Author's Note:
So this is a quick scene that I wrote because I really love Aedion as a character and I love how important he is to Aelin. Please review and tell me what you think and what other stories that you want.
I hope you enjoy.
. . .
"Please don't leave me." Aelin sobbed, desperately clutching to the fading life before her, as she knelt on the floor of the cave. She had managed it all: she and Dorian had forged the lock, forged the lock together and survived; the cadre had slaughtered Maeve in battle, and she had gotten everything she had deserved; the keys were in place, and finally, it would be done and she could return to Teressan with her family, her court. She could live, and this thought had pounded through her as she had turned to leave that cage and he had jumped in front of her, he had saved her. She barely registered slitting the throught of one of the stragglers of Maeve's army, barely registered anything after that sword, aimed for her heart, had plunged through Him. From that moment, she felt that thought get ripped away from her. She wouldn't live, not now, when she was so sure she was dying. "I mean it. You can't leave me. We made a promise. Together, always." And, as the light drained from his eyes, her eyes, Aedion Ashryver grinned weakly at his cousin.
"We did it, didn't we?" He smiled, proud of himself, of everything that he had done, they had done. She nodded, and stroked his hair, from where his head lay limply in her lap. Then he motioned for her to come closer. Someone else might not have noticed the small twitch of his fingers, but she had always known him better than anyone else. Lowering her ear to his lips, she squeezed her eyes closed. Finally, he whispered, "We started it all. Me and you. We started the court that would rattle the stars." Aelin's tears slipped onto his cheek and she forced herself to raise her head again and look at him. She attempted a smile, though it wobbled furiously.
"Yes. Me and you. And we rattled them more than anyone ever has before." She nodded at him, but her smile slipped as his breaths became labored. "Aedion, please. I need you. Stay please." Silent tears rolled onto his chest and Aelin felt her heart breaking, but from where he lay looking up at her, her cousin frowned at her.
"Don't cry." Aelin glared at him.
"You can't ask me to stop. I can't. You don't understand, your cousin isn't dying in front of you."
Aedion raised his eyebrows, the action so familiar to her that it prompted a fresh batch of tears from Aelin. "One, I thought you were dead for ten years, so that argument doesn't really stand up. Two, you've always been an ugly crier." Aelin laughed through her tears and stroked his cheek.
"I love you, Aedion. I…" He cut her off.
"No."
Aelin raised an eyebrow. "No?"
Aedion shook his head gently, closing his eyes momentarily at the effort required. "No. We're not doing this. We're not saying goodbye, because we will always find each other again. Even if it takes the whole of your stupid immortal life, I will be waiting for you." She smiled at him again, but more tears slipped down her cheeks, mingling with his blood on the floor. "Aelin." The word was weak but Aedion pushed on. "Tell me a story. Like how I used to tell them to you when you were little." Aelin smiled slightly at the memory and cleared her throat.
"Okay, Aedion. Okay." His eyes drifted up to hers and remained there, and she never broke the eye contact, she couldn't bring herself to look away. "Once upon a time, there lived a young princess. Now, she was loved by many, naturally because she was so beautiful, but she felt so alone. She didn't have anyone she could turn to. Well, that's not true. She had one person, her best friend, her truest friend and her soul partner."
Aedion wheezed. "Let me guess, he was devilishly handsome?"
Aelin laughed, mostly to appease him. "Stop interrupting. His name was Aedion Ashryver and she shared everything with him. He was her sworn protector and she would have done anything for him. One day, everything changed. Everyone around them was taken from them and the young princess became lost in the forest. Aedion looked and looked for her, for his queen and his best friend."
Aedion grimaced. "I know the end to this story. Come on, they find each other ten years later, and despite all of her dreams, he is still far prettier than her."
Aelin huffed, "One, that is completely untrue, you were never prettier than me, and two, stop interrupting. As it happens, this is a slightly different story. Aedion and Aelin are reunited the next day and together, they save their country. They grow up together and face it all together. One day, they both fall in love with a tall Fae male of ice and wind and a beautiful shifter with a true heart and Rowan and Lysandra joined their court, the court to rattle the stars. Sometimes though, they would look at each other and remind each other that they had been there from the beginning. That they would always be there, together, no matter what. Their court succeeded and the world was rid of evil, blah blah blah. The prince and princess returned to their kingdom and lived out the rest of their days is peace. Then one day, because he was older than her, the prince grew sick and when he was dying, the princess came to him and she told him…" Aelin's voice broke and she saw tears rolling down her cousin's face as well. His eyes were vacant now, but she could have sworn she heard him whisper to continue. "She told him that the biggest regret in her life was the time they had spent apart that one day that she had gone missing." Aelin couldn't go on, and she held her breath, trying to hold in the grief that threatened to rise. Aedion just smiled sadly at her.
"I missed you too." Then she removed her shaking hand from his head and he frowned. "What are you doing?" Aelin reached for her knife, where it had clattered what felt like a lifetime ago. Drawing the blade across her wrist, she smiled at her cousin. He understood and smiled up at her. "Thank you." Aelin smiled too and lowered her wrist to his lips, and when she drew it away, his lips were stained with her blood.
"Do you, Aedion Ashryver, promise to serve in my court," she grinned down at him and drew a shaky breath, "from now, until the day you die?" Aelin's voice broke once more, but she wasn't ashamed. Aedion nodded and whispered, so even her Fae hearing could barely hear it, "Yes."
She placed her forehead to his and smiled. "You have been my blood sworn since the moment I was born and you held me for the first time. I love you unconditionally and," she paused. "You are my hero." In that moment, Aedion Ashryver drew his last breath, and died looking at the person he loved most in the world. His queen. The other side of his coin. His cousin. His best friend. His Aelin.
