Hello all :) This is my first fanfic, so feedback is much appreciated. This takes place post HOF; there shouldn't be too many spoilers, but YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. It's going to start darker (it can't exactly be avoided with the whole "Throne of Glass" premise, unfortunately) and then grow happier and fluffier as the story progresses. Enjoy!
Disclaimer – I do not own anything related to the Throne of Glass series or its characters. All credit for that goes to the wonderful Sarah Maas; I, the poor simple reader that I am, own only the writing.
Aedion's hands were shaking. Soon, all of his preconceptions of Aelin would be changed forever. He couldn't imagine her as anything other than the young girl he had once known, the girl he had long ago expected to marry. He could still picture her flowing blond hair in his mind's eye, her pink frilly dresses twirling as they snuck away from parties together to escape to the kitchens. He had never been able to let her memory go, even when he was convinced she was dead. She was his responsibility, and now that he knew she was alive - she wasalive - he didn't plan on letting her out of his sight.
The three of them had been traveling for three months in search of her with no leads up until a few days ago.
Aedion knew that they had gotten lucky. They had been passing through a small town in order to water the horses, and the innkeeper there had been complaining about a guest who had been staying the night. She had apparently requested buckets after buckets of hot water, and she had carried an veritable cache of weapons. The lewd description he had proceeded to give to Chaol and Aedion after they had asked about her had been enough to make both of their fists curl at their sides, but Chaol had agreed that it had been Aelin. She was the only person either of them knew who could buy out the entire confectionary shop and still have enough room to eat multiple helpings of dinner. The thought of his queen only a few days away had been plaguing Aedion since the moment they had left. They had consumed his every thought, and even in his dreams he could see her.
He would catch a glimpse of that same blond hair bobbing, of her curves outlined by the warm sun, of her laugh sounding through the meadow. He never saw her face – the instant she began to turn around was the instant he would wake up – but he could already see her confidence and beauty from the way she carried herself. His old feelings for her were reawakened by these dreams. He knew it might have been improper, but he couldn't bring himself to care.
Chaol was convinced that she didn't want to be found and that they should stop the search (and had been very vocal on his feelings about the subject), but both Aedion and Ren had refused. Ren had seen the assassin in action, and he had realized that as long as he was on her side, he would be much safer around her than with the two men. Aedion, on the other hand, had been given a goal at last. For so long his only dream in life was to live, but now he had another person to protect as well. He still remembered the promise that he had made as a lad to defend her with his life. Just because he had failed the first time around didn't mean he couldn't pick up where he had left off before, and there was no way he would ever allow a disgruntled Captain of the Guard to stop him.
"I still think we should just give up. She's not going to appreciate this, you know. She doesn't want to see any of us right now." Chaol was just as adamant on the subject as he had been when they had first set out, and it was easy for Aedion to notice the fear that lay beneath.
"Speak for yourself, Captain. As I recall, you're the only one of us she had a problem with. Or are you not the reason that she left?"
The man had grown continuously more high-strung as their journey had progressed. It was clear that he was terrified to see Aelin again. Aedion chuckled darkly. If he had been the one dealing with her anger, he would've been just as poorly off as the Captain of the Guard. He remembered how she had been as a child, how she had dealt out her punishment to him even back then even for something as minor as snatching her chocolates. But then he remembered – he would be dealing with her anger too. He had betrayed her, betrayed all of their people, and that would be even more difficult to come back from.
Aedion almost wished he could have had Chaol's problem. He wished he was returning to the woman whom he had betrayed but who had loved him instead of the girl he used to love, all grown up. He was only Adarlan's Whore now, and she – she was a queen, his queen.
According to his traveling companions, she was beautiful but terrifying. She had killed in order to save herself and those around her, and would certainly do so again if given the opportunity. He had killed as well, but as he looked out at the horizon, he knew that their crimes had been performed under very different circumstances.
Yes, he had done it to survive, but he had killed his own people. He hadn't stood up to the king; he had refused to abandon Celaena, but now he had tainted her name and her memory. She might not even be able to look at him, for what he had done was unforgivable.
Her killings all lay on his shoulders as well. If he had just been there for her that day, if he had just been able to spare her that life of misery, all of this would be different. All of the people she had been forced to kill might have lived if only he had been able to protect her the way he was supposed to. The blame for those deaths lay on his shoulders, not hers.
He may have failed her then, but he wouldn't be making the same mistake again. He wouldn't rest until he had redeemed himself in her eyes.
They arrived at the edge of a cliff. In the distance, they could see a small refugee camp. A circle of tents stood alone in the middle of the wasteland. It was his fault that they were there, his fault that they had been forced to leave. All of it was his fault. Aelin, her family, all those people, murdered or left to die in the mines…all his fault. If he had been there for her, if he had refused the king, maybe things might have been different. Maybe all of these people would have still had a home, and maybe she would have found her way to a happier existence
Maybe that existence would have been with him.
"Look!" Ren said frantically, turning white. "Over there! What is that?"
Aedion spun around. Coming over the horizon was a large crowd of people on horseback, bright silver gleaming in their midst. It was an army. No, he realized in horror - it was Adarlan's army.
...
Celaena awoke to Rowan's insistent shaking.
"Five more minutes," she murmured, pushing his face out of the way and rolling back over. She wished there had at least been a pillow; she was sick of sleeping with a pack. She was sick of all of this, and she craved a warm bubble bath and a tower of chocolates to go with it. She struggled to escape back into the dream she had been having; for the first time in months, it had been warm and comforting.
"Aelin, get up," he insisted forcefully. "Now."
The terror in his voice made her shoot up straight. She jumped out of bed faster than she had in months, probably even years. "What is it?" she inquired, her eyes scanning, searching for danger. He was shaking slightly, his hand extended to pull her up.
Her question was answered when she heard the cacophony of hoof beats and clashing metal in the distance.
"Soldiers," she whispered, her eyes shooting open. She rushed to get dressed, not even bothering to brush out the tangles in her hair. She may have cared about her appearance, but she wasn't stupid. Innocent lives were in danger, and preening in front of the tiny mirror she had insisted upon bringing wouldn't save any of them.
She had been the reason so many of them had been killed, and she knew that if the king were to ever discover her secret, thousands more would be slaughtered by him as well. The least she could do was to protect the band of nomads who had so graciously taken her and Rowan in.
They had been kind to her. She hadn't allowed herself to grow close to them because she knew it would only bring about more pain and loss when she was forced to leave them, but it had only taken her a few short hours to realize that she could care about them, easily, if she only let herself. They were kindhearted and sweet, and had been willing to share what little food they had with two strangers.
She wouldn't let any harm come to them, no matter what it took from her.
No matter how many of them she had to kill.
Celaena ran past the flap of the tent, drawing her blade and taking a ready stance.
The mass of soldiers created a barely visible blur far off on the horizon, and she marched forward to the edge of the circle. It reminded her of all of the battles throughout her history, of all of the times she had stood alone to face a great force, of all the times she had fought to protect those she cared about.
As she was standing there, though, a rush of wind told her of the appearance of another. Rowan stood by her side, his sword bared, prepared to defend both the refugees and her with his life.
For once, she wasn't alone.
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