Aelin
Rowan and I were the last to wake the following morning, having slept like the dead after last night's more strenuous ... activities.
Blinking awake to a mostly empty bed had been strange, even still wrapped in the strong arms of my silver-haired mate, and I'd felt a momentary jolt of anxiety before I realized how low the sun already was in the sky. Taking a breath, I'd quickly sensed that the rest of my mates were still within the apartment. I'd basked in that relief before groaning when I realized I'd have to leave the warm haven of blankets and pillows to go join them.
If we actually managed to make it through all of this chaos and torment, I was going to make a royal decree that we would never have to leave our bed before noon.
After poking at Rowan until he reluctantly agreed to get up, I threw on a pale blue robe, not waiting for him to fully rouse before padding out towards the kitchen, where I was greeted with an alarmingly heart-warming sight.
My other three mates were crowded in the small kitchen alongside my cousin, their large frames barely allowing them any space to move about as they prepared breakfast. Cassian and Azriel chopped a myriad of vegetables for Aedion, who was preparing what I could only hope was an omelet in the large skillet. Rhysand was filling the kettle, all of them focusing on each movement so intensely it was as if they thought the meal would burst into flames if they took their eyes off it for even a second.
Smirking to myself, I leaned against the doorway, content to watch them and soak in the comfort of this rare moment of normalcy. They remained oblivious to my presence until Rowan ambled out of the bedroom, his rather vocal complaints at being forced awake drawing their attention, and then three sets of eyes were locked on me.
Azriel's eyes heated instantly, while Cassian gave me a rather obvious one-over, and Rhysand's violet gaze softened in greeting.
"Making breakfast? How domestic of you," I teased, wanting, no - needing - to bask in this moment for just a while longer.
Cassian raised an eyebrow at me, his hazel eyes sparking with humor, and drawled, "Shouldn't you still be asleep, little mate? After all, you had a rather busy night."
At that moment, Rowan finally appeared, sleep-mused and half-awake - his pants were only half buttoned, his eyes still bleary as he rubbed at his bare chest. He paused in the doorway to press a kiss to my temple, and I refuse to admit that I preened under the casual gesture of affection.
I should have known my trouble-maker mate wouldn't allow this opportunity to pass him by.
The glint in Cassian's eyes had become decidedly more wicked as he snarked, "Oh I see how it is, tired the old buzzard out, did you? I guess warrior-stamina just isn't what it used to be."
Rowan shot a half-hearted glare Cassian's way. "Don't make me kick your ass before I even have my first cup of tea, Cassian. I promise it won't be pleasant."
Cassian raised his hands in faux surrender, even as his lips stretched into a full grin. I rolled my eyes, fully expecting some more good-natured ribbing before the matter was put to rest. Cass never did know how to quit when he was ahead - and he loved nothing more than to provoke Rowan.
Surprisingly, it was Rhysand who snorted, saying dryly, "If you want to enjoy a full cup of tea before dealing with Cassian, might I suggest not spending half the night fucking our mate on the roof?"
I couldn't help the small laugh that bubbled up when Aedion's face instantly twisted into a scowl of disgust.
He grimaced at Rhysand. "I'd rather not discuss my cousin's sex life this early in the morning, or at all, if you don't mind." Turning to Rowan, his tone grew decidedly more exasperated. "The roof, really Rowan?"
Rowan, who had taken the kettle from Rhys and was now pouring himself an apparently much-needed cup of tea, merely shrugged, unrepentant and a bit too fucking smug if you ask me.
Aedion threw his hands up, huffing loudly. "Anyone could have seen you two. You know Arobynn has eyes on her."
At this, Rowan finally looked at him, smiling coldly. "Not anymore. If you think I'd allow anyone to see my mate like that, then I haven't made myself clear." Setting down the kettle, he turned to face my cousin head-on. I tensed, preparing for a fight. "Aelin is ours, our mate. Ours to love, ours to protect, and yes - ours to fuck. Nothing and no one are going to keep us from doing just that."
Damn, that shouldn't be sweet - why did I think that was sweet?
Thankfully, Aedion just turned back to the skillet in front of him, grumbling under his breath and cursing the gods as to why his cousin had to be mated to such psychotic bastards - which we all pretended not to hear.
Deciding to interject now before things got too out of hand, I said, "If you ladies are done prattling on, do you think you could hurry up with breakfast? I'd rather like to eat something before the day is half over."
The mock snarls and growls of protest were music to my ears as I turned on my heel to get dressed properly. What? Cassian wasn't the only one who enjoyed baiting others, and it was their own fault for being so easy to rile.
Still, my chest warmed when I emerged once again from my room to find a fully set table, my mates and cousin seated around the small table, waiting for me to join before they began eating.
