Aelin awoke the next morning feeling satisfied, smelling the pine and snow scent she had come to love so much from Rowan, who was lying right beside her. Her head was resting on his shoulder, and her arm was draped across his chest. She lay like that with her eyes closed a bit longer, not wanting to accept that soon they would both have get up.

Her eyes flew open at the sound of a soft knock on the door. She could feel Rowan tense, and before either of them had time to react, the door opened and Luca walked in. He was already chattering on about something, eyes on the papers in his hands. "They're saying that the west wing needs more work than we thought before we can open it again. It's going to take another month or so, and—"

His voice cut off abruptly when he saw them lying in bed, still in each other's embrace. His eyes widened, looking quickly between Aelin and Rowan, taking in the way they held each other and the fact that they weren't wearing any clothing.

A growl rumbled in Rowan's throat, and his lips began to curl up in a snarl. He untangled his limbs from Aelin's, and began to get up as if he was going to personally throw Luca out of the bedroom. He stopped, remembering his own nakedness, and his face flushed as he said in that dangerously calm voice, "Get out. Now."

Luca took a step backwards towards the door, his face turning bright red. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't… I didn't know. I didn't mean to—"

Rowan's bared his teeth in anger. "NOW."

Aelin sat up, covering herself with the bedsheet. She reached over and put a hand on Rowan's shoulder. When his gaze finally broke away from Luca, she gave him an expression. Rowan. He had no way of knowing. It's not his fault. It will be okay.

Rowan let out another snarl, but seemed to back off a little bit.

Aelin looked at Luca. "Luca, I think it's best if you left. We'll discuss this later. Just… Just keep it to yourself. We aren't hiding anything, but it would cause… unnecessary complications."

Luca quickly nodded to her, then turned and bolted out the door. He was in such a hurry to leave that he left the door wide open, causing Aelin to pinch the bridge of her nose and sigh. "That boy has no sense of privacy."

Rowan sent a burst of wind across the room, blowing the door shut. He was still angry, but Aelin was right. The only thing Luca had done wrong was forgetting to use common sense. Rowan hoped that Luca listened to Aelin and kept things quiet. Mistward had enough on its hands, and the last thing the people living there needed was to waste time gossiping about Rowan and Aelin being found in bed together.

Aelin could still sense that Rowan was angry by the tension keeping his body rigid and the way he kept his hands clenched at his sides. She reached out for him and ran the back of her fingers down his cheek. "Rowan, it was just Luca. You've already scared the hell out of him. I'll talk to him later. Besides, like I said, it's not like we're trying to keep… this a secret."

Rowan sighed. "I know. But it's still going to be my instinct to protect you, even if the threat," he said, his expression adding, Or lack of, "is Luca." He reached up and held Aelin's hand, twining his fingers through hers. He stared down at their hands, and it dawned on Aelin just how long it had been since Rowan had felt responsible for another person. He leaned over and kissed her forehead, his lips lingering on her skin, and she couldn't help but smile.

After a moment, they both reluctantly broke their embrace, and Aelin threw off the bedsheet and began putting on a clean set of clothes. Her cheeks turned pink as she felt Rowan's eyes on her back as she dressed. She looked over her shoulder at Rowan, who was indeed watching her, and smirked. "Do I need to talk to you about privacy, as well?"

Rowan chuckled, and the sound made a shiver run down her spine. "It seems to me like privacy was the last thing on your mind last night. In fact, if I recall correctly, you were practically begging me to—"

"Rowan Whitethorn!" Her cheeks had gone from pink to red, and she picked a pillow off the ground and threw it at him. He didn't even try to avoid it, letting it hit him in the chest. "Don't you have some sort of highly important task you need to get done?"

"Oh, I got my highly important task done last night."

Aelin gaped at him, and he laughed as he got out of the bed and began getting dressed as well. When he was done, he strode over to her and leaned down to kiss her. Even with him leaning down, Aelin still had to stand on her toes to reach his lips. "I'll see you later tonight at dinner. I should go see what Luca was ambling on about with the west wing."

