A Court of Storms and Shadows

Chapter 21 - Aelin

Aelin woke up feeling significantly better.

She'd had no trouble falling asleep this time. She turned around in Rowan's arms. A frown was prominent, even while he was asleep.

She knew he worried. He worried about her, their friends, everyone on their side, and the kingdoms back in their world.

And there was nothing she could do to take his worries away.

Softly, she smoothed out the frown with her fingers. His face relaxing significantly at her touch.

Aelin worried as well. She worried about him, their friends, both those who'd been through war with her before, and her new ones. She worried about her own kingdom, and the others.

But she believed as well. She believed they could pull this off. She believed she was strong enough, that her magic combined with Rowan's and with Feyre and Rhys at her side would be enough to beat Hybern.

She believed they could do it. She had to. She didn't know what she'd do if they couldn't.

Aelin sighed. Although she'd love to stay here, in bed, with her mate, she knew they couldn't postpone the battle anymore.

She softly poked Rowan, trying to wake him up. "Come on, we have to get up."

He turned around, pulling the pillow over his head. "Five more minutes."

"I thought that was my thing," Aelin laughed.

Rowan grumbled something under his breath. "We have to fight today, don't we," he mumbled.

Aelin sighed once again. "Yeah, but if everything goes the way it should, we can sleep in our own bed tonight."

He snorted. "Sleep."

She smacked his shoulder. 

His laugh rumbled through the tent as she got up. Shuffling through the mess on the floor, she found a tunic and some pants. "I'm going to pick up my suit, I'll be right back." She'd washed it that morning, while half asleep. She hadn't trusted anyone else to do it though. Not without potentially killing themselves.

It now hung from a line, swaying in the wind, the warm sunlight drying the thick leather. Aelin unclipped the suit from the line, and made her way back to the tent.

Inside, Rowan sat on the bed, dressed, and covered in weapons. He looked up from the blade he was cleaning when she walked in.

Aelin raised a brow. "I thought you wanted five more minutes?"

"I want to go home."

She nodded, shimmying out of her pants and into her suit. She strapped on pieces of armour and her weapons. 

As she fastened Goldryn to her waist, Rowan stood up, sheathing the blade and wiping his hands on his pants. He stretched out his hand, which she grabbed.

He smiled softly. "Let's go find the rest."

***

Fenrys poured over the map in front of him, his face furrowed in concentration.

Aelin sat down next to him, grabbing a pre-made sandwich. "What's this?"

"Azriel's spies brought it in. Apparently it's a map of these lands." he pointed at a red line drawn on it. "This is Hybern's planned route." He pointed to a blue circle. "This is where we are."

Aedion chewed on a sandwich of his own. "We had no need for sleep, so—" he trailed along a green line with his finger "—if we follow this, and hurry, we should be able to meet them here." His finger tapped a large orange circle.