Chapter 4:

"Being nervous isn't bad. It just means something important is happening." - Michael Jordan

AU: Sorry for the wait. I really am. I just got caught up in preparing and doing the April Camp NaNoWriMo. That's over now. So I'm back!

Recap: Elide finds she has been assigned to a class with the blackbeak coven. Aelin learns that the cadre is bloodsworn to Maeve.

Elide's lip was bleeding. Her leg bouncing. And her pencil shaking so fast, it was on the verge of falling out of grip. Sitting in her fourth class - mathematics, she couldn't stop the sweat that beaded down her forehead. No doubt she looked like a klutz. But so did everyone else, it was there first official day after all, and no one knew what to expect. Elide had real reason for being antsy. She was separated from her queen. Some part of her knew that Elide had relied on Aelin's wit to assist herself too much, and without that assistance, she was no longer Aelin's sidekick. Her assistant. No, here by herself, she was just Elide Lochan in all her beauty and flaws.

And it scared the living crap out of her. Especially when she would need to face those witches in her next class. They had a break in between, but Elide wasn't sure she if she could stomach the food.

So Elide tried to focus on her equations. She frowned at the whirl of numbers and lines and whatnot. Her frown deepened as she saw something wet drop onto her paper. Red blood.

From her hand, which was impaled by splinters from her crushed pencil.

That boy Luca, turned out to be a great cook. Aelin's third class was dismissed early so she thought to stroll into the kitchens. She assumed there would only be the simplest of foods, for they kept the mind the calmest and sharpest. Yet, when she swaggered in, she saw dishes of gourmet foods lined up, ripe for the taking. Perhaps it was a first day antic to woo the students.

Aelin made a move to swipe a cupcake off the oak table, when Luca came crashing into her. He sprawled his hands out, "Don't touch that! Emrys will kill me!"

Aelin wasn't sure if he was being literal, "I was just hungry. Sorry." Though she wasn't sorry, for she snatched back her cupcake and took a huge bite, her eyes never leaving Luca.

If this Emrys man he was talking about was going to kill Luca, Aelin would certainly intervene.

Oh, the lengths she would go to protect her cupcake children.

Luca took a deep breath in and muttered something about leftover batter and frosting.

A man with a long beard and hunched stature walked in, "Well then, it seems that you have some work to do young lady."

Luca turned around and slightly bowed, "I'm really sorry Emrys. But I couldn't just say no to the princess."

Emrys patted Luca's unkept hair and dismissed him.

He tilted his head as Aelin kept eating, "Princess, it seems you need to bake that cupcake you just stole. You have to work your keep right?" He snapped his fingers.

Aelin slowly licked the frosting off her fingers. She never baked before. It seemed simple enough, surely she could do it.

Aelin could not do this. She watched Elide cringe at the misshapen cupcake she had made. While everyone else was enjoying delicious food, Aelin was stuck in that stupid kitchen trying to swirl frosting onto the still somewhat wet base.

Aedion observed the crooked, discolored cupcake, "It looks kind of like your face."

Aelin smacked the back of his head.

They tensed as the heard the Prince of Adarlan's voice, "I'd eat that."

Aelin turned around. His sharp angular face complimented his round, striking blue eyes. Topped off with groomed black hair. He looked kind of like a blueberry.

Aelin ignored the innuendo the prince was implying by saying he would eat Aelin. But Aedion had not let it slide.

He squinted his eyes, "What did you saying about my queen?" Aedion stalked after him. Dorian winked at Aelin. Aedion halted, then he began chasing him out of the tall and chandelier-lit cafeteria.

Elide was left alone with Aelin. She leaned over, "Aelin, I'm really scared about my next class. The one with the witches."

Aelin's face shifted to concern as she turned to face Elide, "If you come back with one scratch, they will never see the light of day. You needn't worry. That's Aedion's free period, so I'll tell him to watch out for you."

Elide nodded, but she still looked worried, she had every right to be. Aelin continued, "Try to get some food in you. It will help keep up your energy."

Elide nodded and stalked off to the table that was stacked with breads and butters.

Aelin looked at the cupcake. If no one was going to eat it then she might just give it to her next teacher. A sort of last-minute gift. Though Aelin's presence itself was gift enough, her fifth class was special. The class that her parents had paid exclusively and generously for. The class that she was most nervous about. MM.

Magic Management.

Chaol Westfall smacked his forehead as he murmured to his partner, "Where is that boy? I leave him to talk to his teacher and he runs off. I swear when I get my hands on Dorian…"

Chaol took his hand down and looked at his partnered guard, Nesryn. She seemed occupied in thought, "You go off into the cafeteria. You've been stressed out too much. Go eat something. I'll stand watch." Chaol nodded. There was no need to question Nesryn, she was the most loyal guard Chaol had ever known. Nothing like that scoundrel of a best friend, Dorian.

Chaol disappeared and Nesryn returned to observation. She winced as she heard Chaol bellow on the floor below her. It seemed he found Dorian.

Yet… that wasn't the sound Nesryn heard on guard. It was something different. Like carriages unloading. Nesryn stooped over to the window and she saw it.

It seemed the princes of her home country had arrived. God's this place was the breeding place of all powerful beasts.

Nesryn placed a hand on the window, and at seeing the darkness of their skin, she felt a longing to feel connected with her roots.

Especially when she saw one handsome prince in particular, who had swooped down from his Ruk.

It was class five. This was it. Aelin had no option but to face what was coming. She sat in her royal leathers on top of a boulder. She put her cupcake on the rock in front of her. She waited and waited. 5 minutes passed. 10 minutes passed. Aelin shot up. Her patience running thin.

Just as a blur of pine green, black, and wind shot from the sky and swirled in front of her. The man looked at the cupcake, "Is that pigeon crap?"

AU: I'm trying to do weekly updates. (Kudos to the writers that can do that) I'm getting there.