Aelin woke up the next morning to see that Aedion was in Rowan's place; Rowan himself was asleep on her other side, his arm wrapped around her, holding her close. She realized belatedly that she was nestled against him, she shifted slightly and Rowan stirred, his arm pulling her tighter to his muscular side. Aelin rested her head on the soft part where his arm met his shoulder and Rowan tensed slightly, a sign that he'd woken up. He leant up on his left elbow, glancing down at her. His brows furrowed slightly but left his arm around her.

Rowan glanced to Aedion, rolling his eyes. Oh? What were they both doing in her room?

She looked up at her carranam, a question in her eyes.

...

Rowan had known that Aedion was awake the second he leant up. Glancing down at his Aelin- Rowan, stop being so possessive. Okay. Well, she was awake, and had no doubt noticed his arm around her shoulders.

Watching Aedion, he rolled his eyes. The male was obviously the awake.

He flicked his eyes back to Aelin. Why are you both here?

Well, for me, I stay here because you want me to. Aedion because you woke up during the night and he came running in. He rolled his eyes again.

Oh. What happened? Odd. She doesn't remember.

I'll explain later. Since Aedion was now watching.

"Aelin?" her cousin asked sleepily. "Are you alright?"

Please. You are completely awake, idiot.

"She doesn't remember. I'll explain to her later," Rowan said.

"Yea, okay," Aedion mumbled before staggering out of the room in search of his own bed. Rowan shook his head, amused. Maybe not completely.

He glanced back at his queen. Instead of asking him anything else, she'd gone back to sleep. Oh well, he thought. Aelin knows now. Why not?

So he wrapped his arm around her waist, folding her into his side and lay awake, thinking.

...

Elide had spent weeks trekking through Oakwald to Terrasen. She hoped Aelin was there and that she might know who or where Celaena Sardothien is.

She broke through a line of trees to see mountains and acres upon acres of lush green grass, the towering Staghorns lining the horizon. The scent of pine and snow filled her nostrils.

Terrasen. She was finally home. Elide Lochan ran to the palace in the distance.

...

Rowan was still in bed in the afternoon, Aelin sleeping at his side. His self-control was slowly shredding apart the longer he was there.

Shit.

He gritted his teeth and tried to wait it out, knowing it was impossible.

...

Aedion and Lysandra were talking about Aelin's schedule next week on the porch outside when someone walked up to them. She had night-black hair and onyx colored eyes.

Aedion Ashryver stared at the girl. She looked familiar... the girl gasped, recognizing him.

"Aedion!" she exclaimed. He and Lysandra shared a look. "It's me, Elide!"

It was his turn to gape. It had been years! Elide's mother had been Lady Marion, her father Lord Cal Lochan, the former sacrificing herself for Aelin to get away.

He stood up and went over. Her leg was mutilated and she was limping.

"Lady Elide! Come in, please. Tell me everything! Where's your uncle?" He gestured for her to go in through the open door. She and Lysandra went in before he closed the door.

He asked whether Lysandra would mind lending Elide some of her clothes, and help her wash up. Lysandra replied, "It's fine," before standing up and leading the girl out.

Aedion sprinted to Aelin's room and threw open the door. Rowan shot him an annoyed look from where he sat on the bed, shirtless, Aelin half-lying against him, reading a book.

"Aelin! Elide's here! Lysandra's lending her clothes. Go to Great Hall," he exclaimed. Her eyes widened and she jumped out of bed, unceremoniously stripping and dragging on a navy tunic and black pants before sprinting to him, grabbed his hand and ran out.

Rowan trailed behind them, hastily pulling on a shirt.

...

"Lady, there's no need to lend me such fine clothes. I am but a servant girl now," Elide objected when she saw what clothes the woman called Lysandra was lending her.

"It's alright!" she said brightly. "I have more than enough to spare. After this, we'll get you a bit to eat. No doubt Aedion's already told Aelin, so they'll be in the Great Hall." Great Hall? Elide thought. Aelin seems to have everything.

After she was done, she picked out the scrap of cloth hiding the stone from the black dress' pocket. Find Celaena Sardothien, Kaltain had said. Remind her of her promise: punish them all. She owed Kaltain her life, and will do this to repay her, but she hoped that Queen Aelin knew who Celaena was. Lysandra led her into the Great Hall; it was enormous, the table spanning the length of the room. Inside, three people sat near the head of the table, deep in discussion and Lady Lysandra walked right up to them. Elide recognized the girl in the center since she seemed to be her age, Elide caught a flash of her turquoise-gold eyes as she glanced from Aedion to... someone else. Aelin. As kids, they'd never been truly friends; she had been too shy and Aelin never seemed to like her.

