Lysandra had remained mad at Aelin for a total of 2 minutes before enveloping her best friend. She pulled away from Aelin, hands resting on both sides of her face, gently stroking her hair.

"I've missed you," Lysandra said, not breaking eye contact. "Still not sure I've fully forgiven you though for leaving me alone to deal with Aedion and the rest of the morons trying to run your kingdom."

"Morons?" Aelin chuckled.

"Men," Lysandra corrected. "You left me to deal with all of the men by myself."

"I'm sure you more than handled them."

Lysandra winked. "Well of course, but it wasn't always easy."

"You sure you aren't feeling well enough to make the journey with us to Adarlan?"

"As much as I want to spend time with you, I'm afraid of vomiting all over the carriage. If I'm feeling better in a few days, I promise to fly there."

Aelin looked at her best friend with a heavy sense of guilt. "I am sorry. Truly," Aelin said. "I think I just got so lost in my grief, in the pain of missing Rowan, that I forgot I had other things to live for. And other people."

"I understand darkness," Lysandra replied, hugging her best friend again. "I just wanted you to let me in. I wanted to be blinded with you."

"Next time," Aelin said, smiling.


Dorian found Aelin standing in front of one of the long glass windows overlooking the kingdom below. While she had attended every meeting and dinner that he invited her to over the course of the last week, he could tell something was still amiss with her. Aedion had filled him in on Rowan's disappearance as best he could, and while Dorian understood what she was going through, he wished there was some way to snap her out of it completely. According to Aedion, she had been catatonic over the last several months and it was a huge step that she had even agreed to visit.

"Hey there," Dorian said as he entered the room. Aelin didn't turn around to face him, just merely nodded her head in acknowledgment that she knew he was there. He walked across the room to stand next to her, surveying the kingdom below.

"What possessed you to rebuild the glass castle?" Aelin asked after a few minutes of silence, turning to face him. "I never bothered to ask before."

"It was the best way for me to move on, but not forget," he said, giving his friend a small smile.

She sighed. "I wish it was that easy." Dorian noticed Aelin glance to her right, to the spot where Rowan should have been standing.

"He'll find his way home," Dorian said gently. It was the first time he'd brought up Rowan the entire week. He was scared of how she'd react, and he didn't think he'd be able to handle it if she broke down. It always hurt him to see her in pain.

"Maybe," she paused briefly. "I'm sure Aedion filled you in, but I wasn't exactly myself the last few months. I haven't been able to make any decisions. I've barely been able to get out of bed. And now I'm here, and I'm standing next to you and spending time in your beautiful kingdom and watching you with Manon - which by the way, we still need to talk about - and I can't help but feel jealous. You have it all sorted out. And I just feel…"

"Lost?"

"Lost. Sad. Lonely."

"Can I fill you in on a secret?" Dorian asked. When she didn't respond, he continued, "I don't have it all sorted out. Not even a little bit. After everything that happened on this continent, there were days when I didn't think I'd ever be happy again. I had done things I wasn't proud of. I made hard decisions. But people died because of me and their blood is on my hands. And sure, eventually Manon came into my life, but I realized I needed to learn to be happy for me. Not for anyone else."

"I'd forgotten what color the sky was. The vibrant blue, the way clouds sometime formed certain shapes. How right before it rains, you can taste it. I've been trapped in this colorless haze. Miserable. Drowning. And sure, I've resurfaced, but that doesn't mean I'm fully out of the water yet."

"You'll get there," Dorian replied. "You know, I stumbled across the best chocolates a few weeks ago, and saved some. Just for you."

For the first time in six months and seven days, her face lit up. "Well, it's a start."


Aedion had returned to Terrasen after receiving an urgent message. Normally he would never have left the Queen by herself, even for one day, but the message was worded weirdly and he knew he had to return to Terrasen immediately. A few guards bowed to him as he walked through the gates to the castle, and a few courtiers waited by the door.

"What happened?" Aedion asked his second lieutenant, the moment he'd stepped through the archway in the entrance hall. Lysandra, who had been unable to make the trip to Adarlan, raced down the hallway towards him. Before his lieutenant had even uttered a single word, Lysandra had thrown her arms around Aedion.

"It's so terrible," she murmured into him. He pulled her tighter, still confused as to what was happening.

When she finally pulled back and saw the expression on his face, she took another step back. "Oh no," she began. "You don't know yet."

"Lysanda, I literally just walked through the door. What's going on?"

"He came back," she said. But the light didn't touch her eyes. "But he's not…the same. It's him, but it's not him."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's Rowan. He stumbled into the courtyard yesterday. He was so out of it, I thought it was just dehydration and hunger. But…it's just so –" and before she could even finish the thought, the tears had overwhelmed her and she sprinted away.

"I still don't understand," Aedion said, turning back to his lieutenant who had remained silent throughout his interaction with Lysandra.

"Prince Rowan, he's returned."

"Shouldn't we be celebrating?" Aedion asked with dread, knowing there was clearly something seriously wrong.

"It's just…he doesn't remember anything. He doesn't know who he is or where he is. He doesn't remember Aelin."

Aedion thought he had experienced heartbreak and devastation in his life already. He was wrong.