The apartment was filled with the lively, jovial sounds of my family as we ate, the males swapping light-hearted jabs and cracking jokes. The congenial atmosphere settled something within me, and I allowed myself to just exist, ignoring the threats I was facing, the pressure of all I had to accomplish - enjoying the way my cousin blended with us seamlessly.
It was everything I'd ever hoped for. All that I hadn't dared to imagine.
So of course, it couldn't last.
We'd nearly finished breakfast when the front door opened and Lysandra breezed in with a chirped hello, and I smirked as the males released the weapons they'd grabbed. I don't think I'd ever tire of Lysandra's remarkable ability to unnerve even the fiercest of warriors.
"How do you do that?" Aedion demanded as she glided into the kitchen.
"I suppose this is marginally better than the miserable excuse for a meal you cobbled together last time," was all she said, not even bothering to look at the demi-fae warrior.
I snorted, not missing the way my cousin's eyes didn't waver from the pretty brunette. "Breakfast, apparently, is the only meal any of us are half-decent at."
I made some room for her on the bench as she sat down on the end, leaning forward to snatch one of the only remaining breakfast pastries clear from Aedion's plate. It was all I could do not to laugh aloud at his open-mouthed gaping, and the sputtered protests that followed were pure comedy.
Who would have thought that stealing food was what my cousin classified as an unforgivable crime?
Meanwhile, my mates were less than impressed with my description of their cooking skills, if their narrowed eyes were any indication.
"Yes," Azriel drawled with a brow raised in challenge, "because you were so instrumental to the preparation of this morning's meal."
I sniffed haughtily, pretending to fluff up my hair. "Some of us are above such menial labor."
Azriel scoffed derisively but couldn't hide the laughter glittering in his stunning eyes.
Turning back to the female beside me, I was amused to note that she'd managed quite well in the face of her deplorable action - having already reduced my cousin to a panting mess, all by devouring the pastry with ample ... appreciation.
As entertaining as it was, I really didn't want him to start drooling on my damn table.
"Is there a reason behind this visit, Lysandra, or are you just here to make my cousin squirm?" I asked pointedly.
With one last taunting smirk towards Aedion, she turned to me, and all amusement faded from her lovely face as she held up a large velvet sack. My breath caught in my throat, already knowing what she held. Lysandra set it onto the worn wooden table with a thump, and I slid it towards myself even as the males raised their brows and not so subtly sniffed at it.
They could sense the change in me, even if they didn't yet know what had caused it.
Looking up, I tried to ignore how flat my voice had gone, how dead. "He's grown tired of waiting, I presume?"
Lysandra winced and nodded. "Arobynn is calling in your favor, to be delivered two nights from now." More softly, she added, "I delayed him the best I could."
My heart squeezed with gratitude, even though it thumped erratically in my chest. I truly don't know what I had done to deserve the friendship and loyalty of the female before me, but I would forever be thankful for it.
"Fine," I said evenly.
It was an effort to keep my voice steady, my face blank. I had known what I was doing when I made the bargain with Arobynn - and I didn't regret it, could never regret any action I had to take to secure my cousin's safety - but never in a million years did I anticipate my mates being here to witness the fallout, to come face to face with the monster that had defined my adolescence.
To see me - reduced to what I had to become in order to survive under his tyrannical regime.
Their presence had triggered the return of my true self, my true feelings - precisely what I would need to viciously smother in order to deal with the sadistic bastard that was my old master. The four of them may think that they understand who I was - who I had to be - when I was Celaena, but they didn't - not really. I'd never wanted them to.
And now they would. Worse than that, they would see it, live it, feel it.
The vile, wicked behemoth that prowled beneath my skin - the true Celaena.
A bitter, damaged part of me whispered that it would be the thing to finally show them just how unworthy I was of their love.
Aedion leaned forward, glancing towards me with concern before he directed his question to Lysandra. "Does he expect only Aelin to deliver it?"
His voice is hard and commanding, eyes serious. No longer only my cousin, but the famed general of the Bane, savage and ruthless.
Lysandra frowned. "No - all of you. His eyes had already informed him of your new ... houseguests, before I could do damage control."
Rowan's expression was tight and controlled as he said, "Is it a trap?"
Honestly, I was shocked he hadn't descended into the killing calm at the mere mention of Arobynn's name. I knew exactly how my mates felt about the man.
And they only knew the half of it.
"Undoubtedly, in some form or another," Lysandra confirmed. I nodded in absent-minded agreement. "He wants you to deliver it and then join him for dinner."
"Demons and dining," I scoffed. "At least he hasn't lost his flair for the dramatic."
Lysandra was the only one who even attempted a smile. The buoyant ambience of earlier had dissipated like the morning fog, the apartment now heavy with volatile tension as we prepared to wage war.
