Disclaimer: I do not own the Throne of Glass series or any of the wonderful characters and stories told by the lovely Sarah J. Maas.

Summary: "Elide, my darling girl. It's time to come home." (OR what if Vernon doesn't go down without a villainous, manipulative fight). KOA what if scenario.

It was the loveliest day. Elide caught her breath as the most graceful woman she had ever met walked into the garden. Maeve bent over and caught Elide's eyes from her hiding place behind the statue. It was a clever gap between the base and statue that she was small enough to wiggle into. Maeve brought her finger to her mouth and whispered, "Your secret is safe with me."

Elide giggled as Maeve righted herself and glided away. The peace of the garden was abruptly disrupted as Aelin ran into the space closely followed by the rest of her friends. They were all there, Rowan, Gavriel, Fenrys, and Lorcan.

"I mean this is ridiculous," Aelin was ranting, "no one. NO ONE is this good at hide and seek. I mean she's just a human and we're all big strong fae. How does she do this every single time?!"

Elide giggled just as Meave called out to the group, attempting to cover up Elide's slip of sound. But it didn't work. Lorcan had tipped his head toward her hidden spot and Aelin had pounced.

"Found you. Finally."

Elide just burst out laughing as she backed out of her hiding spot collapsing into a bed of lilies.

"Took you all long enough. Only Maeve figured it out. I watched her casually pass me by three times."

Maeve had drifted back over to the group from across the lawn just in time to have Aelin whirl around and yell, "You witch! I knew I shouldn't have listened when you insisted you saw her over by the lake."

Maeve only smirked as Elide busted out laughing all over again.

But as she laughs, Elide spots something shimmering on the ground at Maeve's feet.

"Hey Maeve, there's something near your left foot."

Maeve glances down and exclaims, "ah, my ring must have fallen off earlier. Thanks for noticing, Elide." But makes no move to pick it up.

"Um, are you going to put it back on?"

Maeve looks at her sitting on the ground and says, "You know what I don't think so. Why don't you keep it? Go on, try and put it on."

Elide looks to Aelin who only shrugs. She climbs to her feet and drifts over toward Maeve.

No. See. A voice whispers in her mind. A wisp of a thought.

"No," Elide whispers. She stops.

"No?" Maeve says back.

"No, thank you."

Lorcan comes up beside her with a protective hand on her shoulder. "No, Maeve," he repeats sternly.

"Very well," she coos.

"Maeve," Elide chokes out the word. A dream. It had been a dream.

It wasn't real.

"Wha- What do you want with me? What was that?" Elide stammers like she is drenched by a cold splash of water. She couldn't remember what had just happened. How had Maeve placed that dream in her head?

"Want? My dear I want nothing from you. Only to get to know you. And nothing happened, my pet. I had just said hello. Well and of course you screamed."

But Elide's heart was racing. No. Something had happened. Elide looked up again from her position on the ground toward Maeve. When had she fallen back to the ground?

Maeve hadn't approached her and remained by the pitch black rock that emanated a faint glow.

"I feel like we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. Back on the beach," Maeve simpered. "I was occupied and wasn't able to give you my full attention. I wish to change that."

Elide stared back at the glowing face for only a second before scoffing and turning her face away.

And zeroed in instead on the faint glimmer on the floor. Right next to her left foot. It was a ring. Maeve's ring, the same ring from the dream.

Elide snapped her gaze back to Maeve, who had remained silent. A spectre in the darkness.

"What do you want with me?"

"My darling, as I said. I want nothing from you. But if you could be a dear and grab my ring that would be helpful."

Elide slowly climbed to her feet and faced Maeve fully, crossing her arms. "I will not help you."

Maeve now scoffed, "Child, it's a simple request, please hand me back my ring." Maeve held her hand out waiting for Elide to step forward towards the shimmering jewel.

"I will not."

"My pet, you weigh my patience. Hand me the ring."

"No."

Maeve's benign look broke as she glared at Elide from across the room. That strange glow continuing to emanate around her. Elide cocked her head to the side. Maeve hadn't moved from the spot near the rock.

