I didn't expect to be busy during my holiday o.o but here's an extra lengthy chapter, enjoy.
All characters belong to the lovely Sarah J. Maas.
FIVE
"Your fiancé?" she scoffed, raising an eyebrow at Sam as she exited her bathroom. Wearing a dark tunic and pants, she sat down beside him on her silky bed that could fit a wyvern –the largest wyvern in the wastes. He didn't know why she was so surprised, he thought it was a good idea, romantic even.
"I thought it was a good idea, romantic even. What's wrong with me wanting to spend the rest of my life with you?," He could see her resisting an aww as she chewed her bottom lip but it soon subsided.
"It's crazy and you tell me now, as we are living in the King's castle? Lucky Chaol didn't hear," she sighed as she curled her toes. She looked tired ever since he told her the whole story of why he was alive. Throughout the explanation she kept cursing and crying and damming Abroynn to hell. It was rather amusing to watch.
"Chaol Westfall, Captain of the Royal Guards, huh?" his voice sounded more hurt than he wanted to show.
When she introduced him to Sam he was surprised that he was part of the Royal Guards and he was the captain at such a young age. He didn't reveal his astonishment at the time, he merely nodded, he didn't want him to have the satisfactory.
Celaena dramatically turned to face him and scowled her famous scowl. He missed it. Just to annoy her, he smiled the smile she loves and she punched him. Hard.
"Ouch," he said, shocked as he rubbed his chest. She was stronger than ever. What did they feed the Champions here? Where could he get some?
"He's… Nothing now, don't worry about him," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck and he saw her grin for a split second. Even though he only saw a flash of it, he knew her smile was sad.
He chuckled, softly pushing her off him, "Slow down assassin, tell me how you came here escorted by the crown prince of Adarlan."
Her eyes darkened and hollowed for a moment as she remembered all that she's been through. He took her hand into his and she gave him a small smile, coming back to reality. Her fingers were slender and slim like herself but they were also cold. Her hands were always cold.
"Oh… Well I went to avenge your death but then I was caught. I was set up," he could see her clenching her free fist and he took that hand into his as well and her grip relaxed. He didn't mention her lack of detail because watching her talk about what happened all in a rush, like she might get caught by the principal for cheating in a test, he could tell how hard it was for her.
"Someone from the Assassin's Guild set me up and then I was taken to the Salt Mines and worked as a slave for over a year..." Her voice broke as she finished her sentence.
This was an entirely new Celaena Sardothien. Stronger but due to having suffered so much. The lost of a loved one, betrayal from a friend, working as a slave and now having to fight to work for the King, the man who burned her home.
But she was still a girl, an eighteen year girl, she still had times when she broke down and cried out of frustration and now was one of those times even if it was rare…
"They whipped me Sam, so many times that now some of the wounds haven't completely sealed," she said through her sobs, holding her hands up to her face as she weighed her upper body down to her knees.
He grabbed her hands again and placed them by her side, holding her in an embrace as she soaked his new attire. Archer will certainly love that.
She wasn't completely broken or completely lost like the other slaves he has met. However, the Salt Mines still has chipped a tiny bit of her soul, a bit of her sanity and hope.
Her tears were warm against his neck as she silently cried. He wasn't used to a situation where Celaena Sardothien, the most notorious Assassin, was crying on him, leaning on him for help but he didn't flinch under the new circumstance.
He would adapt to any situation to make sure she was okay, to make sure she would be fine even if the outcome for himself was unfavourable. It was what he owed her for being alive and staying strong without him.
"What am I doing," she laughed. She has been laughing every time she cried. Was it out of sheer humour or did she find herself ridiculous for crying? Any option would make sense because Celaena was unpredictable like that. He smiled to himself as he inhaled the scent of her hair.
She smelt like fancy expensive lavender soap and the strong scent of metal, like she always has. He didn't really get why people needed expensive lavender soap when they could get cheaper ones and smell exactly the same. When he told Celaena that last year she scowled at him and muttered the word, "Men."
"You're acting like a psychopathic lunatic who just lost her cat," he teased, earning himself a laugh from her. Her mood recovered quickly like she was waiting for him to change the atmosphere from depressing to somewhat joyous.
"Oh my Wyrd, Buttons! Where are you buttons!" she cried, clinging to his shirt and making absurd frowning faces.
He raised both of his eyebrows because he was unable to do just one, "Buttons?"
"I thought it was a good idea, romantic even."
Sam scowled at her and she winked in return. God, she was adorable.
Grabbing her waist, he pulled her up onto his lap. "Can you stop doing that."
"Doing what Sam Cortland?" she said, their noses touching each other. She was so delicate and soft that he was afraid he was going to break her just by holding her.
"Making me want to kiss you…"
She laughed, making her body shake. "It's not my fault I'm so irresistible."
Battering her eyelashes slowly she leaned in so their lips were less than a centimetre apart, driving him mad. They stayed like that for a few seconds more, savouring the moment, and when Sam leaned in for the kiss, she shoved him back and descended his lap, smirking.
"Chaol told me we had an hour before I needed to meet him in the training room to spend with you. I guess our hour is up," she shrugged her shoulders and made a false sad face that even a fairy could see through.
He sighed dramatically, "I'm starting to not like this Chaol guy."
She laughed as she swung her door open to leave the room and Sam followed her, sneaking a peck on the cheek that made her shriek shortly in surprise. Oh living with her is going to be fun.
With his hand on the handle of the door to his chambers, Sam sees Archer leaning against the round table in the foyer, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. The dying flowers on the table look happier than he did.
"Where have you been?" He says in a calm voice that meant he was angry, he was just controlling it. Sam runs his hand through his hair, how is he going to play this through?
"With Sardothien."
He growls and his mask of neutrality breaks like falling glass.
"You have thirteen bloody weeks to spend with her. You have the beginning of your official training tomorrow where you will meet the other competitors," the young courtesan moves to the dining room and takes a seat, waiting for Sam to join.
He closes door before taking a seat across from Archer whose arms are raised over his head and his feet planted on top of the oak table. The layout of the room was identical to Celaena's but instead of a billiard table there was a fish tank with an assortment of tropical fish –presumably smuggled from Eyllwe.
"Will you be training with me?" he asks, staring at the hidden place of where his tattoo lays. When did he get it? What was its significance? What did it represent? Why did he have to cover it?
He lowers his arms and legs, his temper suddenly gone, "No. I will make arrangements for you to be trained with Celaena tonight."
That was quite fortunate. Too fortunate.
"What will you be doing?" Sam questions nonchalantly, cleaning underneath his nails as if he was bored.
He could feel Archer Finn's eyes on him, observing, weighing, analysing.
"I will depart the castle tonight after I make the training arrangements, Madam Clarisse is in need of help with Courtesan paperwork, you know, the usual."
Yes, he did know but she never asked for Archer's assistance before, she always asked one of her maids in her home when Abroynn assigned him to attending Clarisse's and Lysandra's needs.
"I won't be back until two weeks before Yulemas because I have some of my own work to do," lead a rebel group he means.
Archer gets out of his chair smoothly, "that reminds me, I have to do some packing. Stay alive Cortland."
Sam watches wordlessly as his sponsor leaves the room for an eleven week vacation. What in the world just happened? If he was going to be gone for the majority of the competition then why did he agree to being his sponsor! How absurd was this situation!
He pinches between his eyebrows and exhales loudly. Everything will be fine whether Archer was here or not. He needs some sleep.
Sam called for his servants to draw him a bath before he fell into bed to get some rest before training tomorrow, dreaming at last about something other than that one night where everything fell apart.