellodeedles]

Walking through the Oakwald nearly a week after her desperate exit from Orynth. Aelin never knew that freedom could taste so sweet.

She thought that she knew what freedom was, she grew up as a princess who had never wanted for anything in her life. She simply had everything she could ever dream of and was fully aware that she was lucky to. She had supposed that, that lack of want may be some form of freedom, because she knew the majority of her people would never have anything close to it.

Aelin had just never realized that, that specific freedom came with its own kind of cage. A cage where she was forced to be someone she is clearly not. Aelin had known from a young age that she would have to work hard to be the perfect princess. Sure, she enjoyed the finer things in life, but she was always too outspoken and too opinionated for the other members of her father's court. She can still hear her etiquette teachers hissing in her ear, to "sit up straighter," and to "keep quiet" because "princesses don't say those kinds of things." And when she couldn't fulfill those requests Aelin always felt as if she was somehow failing her father.

Out on her own however; there is no one here that she needs to impress, the pressures of making everyone around her happy has finally been lifted. Not to mention she is finally free of all of the annoyed glares Darrow gives her when he is upset with her. And most importantly she is out from under her father's thumb and his ridiculous arranged marriage agreement.

A snort escapes from Aelin.

If her father had bothered to ever get to know Aelin at all, he would have never agreed to such a match without her approval. She sighs heavily as she steps over a fallen tree on to a large rock, covered in moss and still wet from the rain that occurred earlier this morning. She is so lost in her own thoughts that she doesn't even realize how slippery it is before the world shifts sideways and she is falling down.

Pulling her hands out to catch her fall, Aelin braces herself for the impact she is about to feel. Crashing down onto the hard ground Aelin gives a groan a pain. Taking a moment to catch her breath Aelin curses herself for being so stupid. She is well out of the part of the Oakwald she used to play in as a child and she knows that she needs to be careful as she is now in unfamiliar territory. An injury could put her down for weeks. Weeks that she doesn't have if she is going to make it Eyllwe before her father goes and does something stupid now that he no longer will have the money from her former betrothed, whoever he may be.

Sitting up slowly Aelin feels a twinge of pain from her left calf. Looking down at her leg, Aelin feels her heart jump into her throat. There's a cut on her calf and its bleeding.

Ripping her pants off at the knee so she has something to wipe away the blood with Aelin groans to herself, Stupid, how could I be so stupid.

Throwing the now useless rag on the ground Aelin puts her head in her hands and takes a few deep breaths to calm herself. Loosing her cool right now is not going to help the situation.

Taking a deep breath Aelin pulls her pack off her back and snags her canteen to pour water onto her leg to get a better look at what she is dealing with. She thinks back to everything she ever learned about injuries and how to take care of them. Remembering an old healing book of her mother's Aelin knows that keeping the wound clean would be the most important thing. The last thing that Aelin needs is to catch an infection, she could lose her leg, or worse if she isn't careful.

The cut doesn't look to terrible. It's deep and might need stitches but Aelin has nothing out here with her that she would be able to use for a needle and thread, bandaging it well is going to be her best bet.

Standing up Aelin begins to test out her leg. It's sore but from the way she can fully put her weight onto it she can tell it's not broken. Still pissed at herself for being so clumsy in the first place, her mood is slightly placated by the fact that her leg isn't broken on top of being cut.

Heading over to a nearby tree, a slight limp in her step, Aelin rips some moss off to help soak up her still leaking wound. Looking around for some way to fasten the moss to her leg she spys her discarded bloody pant leg she used earlier. Tearing it into strips, she is able to attach the moss to her leg to make a somewhat decent bandage.

It'll have to do, Aelin thinks to herself. She'll need to get to a village now, and quickly. She is going to need some real bandages; the moss won't last forever. She sighs heavily once again and beings to make her way due east towards the edge of the Oakwald in the hopes of finding a village before nightfall.

~ ~ ~

Aelin is cursing the gods and all they stand for by the time she finally reaches a village. It took her almost two days to find one. Two days of wandering on the edge of the Oakwald on high alert for any royal guards or soldiers because she knows with her injured leg flight will not be as easy. She hasn't felt this exposed since she left Orynth and Aelin is not a fan of the stress it has caused her.

She made sure to change the moss every couple of hours and to clean her leg each time she did, but she would kill for some real bandages, and some more food. The stash that she nicked from the castle kitchens is nearly gone and while she knew she would have to hunt eventually, the opportunity to buy fresh food is too good to pass up.

Aelin walks into what appears to be the village square and immediately tenses up. There, sitting outside what she assumes must be a tavern are three Terrasen soldiers drinking ale and playing cards.

They are loud and obnoxious. Aelin knew that soldiers like to drink but it was barely noon right now and two of them looked like they were on their way to being very drunk.

Aelin watches them out of the corner of her eye. They are older than her, not as old as Quinn, but still within what should be their prime. Except for the fact that two of them clearly are not. Even from this distance Aelin can make out that the two who appear to be older than the third are heavier than any soldier she has ever seen, most likely from drinking so much ale. The third however, is younger, closer to Aedion’s age, she guesses, and still has strength on his side. He has light brown hair and the Terrasen uniform makes him look like every girls dream.

As she walks past them, the younger one looks at her and Aelin feels like she has just stepped into a vat of oil as his eyes rake down her body. A feeling of dread overtakes her and Aelin thinks, He may look like every young girls dream soldier, but he’s probably closer to their worst nightmare.

Calm down, she thinks. The chances of them recognizing your face is slim to none. And it's true. Very few people outside of the walls of Orynth would know what she looks like. Yes, she may have her mother's Ashryver hair and eyes, but who would really know that beyond the walls of the court. No, her best chance is to act like she is a weary traveler in need of supplies, no one a soldier would even think twice about.

Continuing on her way past the soldiers, her heart beating so loud she could feel it in her ears, Aelin approaches a man running a stand that's selling what appears to be bolts of different types of cloth.

"Excuse me," she asks politely. "Would you be able to point me in the direction of someone who may be able to sell me bandages and take a look at my leg? I hurt it while tripping over a rock the other day and I'm afraid I may need stitches."

The man's eyes flit around her to look at the soldiers and Aelin can almost taste his uneasiness before he answers, "We don't have any healers here, but Elanor lives in the cottage over there," he indicates to his right towards a small house a little further into the village. "She helps deliver all of the babies; she might have what you're looking for."

Aelin smiles and thanks him and begins to head in the direction he indicated. As she beings to make her way she notices out of the corner of her eye the soldiers studying her from their table. Breathe. You are a woman, traveling alone, you’re going to turn some heads, just breathe, she tells herself. Praying they don’t get up to follow her Aelin quickens her pace ever so slightly.