"Aelin," the male on her right said. "Maybe we should-"

"No," the queen objected. "We'll go as planned, unless something happens."

The males on either side of her nodded. The one that had objected... he was Fae, judging from the elongated canines and delicately pointed ears, not to mention the scrolling tattoo down the left side of his face, most of it covered by clothes, all the way down to his fingertips. The queen in their midst glanced towards Lady Lysandra and her eyebrows rose before lowering over confused eyes.

Then, at last, Aelin looked over to Elide.

...

Elide Lochan. It's been a decade since she had seen Lady Marion's daughter; she had grown up to look so much like her mother. And yet... her leg was twisted; it seemed that she had injured her foot and then worn shackles after it had healed. Poor girl.

Aelin stood up and went over to Elide, enveloping her in a warm embrace.

"Aelin!" she gasped out. "You're alive! How?" Aelin pulled back and flashed her elongated canines at Elide, who noticed her ears and teeth.

"Oh! Is that how?" she asked, surprised.

"No, my dear Elide; I will tell you what happened with Lady Marion after you eat something," she told the girl, ushering her over to a chair two from Rowan and sat down between them. The pair got into a conversation that carried late into the evening and a fair bit into the night.

The original trio were finally back together.

...

Elide yawned and Aelin insisted that she went to bed, saying that Lysandra had gotten a room ready for her in the west wing of the castle, where Lysandra's quarters were. Lysandra had excused herself to go hours earlier. Aelin accompanied her, chatting as she went, the Fae male and Aedion trailing behind them.

Elide hadn't failed to notice that the male was very handsome and so was Aedion but if she were to kiss him, it would be like kissing Aelin; and that Aelin had a soft look on her face whenever she was watching the male. Aelin opened the door to a luxurious suite and she gaped. The bed was bedecked in luxurious cream-colored satin, fluffy feather pillows and a great view onto one of the gardens from the balcony. She turned around in a circle, taking it all in; she pivoted back to see Aelin telling the two warriors to wait outside.

"Thank you!" she cried happily, hugging the astonished queen. Elide pulled back and gave her a sly grin. "Hold on a second, I'm going to get Lady Lysandra," she said before darting out of the room.

Aedion and the male were shocked to see her back out and she shooed them off before making her way to Lysandra's suite.

"Lysandra!" she said, knocking on the door. "The queen requests your presence." Instead of a person answering the door, a ghost leopard slinked out. She gasped when the leopard transformed into Lady Lysandra.

"Why, hello," Lysandra said, eyes glittering with mischief. "And I suppose Aelin forgot to tell you that I'm a shape-shifter?"

"Oh, no. She told me; I just wasn't expecting you to be a ghost leopard!" Lysandra laughed, a sound like a bell's chime, before flashing her teeth in a grin.

"It's my favorite form. I'll tell you more about when we meet with Aelin."

"Can we just call her Aelin? I thought she is queen now." They headed to Elide's suite.

"Sure, she is queen, but she hates being called Lady or Queen or anything else but Aelin by her court." Lysandra stuck out a hand, stopping her when they reached the corner her room was around then lifted a finger to her lips.

"Watch," she breathed. They snuck a look to see Aedion and his friend still outside the room, their backs to them. The she shifted back into a ghost leopard, padding silently towards the pair. Elide suddenly saw where she was going with this and she pressed a hand to her mouth to keep her laugh in.

Lysandra paused behind the pair then leapt onto Aedion.

"Rutting hell!" he shouted. It was too hilarious and she burst out laughing.

The male beside him roared with laughter and said, "I knew she was there! I can't believe you didn't scent her, Aedion!"

"It's not my fault! I was too busy talking to you," Aedion complained. "I blame you for this."

Lysandra shifted back, eyes shining with glee. Elide came round the corner, still giggling like a complete idiot.

Aedion whirled to her. "Not you too! Tell me you didn't see that!"

"I totally didn't," she laughed. Aedion groaned and they all chuckled. Aelin stuck her head out of the door. Glancing at her cousin and the male's face, then at Lysandra and her, she figured out what had happened.

"Lysandra, did you pounce on my cousin again?" she asked, raising a brow. The shape-shifter nodded, delighted with what she had done. Aelin shook her head, but the sting of disapproval was dampened by the fact that, she too, was grinning from ear to ear.

"Alright, girls," she said. "Get in my room. Boys... shoo! Out! Now!" Elide gestured for them to go away and they left muttering to each other and the occasional chuckle. They all went in, shutting the door. Elide locked it, for good measure.

