A Court of Legends and Myths

Chapter 15 - How does anyone deal with her?

Rhysand's POV

I definitely didn't like the queen anymore; she just insulted my mate to her face. "What the hell? Is she that rude to everyone?" I ask in disbelief.

"Yes." Lorcan, Aedion, Gallan, Fenrys, and Ren said simultaneously.

"That's not true. She's only like that to people she doesn't like. Or doesn't trust. And it seems you Feyre are one of those very unlucky people." Evangeline said, defending her.

"That may be true Evangeline, but Aelin doesn't trust anybody she just met. And it's even harder to get her to like you after you meet. I knew her for six years before she began to like me. She threw a knife at my head once, with the intent to kill me." Lysandra replied.

"She held a knife to my throat the first time we met." Nesyn added.

"She just outright hated me. Though she did have good reason." Chaol pitched in.

"She tried to kill me." Manon added.

"You tried to kill me! And she saved your ass from falling to your death at Temis' temple, after Asterin shot Rowan in the shoulder and nearly led him to bleed to death" Chaol shouted at her.

"That may be so but you tried to put Dorian out of his misery." Manon replied to Chaol.

"Yes some stupid mistakes were made during the war. That's all in the past now" Elide intervened.

"None of the original cadre started on the right foot with her either. I mean, her dislike for  us  started with Rowan's whipping. Then Lorcan held a knife to her throat. Gavriel and I were working for Maeve for a bit of time which most certainly didn't help. Then Lorcan called Maeve to our location in which we were vulnerable, to protect Elide, which ended with Aelin's capture." Fenrys added.

"I get it, I made a mistake. But you can't deny that nothing good came from that encounter. Rowan got the exceptionally loyal Whitethorn cousins to turn on Maeve and join us, which worked. And led to the army, Aelin had acquired being reinforced with a fae fleet and fae warriors, all with some scary strong magical abilities. You still have yet to tell us how Whitethorn convinced any of you" Lorcan interjected.

"As you said we Whitethorns are exceptionally loyal. Loyal to our family, not to a queen we hated. And he begged, he told us of the woman who helped him out of that deep hole he was in after, you know what. He told us of the woman he loved with all of his being. The woman who saved him from an eternal life of despair."  

"Scary strong?" Endymion inquired.

"What? Everyone knows that the Whitethorn house is the house with the strongest magic. Though nowhere near Rowan or I, still stronger than the average commoner." Lorcan said, defending himself.

"Rowan Whitethorn begged?" Vaughan asked.

"Rowan and Aelin would do anything for each other. Including begging, for the other to be sparred. It's truly heart-wrenching when you see it." Gavriel said.

"So Aelin hated all of you, when you first met." Mor asked.

"Yea, pretty much. Well at least anyone from Erilea and Doranelle, with the rare exception. Dorian and Aelin met when they were eight, and didn't hate each other then. But as adults Aelin definitely hated Dorian. Aelin grew up with Aedion and Ren, until the assassination of her parents. She didn't exactly hate me, she was just most likely annoyed at stupidity that led her needing to save my life and then teach me to defend myself, the she warmed up to me and left a pouch of gold for me to use to get out of the dump I was in and to study at the Torre. Ansel and Aelin were friends at their first meeting, and allies with Illias. Even after Ansel's betrayal she was still friends with her. Then there was Nehemia, which is enough said. Most people she met as a child she liked. And the Rowan's family she liked, especially Sellene." Yrene explained as if lost in memory of another time.

"Yes, I liked her to upon meeting her for the first time." Sellene added.

"How the hell are any of you guys still friends with so much hatred towards others?" Varian asked.

"We fought a war. And she gave up everything for us, for everyone, whether she liked or hated them, whether she thought they deserved to live or die. She gave up everything for a better world. And we fought for her, fought with her, to save the people she loved, to save her people." Sartaq answered.

"We trusted her, we still do. We promised to protect her kingdom, to protect the innocents, to go to hell and back with her if we had to. To do everything we could to see that those she loved would live long, happy lives, even if she wasn't there herself.  To do all we could to make sure her kingdom, this world, saw freedom once again, to see it prosper." Lysandra said.

"Then we did all we could to make sure she would see her world prosper. For her to regain her throne, and reign for many years to come. To give her those thousand years with her mate." Dorian added.

"And against all odds we succeeded." Nesryn finished.

There was silence.

Put Dorian out of his misery? Temis' temple? War? Nehemia? Torre? Assassination of her parents? Betrayal? What was this world like? What were their lives like for all that to happen Rhys?  My mate asked into my mind I don't know, but I think there are stories that need to be told, ones that go far deeper than they are letting on. I think they are all still healing and hurting from whatever happened. I replied to her. Do you think we should tell her our story? Maybe she'll  be more inclined to trust us  if she knows. Feyre asked me. I think we should speak with our group and learn about their thoughts. 

"How have you dealt with her all these years?" Helion asked, choosing his words very carefully.

A laugh from Dorian and; "One does not deal with Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius, one survives her."

A/N

Credit to Sarah J Maas for coming up with the last quote.

I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far. And thank you for reading it, and staying with it up till this point.