~ ~ ~

Elanor turns out to be a sweet older woman who has seen Aelin’s kind of injury before.

“Silly girl,” Elanor lightly scolds her as she wraps Aelins leg in clean bandage after she had finished stitching up her wound. “You should have known better than to go tramping out in the woods all by yourself. Where is your husband and why isn’t he taking better care of you?”

Completely caught off guard by her questions, Aelin balks and tries to recover quickly. “He… he’s out fighting on the front,” she swiftly invents. “He hasn’t been home in months.”

Elanor hums at her in a way that tells Aelin that she doesn’t believe her, hell Aelin wouldn’t believe the fib herself either.

“He sent me a letter,” Aelin continues, trying to make her story more believable. “That his unit was going to be in Perranth soon. I am traveling to see him and visit some family we have there.”

“But why not take the road to Perranth, it would be a much less treacherous path,” she inquires.

Thinking back to the slight fear from the cloth man from earlier and her own feelings towards the soldiers leering at her Aelin looks down at her hands and says, “There are not always good people on the road.”

Elanor’s face darkens. “Indeed,” she says as she finishes wrapping Aelins leg.

Aelin is about to thank the woman and pay her for her services when a cry of pain comes from outside startling the two. Aelin jumps up and races to the window to see what all of the commotion is and to her horror she sees the one of the soldiers from earlier dragging a very dirty boy who appears to be no older than fourteen.

Aelin turns to Elanor panic clear in her voice as she asks, “What is going on?”

Elanor shakes her head. “That’s Micha,” she says softly. “He was conscripted into the war a week ago.”

“How? He barely looks older than fourteen, conscription age is eighteen. That’s the law.”

Elanor shakes her head again. “Those soldiers,” she whispers. “They were ransacking his mother’s stall, that’s how all of this started. His father and two older brothers have all gone off to fight leaving Micha and his mother defenseless against any arrogant soldier who thinks they can just take what they want, when they want it because they wear that uniform. Micha had, had enough of their bullying and comments towards his mother so he pulled a knife on one of them and threatened them that if they ever came back, he would make them pay. A few hours later they were rounding him up saying that if he was old enough to pull a knife, he was old enough to serve in the Kings army. He managed to escape and ran away. It looks like they found him now.”

“What will happen to him?” Aelin whispers horror stricken.

“He’ll be whipped in the village square, then if he survives the whipping, he’ll be shipped off to the front to help run messages mostly with all the rest of the boys that are out there too young to fight. No one disobeys those men and gets away without punishment. Those men are supposed to protect us, but they are more monster than anything I have ever faced in all my life.”

Disgust rolls in Aelins stomach. How can Terrasen soldiers do something so horrible to their own people? How could her father have let this happen? This kid was exactly that, a child. He was only defending his mother; he did not deserve this. Aelin knows that she cannot let this happen.

Aelin reaches for the door to try to stop the abomination she knows that is about to occur when she feels herself being dragged back by her arm.

“No!” Elanor whisper shouts to her. “You cannot interfere. They’ll tie you to the post next to him to make an example out of you.”

“I can’t do nothing,” Aelin says. Then she shakes her arm loose from Elanor’s iron clad grip and is racing out the door towards the soldier who is now tying Micha to the whipping post.

Aelin's eyes widen as she watches another one of the soldiers from earlier raise a whip. Her cry of, "Stop!" is lost in the first crack of the whip against the poor boys back and his cry of pain.

Aelin barely registers what she is doing before she slams into the soldier holding the whip as he is raises his arm to give another lash.

The soldier gives a cry of surprise as he is thrown off balance and falls into the dirt. His two companions stand there mouths open, too shocked at what just occurred to do anything.

"I order you to stop!" Aelin yells as she moves to block the boy from the soldiers. "This boy has done nothing wrong."

"And what the hell would you know about that? The soldier with the whip asks as he gets to his feet. "You don't live here; I saw you walk into town for the first time today barely an hour ago. You don't know anything about what this boy has done."

"I know he was just defending his mother from cowards like you," She snaps at him.

Aelin always had a problem when it came to controlling her anger. She usually let it get the best of her and she was quick to snap out things without thinking them through. When she sees the three soldiers faces contort in anger, she knows she has probably crossed a line she didn't want to cross.

"Cowards?" The one with the whip hisses. "I'll show you a coward," then he's lunging for her.

Aelin smiles, watching his feet and taking note that he is thinking with all rage and no brain, she side steps the man just as he is about to reach her, allowing him to fall face first into the mud at her feet.

He groans as he spits out the mouthful of mud he got along with his fall.

“Is that the best you can do?” she taunts.

The man growls in anger, shooting up he pulls his sword from his belt and swings at her.

Aelin ducks under his over arched swing and he loses his balance once again as his sword connects with only air. Taking advantage of his unsteady gait Aelin raises her leg and kicks him on the right side of his rib cage, effectively knocking the air from him and forcing him to the ground once again.

“Doesn’t surprise me that a boy no older than fourteen got the jump on you if that is the best you can do,” Aelin quips as she watches him struggle to breathe.

The soldier on the ground gasps while getting to his hands and knees. He tries to wipe the mud from his rage filled face with little success and looks at his two companions and yells, “Why are you just standing there? Get her!”

The two other soldiers who have been just staring at her dumbfounded until now spring into action and draw their swords.

Copying their move, Aelin draws hers as well. She knows she has what it takes to take on the two idiots in front of her, but her main concern is for the boy still tied to the whipping post. She needs to get him out of here

The two soldiers try to rush her but with their armor and their extra weight, they’re clunky and slow. Just when they are within striking range, Aelin moves, kicking up the mud into their faces. The two yell out in confusion as their hands fly to their eyes. One even drops his sword. With their faces covered Aelin kicks one in the abdomen and hits the other one with the hilt of her sword. She whacks both of them on the back of the head for good measure and with them thoroughly distracted Aelin takes off running for Micha.

“That was so cool!” He says to her when she reaches him.

Slicing her sword through his bonds, Aelin makes quick work of freeing him. The boy winces and rubs his wrists where the rope tightly bound him as he whirls on her a bright smile shining through his filthy face.

Aelin grabs his shoulders to make him look at her so he'll clearly hear her order. “Go home, take your mother and run into the Oakwald, stay hidden for as long as you can then make your way down to Perranth, you’ll be safe there.”

“No, I want to stay and help you,” the boy pleads with her.

“You have to get away from here, it’s the only way you’ll be safe.”

