DISCONTINUED A Court of Blood and Night Rewritten

15

Alrighty, I put Oathbound up on Wattpad! Dear god save me.

This chapter is pretty similar to the one from the original ACOBAN, with a few minor changes. I hope you enjoy! :)

As they walked away from the dining hall, Aedion quietly queried, "What do you need to ask me?"

Rowan waited until he was certain everyone but Aedion was out of earshot, and then said to him, "I need to know what happened while I was gone, but I first I want to know how you managed to convince Darrow and the others to let us stay in here." He hadn't remembered to ask before.

Aedion's jaw tightened. He was silent for long enough that Rowan thought he might noy speak at all. "Some of the lords of Terrasen are dead," he finally confided to Rowan. "Valg attack. Darrow and Murtaugh survived," he added, "But it was a crippling fight. When we showed up with that army, Darrow was the happiest I've ever seen him, even if half of them were nearly asleep on their feet. He gladly let us in. But even if we hadn't shown up with an army, he, by law, had to let us stay here. Aelin may not be Queen in his eyes, but she is still a Princess and a Galathinyus. To not allow her to stay in her own home is..." He shrugged. "So they let us in."

"Did Lysandra's impersonation fool him?" Rowan asked, and Aedion shook his head.

"She wasn't pretending to be Aelin when we confronted Darrow privately. We told him she hadn't accompanied us, and neither had you."

"So what did you tell him regarding Aelin's absence?" Saying the words was about as difficult as he'd expected-- maybe more. He was glad Aedion was too caught up in the question to notice.

"I told him you both were gathering more soldiers. He was suspicious, but apparently Lysandra went as far as forging Aelin's handwriting. She'd made a note specifically for Darrow, and he was inclined to believe us when he saw it."

"He's never seen her handwriting," Rowan pointed out. They turned a corner, departing from the rest of the group, and Rowan realized they were heading toward the study. He'd found it when he was looking for Aedion and the others after wandering around like a lost child.

"True. But there was enough of Aelin in that letter that it couldn't have been anyone else. Or, so he thought." Aedion frowned. "I'm still unsettled by Lysandra's uncanny abilities to impersonate her."

Rowan paused beside the door long enough to open it. "If so many are convinced... Me too," he admitted. They entered the room and closed the door behind them. "Though we should be glad for it."

The study was tastefully decorated, and Rowan noted the paintings in the room: paintings of the royal family from even farther back than Brennan, all the way to Aelin's parents. He guessed they were waiting until she was older and more mature before they painted her. The Galathynius family stretched far. He didn't want to consider the idea of it ending at Aelin. Not if it meant she was dead.

They sat down in chairs across from each other and Rowan quietly said, "Tell me everything."

Aedion chewed on his lip. "When we left, Lysandra was catching up with everyone as Aelin. She did a damn good job making sure they all believed it was her. So for the weeks we were sailing to Terrasen, Lysandra kept everyone busy, and drafted letters to Darrow in the evening. When we got to Terrasen..." He shook his head. "It was bad. There was a lot of corpses and a lot of destroyed homes. It looked like a war zone. Darrow was shaken enough that convincing him to let us stay wasn't difficult."

"And then?"

Aedion shook his head. "I guess someone started questioning why you left so quickly. Even if Lysandra clearly asked you to find something for her, they were suspicious. A couple of them-- namely Ansel's men-- started wondering if you were looking to turn against us and join Erawan. It had started as a rumor, the idea of you betraying us, but when we got to the castle, some fool got it into their head that Aelin-- er, Lysandra-- was going to turn against Ansel, Galan, and the others and kill us all. It got so out of hand that Lysandra ended up shifting in front of the leaders-- Ilias, Ansel, Galan, the rest-- and telling them the truth: that she'd sent you to find Aelin, who was captured by Maeve just before we came ashore." His voice became softer. "They don't know Aelin asked Lysandra to impersonate her. They think she did it on her own. But they've sworn secrecy."

"And you never told them?"

"I tried, but Lyandra wouldn't let me." Aedion shook his head. "I don't know why. She's tired of being hated by the leaders of our allies, but she won't put a stop to it, or let any of us do it for her."

A glutton for punishment, that's what she was. "Then let's ask her why. And afterward, we try to convince her to tell them the truth-- or let us do so for her. As long as she is part of this court, we will look out for her," Rowan said firmly. "As long as she is part of this court, she is family."

Aedion nodded in agreement. "And then we figure out what to do with the Courts." He sighed. "I can get them training in a few days. See where they're at. The only thing I'm worried about is that some of them looked like they'd beat me to a pulp, which would mean there's no use in training them. I'm not sure what I'd have them do."

Cassian was likely who he was talking about. Indeed, he was a warrior through and through-- Rowan didn't need to see him training to know that. And to be Rhysand's general, he would've had to have been one of the best. Cassian might even be able to beat him. The idea wad unsettling.

"We'll deal with it as it comes," Rowan said to Aedion. "But for now, we need to talk about something else."

Aedion's brows furrowed. "What about?"

Rowan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on the bond that had seemed to go dark. Something in him flickered, an ember of flame. He hadn't told anyone that he could feel her again-- hadn't said anything about Aelin since he'd begun to feel her in the dining hall. He opened his eyes to meet Aedion's gaze squarely. "We need to talk about how we're going to get my wife back."