Elide refocused on the faint swirling darkness that seemed contained around Maeve. No, not just darkness, it was an archway faintly etched. Elide let a small smile slip. Maeve wasn't here.

Or somehow wasn't physically in this-wherever this was- with Elide. She couldn't touch her.

Elide let out a laugh, "You can't do anything to me. So no, I will not help you."

Maeve let out a laugh of her own that chilled Elide to the bone, "Oh my sweet pet, you act like you have power here." And snapped her fingers.

Elide was slammed to the ground. But it wasn't until she heard the skittering and clacking that she let out a shriek. Giant creatures seemed to suddenly appear in the room. They closed in around her and Elide quickly rolled into a seated position drawing her knees to her chest. She was completely exposed.

Her gaze tugged in frantic directions as Maeve's soft glow outlined these creatures...no... spiders. They were giant spiders straight out of a nightmare. Their clicking and tapping overwhelmed her as Maeve was cut from view and they surrounded her. So many legs and glistening eyes. Moving closer. Closer.

"Stay away from me," Elide spat when they were close enough she could have reached out and touched them.

To her shock, they did.

But not at her command.

"My daughters, I thank you for responding to my call. Take the ring there and please hand it over to our Elide. If she will not take it, then make her."

Elide could only gasp at the horror that was taking place around her. A scratchy, hairy leg slammed against her mangled shin and she was flipped back to the ground. The spiders crowded her, pinning her arms and legs to the floor. Elide screamed when she saw one spider scuttle forward with the ring flashing in its pincers.

"NO! Stay away from me. DON'T TOUCH ME."

Elide bucked wildly, but found herself unable to move. She closed her eyes against welling tears of frustration and pushed against the ground, arching her back. She screamed and would have been frightened of the sound being made if she didn't know she was the one making it.

I am with you.

She felt a force burst from her chest. There was silence. Her arms and legs were freed.

Elide opened her eyes to a soft glow, a bubble of gray light surrounding her. She scrambled up to her hands and knees and saw the spiders had scuttled away from her light or magic, or- whatever this was. Her right hand skimmed across something ice cold. She started and instinctually recoiled from it.

The ring. She found herself staring at it. It was pitch black and yet something seemed to be roiling inside it. Elide shuddered as she turned away from it and stood up. The spiders were a shuddering mass and while the light flickered, it continued to hold.

"Enough!" snapped Maeve, "bring her to me and I will handle it." She brought her hands together in a sharp clap.

Maeve's magic cracked whatever force flowed out of Elide, but didn't fully diminsih it. The flickering light contracted around Elide, like a second skin. The spiders moved in, but still they could not touch her.

Elide took a steadying breath before taking a small step backward. Away from Maeve's eerie presence.

"No," Maeve hissed, "bring her towards me."

The spiders tried to drive Elide back towards Maeve. Herd her, but she confidently held her ground. The power that surrounded her pulsed through her body like a current, no unlike Lorcan's own dark magic. The spiders, though crowding her, could not touch her. She stubbornly endured.

Touched by a goddess and a daughter of witches, Elide would not be swayed. She took another step back.

"Stop, stop she's no good to us like this. Restrain her."

Elide yelped in surprise as the spiders quickly retreated and shot a sticky web substance that wound around her limbs and torso. Her feet were lifted from the floor and she felt the power that surrounded her slowly fade to the dullest glow.

"Fine, pet." Maeve simpered as the spiders strung Elide up to a ceiling she couldn't see. Her arms drawn above her head as she was pulled off the ground to hang. "It's fine. You take a moment and then we can continue our lovely conversation. Sleep now."

Elide's eyelids drooped. Her body felt impossibly heavy. She couldn't respond as her energy shuttered, Maeve's words encasing her in a cage. Shimmering on the ground in front of her, that damn ring was the last thing she saw as her eyes fell closed, her whole body falling slack. Her toes just brushing the ground as her body gently swayed against the webbed cords.

Maeve let her mask fall completely and glared at this human child. Who was she?