When Rowan Galathnius Whitehorn entered the cave and saw his fireheart, the relief he felt was stronger than anything he had ever felt before. Dorian had told him, had told all of them, and they had all come to the cave. Come to find her. From behind him, Lysandra, Dorian, Chaol, Yrene, Fenrys, Elide, Lorcan, Manon, Gavriel and Galan filed into the cave. They stopped behind Rowan, who remained staring at the back of his mate, where she knelt on the floor, holding something.
"Aelin." He spoke and her name sounded like the most beautiful sound in the world. She didn't move though, didn't even say anything. A spike of panic shot through Rowan and he broke the threshold of the cave, walking closer to his mate. What he saw though, cracked something in his chest. His eyes remained focused on the body of his brother in his mate's arms. She seemed to be saying something to him, speaking to her cousin in hushed tones, oblivious to the presence of others. Rowan turned back to where the rest of the court was standing. He wanted to stop them moving, to keep them in that moment before they knew. He was unable to form the words however and could only watch. Could only watch as Lysandra stepped forward and collapsed to the ground, sobbing as though her heart had just been ripped from her chest. As Dorian walked over and held her, despite the tears running down his own face for the man that he had known since he was a child, who had told him he had the manners of a fine lady all those months ago. As Chaol didn't bother to wipe his tears and as Yrene comforted him, having to meet the woman who had saved her in this way, seeing the woman who had given her a life having had everything taken from her. As Elide sobbed into Manon's chest and Lorcan stroked her hair, because she hadn't had enough time with her childhood friend. As Galan stood rooted to the spot, for the cousin that he had barely known, but had loved anyway, for the cousin that he had risked everything to save. As Fenrys clung to Gavriel, who was on his knees, shaking as he sobbed, as the loss shot through him. He could do nothing as all of this occurred, and so instead sat on the floor of that cave and stared at his brother.
They sat there for hours, the court, the family, and simply sat, each dealing with the loss. After a while though, the only sound was Aelin's murmurings and Rowan caught Lysandra and Elide's eyes from across the circle. Giving them a small nod, he stood and approached his mate. She paid him no heed, however, just kept talking to the lifeless body on the floor. Rowan had never seen her like this before. "Aelin, we have to leave now." He hated the words as they left his mouth. He could feel the eyes looking to him, looking to him to take them forward. "We can take him back to Teressan and he can be laid to rest." Aelin still didn't stop her murmurings, even as the King of Ardalan approached her other side, and her best friend reached out for her, kneeling beside her queen. Rowan stared down at the broken woman in front of him and knew, in his heart, that she would never be the same again. He didn't care, he just needed to help her, in whatever way her could. To whatever end. That was their promise and he would do whatever she needed now, but they needed to leave. He tried again. "Aelin," he placed his hand on her shoulder, but drew it back when he realized she was burning. Her skin was like a live flame, an invisible flame. He shook his head at Lys and Elide, telling them not to touch her. "Aelin, we need to go. We can take him with us." Suddenly, she snapped out of her trance and whipped her head around to look at him. Then, she searched the room and looked at each of the members of her court. But Rowan could see the vacancy in her eyes and he saw Lysandra flinch back from the emptiness that she too saw there. Then her eyes returned to her cousin and a smile, a strange, broken smile, spread across her face.
"No." Her voice was clear and echoed off the walls of the cave, and there was something in it that Rowan had never heard before, not even when she had been talking about Nehemia and her parents, some newfound level of broken, and yet she spoke with such clarity. Then, her eyes returned to Rowan's, but he knew that she didn't see him really. "No. I have to finish my story to Aedion, and then we're going to go and watch the carriages pull in for the ball."
Rowan crouched beside her, a concerned look on his face. "Fireheart, what ball?"
She laughed, a child's laugh really. "The ball mother and father are throwing. We were sent to bed, but we're going to watch the carriages arrive from our spot on the roof." Rowan closed his eyes, and he watched new tears roll down Lys' cheeks, but Elide moved forward, and Aelin turned her face to her friend.
"Yes, the ball. I'm going to come to the ball. But Aelin, if we want to go then we have to go now." But Aelin was shaking her head. "But no. I want to go with Aedion. Me and Aedion are going to go to the ball and dance all night. He promised he would." Something in Aelin's voice changed, and Rowan felt the others in the room tense. Her voice had become panicked and desperate. "He promised not to leave me. He promised together, always. Why does he always break his promises?" Tears had begun to roll down her cheeks again and she was gasping for breath. "He can't take me to the ball because he's, he's…" Her voice cut of and loud broken sobs cut through the silence. Lysandra reached for her hand, the one still gripping Aedion desperately, but Aelin pulled away, pulled Aedion with her. She collided with rowan however and whirled to face him once more, confusion and sorrow lining every feature. "No, no, no, no. No!" She screamed and a flash of light threw everyone back to the entrance of the cave. Rowan scrambled for his mate, but a barrier of flame encircled her and cousin, where she held him in the middle of the cave and screamed at him. Screamed for him to return to her. Screaming at him to wake up. That they hadn't had enough time. Rowan placed a hand flat against the wall of flame, but even he couldn't get through.
Unable to rip his eyes away from his screaming mate, Rowan said softly, "Dorian." A silent order. The King didn't have to be asked twice. In the same way he had done once in Nehemia's bed chambers, he knocked out the Queen of Teressan. The wall of flame receded, and before Rowan could move, Gavriel was walking steadily forwards, and as the court watched, gently picked up his son and walked out of the cave. Rowan followed suit and walked over to his mate and with heavy hearts, the court of Teressan followed their King and Queen as they walked away from the cave, away from the war, and to whatever was coming next, however painful.