Aelin nodded. "Emrys is going to be telling stories tonight. Don't be late."

With reluctance, Rowan turned and walked out the door and down the corridor.

Immediately, Aelin missed the comfort his presence brought. But she had work to do; she couldn't stay in their room all day and think about Rowan, no matter how much she might want to. She ran her fingers through her hair and let out a breath. After she had organized her thoughts, she set out down the corridor in search of Luca.

It didn't take Aelin long to find him; he was in the kitchens helping Emrys, as usual. He glanced up from the onions he was chopping, and when he saw who it was that had entered the kitchen, he quickly averted his gaze, his body tensing up. Aelin ignored his discomfort and strode up to him. "Can I have a word? In the hallway?" When Luca didn't respond, Aelin added, "Now."

Slowly, Luca set down the knife he was cutting onions with and looked over at Emrys, who gave him a nod telling him he could leave. Aelin grabbed his arm and practically dragged him out of the kitchen.

As soon as they were alone in the hallway, Luca began to fill the silence with words. "Aelin, I'm sorry. I didn't know that you and Rowan were… you know. I swear, I wouldn't have come into your rooms if I'd had any idea. Please don't be mad at me, I didn't know, honestly, and—"

"Luca, I'm not mad. It's alright; I didn't come here to yell at you. I just wanted to clear the air between us."

At this, Luca's brows drew together. "You're not mad?"

"No. Frankly, I don't want to talk about this at all. But I think it would be worse just to leave it the way it ended."

Luca seemed to relax a bit. "So I'm not going to meet my fiery end? That's a relief. I thought for sure you were going to strangle me."

Aelin sighed. "No, I'm not going to strangle you. And I also don't see a point in drawing this out any longer than is necessary." She shifted her weight onto her right foot and crossed her arms. "As you obviously know, Rowan and I are… together. We aren't trying to keep anything a secret, but we hadn't really planned on anyone—," She said, staring pointedly at Luca, "—finding out. I would appreciate it if you keep it to yourself."

"But people already think you two are… you know. Everyone's been thinking that for a few months, ever since you started sharing a bed."

"I know. But it would cause all kinds of gossip if people were to find out they'd been wrong until now.

Luca picked an invisible piece of lint off his tunic. "Alright. I'll keep quiet."

"Thank you."

A fiendish grin busted out on Luca's face. "So how long has this been going on?"

"I certainly don't see how that's any of your business!"

"Come on, Aelin! I'm like your confidante or something now! You can trust me." He winked at her.

"Or something. Besides, I didn't invite you into my love life. You quite literally barged in uninvited!" She put her hands on her hips. "Don't you have scullery work to do or something?" she said, dismissing him.

Luca laughed. "Fair enough. If you ever feel like clueing me in any more, you know where to find me." With that, he turned and walked back into the kitchen with Emrys, where he resumed his spot chopping onions.

Still in the hallway, Aelin sighed. She couldn't decide if that had gone well or not. She supposed she'd find out soon enough if Luca would actually keep his mouth shut.

Aelin spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Mistward, making sure that everything was on track and keeping spirits up.

She didn't realize how much time had passed until her stomach grumbled. She looked out a window and saw that the sun was beginning to set.

She decided to go find Rowan for dinner, which was to start in half an hour. She wanted to get a seat close to the fire when Emrys told stories, and if they were late, they would be stuck without any seat at all.

It didn't take her long to find Rowan, who was walking around inspecting the west wing. All that was still intact was a small washroom with a vanity tucked into the corner. Everything else was in shattered remnants from the attack.

Rowan was alone; all the demi-fae who had been helping with repairs had left a few minutes earlier for dinner. He was lost in thought, staring intently at the papers in his hands, and he didn't hear her approach. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle, and he jumped, causing Aelin to laugh. "It's just me."

