When our worlds collide

Chapter 1

A/N: Hi! this is my first story so don't mind me if the writing's not amazing :)

Aelin

Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius woke up to her mate shifting in his sleep. Mate. It still sounded unreal, even months after the war, she had never stopped being grateful. Lying there, when he finally woke up he pulled her up against him.

 "What are we to do today, Fireheart?" He asked, obviously still half asleep. She thought about it. Having only one meeting with the lords and ladies of the regions in Terrasen, but other than that, she had nothing to do. She turned over to face her mate. He was looking at her, really looking at her. His tattoos were obscured by the pillow, but the morning rays of the sun made his face glow. He was beautiful, and he was alive.

"I don't know, maybe I could go hang out with Lysandra and we'll go riding and I won't see you all day!" She said. Even though she was eternally grateful, it didn't stop her teasing. She started to stand up and bring him with her.

"Come on, we have to go down to breakfast before everyone messes up the castle. Especially since Manon, Dorian, Elide and Lorcan are here now." They were here for the first annual ball they hosted, for the 'peace anniversary'. Chaol, Yrene and many more 'high status' people came, but not for another week. They got dressed and walked down the excessive amount of stairs to find that only Lysandra and Aedion were up, and kind of having breakfast. They were play fighting, being the only ones at the long table. It was nice to see them like that, and as newlyweds, they were as happy as ever. 

"I don't want to ruin the fun," She interrupted, "but I'm kind of hungry. Aren't you Rowan?" Aelin said to her husband. He had that mischievous light in my eyes that I knew either meant trouble, or he was enjoying this very much. She knew it could be either. 

"Oh yes, Fireheart, quite hungry but I reckon we could let them have their fun for a while." He started laughing with her when they saw the pair's faces. It was these moments that reminded Aelin how lucky we all were to be there.

Rowan

After making fun of Aedion and Lysandra, Manon and Dorian, and Lorcan and Elide all walked in. Not long ago had the former pair announced they were a couple, but everyone had suspected something had been going on for longer than that, potentially even as the war was going on. It was good to have their old friends over. The old banter, memories, he knew it lifted Aelin's spirits and Rowan wanted her to have the world. She wouldn't admit it but many nights every week she would wake up in a cold sweat. After the war, everyone was struggling. Manon with losing the thirteen was one of the biggest personal losses, but Rowan suspected that Aelin feels responsible for bringing the war to her country. She has told him otherwise, but he sometimes caught her looking regretfully out the window that overlooks her kingdom. He was shaken out of his daze when Manon and Lorcan had started arguing about the best weapon for gutting someone.

"Would you like me to show you how effective my iron nails can be?" Manon asked in a mocking tone. 

"Anytime, any place, I would obliterate you!" Lorcan replied. Putting those two up against each other, it would be almost impossible to predict the outcome, and not to mention destructive.

"Letter for King Rowan?" A servant looked around, passed him the letter that he would read later, and retreated quickly. Aelin has also refused to call him her prince consort, always king, or king consort. He realised that's what she made him when she was almost certain she was going to die at the faerie queens hands, but since she didn't, Aelin had made no move to remove that title. Ever since Maeve took her, they both silently realised that anything could happen to either of them at any time, but she insisted that 'after his 300 or so years of life being a prince he should get a chance to be a king'. 

"Dorian, there are two things I want to show you before my meeting," Aelin says to the king of Adarlan. Holding out her elbow, he stands up and links his arm through hers. 

 "Anything for you, your esteemed majesty." He says, and everybody, including Aelin, laughs.          

Dorian

"If you told me this was where we both would be now when I was doing the competition, I probably would've thought you had gone mad!" Aelin says. He nodded in agreement. Dorian turned to her.        

"Well, you've definitely grown as a person, Lillian," He stated. She laughs at her alias, no doubt reliving memories of when times were so simple. 

"I wouldn't say you're completely the same complete person since we met, prince." She was right. They had all developed past the stage when all Dorian had to do was find a suitable wife and her, win a competition... or go back to that death camp. He had started realising the extent of how much he had grown when Aelin stopped outside her and Rowans room. She pushed open the door and pulled him inside. 

"Umm, flattered but you're married," Dorian said with a laugh and smiling widely. She shoves me playfully, muttering curses under her breath. 

 "So, Dorian," she started. "How are you and Manon doing?" The question used to take him by surprise, but it didn't anymore. Maybe it was them being official, or maybe because he was starting to love her.  His mother would flip. 'Loving an Ironteeth Witch! You can't do that!", is what she would say. Somehow, Dorian didn't care one bit. 

"Oh pretty good actually, she hasn't been the same since the thirteen and everything, but I think she's getting through it. You know we were kind of a thing for a long while before we told everyone," He said as a matter of factly. He didn't know what he expected. Her to be surprised? But she just laughed quietly at him. 

"Oh, Dorian. Dorian, everyone knows, the looks you gave her when we were still fighting, I'm surprised you aren't better at concealing it!" He was the one surprised now. Everyone knew? Shit, he was worse than he expected. "Anyway, the first thing I wanted to show you is this." She pulled out my damned old crown from when she had first come to the glass castle and smiled wickedly.

"I may have stolen this out of pure boredness before we actually became friends." Dorian looked at her incredulously and she started cackling. He remembered looking for it everywhere when he was expected to go to court with his mother and ended up saying that one of my dogs took it and chewed it and that it had already been punished.          

"Can you show me your assassins suit if you have it here?" He asked. her eyes only got brighter.

"Okay, turn around then!" Dorian obeyed. Hearing her walk towards her closet and rustling that could only be her dressing. What he didn't hear was her sneaking up on him and pulling a knife on his neck. He cried out in alarm while she was laughing, again.

"Oh come on!" He turned around and see that the assassin suit, that he had assumed would have her armed to the teeth, appeared to have no weapons. 

"You have to be kidding me!" He said. She looked at him weirdly. "Where are all the daggers and swords, and.. uh sharp stuff?" He said, making weird hand gestures. Her smile only grew. Aelin, who looked very much like Celaena, flicked both her wrists and two daggers were in her hands. They may have grown as people, but some things would stay with them forever, in Aelin's case, it was her swagger, and how she can never cease to amaze everyone for everything. 

"Come on, the other thing I wanted to show you is in the library. Well, it is the library I guess, come on!" She said. Happily talking while we made our way to the infamous library. 

Aelin

While walking, Aelin stole the crown again and put it on top of her head, and Dorian started laughing. 

"What is so funny about a queen wearing a crown?" She asked, in a playful, mocking tone. He just looked me up and down.

"Nothing funny about a queen, but you're not wearing something particularly queenly," He said. She realised that she was still in her black leathery suit. "Exactly how many blades can you fit in there?" He asked, eyeing the outfit.

"That's why the servants wouldn't look at me! Well, I think it's at full capacity," she started patting everywhere. " Yup. It's at full capacity right now, and I think that's about two, two and a half dozen if I'm lucky." She says as a matter of factly. They got outside the doors of the notorious library. Aelin reached up to take the crown off but the second she touched it, Aelin was falling through darkness.