~25~
Approaching the battlefield that they'd selected Aedion smirked as he glanced over at Rowan. As the army and their allies continued to gather upon the northern bank of the river Florine, it seemed as though all of their plans were about to come to fruition.
Aedion almost sighed in relief as he recalled the latest intelligence that their spies had fed them. It seemed that they had gained many spies during the Adarlanian nobility and armed forces due to Lyria's generally psychopathic behaviour.
The thought of that particular meeting made Aedion smirk yet again. It turned out that the only people within the army that Lyria was leading who actually wanted this fight were Dorian and Lyria herself. Not to mention the fact that the current consensus was that Dorian was only for the invasion because he was under Lyria's thrall – ceremonial marriage was an extremely powerful contract.
It was only fear of Lyria herself that kept her soldiers from deserting her now. And that fear may work in their favour.
"What do you think our chances are?" Aedion asked solemnly.
"I don't know," Rowan replied wearily. He was already exhausted from helping Endymion ice over considerable sections of both rivers. "I suppose it depends on how large Lyria's forces are, how loyal they are to her. How scared of her they are."
"I hate to admit it," Aedion said, "but they'll likely keep marching forward out of their fear of Lyria. And they'll die for it. They'll literally drown due to that fear."
"But we have one thing that they don't have," Rowan said with a savage smirk. "We have something worth fighting for. We are united out of loyalty, not fear. And most of all, we have something that Lyria has apparently been disregarding entirely. Magic."
"But will our few magic wielders be enough to combat theirs? I know that Aelin is prepared to fight with magic as well as with blades, but I worry about the toll it will have on her, especially with her being so far along in her pregnancy."
"I'm worried about it too," Rowan admitted. "But as long as Aelin is careful and restrained with the amount of magic uses over the course of the battle, then I am fairly sure she should be alright." He paused momentarily, "I promise you that I'll look after Aelin."
For a moment it looked like Aedion was going to protest, but he decided against it in the end. It wasn't that Aedion didn't trust Rowan, because he did, but considering the circumstances, he didn't know if Rowan was thinking all that clearly at the moment. Aedion was perfectly well aware that all Lyria wanted was to kill Aelin in order to steal Rowan back. But he was more than concerned for the safety of his cousin, her husband and their unborn child. He was worried about what would happen to Aelin if Rowan decided to abandon her and return to Lyria. He knew that the possibility of that happening was extremely unlikely, but he still couldn't help worrying about all the what-ifs and the what may have beens. He didn't want to see Aelin hurt any more than she already was.
"Try not to worry about Aelin," Rowan said calmly, noting Aedion's anxiety, though mistaking the reasons behind it. "Aelin will be fine. We will all be fine."
"For the last time, are you certain that this trap will work?" Aedion asked, deliberately ignoring Rowan's statement. "I'd hate to find out that all of our planning and effort have been for nothing. That lives of our people have been lost for nothing."
Rowan looked pensive as he considered Aedion's words. "I have to believe that it will work," he said finally. "I have to believe that it will work, for I can't let this all be for nothing."
Aedion nodded silently, surveying the camp being set up. As he continued to watch the soldiers go about their usual activities and nodded in satisfaction. Sometimes, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what war it was, some things never changed. And strange as it was, the sight of the army camp being set up brought him an immense sense of comfort.
Rowan clapped Aedion on the shoulder as he strode off in order to find his wife, hoping that she was still where she had been the last time he had seen her. Aedion was so distracted that he didn't even notice him leave.
As Rowan strode through the camp, he failed to notice just how many of the men watched him pass, respect in their eyes, failed to notice how they had grown to respect him as much as they had respected Aedion during the years that Terrasen had been subject to Adarlan's conquering army.
No, Rowan's attention was on Lorcan, arguing quite heatedly with Aelin. As Rowan hurried toward his mate's side as fast as he could he saw Lorcan raise his arm – as though to slap or punch Aelin – only for his hand to meet with a shield of burning fire.
Despite Rowan's pride and faith in Aelin's ability to defend herself, he couldn't help wondering what Lorcan thought he was doing, arguing with his queen in the first place. He had hardly been seen after their ruse in using Lorcan to gain information from Sam had ended and he had been allowed out of the dungeons. Lorcan had made himself pretty scarce since then, and yet none of them had wondered what had caused that distance to open between them. They should have all wondered. They should have questioned it. But they hadn't, and Rowan felt so, so guilty about for not wondering about it at all.
Rowan couldn't help scowling at Lorcan's audacity in arguing with Aelin so close to such an important battle. Rowan was quite aware of the disdain and hatred that Lorcan bore Aelin, but had believed that the male had gotten over it during the time they had spent working together during and after the last war.
Uncaring to the stares that were being sent his way, the crowd that was gathering, Lorcan continued to shout and scream at his queen, uncaring of the attention he was drawing, uncaring of her growing anger and rage.
As Rowan stormed forward, determined to give Lorcan a piece of his mind once and for all, he began to catch snippets of what he was screaming at the top of his lungs. "But why won't you set me free once and for all…? Why can't you just let me go…? You know perfectly well that I don't want to be here…?"