"That won't matter, they'll still hear," Lysandra said. Elide shot her a questioning look but it was Aelin that answered.

"Aedion and Rowan are Fae, well, Aedion's demi-Fae," she explained. Her eyebrows shot up. Rowan... Whitethorn?

Reading the look in her eyes, Lysandra said, "Yes, Rowan Whitethorn. He's part of court. He and Aedion are blood-sworn to our queen here." Lysandra gestured to Aelin, sprawled on the bed. Wow.

Aelin sat up, laughing. "Yes, I know it's a big deal. Get used to it. I changed the rules. And I know Rowan's a powerful Fae male."

The girls went over to the bed, jumping on so Aelin nearly fell off.

"Hey!" she complained.

"Shut up, Princess. Now what did you want to talk about?" Lysandra asked.

"Well... Girl talk!" she cried. "Aelin, you first!"

"Umm okay?" Elide had noticed how she watched Rowan earlier so she asked for that history first. Aelin explained about how she'd gone to Wendlyn and trained there, fighting the Valg princes and coming back to free magic before reclaiming her throne. Lysandra got the message of where she was going with this and a sly look came into her eyes.

"Okay," Elide said. "Do you like him?"

"Umm..." Aelin hesitated.

"Tell us! Tell us!" Lysandra chanted, goading the queen.

"Fine! Yes!" she admitted.

She turned to Lysandra and high-fived the shifter.

"And Aelin... I have a question," she said uncertainly. "Do you know who Celaena Sardothien is?"

Lysandra was starring at Aelin, who went white.

...

Silence. Complete silence before-

"I am Celaena Sardothien, the infamous assassin of Adarlan."

Lysandra stared at her friend and queen in shock. She'd admitted it. Lysandra knew how hard it was for her; Aelin wanted more than anything that she could forget Celaena Sardothien. It was like how she wanted to forget how she'd been a courtesan.

Elide's eyes went wide. Not many people knew Terrasen's queen had been an assassin in Adarlan; that was what Aedion, Rowan, Aelin and herself had been planning to tell her people.

"Why do you ask?" Aelin continued calmly. Too calmly.

"Lady Kaltain wished for me to seek Celaena out and give her this," she said, fishing in her pocket for a piece of cloth, and inside it, a glittering sliver of blackness.

"Kaltain?" Aelin asked sharply, before realization dawned on her face. "You were in Morath weren't you? Manon and her Thirteen must have got you out; I heard half their Keep had been destroyed by Kaltain's shadowfire." How in hell did she know so much?

"Yes, they got me out," she admitted. "Escaped from my uncle. Perrington is breeding monsters there, using the other witches. Kaltain also said something about it unlocking things...?"

"Wait... that's a piece of my cloak!" Elide seemed bemused. "The cloak I gave to her in my assassin days when we were in Adarlan's dungeon together," she clarified. Lysandra laid back, she'd heard all of this before.

"Yes, she said they wouldn't let her bring the cloak so she tore a square off. She explained that it was to remind her of what you said and then she cut something out of her arm and wrapped it in this cloth, saying 'remind Celaena of her promise: punish them all'; her body was wasting away, whatever they had done to her... it destroyed her. Then the Thirteen flew me out on their wyverns, Manon had me trek through Oakwald, saying that they couldn't go further."

Lysandra watched Elide drop the scrap of fabric and whatever it contained into Aelin's palm. She sniffed and, Lysandra hadn't thought it was possible but paled further.

Lysandra changed the subject, asking them what they were doing tomorrow. Their conversation carried late into the night before Aelin said goodnight, because she had to wake up early tomorrow.

"You always wake up early anyways!" Lysandra teased as Aelin got off the bed and padded towards the door. Aelin flashed a grin, saying, "I know. Goodnight." After she left, Lysandra and Elide bonded over girl time.

Soon, even Lysandra had gone back to her suite and went to bed.

...

Rowan had been lying on the bed, reading one of Aelin's books, when she came in, pale as death. He laid the book on the bedside table, and patted the bed.

Aelin came over, her face blank with shock. He knew she saw him but she didn't respond. Concerned, he tilted his head and asked, Are you alright, Fireheart?

No reply. He stretched an arm towards her, tugging her to him. "What's wrong, Fireheart?" he asked.

"I..." she hesitated, then went on, "Elide knows. That I was Celaena Sardothien. She asked and I told her, she said that Kaltain had given her the last piece of my cloak along with something else.

"Kaltain?" he asked, bewildered. He knew who she was, sort of. "How...?"