He's about to argue some more when his eyes widen suddenly. “Look out!”

Aelin turns to find the younger soldier practically upon her, sword out ready to strike, having recovered much faster than Aelin anticipated. Aelin raises her sword to meet his and yells “Run!” to Micha.

Their swords clash, the metals singing against each other. While he may have been sloppy before due to his rage, the brown-haired man has finally managed to wrangle it all in to get his head on straight.

He is advancing quickly on her and it’s all Aelin can do to keep up with his rapid blows. Despite her current situation Aelin can’t help but think this is why this man seems like the leader over his two older companions.

Sweat beings to bead at her head while she thinks back to everything Quinn taught her about sword fighting. The trick is to look for a weakness in your opponent and then exploit it. Unfortunately, this man doesn’t appear to have any weaknesses.

Aelin can feel her form slipping as her arms begin to tire against the forceful strikes of her opponent. The man must feel her quickly rising dread because he smirks at her, his eyes becoming more deranged by the minute.

“Who are you calling a coward now, you bitch,” he spits at her.

And that’s when she sees it, her opening. He lifts his right elbow too high when he goes to cut high at her neck. Aelin hides her smirk and redoubles her effort trying to force him into the move again.

Shocked by her sudden surge of determination, Aelin can see in his face his confusion about what changed. He swings high for her neck again but this time he doesn’t leave the opening. Dismay begins to take over, thinking it was a onetime thing, until an idea suddenly strikes her.

“How does it feel,” Aelin huffs, trying not to show how out of breath she is, “To know that you’ve been bested by a fourteen year old boy, and a girl?”

The man howls in rage, swinging his sword high once again, Aelin sees his elbow lift too high, just as she hoped it would, and she's ducking under his sword driving her fist into his ribs, right where she kicked him earlier.

The soldier twists away in pain, falling to his knees and gasping for air.

Aelin quickly looks up and sees that Micha is gone, hopefully he’s run off to grab his mother and the two of them are on the run. The trick now will be getting them to follow her and not them. And Aelin knows just how to do that.

“I take it back,” Aelin says looking at the man on his knees, taking in all the hate the solider is looking at her with. “You’re not just cowards. You’re weaklings as well. There’s clearly a reason none of you are stationed anywhere near the front.”

“You better run,” he says to her in a dangerous voice.

Aelin shrugs. “As if you could catch me.” Then she takes off.

~ ~ ~

Breath heaving in and out of her chest Aelin races her way through the darkness of the Oakwalk, the sound of the royal hounds now fading away with every passing minute. Covered in mud from head to toe in a last-ditch effort to hide her scent Aelin is exhausted. She has been running from the royal guards those soldiers called after her for three days now and is in desperate need of rest.

Quickly taking in her surroundings she spots a cave nearly hidden by a clump of brush and almost sighs with relief. Making her way over to it, practically tripping on the debris, Aelin thinks maybe the gods are not as cruel as everyone makes them out to be.

Standing at the edge of the cave Aelin is so focused on listening for the dogs that she forgets to keep the rest of her senses open to other things. It's only when she feels the knife pressed to her throat does, she realize that she's not alone.

“Scream and I’ll cut your throat,” a deadly voice whispers in her ear. Panic fills Aelin as she feels the sharp edge of the blade dig into her throat. Aelin stays silent knowing that if she goes to shake her head in anyway, she’ll risk slitting her own throat.

“Good,” the voice mummers to her as if he’s trying to sooth a wild beast. “Good. Now we’re going to walk back into the cave and you’re going to stay quiet while we do.”

Aelin tenses up at his command. This is it; she thinks. This is where I die.

“Calm down,” the voice hisses. “We’re just going where it's safe to talk and no one will bother us.”

“Easy for you to say,” Aelin spits back. “You’re not the one with a knife to your throat.”

The mysterious man behind her chuckles, “Fair enough princess.” And the knife disappears from around her neck.

Aelin whirls on her capture, reaching for her knife, fire raging in her veins. In the darkness Aelin can’t make out much. All Aelin can see is that the stranger is tall, very tall. Possibly taller than Aedion who is the biggest person she knows.

“Don’t call me that,” she hisses at him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the stranger says nodding towards her knife. Glaring at him, Aelin takes in as much as she can in the darkness of cave. On top of being a giant he is powerfully built. Aelin would be a fool to try to take him right now, she may have some skill with a blade, but it won’t be anything compared to his brute strength, especially in this enclosed of a space and with how exhausted she is.

“You’re going to follow me back into the cave where we can talk and no one will bother us,” He says to her. He watches as Aelin visibly tenses at his words. “I’m not going to kill you. I only want to make sure we aren’t heard by anyone outside.”

Aelin thinks for a moment. She cannot go back out into the woods, not with the soldiers so closely behind her, and she cannot fight this man off when she is so utterly drained. Not being able to see another way out of her current situation Aelin nods to the stranger.

He gestures for her to lead the way deeper into the cave. Aelin senses go on high alert as she steps around him to walk deeper into the cave not knowing what to expect. She keeps her hand on her dagger at her side unsure if the stranger is going to grab her again.

They reach a natural curve in the cave and Aelin can begin to make out other voices along with a very dim light. Coming to a large open space tucked away behind the bend she gasps

In the light she can make out a small group of men, two of whom appear to be twins. Now that she is in view of the group the man behind her comes around to her side. Aelin glances over and takes him in with wide eyes. Aelin was right about him being a giant, he truly is huge. That’s not what surprises her though, as she scans his face. It’s the fact that he is, for lack of a better word, handsome and Aelin is annoyed at herself for thinking so with his pine green eyes and short silver hair.

Aelin almost thinks that this man might be kind for pulling her back here despite the knife to the throat.

“Who are you and why are the royal guards after you?” he asks her coldly.

Well that didn’t last very long.

“No one important,” she deflects.

One of the twins, the blond, huffs a laugh. “Yeah because the royal guard just always chases people who aren’t important for fun.”

The man with the silver hair shoots him a glare before turning it back towards Aelin. He looks her up and down before saying, “You couldn’t have possibly done anything that severe.”

Aelin takes offense to that.

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Because I had you by the throat in an instant. Plus, you don’t look dangerous enough to have caused a riot. So, what was it Princess, did you just get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

“Don’t call me that!” Aelin growls, going for her dagger again.

“Whoa, calm down,” the blond twin says bringing his hands up in front of him “We just need to know because with the royal guard out there it's throwing a wrench into our plans to nick all of their supplies.”

“Shut up Fenrys!” he twin hisses at him. And the two brothers begin to argue in whispers.