Lorcan was so distracted by the sound of his own voice shrieking at his own queen that he failed to notice Rowan approaching on silent feet. He was so busy shouting his head off that he didn't notice that Rowan was there at all until Rowan had already leaped upon him and tackled him to the ground.
"What on earth do you think you're doing?" Lorcan shouted angrily as Rowan landed on top of him.
"I could ask the same of you," Rowan snarled back just as angrily. "Where do you get off, shouting and screaming at your queen like that?"
"I could ask what right she has to call herself my queen," Lorcan said haughtily, "when I am a warrior of Doranelle, not a citizen of Terrasen."
"In case you had forgotten, Lorcan," Aelin said coldly, "you became a citizen of Terrasen the moment you swore yourself to my service."
"Tell yourself what you want as long as it makes you feel better," Lorcan replied just as coldly. "But the fact remains that I desire my freedom and a release from my service to you, and yet you are consistently refusing my requests."
"This is the first I've heard of it," she replied firmly, "and this is the first time I've refused your request. I don't see how that could count as 'continually consistent refusing'."
"What I don't understand is why you bothered waiting until the day before an important battle to start voicing your doubts for the first time," Aedion said hatefully from the press of bodies surrounding the three of them.
"Where on earth did you come from?" Lorcan said scowling at him, evading his questions even as he failed to evade Rowan's fist breaking his nose.
"Answer the damn question!" Rowan snarled balefully, continuing to punch him again and again, no mercy at all in his voice, his gaze.
"Answer what question?" Lorcan muttered, curling up in a ball on the ground, still trying to fend off Rowan's relentless attack.
"Why wait until now to start saying you wanted to leave my service?" Aelin said coldly. "And remember, you must answer honestly."
"Because I cannot serve someone who will lock me in a stinking dungeon with a madman, just to gain some information!" Lorcan shouted out, hoping against hope that telling the truth would halt the attack on him.
And Lorcan was partly right – Rowan stopped punching him and moved just enough to let Lorcan sit up properly.
"So you were fine serving Maeve, who brutally whipped you for the slightest infraction," Aelin frowned at him, "but you are most definitely not fine serving me, who simply had you do your job and get information out of a suspect?"
"I am a mighty warrior," Lorcan said haughtily. "I am a warrior who deserves to be punished for infractions committed. I am a warrior who does not belong in a dungeon cell."
"You've been out of the dungeons for at least two or three weeks now," Aelin rolled her eyes. "Yet you chose not to mention it until now. You decided that the best time to mention your desire to leave my service was the day before a battle. And yet, I have to ask you why?"
"Because I've been trying to convince Elide to leave me!" Lorcan yelled angrily at her. "I want my wife to leave with me, but just like you she always has to refuse my requests! I've even tried ordering her to leave Terrasen with me, yet she still refuses to heed me!"
"At least Elide knows where her loyalties lie," Aedion snarled at the male on the ground before him. "At least Elide knows that she owes her anointed queen her unquestioning loyalty and allegiance."
"NO!" Lorcan shrieked at the top of his lungs. "As my wife, Elide owes the greater loyalty to me alone!"
"ENOUGH!" Aelin suddenly shouted as Rowan, Aedion and Lorcan continued screaming and shouting at each other furiously. "Can't you stop screaming for longer than two seconds? I can't hear myself think."
At that Rowan and Aedion immediately left off Lorcan, albeit reluctantly.
"What do you want to do with him, Aelin?" Aedion sighed. "I admit we could still use Lorcan's skills and abilities in the coming battle, but I don't know if we can ever really trust Lorcan again after this."
"I know," Aelin replied, trying to hide the fact that she was still shaken. "Although I suspect we can wait until after the battle is over and we return to Orynth to decide Lorcan's fate. If he proves himself worthy in battle, perhaps I will feel more inclined to be lenient with him."
"Consider yourself lucky," Rowan snarled furious at Lorcan. "And if I were you, I would behave myself. I would hate to have to tell that wife of yours that you've been accused of treason."
"Elide wouldn't care even if I were accused of treason," Lorcan said, as arrogant and conceited as he ever was. "She and I were made for each other, as you and Aelin were, Rowan. Nothing at all would be able to part us. We belong together forever. And as my wife, her duty is to obey me alone. After all this is over, Elide and I will start our new lives far away from Terrasen, in a place where we can truly have a fresh start."
"You can tell yourself that as much as you want, Lorcan," Aelin said icily, even as she caressed her heavily pregnant belly. "But know for a fact that Elide will never leave Perranth, or Terrasen at all. I don't particularly care what happens to you, Lorcan. You can live in poverty in a mud hut in the Staghorns for all I care."
Lorcan merely glared at Aelin at that. "No matter what," he growled, "I will ensure that you grant Elide and I our freedom from you, even if it is the last thing I ever do."
"You can try," Aelin said coolly, turning her back on him and stalking back into her tent with Aedion and Rowan following.
