Aelin:

Once they mounted their horses, Nox turned to look at her. "Celaena, why are we with Her Majesty Aelin Galathynius' troops? Where are we going."

She met his eyes. "I need to start from the beginning. First of all, I am Aelin Galathynius," Nox tried to bow on his horse but failed miserably. She laughed, "No, Nox, you don't have to bow, and don't call me majesty or highness. You're a friend. Call me "Aelin" please."

"So how are you also Celaena Sardothien, and how did you end up as Adarlan's Assassin?"

"When I was eight, my parents were murdered and I fled. I fell into the river while I was being chased. Then, I washed up on the shore near Arobynn Jamel's former house. For the next ten years, I trained to be an assassin. I took the name Celaena Sardothien. I was preparing to run away, when I was captured and put in Endovier. I was in the slave camp for a year before I was pulled out to compete in the competition. After, you left, I soon became the champion. Where I helped some lords escape rather than kill them. I was sent to Wendlyn to kill the royal family, but I traveled to one of the fae outposts to train so I could be granted access to Doranelle to ask Maeve questions about the wryd keys. While I was there I met Rowan." She gestured towards him. "He trained me and helped me control my powers. At the time we were both in a dark place, but we slowly pulled each other out of it. I helped him realize that Maeve was not the person he should be fighting for, and he helped me realize that I needed to come back and fight for Terrasen. Once I was granted permission to enter Doranelle, I immediately went to Maeve and got the answers I needed. I then... convinced her to release Rowan."

Rowan bugged in to her explanation, "When she says 'convinced Maeve', she means she set all of Doranelle on fire, but the fire didn't burn."

Nox looked at her with a horrified expression.

She looked towards Rowan.

Was that necessary.

He looked back at her with amusement in his eyes. Yes, I really wanted to see his face. Priceless.

She turned back to Nox. "It was not one of my finest moments. I promise no one go hurt."

He seemed to take that answer, so she continued her story. "Anyway, Rowan swore a blood oath to me, and I went back to Adarlan where he soon joined me. While we were there, we planned to defeat the king and restore magic. We succeeded."

Me and Rowan started out as friends, but we soon started to fall in love. Not too long ago, we got married, and we figured out we were mates. Before I forget, let me introduce you to my consort, Rowan Whitethorn Galathynius."

Nox looked shocked. He obviously wasn't used to being in the prescence of royalty let alone to royals. "Congratulations?"

"Back to the story, I was then captured by Maeve, but I escaped and Rowan found me. Now I'm here. Right now we're heading to Anielle. You can stay with us if you wish, but feel free to turn back. It's your choice."

Nox responded, "I think I'll stay."

She was happy she would have time to reconnect with Nox. "That's great."

They soon launched into conversation after conversation catching up and just being themselves. She caught a couple eye rolls from Rowan, but she just repeated the motion back.

Nox then asked her the last question she would have ever thought he would ask. "So you two are married and mates and carranam and bloodsworn. What are your pet names for each other? You have to have pet names for each other."

Rowan froze and turned stone cold while Aelin burst out laughing. Nox had a confused look on his face. "What?"

Aelin spoke to him as she tried to re-compose herself, "Nothing, it's just not what you'd think. We do have names for each other. He calls me 'Fireheart' and I call him 'Buzzard'."

Rowan looked at her like he was shocked. Why did you tell him.

She met his eyes. Why not? Someone would figure out anyway. Come on is the big fae male scared of someone stealing the name you call me.

He rolled his eyes.

Nox spoke up again, "I get Fireheart, but why Buzzard?"

She replied smiling, "Because he's an overprotective fae bastard that annoys the shit out of me most of the time."

Rowan looked at her like he was offended. "I wouldn't be so overprotective if you didn't insist on getting captured, tortured, or sacrificing yourself."

"Rowan, I have to. It's not an option. And don't even think about trying to save me or dying with me."

Nox quickly intervened, "Who is sacrificing themselves and dying."

She turned towards him. "To defeat the Valg king, I must use all of my magic and life force to destroy him. I will die in the process, and Rowan is confident that he's not going to let me and find another way."

Nox had a solemn expression across his face. "I'm sorry, Aelin. I didn't know."

"It's fine. I've come to terms with it."

When they arrived at camp, Rowan helped her dismount, and they set up their tent. She refused the people that tried to come over and help them. She told them that there was other work that needed to be done.

She grabbed a bow and some arrows to kill some birds flying by for her and Rowan's dinner. Once she shot a couple. She cooked them in her hands the brought them inside the tent to eat.

She plopped down on the ground and started digging in. Rowan entered and sat beside her grabbing one of the birds to eat.

Rowan groaned with pleasure. "This is so good."

She smiled at him. "Compliments of Aelin's inferno."

He leaned over to kiss her. As he pulled away he said, "You know you can't avoid it. I know it's tearing you up. Talk to me about it."

"There's nothing to talk about. I know what I have to do. I have no choice. This was what I was born to do. This is my purpose. My life is not worth a million others. I must do this."

"Aelin, your life is worth everything. It's worth every star in the sky. Your life means everything to me. If you go, I go."

"No Rowan. You don't understand. I'm not just saving my people and my court's lives. I'm saving yours too."

"You shouldn't have to save my life. I'm your bloodsworn, husband, and mate. I'm supposed to protect you."

Tears started falling down her face. "Can you just hold me."

He looked at her with love swelling in his eyes. "Always."

She crawled into his arms, and he held her through the night wiping away her tears and just holding her.

*Hey, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I think I finally have an idea about what direction this is going to go in, so that's great. Yay me. Anyway, I have volleyball tryouts tomorrow, so I'm kind of stressing out. Ahhh! I'm so worried.

Thank you to those who have read this story from the beginning and those who may have just started reading. It makes me happy that someone is enjoying my crazy story. It's hard to imagine someone looking foreword to what I have to write. I'm so used to waiting for chapters of other stories to come out. Now it's reversed. That's crazy.

—Anna