Aelin woke up sandwiched between two toned bodies. Rowan's arm was protectively wrapped around her waist while Aedion was gently holding her arm. Neither of them were awake, she could remember very little of the events after her nightmare, she swallowed. The nightmare, it made her want to throw up, even though she was here, lying right next to him.

Aedion's eyes fluttered open, and he gave her a concerned look, "You okay?" he whispered.

Despite Aelin's urge to vomit, she offered him a small smile and squeezed his hand. She felt Rowan's arm tighten around her, she guessed he was awake now too. Aedion squeezed her hand back and nodded, before getting up from the bed. Aelin peeled herself from Rowan's arms and despite his grunt of protest rushed over to Aedion and gave him a peck on the cheek, making him grin like an idiot, before closing the door behind him.

Aelin pranced back to bed and nestled next to the disgruntled fae. Rowan's hair was sticking up at all angles and he looked like shit, "Did you sleep at all?" she said with a frown.

Rowan just growled, rolled over, and pulled the blankets higher over himself.

"Sorry.", she grimaced.

He grunted.

Aelin braced herself on his shoulder and leaned over to give him a small kiss on the cheek, "Thank you" she whispered in his ear.

He sighed and turned over, surrendering to her, "What was the nightmare about?"

Aelin looked away, "Just the usual stuff"

She was lying, he knew, and she knew he knew. But Rowan didn't push, they had promised to give each other space. As much as he hated it.

Aelin felt like shit. Aedion, Rowan, and her had been arguing the whole day about their plan. Not to mention every time she looked at Rowan she remembered how he had been in her dream. None of the plans were going to work. She saw that. What they needed was a third party to help them. Aelin swallowed, and crawled into bed next to Rowan. She wasn't planning on sleeping though.

Rowan snapped from sleep when he heard Aelin, who should be laying beside him, crawl out from the bed. It was only a slight thud and rustle, and he sunk further into the mattress when she had completely gotten up from bed, but he had been expecting and waiting for her to try to sneak out again. Rowan made sure to keep his breathing deep and even. Yes, she could be going to the bathroom- nope. By straining his ears he could hear her pad over to the closet. Goddamn it. Goddamn her. Was she that determined to be independent? Should he confront her? Or let her go and follow her? If he confronted her it would just into a big argument that ended in him giving in to her. If he followed her he could keep an eye on her, and intervene if she was in trouble. Rowan had made his mind, he would trail her. He waited for Aelin to strap on her weapons, and creep out the door before rushing to the closet.

In one minute flat he had disrobed, pulled on more appropriate clothing, strapped two daggers to himself, and grabbed a sword. It was a useful skill he had picked up after 300 years of mindlessly fighting wars. Once Rowan was outside it was easy to pick up her scent, she wasn't that far from him and he stayed at least a block behind her. He wished he could shift and follow her from the sky but his magic was unreachable, locked away.

Rowan trailed Aelin for fifteen minutes, through the slums into a rather wealthy area to a extremely wealthy area. She stopped at a mansion. Almost a castle, and ascended the steps. Aelin knocked on the door three times, then waited. It took thirty seconds for the door to open. A man. Lythe. Probably in his thirties, answered. He was in a lavish suit, and his blood red hair was neatly combed back. He did not bother to hide the wicked malice in his grin. Abroynn. Rowan's heartbeat quickened as he pulled her into an embrace. Aelin didn't resist. They exchanged a few words before he beckoned her inside, closing the door behind him. First it was rage. Mostly for Abroynn, but also for Aelin. Going to snoop around the castle was on thing. But going willingly into that monster's house without telling anyone was needlessly reckless. The rage was quickly replaced by worry. His queen- Aelin, was alone with that monster in his natural habitat. And Rowan had no way to get to her. Or even see what was going on inside.

Rowan had searched all around for an entrance into the keep. But to no avail. His only option was the front doors. It had been thirteen minutes. He had been counting. It she wasn't out in seventeen minutes, he was going through those doors.

He was crouched on the roof of a mansion nearby, counting seconds. Four more minutes and he would break those doors open. Sitting here with only time to count had given him a lot of time to imagine what was happening to her in there. Each more gruesome and life shattering than the last. It was a miracle he had been able to resist charging in there this long. Three minutes.

At the last second Aelin finally emerged. Unharmed. Rowan was close to tears with relief. He sat there, watching her, running his fingers through his hair, and holding his head in his hands. She was safe. After the paralyzing relief had melted into fury for her reckless actions he rushed back.

Rowan got there a few minutes before her. Just enough time to cook in the thoughts of what would've happened if he hadn't woken and she hadn't returned. If she had not come out of those doors. If she had been hurt by that monster and if by the time he had gotten there it had been too late. Not only that she would be gone. Not only that he would be alone. But that she would never know what he felt. How much he cared. Because he was too wrapped in pride and fear to tell her anything. Not even that he had missed her.

Aelin walked in, oddly feeling more free than she had in a long time. It was all wiped away by Rowan, who was sitting on the bed, head hung so his hair was spilling in front his eyes. Awake. Shit. She braced herself for the storm. But instead of a whirlwind of violence and fangs, he tilted his head up and met her eyes.

In the coldest and most empty voice that made her bones want to crawl away he said, "Do you enjoy dragging me through hell?"

She swallowed, Aelin much prefered the growling and snarling.

"Or do you not care?"

He turned his head back to the wall, and his posture broke again. Head down in his hands. Completely closed again. She stood there, unsure what to do or say. She did care, of course. But maybe it was better he thought she didn't. She turned and went to change fro bed, no longer feeling free.

When Aelin returned he hadn't moved. She frowned, but climbed under the covers opposite to him. After a few minutes he did the same, their backs faced each other. She was so exhausted, and fell asleep soon after.

It had to have been hours. Aelin was sleeping like the dead beside him. But he couldn't join her. Rowan's head was still swarming. He had come to a conclusion. He loved her. He loved Aelin Ashryver Galathynius. And he didn't think he ever wouldn't. No matter what she did. It scared the shit out of him. He could handle wars, and he had thought he could handle anything life threw at him, but he was wrong. Rowan couldn't handle this. It felt like he was going to explode. And if he didn't do something about he was going to break down and tell her. And ruin everything. So he did, but like a coward. First he whispered it, in the old language. Repeating it over and over. When she didn't wake up he whispered it in the common language. Over and Over. He told her everything. Every thought he had ever had about her. Every time he hadn't wanted to tell her or hold her and didn't. Rowan stopped keeping track of languages, and it was a muffled abomination of the old and the common. He said it so quietly, that he even had to strain to hear his voice. After he had told her everything, he whispered that he loved her until the words were muddled and he didn't even know what language he was speaking. It was pathetic, but helped to dampen that flame that threaten to explode at any moment and destroy everything. She was all he had. She was all he needed, and she was all he wanted.

So... hope you liked. EoS IS ALMOST HERE! EEEEKKK! But that also means my deadline for this story is rapidly approaching... and I AM WAY BEHIND MY WRITING SCHEDULE. I'M Planning on writing at least 2 chapters today (probably 3). I'll release one or two more today, and the final last one tomorrow. Hopefully that will give u enough ToG content to survive till EoS. Then this story will be done! Kinda sad but still cool, I really hope you guys like the ending, i'm a little worried u guys wont like it but...

ALSO THERE MAY BE A FEW PLOT HOLES. Such as at the beginning Rowan was able to use his magic but he can't anymore. So let's just ignore that he could originally... XP