Plans to take supplies? Aelin had just assumed when she saw the group of them, that they were soldiers, maybe from Adarlan, here on mission of some sort, with there being only four of them. But really looking at all of them now Aelin can see that they are clearly not. Not a single one of them is wearing any kind of insignia that would give you the impression that they fight for any one kingdom.

Aelin furrows her brow in confusion. “Who, who are you?”

“No one important,” The silver haired man says her, repeating her earlier statement.

Aelin glares at him. She knows she’s not going to get anywhere with him speaking to her like he is right now. She needs to give them something to get them to trust her, even if it's only to let her go on her way. Taking a deep breath through her nose she says, “I stopped the whipping of a fourteen year old boy.”

The twins stop bickering and turn and look at her surprise written all over their face. The silver haired man comes around the side of her to face her directly and just stares at her in what appears to be bewilderment. Aelin looks into his pine green eyes and tries to decipher what he could possibly be thinking about her but she can't get a read on him.

The dark haired one in the corner, the one who hasn’t spoken yet asks her, “You stopped a whipping?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” The silver haired one asks harshly.

“He didn’t deserve it,” Aelin says. “These soldiers were harassing his mother, and when he went to defend her, they tried to drag him off to the war. He ran away but they found him. They were going to whip him, then send him to the front. I couldn’t let that happen, so I fought off the three soldiers holding him and freed the boy. Told him to run and find his mother and to get out.”

“You fought off three Terrasen soldiers all by yourself?” The dark haired twin ask.

Aelin nods. She wasn’t about to add in that two of them were fat and could barely wield a sword. Right now, she needed to sound as impressive as she could possibly be.

It's silent for another moment before the blond one says, “She sounds like she would fit right in. Where are you headed?”

Not expecting his statement Aelin stutters for a moment then says, “Eyllwe.”

“Why there?” The dark haired one asks.

Aelin shrugs. “I heard that there was a rebel group forming down there, I wanted to go and help them?”

“Why?” The silver one asks again, apparently 'why' is his favorite word. “You’re clearly from Terrasen, why aid people fighting against your own kingdom.

Aelin pauses for a moment. She knows what she says here will most likely make or break her. Though from what the blond twin, Fenrys, let slip the truth will probably be her best shot. Well, most of the truth anyway.

“I am sick and tired of this war, like most of the people here. It needs to end. I am sick of Terrasen soldiers acting like they are better than everyone just because they wear a uniform and I am sick of my people not getting the help they need as their taxes are raised and their husbands and sons are shipped off to fight in a war they no longer believe in. I need to help my people. And if helping rebels from Eyllwe is the best way to do it then that’s what I’ll do.”

The four men look at her, then at each other as if they’re having their own silent conversation. The silver haired one seems annoyed at whatever the other three seemed to have agreed upon because he turns away and walks back out towards the entrance of the cave with a scoff.

Fenrys turns to her and smiles. “Just one more question,” he says. “Do you want to join us?”

Aelin can’t help it, her mouth drops open. Fenrys smirks at her. “Close your mouth it’s not that outrageous of an offer. Your interests appear to align directly with ours.”

“And what exactly are your interests?” Aelin asks curiously.

Fenrys shrugs. “We similar to you, we were all soldiers at one point, came from a bunch of different areas. We got sick at the way the people were being treated in this war and decided we didn’t want to fight anymore we wanted to help them instead. So now that’s what we do, we help those who cannot help themselves.”

“And how do you do that?”

He shrugs again. “Mostly taking extra supplies from soldiers who don’t need it and giving it to those who do, stopping soldiers from attacking innocent villages, stopping pointless whippings.” He smirks at her his eyes sparkling with mischief .

“And you want me to join you?”

“It beats trekking all the way down to Eyllwe,” the quiet dark haired one says. “Why travel all the way down there when you can stay with us and do exactly what you said you want to do.”

Aelin bites her lip and thinks. She never intended to stay in Terrasen. Her chances of being recognized here are a hundred times greater than those in Eyllwe. Although, she never heard anything about rebels in Terrasen itself. It's plausible that this group is small enough to stay under the radar but skilled enough to actually make some sort of difference. Plus, with staying this close to home Aelin can keep a better tab on her father and the search for her. Any news she would receive in Eyllwe would be weeks old and probably not that reliable after it exchanged so many hands. She just needs more information.

Aelin looks towards Fenrys, clearly the friendliest of the group and asks, “How many of you are there?”

“Ten in total who travel together, though we do have people who help out whenever we come across their homes.”

“How long have you been doing this.”

“Con and I,” he gestures to his brother, “Have been in for a little less than a year. Vaughn,” he nods towards the quiet man in the corner. “Has been in the group from the start along with a few others back at camp.”

“You said you were planning on nicking supplies from the royal guard, what are you going to do with it.”

Fenrys opens his mouth to reply but he is cut off by Vaughn.

“Some of it we need. The rest will go to a nearby town, mostly medicine, their supply was wiped out a few days ago when soldiers came through and took everything they had.”

“You don’t think soldiers at the front need medicine.” Aelin furrows her brow at him thinking of Aedion.

“This supply wagon isn’t going to the front,” Vaughn says. “There was a fire a few days before the soldiers came, many people were burned. The soldiers saw that and confiscated the medicine because they could, claiming it was for the front. We know for a fact however that these wagons never make it there. These men just take because they can.”

Aelin nods her head processing all of the information they just told her. Staying with them is starting to sound like a good idea. Despite the risk of being recognized Aelin thinks that the benefits just might outweigh the risks. Not to mention she’ll be able to help her own people directly here. She wouldn’t be able to do that in Eyllwe.

“Okay,” she says hesitantly. “I’m in.”

Fenrys breaks into a wide grin. “What’s your name?” He asks her.

Aelin knew this was coming, she takes a breath and says, “Celaena, Celaena Sardothien.”

~ ~ ~

Aelin spent the night in the cave with Vaughn, Fenrys, and his twin Connall. It’s the first real rest she’s had in days, even if she didn’t sleep. Just resting her body and her eyes was enough to rejuvenate her so that she didn’t feel like she was about to pass out every few feet.

The five of them, now that the silver haired man had deigned to rejoin them, were walking through the Oakwald on their way to meet up with the rest of the group, needing a new plan on how to take back the medicine stolen from the nearby town.

Having had no time to converse with the mysterious man who held her at knife point the night before Aelin speeds up her walking to join him at the front of the group.

He ignores her when she walks up beside him and Aelin can see his determination to keep staring ahead instead of looking at her.

“I never got your name,” she says to him, keeping her eyes forward as well.

