Author's note: The hardest part of writing is coming up with a title.

Rowan's lungs burned as if he was choking on acid. He fell to the floor spewing a copper - like substance. Leaving his throat raw and sore. Tears had slowly built in his eyes, but he could hold them in.

Black dots danced in his eyes, he gripped onto the table and hoped someone besides the useless, cowardly spectators would come to his aid. And he didn't know what had happened next because the black dots overrode and his head hit the ground.

"Aelin."

Aelin raced through the halls, which were vacant. It was quiet. Too quiet. She neared the whispers, squirms, and air of disgust, and she knew that was where trouble was at. Shoving past the crowd, she rushed to Rowan's aid. Pale as the ground he was laying on, was a puddle of blood. His blood. Aelin lifted Rowan from the bloody ground and glared at the crowd. How could these idiots just stand there and watch her prince bleed?

She furrowed her eyebrows, "Go call someone!"

She'd beat them up later.

As if she didn't have enough to worry about, another gold-head swarmed through the crowd. Aedion.

Without a word, he wrapped an arm around Rowan's waist and helped Aelin hoist him to his feet. "Brother helped me when I fell, now I must return the debt."

Aedion may have been all fun and games most of the time, but duty came first.

A certain dark-haired girl panted through the crowd, "He ran before I could say a word."

"That's not the problem right now."

Aedion and Aelin hoisted him in a seat, Aelin keeping him up, Lysandra crouched and sprinkled some water on his face. Rowan's eyelids fluttered.

Aelin cupped his face with both her hands. "Rowan. Say something, how are you feeling?"

Rowan's eyes slowly opened, "Water."

Nodding, Aelin tilted his head back and poured water into his mouth.

"What happened?"

Rowan tried to talk, but he looked like he was hurting. He had just coughed up a good amount of blood.

"What happened?" Aelin asked again, but this time it was at the crowd. She wanted to behead them all. Useless pigs. Looking at them caused her nostrils to flare and her hands to clench.

Before one of the morons could've said something they'd probably regret, someone up front fell to the ground. Aelin raised her brow, for standing behind the fallen man, was a girl with long black hair, a cast around her leg, holding… a spatula?

Elide and Lorcan worked together and cleaned the mess in the kitchen and prepared it for the swarming students. The prodigies would swarm in first. Elide was told by Emrys that they would be hungry as the baby bats were. Elide didn't know what it meant but it seemed to be an inside joke.

Elide accidentally dropped one of the trays. She slapped her forehead. She bent to pick it up, but Lorcan had done the same. They bumped into each other. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you; Elide Lochan; world class lame-o.

She stuttered an apology. Lorcan half-smiled. It made him look younger - more handsome. She wanted to touch it. In a daze, she lifted her fingers to his lips. He froze, but let her. "You should smile more often."

"There hasn't been anything to smile about," he pondered, "I don't mind - you."

"Can you smile for me?"

He smirked, "I can do something much better." And with that, he brought his head closer and their lips grazed each other. They pulled back, both trembling.

Elide quickly averted her gaze and Lorcan smiled. A smile just for her.

Elide and Lorcan had begun to set out trays and piled the food one on one when the class swarmed in. Some were lightly scratched and others weren't harmed at all. It was all light hearted talk. Some were chirping about, others were sleeping in their seats. What the heck did they do?

Lorcan seemed to be thinking the same thing from how he frowned at one of the students for having an actual spider crawl out of her hair.

All seemed to be going well when Lorcan claimed he heard something was wrong. Elide frowned and looked around, nothing. Only the prodigies had arrived yet and even they were all chirping and inhaling their food. Not a bit of fear or worries.

Elide looked over at Lorcan quizzically. Piercing the joyful atmosphere, someone began to cough. It was nothing at first, but it continued. Elide scanned the room and found that a silver eyed male bent his head down and gripped the edges of the table. His shoulders moved as if he were… as if he were coughing.

