Disclaimer: Sarah J Maas is the author of the spectacular series "Throne of Glass". The events you read here are my take on those books. I'm a fan, I make no money from this, pretty please don't sue me :)

A/N:

To rolltide7: Thank you for opening my eyes to something I misunderstood for the whole entire series! Haha! I always thought Aelin and Rowan's mating bond communication was like audible in their heads! I've tried to fix that to be more canon from here on out. ALSO... about what you said about Fenrys and Ribbit... you read my mind and I didn't want to spoil it by telling you earlier but... you'll see ;) Thank you for all of your wonderful comments!

To the guest reviewers Maria and Books... I love you guys, your continued reviews and interest in my story makes my day. Thank you for being awesome.

To everyone... YOU'RE ALL THE BEST! And Guess what? Three more chapters to go until we're at the chapter idea that started this whole story! Woot woot! Now on with the story.

WARNING: Final war chapter so there's a wee bit of gore and (censored) language.

CHAPTER 12

Aelin watched the snow swirl in the empty air where Fenrys had stood only seconds before.

Her baby. Fenrys was going after her baby.

No.

"I will enjoy having my heir back in Doranelle with me. Especially now that I know of his magic. Training—molding—him will be priority and…" Maeve dragged in a cleansing breath, "Exquisite."

The dark queen had to careen backwards then as Aelin lunged forward and slashed for her neck—Goldryn missing by a hairsbreadth.

Aelin threw up a shield of flame at the lash of black shooting for her side. She looked over her shoulder to see Rowan now locked in heated combat with Cairn. "Rowan!"

Rowan shoved away from the lock of his and Cairns' blades. His mate was paler than he'd ever seen but battled the dark queen without restraint.

Terror ripped through their bond as she glanced back his way and screamed, "Rhoe!"

Side-stepping an awl meant for his heart, Rowan grabbed Cairn's forearm and yanked. He relished the resulting howl and pop. Without hesitation, he brought his blade down and hand and sword thudded to the dirt. Cairn screamed; his skin growing slick with sweat.

Soldiering on, Cairn struck out repetitively with his good arm. But the struggle was over after Rowan swung again and Cairn's remaining hand fell. A removal of air from his lungs and Cairn was on his knees before the prince.

Rowan crossed both his and Cairn's swords before the male's neck.

A single word took form on his paling lips: Mercy.

The plea only hardened Rowan's resolve. For years his mate had suffered under this male's willful administrations with no reprieve. Had blinded her. He wished he had the time to repay Cairn with the same leniency.

Instead, with a final swing, Rowan pulled the swords back— and plunged them through Cairn's heart.

He didn't waste another second of his time on parting words or watching the carcass fall. Rowan shifted and rushed to his son.

Not so much as a glance at the hawk speeding for the palace or her fallen commander, Maeve circled her prey. "You can see again." Surprise and anger wared on her face. "What healer do I have to kill for that?"

Sharp tendrils of Maeve's dark magic lashed out, sending Aelin skidding backward in the mud. Each mist-like weapon struck for where armor was not then retreated from answering walls of flame.

The tendrils turned to gusts and Aelin cried out as a blast from behind slammed her into the mud. Hard.

Panicked, she felt for the small token tied against her arm. The token Elide had placed in her clothes back in Varese— it remained in place.

She sprung back to her feet in time to block the new wave, but almost missed the next.

Aelin cut a glance over at the silent castle. She was aware of every second that ticked by. Every second that worked against them.

Rhoe was safe. She'd left him with guards in the lowest, most deserted, part of the castle. She'd also kept him hidden in hers and Rowan's cloaks from the moment they'd entered Orynth not only to ward off prying eyes but also to cover his scent with theirs. He was safe.

Aelin grunted as another powerful gust slammed against her flaming shield.

Even if Fenrys was still able to track him and get past everyone— including Rowan who knew of his mission— Maeve still wouldn't get her hands on Rhoe. She was not walking off of this field. Rhoe would be safe.

Aelin would die and bring the world down with her before anyone harmed her son.

On her next strike, Aelin's flames leapt upon Maeve's arm causing her to recoil with a hiss. Aelin didn't hesitate. She directed her efforts on the weakened side, causing Maeve to focus on deflection.

When Maeve's form darted to the right, Aelin skewered Goldryn through… nothing.

Aelin looked between the two forms and took a step back. An illusion? She blinked heavily and tried to shake off the sudden nausea rising up; Wrong move.

Now a familiar ache began to pulse from her eyes through to the back of her skull. Involuntarily, Aelin's eyes snapped shut and a quiet groan escaped her.