Aelin can see him out of the corner of her eye as he turns his head and looks her up and down, eyes full of distain. It feels like he can read her whole life from just taking her in. He is silent for a moment before he turns and looks ahead again. Disappointment fills her. He may be an asshole, but she would have at least thought he would be decent enough to give her his name.

Aelin is just about to slow down and walk next to Fenrys when he says, “Rowan.”

a/n: Sorry this took me so long, I've been stuck doing prep work for a certification I need for work. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out sooner.

Let me know if you want to be tagged!

Tags: @rowaelinismyotp // @sheharahu // @fireheartwhitethorn4ever // @ladyfireheart-and-buzzard // @aelinchocolatelover

#throne of glass #throne of glass fanfiction #aelin galythinius #rowan whitethorn #rowaelin fanfiction #celaena sardothien #rebels and flames #rowaelin #rowan x aelin #arranged marriage au

[hellodeedles]

Hi in case you missed my earlier post this is a new multichapter fic that I have been working on for a while. Enjoy!

6k words:

~ ~ ~

Breath heaving in and out of her chest Aelin races her way through the darkness of the Oakwalk, the sound of the royal hounds now fading away with every passing minute. Covered in mud from head to toe in a last-ditch effort to hide her scent Aelin is exhausted. She has been running from the royal guards for three days now and is in desperate need of rest.

Quickly taking in her surroundings she spots a cave nearly hidden by a clump of brush and almost sighs with relief. Making her way over to it, practically tripping on the debris, Aelin thinks maybe the gods are not as cruel as everyone makes them out to be.

Standing at the edge of the cave Aelin is so focused on listening for the dogs that she forgets to keep the rest of her senses open to other things. It's only when she feels the knife pressed to her throat does she realize that she's not alone.

Two weeks earlier

War has plagued Terrasen for the last decade. In all honesty it was almost the only Terrasen Aelin knew. She barely remembers a time when her family was whole and happy, when her people had not shouldered the burden of a war with no end in sight. Yet, this was the life she lived and Aelin wanted nothing more than for it to end.

I can't do that if I am constantly shut out though. Aelin thinks bitterly to herself after her latest disaster of attempting to sit in on the food and market council.

Walking through the royal garden aimlessly Aelin had hoped that with her upcoming birthday she would finally be allowed to be more involved with the many councils that help her father, King Rhoe, rule their kingdom.

With her mother gone and her father refusing to remarry, Aelin is the sole heir to Terrasen, a fact that she does not take lightly. She knows that even if the opportunity to join any of the meetings is not offered to her after birthday she will need to start demanding it.

She had been taught by Terrasens brightest scholars all her life on the history of Erilea's many different rulers and how each of them left their own mark upon this world.

Now it is my time to make my own mark on this world. Aelin thinks as she continues to wonder with no real path in mind.

The unfortunate part is that Aelin has very little knowledge of the world to begin with. She did spend a decent amount of time out in the streets of Orynth, the capital of Terrasen, among her people trying to learn their opinions about the war and how it was affecting them. And while Aelin tried to sympathize with their troubles she had been to young when the war began, the reasonings behind the start of it too complex for a child of eight to grasp. This led to her to not being able to answer many of the questions her people asked her.

Her lack of knowledge about a multitude of areas drove her to constantly hound her father advisors for when she would be allowed to attend council meetings. The answers were always ones that she hated to hear, "You're too young, you must wait until you are older, you won't understand what is going on and your questions will just get in the way."

Ever the stubborn person she was, she never let those weak excused about her age get in the way. She kept pestering the advisors to let her in, even going as far as to try to sneak into a few meetings, which all ended terribly of course. She kept insisting that her private tutors educator her in all of the wars Erilea has seen, the victories and the downfalls so she might learn where they went wrong and right and how every ruler of Terrasen affected the kingdom whether good or bad. Aelin was more prepared to enter any of the council rooms and discuss war and policies than any of those stingy council members ever thought. If only they would just let her.

Then the thought hits her so suddenly she stops walking. She didn't have to let them tell her anything. She is a princess, heir to the throne of Terrasen. She outranks every single one of those crochety old men who ever told her no. She simply would do what she knows she needs to do in order to further her education as a future ruler. A smile breaks out on Aelin's face as she hurries inside to begin her next plan.

The next morning Aelin is already sitting in the room where the weekly war meetings are held, five minutes before the meeting is to take place. When the sound of the door opening reaches her ears, Aelin sits up a little straighter and hides her slightly sweaty palms in the folds of her dress. The first group of men begin to enter the room and with them is the last person she wants to be one of the first people to arrive. Darrow, her uncle, the late King Orlon's, most trusted advisor and lover. Her stomach sinks for a moment, against a lower member of the council she might have stood a chance to sweet talk or argue her way into staying but she now knows her chances have almost shrunk to zero with his appearance.

Darrow looks at her for a moment, confusion written written across his face, then he's back to his usual unreadable expression.

"Your Highness?" He asks sighing with frustration. "What are you doing here? The war council is set to meet in here in a few minutes. You need to leave."

"I am here for the war council meeting Darrow," Aelin says, praying she sounds more confident than she feels. Darrow has never outright stated that she isn't allowed in one of these meetings. In fact, maybe he was waiting for her to truly initiate herself into this situation all alone. It would be something he would do.

Darrow furrows his brow at her. "You cannot sit in on the war council Princess."

Well, so much for hoping.

"And why is that?" Aelin asks willing calmness into her voice. She tilts her head to the side feigning confusion. "Am I not the sole heir to Terrasen." She knows Darrow will see through the act but Aelin is hoping to win over a few of the other advisors with her performance.

"Yes, your highness but-"

"Then I don't see why the future Queen of this Kingdom is not allowed to sit in on these meetings, as they will be affecting my reign one way or another."

"We don't know that, Aelin. You are not set to become Queen for many years." Darrow says irritation growing in his eyes.

Aelin tries not to bristle at his words. The use of her name instead of her title. Even though she has known him since her birth he has always addressed her with her proper title and rank rather than her name in front of other who are not family. The use of her name now lets her know that he is talking down to her, that he thinks her more of a child playing ruler than an actual one, and he wants her to know it.

Aelin opens her mouth to respond but the door to the meeting room opens again and in files the rest of the war council including her father.

He was once a handsome man full of life, Aelin had been told, but the stress of losing her mother, her uncle, and the war has aged him in a way that is not kind. His hair, once full and dark is now thin and streaked with grey. His face is now lined with wrinkles that Aelin had not previously noticed the last time she saw him. His eyes though were the worst of him. They had never regained the brightness she always remembers seeing when he looked at her mother. Sometimes she thought she might see it when he looks at her, but it always is gone so quickly, like seeing Aelin was just a reminder that her mother is no longer here.