Elide was about to approach the male when she caught the look on Lorcan's face. Regret, pain, and something that look like nervousness flashed across his face. Then as quickly as it was portrayed it disappeared.

The male fell to his knees doubling over he coughed again harder this time until liquid poured out of his mouth. A scarlet color that was recognizable from across the room. Blood.

A crowd already formed around him Elide could no longer what was happening.

But she did see a golden-haired woman rushing in, pushing through the crowd to reach the issue. She doesn't look like a nurse. Elide tried to jog to reach the commotion, but was held back by Lorcan. More people rushed into the crowd Elide had enough. She grabbed a spatula and hit the arm that was pinning her.

She was going to be in so much trouble. Was with something wrong with the food? Great job Elide, you're going to get fired on your first day. You can't do anything right.

After giving some water, the male was dragged way to the school's hospital.

People quickly fled the cafeteria, going to other restaurants, frightened that their food might be poisoned too.

Elide stared at one of four trash cans in the cafeteria. It was flooded with food. Emrys would be so embarrassed and ashamed. He was an aspiring cook, what would happen to him?

Elide lifted her head, she furrowed her eyebrows. Her eyes glazed. The more she thought about it, the more confusing it became. How did Lorcan know something was wrong when it hadn't even happened yet? Why was he holding her back? She wanted answers, and she was going to get them.

Striding to the kitchen, Elide couldn't find Lorcan anywhere. A black piece of metal caught her eye. His phone. If there was any way to get to a person's soul nowadays, it was through their phone.

Elide didn't need to look far because as soon as Elide turned it on, a banner appeared. A text message.

Ma. Maev. Maeve. Maeve? How did this Maeve person have anything to do with Lorcan? More intriguing was the fact that the message seemed to be declaring a task.

She couldn't read, but it was certain that he needed to do something. Do what? What was this task he was assigned?

Elide heard footsteps drawing closer to her. She quickly put Lorcan's phone down and pretended to go through boxes of apples.

Lorcan's shoes appeared in the corner of Elide's eyes. Casually, her eyes drifted to the man before her.

He raised his eyebrow.

"What?"

"Why are you rummaging through a box of apples?"

"Just checking if they were bruised."

Dammit, Elide. Being put under pressure, she forgot how she would normally act. She wouldn't answer to him. Not without reason. Lorcan knew it too.

Which was why he didn't look convinced. She needed to get out of here quick.

"Um… well my shift is over, I'll see you tomorrow."

Lorcan threw her a suspicious look but played along as Elide scurried away.

Lorcan had paused for a moment amidst his schemes. He took a moment and looked at Elide. He knew for a fact that she, not for one damn moment would think his doing was right. She was so pure. So demure. Lorcan had been with women before, women that thought they could change him. But Elide, accepted him for everything. Offered him friendship. She knew what was right and she never lost hope. An idealist.

But instinct told him differently so he poured the clear liquid into the food.

Whitethorn had played along perfectly in Lorcan's hands. The idiot was too distracted in his thoughts that he didn't notice the poison berry juice that he had snuck into his food. It was only two years ago when he had a damn fine broken friend that he could use to his advantage. Things had changed. Changed that moment that dark-head, flower girl galloped her way into Whitethorn's stupid heart. And now he was in the infirmary paying for letting his guard down.

It was the price for his love.

"Manon." Elide slowly opened the door. She scanned the room. "Manon?"

A certain white-haired girl appeared from the far end of the bed. Her hair was mussed from - from the sapphire-eyed boy that appeared too. Oh. OH. Elide flushed. "I - I can come back later - if you want-"

"Hush girl, this boy can wait." Manon ushered Dorian out of her room. Much to the male's dismay.

"What is it, girl? I was in the middle of something?" Manon crossed her arms.

"I need to ask you a favor," Elide took a deep breath, "I can't read so I was wondering if you could do some research on 'Queen Maeve.'"

"So, I was able to gather a decent amount of info. This woman seems pretty sketchy, don't trust her."

Elide nodded.

