Chapter One
Sat upon her throne, Aelin contemplated why she ever wanted to become Queen. It wasn't all bad, of course, but moments like these - when she had to sit for hours every month and listen to pointless requests - she wished that Erawan had succeeded in killing her.
She had more important things to do; to discover. It was just recently that she'd learnt of a new world walking ability that had formed after forging the lock. She remembered falling through world upon world, until one male - a winged male - was kind enough to slow her down with a blanket of night. She wondered if she'd ever see him again, and the pregnant female by his side.
"Two of my sheep have gone missing and I'm certain that those Wyverns and their witches keep eating them."
Aelin rolled her eyes, "Look, Lord Elex, the wyverns live in the Western Wastes and in Adarlan with Dorian, so there's no chance they would've reached Terrasen without anyone noticing. Besides, you have nineteen other sheep to give you wool for your coats, I'm sure you'll be okay."
She dismissed him with a wave of her hand and called the next one up. The queen sighed when she saw his face - it was Lord Aeryn, a male known for his blatant misogyny. He often turned conversations into stories about himself, and how other males were superior. The ladies in the castle couldn't stand him.
"The other day I found-" He started to direct the question at Rowan, but Aelin's mate growled and nodded his head towards her. "She's your queen, don't speak me."
"Of course, Your Majesty," he bowed with distaste, "Yesterday I found a small rebel group causing trouble in the town square of Terrasen. My guards got ahold of one, who claimed they wanted everything back the way it was when the King of Adarlan ruled. They wish to see the fae gone once more."
Now that was interesting. Aelin would usually wear a dress, but today she was thankful that she'd donned her fighting leathers. Sometimes there were days when she was feeling low, when the memories of Maeve plagued her and she couldn't make an effort; couldn't get out of bed. But at least Fenrys and Rowan were always there to comfort her. Brushing aside her thoughts, the queen unsheathed Goldryn from her back and checked her waistband to make sure plenty of daggers were attached.
"I'll deal with it."
"I- shouldn't King Rowan?" Lord Aeryn spluttered, confused as to why this would be a female's job. Aelin ignored him for a second as she kissed her mate goodbye and jumped off the dais. When she passed his furious form, she stopped to give a little word of advice.
"I'd be more careful with how you speak to and treat women. Don't forget who helped win our war, or do you need a reminder? Was it not I who faced Erawan and Maeve? Was it not the help of the witches that gave our side an advantage? Was it not Lady Yrene of Adarlan that killed the Valg King? Show some respect."
He bowed and cowered at her seething gaze, but Aelin just continued through the double doors and into the courtyard beyond. The weather was luminous and clear like most days, but a nice breeze danced about in the sky, sifting through her golden hair. And as she walked past market stalls and street vendors, she was greeted by smiles just as bright as the sun.
"Look, it's the Queen!" a young girl shouted, running over and looking up with big green eyes. Freckles dotted her tawny brown skin, and her black hair was curled into ringlets that framed her face. Delicately pointed ears peeked through the strands which made Aelin smile - the fae really were starting to come back.
"Do you like my magic?" the girl asked, opening her palm and watching it intently. After a few seconds, a small blue flower began to bloom from nothing, growing bigger and bigger until it shadowed her small hand. Aelin laughed and picked it up gently, before slotting the stem into the youngling's hair. The whole situation reminded her of the time she first entered Terrasen before the war - before she was Queen.
Aelin looked around at her old home for the first time in ten years. The village they were in was small - inhabited by only a little amount - and as their group passed through, she would've thought that the people had fled if it wasn't for the sound of children's laughter in the distance.
She turned to see five of them, the eldest no more than eleven and the youngest perhaps six, all bobbing and scrambling around the town fountain. They were running from something, and if it wasn't for her fae form, she wouldn't have been able to see the butterflies of pure water dancing in the air.
Adults had stopped their washing and chatting to watch, the children wholly unaware of their audience. Delight cast their faces into joyous glows and their shrieking laughter echoed over the sound of the burbling fountain. And in the heart of their merry storm, a dirty-face girl around eight wiggled her fingers, eyes scrunching in concentration as her creatures fluttered to life.