It is how he looks at her now, a small glimmer of the man that used to be before it is quickly replaced by the cold features that she has come to know as his.

"What are you doing here Aelin?" He asks sharply.

Aelin is shocked by his presence. This was not a part of her plan. Her father was not supposed to attend this meeting. She made sure of it, even going as far as blatantly flirting with her father's personal secretary, in order to get his schedule for today.

Adjusting quickly Aelin curtseys to him and says, "Father, I am here to sit in on the meeting to observe how these gatherings work and to learn about the state of the war."

"You cannot do that Aelin," her father objects.

"I thought that-"

"You thought wrong."

All the thoughts empty out of Aelins head at that statement. How could her own father have decided so quickly that she cannot attend these meetings when she knew for a fact that he had been sitting at the right hand of her uncle for everything when he was half her age.

"Father, I am the future of this kingdom, I am almost twenty it is high time I start learning how to run it."

"This is not up for discussion. You and I will have a talk about your future at a later point in time. Now, you are currently the furthest thing from productive, so leave Aelin and let us get on with our business." The words were so clipped and full of distain that Aelin wonders in that moment if the man she knew and loved died along with her mother.

The tension in the room is palpable and Aelin knows that risking her father's wrath in public is not going to win her any point right now. Glaring at her father, Aelin looks over at all of the other advisors, at Darrow, and let them see in her face that she would not forget this slight to her when she one day sits on the antler throne. Aelin turns, back straight, head held high, and walks out of the room, defeated for now but absolutely not finished.

~ ~ ~

Sometime later Aelin found herself in her favorite chair in the royal family's private library near the window overlooking the gardens with one of her favorite books. However, Aelin was too pissed off to focus on the antics of the rebel prince she usually loved and for the last several minutes she had been reading the same page over and over again.

Discuss her future later. Like she was some kind of pet. Just because she is a woman does not mean that she is entirely useless. Woman are the ones who do the actual production of heirs for Mala's sake.

And what did he mean by her future. She knows what her future is. She has known it since she was barely old enough for think for herself, she is the sole heir to Terrasen. Unless...

Aedion is her cousin on her mother's side, the son of her mother's favorite cousin, and had grown up with Aelin making him more like a brother to her than anything else, despite him being five years older than her. He is a skilled warrior and had risen through the ranks of her father's army at an alarmingly quick pace. Known for his cunning strategy and brutal efficiency on the killing field he earned himself the title, General of the Bane, along with his own legion to command.

Aedion has no claim to her father's throne, he is not a Galathynius, but what if her father decided that she was not fit to take the throne and Aedion was. He was invited into the war meetings whenever he deigned to return home, bringing crucial information from the front to her father. Information that he never shared her, and every time she asked, he would just smile and ruffle her hair telling her it wasn't really important anyway.

Though, that probably has to do more with the fact that he is an actual commander in this war and not a princess who has never stepped on a battlefield in her life. Aelin thinks numbly.

Sighing in frustration Aelin closes her book and puts her head in her hands, rubbing her temples. She knows there is no hope in trying to guess what her father meant by anything he said to her. She hasn't had an open conversation with him in nearly a decade and truth be told she doesn't know who he is anymore.

The only way to solve her current predicament would be to go and seek her father out to have that conversation about her future, but after the disaster that was this morning, Aelin thinks she would rather chew on broken glass.

A polite knock comes at the door and Aelin's head snaps up. "Come in," she says annoyed figuring it's Darrow to come to chew her out for her behavior from earlier.

To her surprise one her father's personal attendants opens the door and drawls, "Your highness, King Rhoe requires your presence in his private office at once."

Eyebrows shooting up on her head Aelin immediately becomes warry. Of course, she had just been fretting about what her father wanted with her just moments ago but summoning her like this? She can't even recall a memory when a situation like this arose. If her father ever required her, which he never did, he sent Darrow to discuss things with her. She has never been summoned to him directly.

Pushing the panic down that has quickly risen in her chest Aelin nods and gathers herself up to follow the man to her father's offices.

Walking along the corridor of the castle in silence has Aelin spiraling in a way that makes her wish that she hadn't just spent the last hour dissecting every piece of gossip she heard related to herself in the last year.

Once they reach their destination the attendant opens the door and bows his head to her. She gives him one her pretty smiles in return, channeling the poise that her etiquette tutor told her a princess should have and she walks in.

The last time Aelin had been in her father's private office she had been four, maybe five. Her uncle was getting ready to pass the crown to her father and he was planning the ball that would follow the coronation.

That had been a happy time, full of laughter and life. Her mother had yet yo become sick, her uncle was still with them and her father looked at her like she was the light of his life. She remembers running around the space attempting to practice the dances she had seen her mother and father perform together at the last ball because she insisted that she would get to have her very own dance with her father all to herself.

She never did get that dance, she thinks sadly as she takes her father in, stoned faced sitting behind his desk writing what appears to be a letter.

"Father," Aelin says curtsying before him once she is close enough to his desk. "You wanted to see me?"

The King does not look up from the letter he is writing and instead lets Aelin hold her bow until he deigns to acknowledge her.

Red flashes across Aelins eyes at the insinuation that she is not important enough for him to recognize her right away. Why is he doing this to her? Is it because she showed up to all those meetings? Did she embarrass him by doing so and in turn is this now part of her punishment to show her that she is in face not as important as she thinks?

"Aelin," her father drones all the emotion she remembered he once said her name with now gone. "Thank you for coming to see me."

"Of course." Like I had any choice after this morning she thinks bitterly to herself. "What is it you need to discuss with me father?"

"It has come time that the two of us begin to consider the future of our kingdom." He nods towards the lone chair in from of his desk.

Her breath catches in her throat as she takes the seat her father indicated to her. Her heartbeat so loud in her ears that she fears she may not hear what he has to say.

"You are going to be twenty in a few months," he says as a matter of fact and Aelin nods. Her birthday is right after Beltane, Fire Night, her favorite night of the year. "With you finally reaching an age of maturity, I had hoped that you would have begun to show the signs that you are ready to start learning how to rule this kingdom." He lifts his head to look at her, judgement clear in his eyes as he takes her in.

"After today however, it is clear that you are still woefully unprepared."

it is a blow, one that she feels in gut. "I meant no insult earlier father I jus-"

"Do not interrupt me," he snaps at her, distain written all over his face.

Eyes wide Aelin is shocked, he has never spoken to her like that. Sure, he has lacked emotion and warmth over the years, but never has he talked with so much contempt for her.