"How on earth did that start?" Aedion asked curiously once the three of them were alone. "I didn't even know that something was going on until I saw the crowd and heard raised voice. I don't think either of us knew."
"To tell the truth, I didn't even know that Lorcan felt that way until just then," Aelin said slumping. "I didn't know that he still despised me so much."
"Hopefully the beating I gave will have knocked some sense into him," Rowan said grimly. "He ought to know by now that he can't just demand that you free him and his wife from your service just like that. Not when the only titles and honours he has here are the ones bestowed on by the right of his marriage to a Terrasenite noblewoman."
"I don't think it'll be all that easy," Aelin muttered under her breath, "but I meant what I said before. The bastard can live in a mud hut in the Staghorns for all I care, and I won't ever think of him again after this gods-damned battle."
"Are you sure you're alright, Aelin?" Aedion said, noting the way she was still rubbing her belly with considerable concern.
"Not sure," she muttered, "don't think the baby liked all that screaming and shouting. He's been bouncing all over the place since the moment that pathetic bastard started screaming his head off at me for no reason at all."
Rowan and Aedion eyed each other apprehensively at that. In that moment they knew that they were both thinking the same thing. What if the shock of Lorcan's verbal attack had sent Aelin into premature labour? There was, after all, still another month until the baby's due date. That was literally the last thing they needed right now, especially so close to the battle.
Slowly Aelin's anxious pacing and furrowed brow eased. "There, there, like the peace and quiet better than all that screaming, do you? Ok, I'll make sure things stay calmer for you, then."
"I assume that the baby stopped bouncing so much, Aelin?" Rowan enquired worriedly.
"Yeah," Aelin said, leaning into Rowan's side. "I guess the little one just needed some time to calm down and relax after all the excitement. It just didn't like Lorcan's screaming so much."
"I guess that means the child won't be much a fighter," Aedion joked, trying to put a lighter spin on everything.
"I guess we won't know until he or she is a bit older," Aelin said quietly.
"What do you want the baby to be?" Rowan suddenly asked. "Boy or girl? We've never really talked about it before."
"I don't know," Aelin muttered confused. "I suppose the specifics don't really matter to me so much as long as he or she is healthy."
"For some reason I always imagined our first child would be a girl," Rowan said almost wistfully. For the first time in months, Rowan remembered the dream he had during the war – Aelin and his children being separated from him by that damned chasm. Now, if things went badly, he would still be separated from his mate and child. Never before had he realised just how much he should have cherished the peaceful times.
And in that moment, Rowan decided that if they all made it through this alive, he would never again take the peace of his ordinary everyday life for granted again. He, Aelin and the child they were having were a family now, and they meant the world to him.
"Looks like you've come to an important decision," Aelin said, noting the changed expression on her mate's face.
"Yes, if and when we all get through this, I'm not going to take the easy times for granted anymore," he said quietly, pulling Aelin down next to him.
"Sometimes you two ate so sickingly sweet you make me want to puke," Aedion muttered, pulling face.
"Aren't things going well between you and Lysandra?" Aelin asked suddenly. What with all that had happened over the last few months, she had never bothered to enquire as to the status of Aedion and Lysandra's relationship.
"I have absolutely no idea," Aedion snapped back at her. "Lysandra hasn't been herself in months. At first I thought that she was just worried about you, but as time went on and Lysandra kept acting weirdly and nothing was ever the same between us again."
"You probably just need to sit down and talk things through with her," Rowan said quietly, wanting to help him and yet not wanting to interfere. "Speaking from experience, being able to talk about things with your partner really helps a lot."
"You do realise that I'm right here, right?" Aelin said sarcastically.
Rowan stared at Aelin in shock. "I wasn't trying to offend you, I was just telling the truth!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Aelin complained lightly. She knew that Rowan was just being honest with Aedion, but just couldn't help but being slightly annoyed at the same time. The closer she got to the baby's arrival, smaller and smaller things irritated her more and more.
"He meant well, Aelin," Aedion said softly. "You know that right? Besides, I probably should have sat down and actually talked to Lysandra about what's bothering her months ago."
"I wonder what the hell could have happened to have changed Lysandra so much," Rowan said thoughtfully. "I haven't exactly been paying attention, but now that I look back on it her behaviour change has been rather sudden."
At that, the three of them fell silent, reflecting on what the last year had brought and wondering what the next few days would bring. What would happen after the battle? Would they even be able to win?
As though he had read their minds, the messenger they'd sent out on a scouting mission days ago burst into their tent at that moment.
"What is it?" Rowan barked out, leaping to his feet, dragging Aelin up with him. Aedion immediately stood as well, hand on his sword, guarding their backs.
"Th – the enemy has been sighted," the messenger gasped out. "They'll be here within just a few hours."
Rowan nodded at the messenger as he backed out of the tent and turned to Aelin. "Promise me you'll be careful, Aelin," he begged. "Just, please, be careful. I couldn't bear to lose either of you."
The second that Aelin reassured his anxieties, they all run out of the tent at full speed. Their fates would be decided upon these frozen rivers within the next few hours.