Chapter One

Author's Note: Hey guys, this is my new Throne of Glass fanfic. It starts off like a Cinderella retelling in the Throne of Glass megaverse, but eventually it will move away from that and just become an AU Throne of Glass fic. This first chapter is quite short, but it's more like a kind of prologue thing anyway. My updates won't be regular, probably about every two weeks because I'm very busy with school. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for my ego, Sarah J Maas owns the Throne of Glass series and its characters, so all copyright is hers.

The carriage stopped in front of the gates to the Glass Castle, and an eighteen year old girl stepped out into the night. The air was alive with the thrum of voices: the idle chatter of nobles, the gossip of lords and ladies. Celaena Sardothien stood, pausing outside the carriage doors. She adjusted her posture and arranged her facial features into the excited expression of a young court lady, fixing the last details of her mask into place. Yes, she must wear a mask for this ball, if she was to achieve her goal. She had to be the picture of elegance, innocence and beauty.

Celaena joined the line to get into the palace. She could immediately feel the eyes on her. Women giving her splendid ball gown admiring, envious glances and men enjoying the way the pale blue chiffon silk hugged her figure in all the right places. Her dress was exquisite, Celaena had to admit. The hem, cuffs, and daringly low neckline were all trimmed with white lace. It matched her turquoise eyes, the dressmaker had told her. The bodice, patterned with gold swirls and whorls, brought out the gold ring around her pupils and looked fantastic against her unbound hair, which was falling down her back and over her shoulders in honey blonde waves. Simple, yet stylish. It looked fashionable and it looked expensive: exactly the impression Celaena wanted. No one could have suspected that she was a living armoury. No one could have noticed the expertly concealed daggers strapped to her thighs and arms, sheathed at her waist, stuffed down her bodice and between her breasts. No one could have known that there was an assassin skulking in their midst.

She stepped up to the gates and handed her invitation to the guard on duty. Arobynn had acquired that for her. The guard examined her quickly before looking down at his list. "Name?" he asked. "Lillian Gordaina," she replied confidently. He didn't even look at her twice before ticking the fake name off his list and waving her in. She could thank Arobynn for that too. Celaena looked up at the glass castle, the heart of Adarlan's empire. It housed the man who had destroyed everything she had ever loved, and more importantly, his son. She took a deep breath, and passed through the gates. Celaena followed the crowds until she was in the entrance hall to the ballroom. There was a buzz in the air. She could hear the ladies whispering about Prince Dorian. He was supposed to be quite handsome. A pity, Celaena thought, as he wasn't likely to stay that way for long if she had her way tonight.

The ballroom doors opened and Celaena descended the steps. Heads turned in her direction. No one here would know her, which made her someone of interest. She glanced round the room, immediately noting where guards were positioned and where the prince was. She would have known Dorian anywhere. It wasn't just that she had caught glimpses of him parading through Rifthold before, rather it was something about the way he carried himself. He walked like a prince, his every movement and smile radiating with court polished charm. He was dancing with a tall brunette in a bright red dress that Celaena had to admire. The dance finished, and the prince moved on to dance with another lady. It would be all too easy to get close to him, Celaena thought, smiling to herself.

The ball itself was impressive. The musicians at the front of the hall were extremely talented. The music seemed to writhe and uncoil in the air like a living being. The food on the tables on both sides of the room looked glorious, and Celaena resisted the temptation to indulge herself. She was here to get a job done, and it was probably the most dangerous job she had ever taken on. Yet she was confident she could do it. She was Celaena Sardothien. She hadn't become Adarlan's Assassin for nothing. It would be worth it. It would be worth it just for the devastation it would bring to the king. It would be worth it just to take everything from him, the way he had taken everything from her.

The next part was easy. She literally just had to stand at the edge of the dance floor and look pretty. Some young man would approach her sooner or later. Most likely sooner, if the looks she had received in the foyer were anything to go by. Celaena sucked in a breath, put her shoulders back and stuck out her chest. She was ready for this. After ten long years of suffering, she could do this. She deserved this, and she would not be afraid.

The Captain of the Royal Guard watched the strange young woman glide across the ballroom. He watched her striking blue eyes take in all the details of the hall. He watched her stop at the edge of the dance floor, clearly waiting for a man to approach. It wasn't just that he had never seen the girl before. No, there were many foreign visitors tonight. She hadn't done anything especially suspicious. In fact, she seemed rather ordinary. She looked stunning, but not so much that she stood out from any of the other simpering young women here. She blended in perfectly. Too perfectly. He didn't know what it was, but there was just something about her that unsettled him. Chaol Westfall turned his attention back to Dorian. Dorian was the most important thing tonight. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling of unease, and he resolved to keep one eye on the stranger at all times.

Celaena danced. She danced with so many young men that she lost track of who they were, and all their faces began blurring into one. Her delicate glass heels chinked against the dance floor, as she was whirled around the ballroom on the arm of lords, dukes, courtiers and merchants' sons. But as of yet, no princes.

It was only a matter of time, Celaena told herself. Prince Dorian had already glanced at her a few times tonight. If she was catching his attention, he would be bound to approach her, sooner or later. Celaena was an accomplished dancer, thanks to the lessons she'd had with Madame Florine since she was a child, and she did look beautiful tonight. It filled her with a strange sense of excitement; to introduce herself to all these silly men as Lillian Gordaina, daughter of a merchant from Fenharrow. She enjoyed picturing what their faces would look like if they knew that she was Celaena Sardothien, the most feared assassin in all of Erilea. It was something of an adrenalin rush, to think that here she was, right under the royal family's noses, come to exact the perfect revenge after all this time.

Celaena stopped at the edge of the dance floor to take a breather. She was exhilarated, her heartbeat a steady thump in her chest. She had always loved parties. Celaena closed her eyes for a second, savouring the feeling of contentedness she got from being at a party like this, from taking part in a form of physical exertion that wasn't violent, where, for a moment, her beauty was not a weapon, but a gift. For a moment, she didn't think about the monumental task that faced her tonight; the task that would throw countless lives off balance, including her own. She did not think of Arobynn, or the mysterious man who had hired her tonight. She did not think of bloodshed, or pain, or fear. For a moment, she was no longer an assassin, she was a girl.

Celaena's eyes flew open as a hand lightly grazed her shoulder. She whirled, and found herself looking up into a pair of gorgeous sapphire eyes. "May I have this dance, my lady?" said Dorian Havilliard.