She casts her eyes down towards her neatly folded hands in her lap, guilt creeping up her neck causing her face to flush red.

Once she sees that she isn't going to respond he continues, "It is high time you marry."

Aelin head whips up so quickly she can feel it crack, her response already flowing from her lips despite seeing her father's furious expression at the thought of being interrupted again, "What?"

He glares at her clearly not pleased that she spoke out of turn again.

"Yes," he seethes. "You are nearly twenty, most women in this kingdom who are your age already have children. It is high time you learned some responsibility."

"Other women in this kingdom are not going to be Queen one day!" she argues back.

"That is the exact kind of thinking that makes you not ready to be Queen. You are not above anyone else in this Kingdom Aelin."

Aelin is taken aback by that statement. She knows she is not above anyone. That was why she spent most her days when she was not in lessons out in Orynth with her people learning about them and the problems they are facing, because she knows that she may not be above them but she will one day have the power to do something for them.

Anger hot and red begins to fill her up at the implication she is arrogant enough to think that highly of herself. Her mother taught her better than that. She cannot help it when she fumes, "Is that not the kind of thinking that started this war in the first place?"

Rage rolls over her father, his face becoming a shade of red Aelin didn't think possible.

“You will marry before the year is up.”

“Why now? You have never brought this up before, there have been no discussions of this ever brought to my attention.”

Her father became quiet at her statement and Aelin can see the conflict turning within him about whether or not to explain himself. On one hand she might concede, and this argument will be over, on the other he will revel information he just stated he does not think she is ready to learn.

“The money has run out?”

“What money?” She spits.

The king sighs his anger going with it and emotion closer to fear takes its place. “The kingdoms money Aelin, our coffers are nearly empty. War is expensive and I cannot raise taxes again, our own people will revolt against us if I do.”

Aelin sits quietly for a moment taking the information in. Terrasen is a wealthy kingdom she always had been told that, but her father was right, war is expensive, the cost of feeding and paying troops is astronomical alone, and after nearly a decade of waging it, with almost nothing to show for it, it would make sense that the kingdom has reached a point of severe financial and moral distress.

Aelin does the calculations in her head and at last understands what her father is saying.

“So, what you are telling me is,” Aelin hisses. “That I am going to be sold off to the highest bidder to refund this war?”

Her father looks away from her, “That is not what is happening Aelin.”

“That is exactly what is happening! You’re letting me be sold like cattle at auction!” Aelin stands up from her chair to enraged to sit.

“I am not auctioning you off. An arrangement has already been agreed upon.”

“With who?” Aelin seethes.

“It doesn’t matter who, all that matters is that they have agreed to our terms and we are now in a very fortuitus alliance.”

“It doesn’t matter? Of course, it matters! I refuse to marry some nameless stranger that I know absolutely nothing about! Do you know if he is cruel or kind? Do you know about any of his intentions for Terrasen?”

Her father grows quiet again and did not look at her as she continues to rage at him her anger spewing out of her.

“And what exactly does this arrangement entail? Is he to be my consort or will he be King as well and rule at my side? You think the people of Terrasen will accept a foreign King ruling over them?”

Breath heaves in and out of Aelins chest as her anger continues to fester inside her, while her father remains quiet. After a moment he says, “I didn’t know anything about your mother when we were married.”

Just like that, the anger dissipates, and she is left feeling cold and empty. Not once in the ten years since her mother has been gone has her father spoken about her. She can see it now, the slight hope in her father’s eyes that maybe just maybe this will work out and Aelin will be as happy with this man as her parents were before her.

Calm now Aelin asks quietly, “What is his name?”

He shakes his head. “I do not know. All I know is that he is the nephew of the Queen who rules the country we are aligning ourselves with.”

Aelin does not respond.

“Please, Aelin,” her father begs, a weariness to his voice that she has never heard before, “It is a good match, this kingdom has been known to always choose the winning side in wars and now they have chosen us. This is a good thing.”

Aelin only nods not able to calm all of the thoughts racing across her mind.

“Terrasen needs you to do this, I need you to do this Fireheart.”

Her eyes snap to him. The use of her mother’s nickname for her feels like a stab right through her heart and she can feel the tears welling up despite herself. No one has called her that since her mother was alive.

Aelin almost agrees just from that but she stops herself. Power. Right now, she has more power than she has ever had in her entire life. If she doesn’t agree to this match her father will lose the war. She knows her people are as sick of this war as she is and maybe she might be able to end it right here, right now.

Straightening her spine and with more conviction than she has ever felt she says, “I will marry him.”

Her father sighs with relief.

“On the condition that after I marry him, you end the war and use whatever money they give you to help rebuild our kingdom.”

“I cannot do that Aelin. The Queen expects her nephew to be King of a continent one day not just Terrasen.”

“Did you specifically promise her he would be?”

The King thinks for a moment then shakes his head.

“Then it’s settled then,” she says.

Aelin can see that her father is hesitant to agree.

“Father,” she says softly but firmly sitting down across from him again. “We have been at war for nearly a decade and we have very little to show for it. Our people are running out of patience and they are starved for peace. Do not deny them this chance because of some implied agreement between you and a foreign queen. I will refuse to marry him otherwise.”

Conflict races across her father’s face, as he digests her words, for a king he has always had very little control over showing exactly what he was feeling.

After a tense minute of silence, he sighs in what appears to be defeat. “Okay Fireheart, I agree to your terms.”

Smiling she reaches over and takes her father had squeezing it tightly. “This will be the best thing for Terrasen father. I am sure of it.”

Turning his palm up to hold hers he squeezes her hand back. “I hope you are right Aelin.”

Nodding Aelin squeezes his hand once more before standing and taking her leave.

Walking back to her rooms Aelin felt that for the first time ever she was in control. She had, had enough. Enough of being left in the dark while decisions about her country, about her life were being made behind closed doors. No longer would she be the quiet princess who did exactly as she was told and let others have the power of controlling her and her life. It is time, Aelin had decided, to take some of that power back.

~ ~ ~

The panic settles in about an hour later.

Making her way towards the kitchen, in the hopes of sweet taking the chef into making some of her favorite chocolate hazelnut cake for dessert tonight, Aelin begins to spiral ten times worse than she was earlier.

Married. She was to be married before the year is up. Never in her wildest dreams had this been her plan.

Once it was. The thought echo’s in the back of her mind and it takes everything she has to push them away. No, she cannot dwell on those memories, not right now.

Now she has to focus on figuring out who she is going to marry.