Rowan turned to face her, his cheeks turning slightly red. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't going to meet me here until dinnertime."

"Rowan, it is dinnertime. Are you sure you feel well?" She jokingly raised a hand to his forehead as if feeling for a temperature.

"I'm fine. I've just been busy today."

"It would seem so," Aelin said, looking around the area they were standing in. While it was still a mess, it was significantly improved from when she had last seen it the previous day. "You're always busy. You know relaxing isn't fatal, right?" She drew him close and stood up on her toes, expecting a kiss. Rowan smiled down at her for a moment before leaning down to kiss her.

"I don't need to relax. What I need to do is focus on my work here."

"You don't need to relax?" An incredulous expression settled on her features. "I don't believe it. You probably just don't remember how."

"Maybe you should jog my memory." His voice was thick as he put his hands on her waist and pulled her close. She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him into a passionate kiss.

She gently took the papers he was holding out of his hand and tossed them to the ground, where they scattered across the floor.

Rowan didn't even look up. "I needed those," he said onto her lips.

"I need you."

A low growl rumbled through Rowan, vibrating his body against hers. His hands slipped down to her thighs, and he lifted her legs up around his hips. She tightened her legs around him, and he placed his hands on her backside as he walked them over to the vanity on the far side of the room.

He bit her lip as he set her down on the vanity. The air seemed thick around them as they began tearing at each other's clothing, and it didn't take long before all of their clothing was in a pile on the floor surrounding them.

He pressed his body up against hers, his skin feeling hot beneath her fingertips. His hands were roving up and down, not exploring her body, but claiming it, and she let out a gasp. She wanted him right here and right now.

This time their lovemaking was fast and fiery. Both of them were filled with such a primal need that she had to bite her lip to keep from moaning his name too loudly. She could tell he was having trouble staying quiet, too, by the grunts he let out onto her collarbone. Before long, she felt herself close to the edge, and they finished, jumping off the edge together.

They stayed tangled up in each other for a moment, panting. Rowan's body gleamed with a thin sheen of sweat. When their breathing had returned to normal, they dressed quickly, and Aelin smoothed down her hair.

It was a few minutes later when demi-fae began milling about in the hallways, and Aelin realized that they had missed dinner. She and Rowan headed towards the dining hall, hoping that there were some leftovers still out. As they turned the corner into the kitchens, she almost collided with Emrys.

"You two were missing at dinner tonight. I thought you two always made time to listen to my stories. I suppose you must have had some very urgent business to attend to?"

Aelin tried to stop the heat creeping up her neck. "Yes. Very urgent." Emrys was clearly expecting more of an explanation, but there was no way Aelin was giving him any more than that.

She quickly turned and walked off, beginning to scavenge for any leftover food. Rowan followed close behind her, and it took more than a small amount of effort to keep from reaching out and taking his hand.

It didn't take long before they both had full plates. Some of the demi-fae were beginning to clean up in the dining hall, so they took their food back to their room. They ate in silence, each occasionally stealing glances at the other. Before long, both plates had been cleaned, and Aelin stood up. "I think I'm going to take a bath." She then undressed, exchanging her clothing for a fluffy white towel.

She stood at the entry of the door, looking over her shoulder at Rowan. There was a mischievous fire glittering in her eyes. She dropped the towel that was wrapped around her body, discarding it on the floor behind her. She walked into the bathing chamber, intentionally leaving the door cracked open. Tendrils of steam swirled out from the other side of the door, a silent invitation inside.

Rowan slipped out of his clothes placed a hand on the door, stopping at the threshold. He could feel his blood thrumming in his veins as he edged around the door into the bathing room, to where Aelin was awaiting him, shutting the door behind him.

I couldn't decide whether or not I should leave the first chapter as a standalone or continue it... Honestly I'm still not sure, but I'll see how it goes. Hope you enjoyed!