"Your new eyes appear to be troubling you," Maeve said, and paused her attacks to drink in the suffering. A tilt of the head. "I think I like them better this way."

Aelin clutched at her head, eyes watering as she strained to keep them open. Maeve and the forest behind her were blending into one. Which was closer, she couldn't tell. Blurry shadows one in the same.

"Tell me…" Maeve began to circle again. "What are the limits to your new eyes?"

Aelin hurled a fireball toward what she thought was the direction of the voice and footsteps. It soared through empty air.

"Perhaps they hurt?"

A tendril lashed the backside of Aelin's knee, and she staggered with a cry.

The footsteps stopped. "How well do they do in the dark?"

Like the rolling start of a fog, thick black shadows consumed the pair.

Aelin's breath matched the tempo of the hammering in her skull. An ember fizzled to life on her fingers but flickered out. She had been in such depths of darkness like this before: The pits in Endovier and her last several months in Doranelle. She hated it. Hated blinking, feeling her face, the walls around her but being unable to escape the impenetrable black. It was like having a blindfold on that she could never remove.

Her fear threatened to drown her.

"No," Aelin growled back at the panic clawing in her chest. Too much was at stake for her to give in now.

Rowan's words in Varese came to her, 'Focusing with your eyes isn't what wins battles.' Aelin forced herself to swallow her panic and focused on her remaining senses.

She focused on the footsteps that seemed to be both everywhere and nowhere. Focused on the grimy smell of the mud around her. Focused on the soft swishing of Maeve's gown trailing against the ground. Focused on the solid warm metal of Goldryn in her hands. Focused on everything but the pressing dark and her throbbing head.

A twig snapped to Aelin's right and she lunged.

Nothing.

A squelch of mud ahead…

Nothing.

Cold fingers brushed down her back. A soft breath in her ear, "I'm over here, Aelin."

Aelin cried out as cold steel pierced through skin and tissue of her underarm. The knife was ripped out leaving fierce stinging in its wake. Aelin spun on Maeve but her faulty balance careened her to her knees in the mud, her fire going wide.

Blood spurted under her arm at an alarming rate. Aelin tried to tighten her grip on her sword but found she couldn't move her fingers. Artery, her mind supplied.

Aelin switched Goldryn to her other hand and erected her flames into a barrier between her and the footsteps tracking through the mud ahead.

"I was promised a duel, Fire-bringer, and I must say I'm disappointed…" Maeve observed the young queen through the distortion of the bright divider. She watched Aelin struggle and fail to rise. The sight reminded her of a newborn deer: Pitiful. Maeve lifted her hand, "Allow me to help you to see a little better."

The painful pressure in her head increased until a scream began to rise in her throat. Until she was kneeling on familiar marble instead of mud. Until the dark of Doranelle's throne room surrounded Aelin.

The pain in her head and wound ebbed though blood still seeped out and made the ragged white shift— now replacing her armor— cling to her side. Her pain was gone yet her stomach churned at the crystal-clear view around her. The last view she'd seen perfectly over nine months ago.

At a shrill scream, Aelin tried to stand but found her old irons binding her wrists and ankles to a new bolt in the floor. Another shriek quickly followed and she began to struggle with the chains. Yanking, tugging, pushing until her skin began to grow wet with more of her blood.

She knew that voice— and she'd never heard him so terrified.

"Would you like to know what my guard's orders are concerning the child should I not return?"

Reclining on her stone throne, flowing skirt neatly spilling onto the dais, Maeve stroked the owl perched above her shoulder. Rhoe's fearful screams issuing from somewhere down the hall, almost soothing her. "Surely you understand I can't allow you to reclaim him."

Aelin continued tugging fruitlessly, choking through a sob, "Please!"

"Fenrys! Mama! Mama—!" Abruptly, his screams ended and the owl flapped its wings once in horror while a triumphant smile lit Maeve's face.

Aelin burned. Her throat and every part of her burned as she screamed her grief and rage to the heavens. The agonizing pressure in her head returned and Aelin was still screaming as she threw herself to her feet in the muddy field and her fire upon Maeve.

Past the pain, past the fear, past the blindness, Aelin attacked with flame and sword. Where the plumes clouded her vision, Aelin banished them with a spear of fire. Where Maeve advanced, Aelin pushed back.

Maeve's eyes shone in pleasure. "There you are."

On and on they danced in a deadly rhythm; neither speaking, neither relenting. Each blow more brutal than the last. But Aelin's was wearing out. Her adrenaline spike beginning to spiral.

Her hits grew weaker. Her fire leapt half the distance. And Maeve noticed.

A burst of shadows. A momentary grappling and Maeve was behind Aelin once more. One hand buried in her hair, the other suspended before her throat; directing her magic to coil around Aelin from head to toe. Goldryn cast feet away in the mud.

