Chapter 53 - Ending

"Perhaps we'll have some fun with it," the king mused. "Wendlyn is having their Solstice ball in a few months. What a message it would send if the king and his son were to meet their end right under the noses of their own court, on their day of triumph."

Though the captain shifted on his feet at the sudden change of plans, the assassin smiled at him again, dark glee written all over her. What hellhole had she come from, to find delight in such things? "A brilliant idea, Your Majesty."

"It's done then," the king said, and they all looked at him. "You'll leave tomorrow."

"But," his son interrupted, "surely she needs some time to study Wendlyn, to learn it's ways and-"

"It's a two week journey by sea," he said. "And then she'll need time to infiltrate the castle in time for the ball. She can take whatever materials she needs and study then onboard."

Her brows had lifted slightly, but she just bowed her head. The captain was still standing, stiffer than usual. But the prince...

"No. Winter storms are still raging, and what good is a champion if she never reaches Wendlyn's coast?"

He was a smart boy, putting it as a practical concern, but the king could feel the magic crackling in the air, and the glare he sent the captain made the king wonder if he would snap right there, in the council room.

"Very well. A month from now then. The weather will be mild, and my champion will still have time to find a way into the ball," the king said. He wasn't particularly interested in their petty dramas, but it wouldn't serve any purpose to have the prince expose himself now.

"Thank you." The prince nodded, and went back to glaring at the captain, whose shoulders had loosened a bit.

"A month from now then," the assassin smiled, bowing once again before leaving the room, taking the attentions of the captain and the crown prince with her.

RattleTheStars

"Wendlyn? Of all places, why Wendlyn?" Celaena raged, pacing back and forth in Chaol's room a few hours later. She hadn't been back here since that awful night.

"Because it's where you need to go," Chaol told her, still avoiding her eyes. He had made a habit of that ever since the night before.

"It's because of who – what I am, isn't it?" she asked cautiously. Even if she would never forgive him, if she could never forgive him, she would never doubt that he wanted to protect her.

"Yes. Wendlyn is the land of the Fae. You can go there and never look back," he said, looking at the fire, still not at her.

"I have to come back," she whispered.

"No!"

She thought about the king's threats. About him killing Chaol and butchering Nehemia's family. Those were deaths she couldn't carry on her shoulders.

"Yes. For reasons you have no business knowing, I have to come back," she stated firmly. When she walked by him again, he grabbed her wrist, looking up at her face. Whatever he saw, whatever he remembered about her, made him jerk back. "Celaena -"

"No. This isn't up for discussion. If you will excuse me, I have a continent to study," she proclaimed, setting towards the door.

She didn't want him anywhere near her. Not ever again, not when she kept seeing that room, that broken body. So why did it hurt her that he wouldn't touch her?

Celaena was still wondering about that when she reached her rooms, not bothering to visit the library for books about Wendlyn just yet.