"Morath," she said simply. Oh. Elide must have been in Morath with her uncle; where those with magic in their veins disappeared to in the dead of night, before the King had been killed, Aelin had told him. Kaltain... had been Duke Perrington's slave of sorts, and that Morath had exploded from Kaltain's shadowfire.

Aelin dropped a piece of cloth wrapped around something small into his hand. He leant back against the row of pillows and she followed suit, resting her head against his shoulder. Rowan sniffed at what was inside before unwrapping it.

Inside gleamed a glittering shard of... darkness; that was the only word to describe what he was holding. What Maeve had said about Wyrdkeys sounded in his mind and and Rowan realized why Aelin had come to bed looking so pale. A Wyrdkey. An abyss of endless power, slumbering.

"Which one?" he inquired.

"The one that unlocks all things. This is how Erawan got out," she said, staring down at her lap.

He lifted her face up to his with a finger. All he can see in her eyes are fear and guilt.

"I could have saved her. What do I do with it?" she whispered to him, only him.

"There was nothing you could have done that didn't result in your death," he assured her. "Kaltain chose to spare the witches and destroy herself, along with more than half the Keep and its inhabitants.

"You could hide it," he continued. "Remember that vision you showed Maeve?"

She nodded then moved her head to his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "Where?" she asked.

"Somewhere precious to you. Only you. A place where no one knows about yet is near here." She sighed. You. You're precious to me, she said, switching to a silent conversation. He chuckled, he was a person, not a place but he was jubilant that she considered him dear to her.

She slid away from him, picking up the discarded piece of cloth. It was a faded red, with gold threads. He watched her stare at it, curiosity mingling with worry. He sniffed subtly at the scrap.

"Your cloak? Your scent is barely even there," he said, frowning.

"From when I was the king's champion," Aelin explained. "I gave it to Kaltain when I visited the dungeons after I won. She kept it to remind herself of my promise: to punish them all. I made it when I was thrown in there after I tried to kill Chaol when Nehemia died. It was partly his fault; I blamed him because he didn't tell me someone had made a threat to her. I told you this before, in Mistward."

He knew her past and Princess Nehemia were difficult for her to talk about, then what she just said registered and he snarled softly; he hadn't known that the Captain himself had thrown her into a dungeon. She'd tried to kill him... serves him right but he now knew how he'd gotten that scar down his cheek. She must have cut him.

"Is that how he got the scar of his face? A knife?" he asked warily, waiting for her to confirm his thoughts.

"Yes and no. Four scratches with my nails," she said. His eyebrows shot up. Her nails? Holy hell, it must have been a delight to deal with eighteen-year-old Aelin. "Before I nearly stabbed him I mean; Dorian stopped me, someone else knocked me out."

She must have read the disbelief in his eyes because she smiled, her eyes glittering. "It's like my life is on repeat. That was what happened in Endovier too. I was a fingertip away from the wall when one of the sentries knocked me out with the pommel of his sword."

"Impressive, Princess," he remarked. He knew her shaft had been three-hundred and sixty-three from the wall and that the sentries shot anyone before they even made three, but she'd still killed her overseer and twenty-three sentries, all of whom deserved it. She stood up to get changed, stowing the piece of her old cloak in her bedside drawer.

He opened his drawer and pushed the Wyrdkey to the back before shutting it just as Aelin came back out, wearing one of his shirts. It was still enormous on her. She was so oblivious to the self-control he had to exercise to keep her at arms length, and he was slowly failing. Everyday, he let his barriers down; everyday, because they had walked out darkness and pain together. They were still walking out of that abyss. Because Rowan had seen how Aelin watched him when she thought he wasn't looking.

He dumped the hidden daggers on the bedside table; no one would be able to get close enough to steal the Wyrdkey, not while he was there; he would be able to sense and kill them before they were in the room. Anything for his queen.

Aelin approached the bed, climbing in and drawing up the covers before nesting against him. She quickly fell asleep, her hand on his abdomen. Rowan watched as her breathing turned deep and even, her lashes casting long shadows across her high cheekbones; anyone could see the killing potential that lay within her, a weapon forged by the former King of Assassins, in the stillness of her form, the line of her strong jaw, the way she held herself, yet it did not scare him. No part of her disgusted him. Aelin was beautiful, lean and graceful. He traced his fingers down her back, over the ridges of the scars from her days slaving in Endovier. His Fireheart, hurt and shut in the dark. She would still wake up and bury her face in his chest when the nightmares of that hellhole they'd shut her in came back.

He and Aedion had had the pleasure of slowly torturing then executing the overseers, repaying them for what they had done to Aelin. For the slaves before and after her, who had hoped with all their broken hearts that they not be forgotten.