"Powerful," Rowan murmured, appearing at Aelin's side with that pre-natural silence. "She'll grow into a powerful wielder if she can already muster this much control, likely without training."
They all watched as a small water butterfly flapped from the water fountain, its wings flexing. A laugh of joy lodged in Aelin's throat as she surveyed the fine details up close - the legs and the antennas, along with the outline of a pattern using currents. The girl wasn't just strong; she was creative.
Aelin kept perfectly still, concentrating on keeping her fire from exploding through the clearing. Instead, she summoned a small ball of flame which soon merged into another butterfly of her own, fluttering above the young girl's creation.
"You're like me?" She grinned.
The accent - the Terrasen accent, the lilt to the words... Aelin had not spoken to one of her people, in her own land, in a very long time.
"I have a little water magic as well," Aelin smiled, "but not as powerful as you."
Behind them, Aelin sensed Rowan and Aedion monitoring, but it wasn't the males that drew the girls attention. She turned, following her line of sight to see Evangaline stood between the warriors, each with a hand on her shoulder.
"What happened to her face?" the girl asked.
"Bad people tried to hurt her."
"Mama says that with my magic, I could be a great healer."
"You indeed could," the queen replied, flicking her attention over to where an older woman now monitored them with a stone face. The mother relaxed a little when she realised who actually was in their midst, but Aelin couldn't fault her for being protective over a child.
"I could heal her scars one day, maybe."
Aelin considered. "That's very generous of you. I suppose it would be up to my friend, though - whether she wishes to remove them." With magic-based healing, it would be a brutal process, but perhaps it was possible.
"I could fix yours, too." Clever eyed little thing.
"You could do that, and a great many more things," Aelin said. She went on a bit louder so the adults could hear, "you could ensure your fields and farms get proper water. You could keep the fountain's well safe. And yes, you could learn to heal and tend to the sick and injured."
"Where?" asked a low female voice. Aelin looked to another woman seated on the cracked fountain lip - the town's matron. "Where does she learn such things?"
Aelin paused, not knowing what to say. She didn't know an older fae with water magic that could match this girl's power, one that could teach her, but perhaps after this war, more wielders would emerge.
"They burned the magic academy," the woman said, "there's no place left to learn."
"When I take back the continent, I'll build one. Terrasen will be returned to its former glory - give it a few years and there'll be a place."
"If the war doesn't destroy us," the woman said, jerking her chin to the others to resume their washing. "Best be on the road soon if you want to make it to the next town by dark."
A curt, if not polite dismissal, but Aelin didn't blame them. She looked down at the girl below her, into those large brown eyes and whispered so no one could hear - not even the women washing, or the fae males monitoring.
"If war comes, if we survive, wait a year after it ends. Then come to the castle in Orynth and find me, Aelin Galathynius, and tell the guards that you've come at last for magic lessons."
"Phedre." The older woman barked. An order. But Aelin leaned down, whispering into Phedre's ear as she slipped a few gold coins into her pocket, "Do not be afraid of what makes you shine brightly."
Whether the girl felt or identified the sudden weight in her pocket, she didn't let on. Phedre only nodded, eyes so bright, and scampered off. Lysandra soon finished at the outfitters and they left the village immediately after, a group of men and women still trailing them to the forest to make sure there was no trouble.
But for half a mile down the grassy slopes and to the threshold of Oakwald, a water butterfly flittered at Aelin's shoulder.
The Queen brushed off the memory with a smile, remembering the good times that had come from the war. Even though there was destruction and chaos, it was the memories like those that stood out to her - a promise of the great future ahead. And so Aelin continued down the road, through the town and to the place Lord Aeryn told her of, desperately wanting to be rid of the fools that hated the newborn peace.
"Now look what we have here," a voice whispered behind her. Aelin twirled, knife instantly in her hand, "The Queen of Terrasen, out alone on the streets. Another fae bitch on the throne."
"Hello boys," she cooed, eyes narrowing at the shadows behind her. At least seven other males were waiting in the background for orders to attack.
"Not so powerful now that you've lost that fire magic of yours, are you? My men think it'll be easy to get you down."
"Easy?" she laughed, "you do know that I'm also an assassin. I can think of hundreds of ways to kill a little boy like you with only my hands."
"We'll see."
