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

Chapter 27

Hey Everyone! This chapter is a bit all over the place and jumps from character to character a little bit! Please bear with me. Thank you so much for reading! Please comment or vote if you like this chapter!

Aelin held her head in her hand as she rifled through the papers Azriel had given her at breakfast that day. Tamlin was refusing to be in the same room as her, so the files contained both Tamlin's and Azriel's memories of the night they had come to Doranelle.

"So, what do you think? Are they Wyrdmarks?" Aidan asked from beside her.

Along with magic lessons, Aidan had taken to following Aelin around during the day, claiming to be learning about political policy and ruling a country and such, but Aelin thought it was because she was the only tether she had to both Doranelle and the realm beyond. 

Aelin pushed the papers in front of the young girl, allowing her to look them over herself. She noticed that the girl traced her fingers over Azriel's cramped handwriting. 

"They're Wyrdmarks, yes, but Tamlin must have mis-remembered a few of them or forgotten some because these wouldn't have created a portal and definitely not a portal to Doranelle. And some of these words aren't from any portal spell I've ever used or seen," Aelin huffed, frustrated and confused. 

"What does that mean?" Aidan asked.

"It means that they're stuck here until I figure out how to send them home," Aelin sighed, closing the file and standing up. 

Also standing, Aidan asked, "Where are we going?"

"You are staying here and practicing freezing the water in this basin. You haven't gotten it to change temperatures yet, and you've been working on it for days. I have a meeting that I need to get to." 

The girl looked disappointed but nodded and turned her attention to the water as her aunt left the room. 

Half an hour later, Aelin was alone and dismounting Merchwynt outside an ominous-looking brick building. The building was a single story in the middle of the forest with not even a trail leading up to it. 

Silently, Aelin entered the abandoned structure and bent to open up a hatch in the floor partially covered by debris. The lack of footprints in the dust on the floor let her know that she was the only one who had visited in the last few weeks. 

She took a moment to compose herself, placing the most sadistic grin she could muster on her lips and finally descended down into the damp hole.

With just a thought, a flame jumped up in her hand and lit her way down the ladder and across the damp floor of the hole. A rat scurried past her shoe, and she felt nothing as she approached the cell with the shack's singular occupant.

A dirty, crumpled ball began to shift as her flame approached, and she bent down to look into its face.

"Hello, Cairn." 

Aidan tried to freeze the bowl of water about three times before giving up and roaming the palace. She figured she would end up in the library, but her feet brought her the training room where many of the palace's residents seemed to spend most of their time, but it was empty for the first time since she'd come to Doranelle. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Aidan noticed a servant disappearing down the opposite hallway and called out for her. 

"Excuse me! Hey! Excuse me!" Aidan called out to what seemed to be a kitchen maid.