"Alright. She's a criminal for multiple reasons. First of all, she murdered her own parents when she was 6 so that she could take over the family business. She had some drug issues too. But that's nothing compared to the fact that she had kidnapped 5 boys and tortured them for many years. The boys grew up thinking they were adopted and what Maeve was doing was normal. I suppose it got too out of hand one day and she was found. She was thrown in jail for murder, abuse, and a bunch of other misdemeanors, the rest is confidential.

Elide sat down on Manon's bed. Oh, gods. "Was one of the victims Lorcan Salvaterre?"

"Yeah…"

Oh god. No. Putting the pieces together. Elide had her answer.

Lorcan was in deep trouble.

Lorcan sat on a leather couch, leaning forward, elbows digging his thighs.

He recalled one of the conversations they had.

Laughing and rolling her eyes. The light caught in her jet black hair, onyx eyes piercing through his lies. "You seem like a very loyal person."

Weaving significant statements through the fluff. Smart. "I don't know where I'd be without it. Although my mistress in a bad place, I still love her."

"I think you should have faith. Maybe she's in a bad place for a reason. Maybe it's her own fault. Too much loyalty is a bad thing. You can't see what's right or wrong. Things happen for a reason, Lorcan. You just have to move on. Let go."

Lorcan didn't show how much that struck him, so they continued the useless chatter.

His eyelids drooped. If he hadn't… Elide would be in some trouble. Yes, he had done this for Elide's sake. All for Elide. It wasn't his fault. It couldn't be.

He didn't believe it himself.

Lorcan heard footsteps. He didn't need his abnormal hearing to sense it. Elide Lochan stormed down the steps.

Lorcan stood up, slightly scared - okay really scared. The look on Elide's face was murderous. With her dark hair swirling around her, dark eyes wide and angry, she looked like a goddess confronting an enemy.

An enemy, that's what he was.

"I know." She walked right up to him.

Lorcan prepared himself he knew what she was talking about, "What?"

"Don't play games with me. I know exactly what you did. I have a very long list of hatred for you Lorcan Salvaterre. You forgot to mention that your 'mistress' was Queen Maeve. One of the most dangerous psychopaths in the world."

"Why exactly would I expose my entire past to you?"

Elide ignored him, "You also forgot to mention that the 'mistress' that you love o - so much was put in jail by the same person you hurt. Rowan Whitethorn."

Whitethorn's name coming out of her mouth was enough to clench his fist. She was getting closer.

"I went to the infirmary and the doc said that he was poisoned, I remembered that your mouth tasted strange. You were hiding something the other day. It all added up, Rowan had been poisoned with the same thing that was on you!" Tears lined in Elide's eyes. Hurt shown through them.

"Why do you even care Elide? Can't we just move on?"

"Are you kidding me? Why do I care? Why do I care? I care because you just hurt an innocent person! I care because you harassed him in front of a crowd! You put him in shame and helplessness! I care because you hurt the people who love him! How the hell can you even suggest moving on? Don't you see that so many are hurting? He is going to have to face those people even after that. Your mistress was a killer. Rowan did the right thing by putting her behind bars. You are the same as Maeve. Selfish people who only care about their reputation."

Tears slid down Elide's face. Lorcan didn't know what to say. She truly hated him. She truly thought he was a monster.

"Lorcan Salvaterre, I hope you burn in hell. I hope no one will love you and you will die alone. I hope that you will be discarded and forgotten as you were as a child. I hope you never find happiness. I hope you will never smile. I was a fool to trust you. I suppose that those friends of Rowan's are good people. I suppose you are just a discarded fool. I want nothing to do with you Lorcan Salvaterre."

And she walked away.

Lorcan Salvaterre slid against the brick wall, and for the first time in forever, he wept.

Author's note: Quality wise, my work has made tremendous progress.

The more reviews I get, the more motivated I feel to write more, which leads to more updates. It lets me know that people actually want to read my work. Thanks to everyone who did review! It means a lot!

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