Maeve's panting breaths caressed Aelin's cheek. "Once I see to this war's end and return to Doranelle," She smiled. "I will ensure my heir knows you died fighting for him."

"How kind— kind of you." Aelin gasped out and smiled back venomously. She struggled against the plumes encircling, searing her arms to grasp her token. "Except, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

Maeve made her power press a little harder. "Enlighten me."

Aelin's back arched and she almost lost her grip. Almost. The moment the pain relented enough to let her say her last words, to take her final breaths, Aelin moved.

She tore the gold ring free from her wrist guard's leather laces, shoved Athril's ring onto Maeve's finger and scooped Goldryn from the mud as Maeve reeled back with a piercing shriek.

Maeve dropped to the sopping earth. Guttural screeching continued to issue from her as she tried to touch the ring, to remove it but couldn't come close. She slunk down onto her side as it drained her of her very self.

Aelin gazed down at her former captor and held Goldryn over her neck. She answered, "Rhoe is my son, you b*tch."

A single swing of Aelin's blade and the Queen of the Valg was no more.

Aelin set the corpse on fire and tore off for the castle.

Her vision blacked out several times before she made it into the halls but she managed to stay on her feet.

New and familiar forms and voices and hands came into her path. Questioning, greeting, soothing. She shoved them all aside.

Rhoe. She had to get to Rhoe.

Tears began to race down her face as seconds continued to fly.

Rhoe. His name might've only been a desperate plea in her mind or she might have been screaming it.

She had to get to him before Fenrys.

She begged every being and force she could think of. Please don't take him.

She knew the reason Maeve picked Fenrys to retrieve Rhoe. She could've had Connall retrieve him if it was only about their magic. No, she knew that the moment Rhoe spotted Fenrys, he would run right into his arms. Happily. There would be no struggle.

All Aelin could see was her innocent son, still wrapped up in her cloak and anxiously looking at the watch, being whisked away to his death by someone he trusts.

The sharp pulsating of her failing eyes threw her off balance, sending Aelin skidding around the next corner and into an urn. She was up and taking off back down the hall before the object smashed against the floor.

Aelin reached under her injured arm and pressed against the slowly clotting— thanks to her magic— wound. The spike of pain cleared her head just barely. Just enough to help her stomach hold out a little longer. Just enough to make out the cellar door now forty feet away.

A miserable sob pushed through her clenched teeth. Please be in there.

Even though Maeve was now dead, and the oath that compelled Fenrys to carry out this order no longer bound him, it still may be too late. He might have gotten to Rhoe before she died. Or he may still be carrying it out as failing to do so would still kill a part of him.

Maeve had planned for every outcome and pulled every heart string. Should Fenrys decide to leave Rhoe, he would lose his brother. It was her son or his twin.

Another sob wrenched out. She knew who he'd pick. Her only hope was that Rowan had gotten to Fenrys first.

Aelin threw her unsteady weight against the door and pulled from that still endless well inside of her. Flames leapt into her palm as she threw the latch.

A well-oiled machete—sharp and unyielding— was at her throat the second she crossed the threshold. Her flames— blue and honed into a dagger— blazed steadily back at the assailant's neck.

Lorcan's scent registered with her a second before he released a small sigh of relief and dropped his weapon.

Aelin didn't drop hers. Every fiber of her thrummed and shook as she growled, "Where is my baby?"

"Mama, you're back!"

From far back in the shadowed cellar's aisle's, Rhoe squirmed out of Elide's protective embrace and ran toward his mother's voice. A wide, joyous smile split his face beneath the too-large cloak still dwarfing him as he came out into the center of the room and saw her.

Aelin fell to her knees.

The deep green cloak trailed behind him collecting dirt and dust as Rhoe ran the remaining distance and crashed into Aelin's outstretched arms.

"Oh, Starlight," Aelin could barely get the words out through her weeping. Clutching him tightly, she kissed every spot she could reach. He was here. He was safe. For that, she silently thanked her mate and every being she could name.

"Look!" Rhoe lifted the pocket watch to her face, making her go cross-eyed. "The clock didn't even touched the top!"

Aelin laughed and took his pinky in hers, kissing that tiny finger too. "I promised I'd be back before it did."

Aelin laid her head atop of Rhoe's to hide her grimace. She clenched her eyes shut and made herself just breathe through the vice-like headache. A visit with a healer and a good long nap were next on her agenda.

Aelin was vaguely aware of Rowan's presence entering into the room behind her and she felt Rhoe stir in her arms to look.

"Fenrys!"