"You interesting, spectacular creature" hissed Maeve softly to herself. The child had finally responded to her magic. Damn this barrier. It must be weakening her power.

Her uncle was right. The child was special and worth their attention. But he was also an idiot. She was more than simply a way to bargain, but a tool.

Even Aelin had been unable to respond like this. What power made her will stronger than the ring? This ugly child was a key for Maeve. A key to wield against Erawan while keeping Aelin in check. This was going to be delicate. Her will needed to be contained if not entirely broken if she was going to move forward.

"My children, no more games, let's show this girl what happens when she crosses us. Then you will continue on to the next part of our plan. I will handle it from here."

Pincers clapped gleefully as the spiders crowded around the hanging human. She watched as they reached out tentatively to caress the hanging body. Their razor touch this time leaving light blood streaks across her body. Maeve sighed. This girl would be hers.

Lorcan returned to a camp that was not settling in for the night, but alive and tense. He heard questions about what threat they needed to be wary of and uncertainty of the possibility of a shapeshifter moving among them. Chaol he saw was down from the aerie and was hustling in preparing defenses. Soldiers were putting on gear and he could tell the watch would be more robust through the night.

Good.

"Lorcan, how are you doing?" Lorcan was back at Yrene's tent. She had been sitting by the fire preparing poultices. But her gaze also turned toward Chaol directing the men.

"Chaol came down to help prepare against Vernon's next move. The rest are staying in the aerie with him. With Vernon. They thought that would be the most secure."

Lorcan didn't say anything, but gave a quick nod in acknowledgement not meeting her eyes.

"We will not let Vernon take her, Lorcan."

Lorcan said nothing, but his jaw clenched. That rat bastard.

"Lorcan," Yrene's voice had quieted, "Lorcan, look at me."

Lorcan pivoted to look down at Yrene and started at the fierceness he saw in her eyes.

"We will not let her be taken," she repeated.

Lorcan responded just as fiercely, "I'm going back out to look for her, but I need to get a message to the others. It seems that Vernon may not be the only one in play. We need to be ready."

Yrene responded by getting up and walking straight over to Chaol. After a brief exchange she grabbed his arm, dragging him back to her own fire to the dismay of the men he had been briefing.

"Chaol we have a problem."

"Another one?" Chaol grimaced, "We have to be close to meeting our quota of problems for the day."

Yrene just gave his arm a gentle squeeze before directing her attention back to Lorcan and giving a curt nod.

"Maeve is here."

"You're fucking kidding, right? " Chaol said in disbelief, "Why would she come here?"

Lorcan sighed and brought a hand up to his head messing with his hair, "I don't know for sure, but none of this is quite adding up. Vernon is not this clever or capable of hiding Elide so effectively. There's magic involved. Old magic. Maeve's magic. I need to let the others know, but want to keep searching here too."

Chaol cursed but seemed resolved, "This just keeps getting better and better. I'll return to the aerie and share your news, Lorcan. Yrene, I'll need you to work with Falkan and the others to prepare for the night. Lorcan can we-"

Chaol was cut off by screams coming from the west side of camp. The side closest to the cliffside, the aerie. Lorcan sprinted towards the sounds of the scuffle. He could smell blood and hear swords clashing. He rounded a row of tents and immediately saw what was wrong. He reached for his hatchet.

Spiders.

Maeve's spiders were here in camp. But, they weren't attacking. No, they were running towards the cliff. Scaling it. He could see at least ten were already scrambling half way up.

Lorcan growled and moved into an attack position. Finally, something he could do.

These fucking spiders were part of Vernon's exit strategy. Over my dead body.

He charged. There was no time for Chaol to deliver the message. Lorcan speared his magic to the top of the cliffs as he spun around to make sure not another damn spider made it up the cliff walls. He jumped into the horde of spiders noticing Chaol and Falkan running into the fray.

Aelin, Nesryn, Gavriel, and Fenrys stared at each other as Lorcan's magic pulsed around them.

They are coming. They are coming. They are coming. They are coming.

They ran.