At that, she launched forward with the agility of a feline predator, ducking underneath the leader until she reached the stockier men that weren't ready for an attack. They fumbled cluelessly for their weapons, and some hadn't even managed to draw a sword before she sliced hers through their necks. She'd deal with the mess later, of course, but the fight came first.
The group were humans and no match for someone with fae speed. Their weapons were good and strong, yes, but their movements were slow. Not only did their reflexes let them down, but their skills too - no one had been able to beat Celaena Sardothien in combat when she was ready and alert, and even though she'd taken on her true name now, the murderous personality still remained.
Aelin knocked one male unconscious with the hilt of Goldryn, deciding that she'd bring him back to the castle for interrogation. The leader, however, would need to be brought down for good in order to make their small organisation crumble under such a loss. Losing a leader was hard and would no doubt give them a wake-up call that they were not invincible. They could be destroyed.
He took off through the back streets - down alleyways, the sides of houses and shops and taverns; dodging the main markets (which the queen was secretly grateful for). Any casualties would affect her stature, not to mention the guilt she'd feel if anyone from Terrasen got hurt, but also give Lord Darrow something else to rub in her face.
With an ocean of grace, the queen launched herself over a small stone wall, still following the man that wouldn't give up. She was getting pissy. She'd already woken up on the wrong side of the bed for some reason, and to top it off, she couldn't find her leftover chocolate cake in the kitchen this morning. Someone had most definitely eaten it, and even the thought of its loss made her want to burst into tears.
She grabbed a dagger from her waistband and launched it through the air, listening as it whistled in the wind. As the man jumped, his shirt lifted slightly and her blade struck just where she wanted it - clean through the material and into the brick in front of him. He was pinned face-first into the wall, nose smushed up and arms hanging limply at his side. She laughed, amusement now returning to her face.
"Need some help?" She taunted, crouching down and picking up a stray piece of paper on her way over. It was a detailed poster that had fallen from his pocket, depicting the death of a fae creature with a laughing audience. Underneath, it stated his rebel cause, along with a time and date for some kind of meeting. She tucked it away safely.
Her sword whined as she drew it from her back, intending to deal with the man then and there, but a familiar surge of energy tingled throughout her body. It wasn't the young and carefree energy of her fire, but something more ancient and old - wise. She remembered the same feeling happening when she accidentally created a portal into Dorian's bedroom once. Her world-walking abilities must be playing up again.
"What is this?" the man exclaimed, panic creeping into his eyes. Purple sparks danced at the queen's feet, a telltale sign that she was about to teleport somewhere random; somewhere she had no control over.
Before Aelin could mutter a curse to the Gods, her body jerked and she suddenly felt like she was falling from the sky. Wind raced through her hair, through her ears, and hit her body with the force of her fall. She knew she wasn't actually tumbling off a cliff or something - just travelling through the folds of the world - but this time it felt different, and a lot longer.
In bursts of golden light, her body started switching between her fae and human form, faster and faster, causing burning pain all over her limbs. Her ears stretched and shortened repeatedly, and her fangs kept growing before retracting back into her gums. Gods, it had been a while since this had happened.
Just before she started to scream, she hit a cool marble floor, along with the male that she'd been chasing through the alleys. Some instinctual part of Aelin knew that she was no longer in her kingdom, or her own world for that matter, so she lifted up her sword and arched it down over the man's head, severing it for good. She couldn't risk him returning with this information, or causing her any more trouble than she'd already caused herself.
Taking a deep breath, gathering her confidence, Aelin pushed off her hands and knees and stood, surveying the room. Large wooden chairs that looked like thrones were arranged to form a circle, each holding people of all different kinds. Some were fae (she noticed their arched ears) but some had wings - feathered and membranous. And each of them were equally gorgeous, radiating pure power.
The Queen took a dramatic bow with a signature smirk on her face, one that usually sent people running. "Celaena Sardothien. Nice to meet you all."
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[2668 words]
As you may have noticed, this chapter is a lot longer than what I would usually write, which is what I'm trying to aim for now (as well as updates every week, maybe more). I hope you guys enjoyed it so far, even if this is only a little introduction to the world, but I would appreciate if you left some feedback!
Also, any suggestions for future chapters/ideas are welcome :) Thanks for reading!