Her eyes flew open. Blade drawn and Rhoe pressed firmly to her side, Aelin faced the door and enclosed both of them in a transparent fire dome.

With a curling snarl, she silently dared Fenrys: Try it.

Fenrys didn't move from the doorway except to tiredly raise his hands.

Rowan knelt next to the dome. "Rhoe's safe, Aelin. He's not a threat."

Aelin lowered her blade but not the dome. "Now that the oath is gone."

"Fenrys fought the oath until Maeve died. I found him dying from it, sequestered in a room on the other side of the castle," Rowan said, "He never planned on taking Rhoe."

The dome fell away.

Rhoe squirmed in Aelin's hold, looking from her to Fenrys.

Gentle awe filled Fenrys' tone as he lowered his hands and addressed Aelin, "You can see."

"Not much," Even less right now, she mentally added. "You look like a shadowed blob to me."

Fenrys sighed. "No, you're seeing right; I feel like a blob."

Aelin smirked.

Fenrys took that as his cue to enter and he came and sat before the trio. "Hi, Rhoe-ly-poly."

Aelin let go and Rhoe flung himself into Fenrys arms.

Rhoe said into his chest, "I missed you."

"I missed you." Fenrys tickled Rhoe's side and reached into his pocket amidst the squirming. "And someone else… missed you too."

Aelin smiled but massaged her temples harder as Rhoe squealed, "Ribbit!"

Rhoe hopped in place, hugging his best-frog-friend.

Rowan muttered to himself, "So that's the frog."

Rhoe stilled and asked Fenrys, "What about Prince Button and Wooly?"

"They didn't make this trip, they wouldn't fit in my jacket."

"Oh." Rhoe frowned at said jacket. Then he pulled it open and looked at the empty pocket. "Well there's room now!"

Fenrys threw his head back and laughed.

Rhoe just looked at him, brows drawn.

"Oh," Fenrys looked up to see everyone looking at him expectantly. He scrambled to his feet. "I guess—I guess I'll be right back then?"

"Good!" Rhoe patted Fenrys leg and sat back on Aelin's lap with Ribbit. "Me and Ribbit won't go anywhere. We'll be right here."

Aelin kissed the crown of his head. "Yes, you will."

A brief visit with a healer, a heavily oiled bath, and a restful day later, Aelin sent for Aedion and Lysandra.

"Please tell me we're here for a nap." Aedion said, crossing to the closest couch upon entry, "I'm just going to tune you out if not."

Rowan shut the door behind Lysandra. "Not enough beauty sleep?"

"I'm getting by on my natural rugged looks for now but—"

"But it's your intelligence and manners—" Aelin smacked Aedion's hand away that was hovering over her chocolate truffles and silenced his pout with a deadly glare. "— that are lacking? Sleep can't restore what never existed."

Lysandra sat beside Aedion and drank in the sight of her queen standing before her. Alive. After the battle yesterday, she had been on her way to the infirmary wing to check on her uncle— who had been wounded a few days prior— and spotted Rowan conversing with the remaining lords just outside. She had stumbled back into a wall then, unable to breathe, when she saw Aelin standing next to them. Her weeping had been uncontrollable.

Next thing she knew, Aelin was pulling her hands away from her face and holding them tightly— smiling, as she said her name despite the tears pooling in her own eyes. A day later, Lysandra still couldn't believe she was really here.

Now, Lysandra looked between her soon-to-be-official Rulers and prompted, "So what's the big news you wanted to share with us?"

"There's someone I want you to meet." The setting sun cast the dazzling colors of the stained-glass windows around the room but Aelin seemed to glow all on her own as she turned toward the cracked open bedroom door. "Come on out, Starlight."

With his cousin's back turned, Aedion popped a truffle in his mouth. Lysandra scolded him quietly until the sound of little feet running out captured both of their attention.

Rowan looked on fondly, proudly, as Rhoe ran out from the room and straight into his mother's open arms.

Rhoe eyed the strangers from his perch on Aelin's hip while she introduced, "Rhoe, this is your Uncle Aedion and soon-to-be-Aunt Lysandra. Lysandra, Aedion," Aelin nuzzled his ever-soft hair and smiled as Rhoe gave a shy next-to-his-face wave then pressed closer to her. "This is our son, Rhoe."

Lysandra gasped, "Oh. My…"

And Aedion's jaw merely dropped, the chocolate ball plopping out of his mouth and to his lap.

A/N: Just to give y'all a hint... I have a sequel in the works (and I'm WAY more excited about that one) and this chapter really started setting up for it. Hope you enjoyed! Now remember this is a double update day so... ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER! Please reviewwww :) And Happy New Year everyone! Until next time~ V