Divided (Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses Crossover)

Chapter 24

The blond male turned to look at Aelin as she entered the dining hall. When she entered Doranelle with Aidan, Declan, and Kol in tow, she hadn't wanted to be announced. This situation was precisely why. A servant had taken her cloak, and though she was slightly grimy from the ride through Wendlyn and Doranelle, she swaggered up to the snarling man and sat in her seat at the head of the table. She threw one leg over the side of it and waved for Aidan to take a seat beside her.

The man snarled again, "Who are you?" 

She sensed Rowan open his mouth to answer, but she held a hand up to silence him.

"I am your salvation," she said and waited for him to take it in. "Or your demise, your choice."

She said the last part lightly and then began to dig in to the food at the table. Aelin knew everyone was watching her, but she ignored the stares. Beside her, Aidan began to fill up a plate herself, and with those movements, the rest of table began eating again. 

The strange male stood beside her, and she could feel the anger permeating off of him. Too bad she didn't care. Finally, his resolve vanished, and he took a seat further down the table. He continued to stare at her, and she glared right back, willing some of the fire in her veins to seep into the stare. 

It was Gavriel who spoke first, "What took you so long? You were due back two weeks ago."

"I got held up in Adarlan. And then I had to make a trip across the Wastes to visit Manon," Aelin answered. 

Surprised at this, Rowan said, "What did you want from Manon?" 

"Am I not allowed to visit her merely for the sake of visiting her. Sometimes a girl needs to get away from all of the male bullshit in this palace," Aelin countered, turning to the princess beside her.

 "This is Aidan. I'm going to be teaching her here for a while. Aidan, that is Rowan, and Gavriel, and Lorcan, my daugther Evie, and my son Galan," Aelin offered, pointing to each of them in turn. 

"I'm not sure who the other two are, but he," Aelin said, pointing to Azriel, "smells a little bit like a Witch." 

The dark-haired male recoiled at her words, and Aelin understood that he did not know much about the Witch Clans. 

"My name is Azriel. I am the spymaster and a Shadowsinger for the Night Court. Tamlin and I have come for your help," the male said, lowering his eyes in respect. 

Aelin could detect just a hint of sorrow in his voice. She looked at the other male, Tamlin, who glared first at Azriel and then at her. 

"I would like to hear Tamlin ask for my help," Aelin decided. She smirked as the male's eyes narrowed.

"I am the High Lord of Spring. I do not beg," he said quietly.

Aelin weighed his words and then moved so fast that he hadn't had a chance to move before her dagger was at his throat. 

"I guess I'm going to have to kill you then because I can't stand seeing your filthy face around my home, and I'm not going to reward you by helping you get back to your own home. I think the High Lord of Spring needs a lesson in manners, especially in how to properly talk to a Queen."

Hate filled his eyes, but he managed, "I am sorry. Help us return to Prythian."

"Say please."

"No," he spat. Her only reply was pushing the dagger deeper into his neck.

He growled out a please, and Aelin removed the pressure of the knife. 

"Good boy. Now, I need the two of you to write down everything you remember about the night you were transported here. Specifically, the words that were spoken and the shapes that were drawn at the cave. I also need to you to write down descriptions of Prythian," she said as a servant hurried in with pens and paper. 

With that, Aelin stalked out of the dining hall, through most of the palace, and into her room, where she threw herself on the bed. It was only a couple minutes before Rowan was beside her.

"Were you really just visiting Manon?" he asked as he pulled her to him. 

"No."

"Why then?"

"It's a long story, and I'm tired." 

Rowan merely had to look at her in order for her to tell him about the mirror and Manon. 

"Aidan is going to have to make decisions soon that a sixteen year old should never have to make, and it seems like the gods are asking me to prepare her to make them."

"Then, we'll do the best we can," Rowan replied before hungrily pulling his mate to him. 

Aidan thought that Doranelle was probably the most beautiful place in the world. The openness of the palace let in both the sunlight, and now as it grew darker, the starlight. A soft breeze played with her hair as she touched different things laying around the room. 

There was a porcelain hairbrush beside the washbasin and a jewelry box on the table as well. Her fingers touched pieces of gold and silver. An emerald inlaid dagger took up a majority of room inside the box. Aidan picked it up and balanced it in her hand before putting it back in the box and shutting it tightly. 

Things were moving too fast. A little over two weeks ago, she was testing the new strength in her legs, and now she was an outlaw from the very country she was sworn to protect. She picked up the silver mirror out of the bag she had carried since they'd left Adarlan and ran her fingers over the surface of it. Her thumb found the spot with the imperfection, and she rubbed her fingers against it, squinting at it. Using her tunic, she scrubbed at it harder, removing the dirt and grime that had collected on it on her travels. 

There, written in a language she did not know, was the word gwaredor.  She sat down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling and wondered what the word meant. 

As she turned the word over and over in her mind, her eyelids became heavy, and she drifted off into sleep. Her dreams were a mixture of voices she had never heard before, saying hello, asking her name, asking her to wake up. It was not until a female voice penetrated her sleep. The voice seemed to be crying, and the sadness in it shook Aidan awake. 

The room was silent when she came to, as was the mirror. The candles in the room had burnt out, and the dream had left Aidan restless, so she went out to explore the palace. As she walked past torches, she used her fire magic to coax them to light the hall before her. There was nobody out in the hallways, late as it was. 

As she turned a corner, a movement caught her eye on the balcony beyond. The male who had asked Aelin for help at dinner stood out on the balcony, his wings outstretched and his face towards the sky. 

Beyond him, Aidan saw that the sky was full of shooting stars. She slipped up beside him on the balcony and also stretched her neck to see the fullness of the night.

She didn't realize he was speaking to her until he touched her forearm, and a shock went up her arm. She pulled back, alarmed, but stood still. 

"In Velaris, my home, tonight would have been Starfall," Azriel told her softly, moving closer to the balcony edge. 

"What is Starfall?" Aidan asked wary, but curious. She watched as the male's face lit up as he thought about his home.

"It looks just like this. The shooting stars are actually spirits migrating across the sky. It's the most beautiful night of the year. We turn out all the lights and celebrate another year with dancing and music. You can only see it in the Night Court. The rest of our world celebrates another holiday completely," he explained. 

"You must miss your home very much," Aidan said, suddenly sad for the male. 

"As do you. The two of us are very similar, both yanked from our homes and pushed into something neither of us expected or wanted," he replied, finally looking away from the spirits in the sky and at her. There was something in his eyes that she didn't recognize. 

"I know this isn't Velaris, and the sky looks completely different than your home, and there's no music, but would you like to dance? You should still be able to celebrate, even if you're not home with your friends and family."

Azriel looked at the girl again and nodded, and even though he was an Illyrian from Prythian, and she was an exiled princess from Erilea, he was glad he did not have to spend Starfall alone.