Aelin racks her brain for all of the information on foreign kingdoms her lessons taught her. There are several kingdoms that she knows about that are ruled by a queen. Unfortunately, her lessons did not contain every kingdoms family tree unless it directly impacted Terrasen and Aelin cannot think of any with a nephew so important it would warrant learning his name.

Sighing to herself she knows that she won't be able to figure it out on her own and instead she begins to think of who would have known of this plan.

One name comes to mind immediately.

Darrow.

He most likely knew about this crazy scheme before she had any inclination that something was going on. Just because her uncle is no longer King, and he was gone did that mean that he stopped advising. Knowing him he was probably the one who brought forth worthy suitors to her father's attention.

Changing her direction Aelin begins to head towards Darrow's private office, determined to get at least a name out of him.

Lost in thought about how she would convince him to give her his name, Aelin almost doesn't hear the hushed voices that are coming from Darrow's office until she is practically opening the door.

The first voice she knows to be Darrow's easily enough as it is his study, the second voice though confuses her for a moment before she realizes that it is her fathers.

Holding her breath now Aelin leans closer to the crack in the door to hear what they are saying better.

"She truly gave you an ultimatum?" She hears Darrow asks softly.

Her father must nod because she does not hear him speak before she hears Darrow ask again, "And you agreed to it?"

"Of course I agreed to it, I didn't have a choice, she wouldn't have said she would marry the Prince otherwise."

It is silent for a moment and Aelin takes it to make sure no one is coming down the hall before she turns her attention back towards the door.

"So, the plan is changing then?"

"No," her father scoffs. "The plan is staying exactly the same as it was before. Aelin will marry this prince and with the money we will receive from him and his aunt we will be able to refund our efforts against those new rebels in Eyllwe."

"It's not entirely a bad idea," Darrow says carefully after a beat. "Aelin may be right."

"Aelin is too naive to know how war works. And I had hoped that you are not Darrow." Her father responds danger lacing his voice.

Aelin can barely breathe and it takes all of her concentration as she back away quietly and quickly from the door.

Once she is sure that she is out of earshot she takes off down the hallway running for her rooms.

How could she have been so stupid? How could she have let her father play her like that?

Finally safe in her rooms, Aelin lets out a shuddering sob sinking to the floor, as all of her emotions come crashing down on her at once. She is scared and hurt but most of all she feels betrayed.

Her father used her mother's nickname for her, something that he knows is practically sacred to her, to make her more pliable to his wishes. How had she not noticed how quickly his demeanor changed from fury and confrontational to heartbroken and melancholy?

He was manipulating her from the moment she walked into the room. She had expected him to be angry with her, so he showed her what she predicted to see and then flipped the switch and became the exact opposite to throw her off. He had used sentimental tone and memories to get her to think more fondly of him, to get her to remember the man she used to know.

He had played her like a violin.

Outrage begins to replace the fear she is currently feeling.

Get up. She thinks to herself. You need to get up. Slowly getting to her feet Aelin starts to compartmentalize. It will do her no good to break down now. No, now she needs to plan.

She cannot stay here, that much is obvious. She meant what she said earlier, she will not marry some foreign prince that she does not know, who's intentions she has no understanding of, and most definitely she will not marry him to continue to fund her father's pointless war.

The only option, however rash it may sound, is to leave Orynth.

Aelin bites her lip at that conclusion. She needs to be rational about this, her emotions are still running high and are going to influence her no matter what, but she still must stay levelheaded.

What could she possibly do if she leaves? You could find some way to actually help your people, she thinks. Could she possibly find those rebels down in Eyllwe and help them stop her father?

It's not much to go on but, it's something tangible, something Aelin knows that she could do.

While Aelin has lived a life of luxury, never wanting for anything she was not entirely helpless. Before her lessons each morning Aelin trained with Quinn, the former captain of the guard under her uncle, she knew how to defend herself in case of an attack and she knew enough about hunting and gathering to be able to get by on her own.

The more Aelin thinks about it the calmer she gets. This could actually work.

Looking around her rooms Aelin begins to take stock of possible supplies. Clothes are simple, she shouldn't need much, just one pair to wear and a spare set in case her first one gets lost or ruined. She'll have to wear her training clothes, considering they are the only outfits with pants she owns, and dresses are not made for hiking across the continent.

She immediately goes for her dagger next. Quinn gifted to her on her sixteen birthday as a present for doing so well in training but other than that those few things there is nothing in here that would help her survive a trek all the down to Eyllew, save for the jewels she could sell.

Thinking quickly Aelin heads for Aedions rooms where she knows she'll be able to find what she needs.

Opening the door leading to his empty rooms Aelin knows she has hit the jackpot. Aedion not only has everything she could ever need but he also has options.

Aelin grabs a bag to put her extra clothes and the rest of her supplies in, along with one of Aedions leather jackets for the colder nights. Last minute she takes one of his less ostentatious swords. She only recently started training with them, but a dagger alone out there wouldn't make her out to be such a threat, especially one that was that nice. No, she needs a sword no matter how little training she had with it.

Quickly checking to make sure that the cost is clear Aelin heads back to her room and takes stock of her few items feeling more reassured by the minute.

When to leave was the next hurdle to tackle. She knew she couldn't do it tonight. Not when her father most likely was having her watched to gauge her reaction to the arranged marriage. Not to mention the moon was nearly half full last night. She would need near total darkness to make her escape.

I am doing this, she thinks to herself, surprised to find that she feels no panic, only calm, I am really doing this.

~~~

Two days later, Aelin is fully prepared as she waits for darkness to truly settle over the castle.

Once it is nearing midnight, Aelin slips out her room pack in hand as she makes her way towards the kitchen to take some food before she leaves. She is economical about her choices, taking a few handfuls from multiple areas to decrease suspicion that anything was taken in the first place.

After she has taken as much as she dares, Aelin heads for the door that is closest to the Oakwald. Having spent much of her last few days training as much as possible with Quinn, under the guise that she just needed to burn off pent up steam, the only other thing Aelin did was plan her trip down to Eyllwe.

Heading into the Oakwalk was her best bet at disappearing quickly, if she could make it past the known hunting grounds, she would be golden. They would never find her.

Aelin takes a deep breath once she reaches the door. There is no turning back now, she thinks as she quietly opens the door and breathes in the fresh night air, barely believing that she was getting ready to leave the only home she has ever known. She knows that it's crazy, what she's doing but she is totally and irrevocably done with other people controlling her life, and it is time she did something about it.

Her father was right she is naive about warfare, but no more. Now she was going to get right in the middle of it, then she took off out the door and did not look back.

Tags: @rowaelinismyotp // @live-the-fangirl-life