"Is poison a concern?" Azriel asked, cool and controlled. He'd effortlessly slipped back into his role as spymaster.
If only that was all we had to worry about.
I fixed my gaze on the deceptively innocuous velvet bag. "Poison isn't Arobynn's style. Unless it was a drug to incapacitate us so he could move us to a secondary location," I said, forcing myself to keep my tone light, unconcerned. But I couldn't make myself look up and see what was written on my mates and Aedion's faces as I added, "It's the control he loves. The pain and fear are secondary to the power he holds when he has someone at his mercy - that's what he really thrives on."
Lysandra's face had lost any perception of softness, her eyes cold and sharp - no doubt a reflection of my own. She was the only one here, after all, who could understand, who had also learned firsthand, at much too young an age, exactly how far that lust for control went.
I raged at the fact the rest of my family would soon discover the depths of his depravity.
The velvet bag taunted me from the worn table, daring me to dissolve into hysterics at all that it represented.
But I'd sworn that Arobynn would not affect me, not intimidate me, not control any aspect of my life - never again.
I pulled the fine fabric towards me, opening the bag to reveal a cream-colored envelope and matching box. Deciding to face whatever words Arobynn deemed appropriate for this momentous occasion first, I pulled out the envelope, the red wax seal imprinted with familiar crossed daggers gleaming dully in the midday light.
The rest of the room stared at it, the silence stifling. I didn't miss how Aedion and my mates sniffed at the opened bag - and frowned.
"It smells like almonds," Aedion murmured, his brows furrowed in confusion.
My heart clenched.
With unerringly steady hands, I pulled out the card, revealing a formal invitation. For an eight-o-clock dinner two nights from now - for me and five guests - and a deceivingly polite request for the favor owed to him.
I'd known his patience was coming to an end, but I should have known dumping the demon on his doorstep would never have sufficed. No - it would be on his terms. Especially since it gave him the opportunity to investigate who, exactly, my new houseguests are.
And then, of course, there was the note at the end of the invitation, in an elegant yet efficient scrawl.
A gift - and one I hope you'll wear to your visit to your old home.
It was that last word - home - that had me wanting to snort in contempt. As if the keep had ever been my home, had ever been anything but the prison he'd kept me caged in.
Or, on occasion, a torture chamber.
I chucked the card on the table, not looking towards Rhysand when he immediately picked it up, trying desperately to ignore the roiling fury in my veins.
Pulling the cream box from the bag, I placed it in front of Rowan before I stood up, unceremoniously waving a hand for him to open it as I stalked towards the kitchen window. The breeze brushed over my face in a vain attempt to cool my rising temper as I stared at the castle in the distance. It was blindingly bright in the midday sun, glimmering as though it had been crafted from rays of pure light.
Distantly, I heard the slither of ribbon, the thud of the box lid opening, and -
"What the hell is that?" Cassian's voice was thick with barely controlled fury.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that my suspicions were confirmed when Cassian held up a large glass bottle full of amber liquid.
I knew that my words were flat - lifeless in a way they hadn't been in a long time - when I said, "Perfumed skin oil."
"Why does he want you to wear it?" Rhysand asked quietly. Too quietly.
I turned back to the window.
Azriel was at the wall behind me, a steady force at my back. And I knew I couldn't tell them, not the full truth.
So, I said, "It's just another move in a game we've been playing for a long time."
Except this was an escalation that went far beyond the clash between a master and his wayward prodigy. Because almonds - that was personal. That was his.
And he wanted me to rub it into my skin. His scent. His personal scent.
I told myself I expected nothing less, but ...
"Does that mean you're going to use it?" Rhysand ground out.
I forced my lungs to inflate, to breathe in the fresh, untarnished air wafting in on the summer breeze.
I knew they were furious on my behalf, livid that he was affecting me so obviously. But I didn't have the words or the heart to explain that it wasn't Arobynn - not really.
That man held no sway over me, my only concern that he paid the debts he owed.
Playing wretched games to ensure that those debts were paid, to get the end result I needed was one thing. Having my mates witness them was entirely another.
I exhaled. "Our one and only goal at that dinner is to get the Amulet of Orynth from him. Agreeing to wear that oil will put him on unsure footing."
In my mind's eye, I could see Aedion's jaw clench. "I don't follow."
"The invitation is a threat," Azriel said softly from behind me, no emotion coloring his words. I could feel him inches away, his movements telling me everything I needed to know about his state of mind. "Five companions - he knows how many of us are here, and he obviously knows who you are - that you're actively being hunted."
"And what about all of you?" Aedion demanded.
"He already suspects they're fae," Lysandra spoke up.
Of course he did. For all the world, I'd just spent the past few months across the sea - deep in the heart of fae territory. Arobynn was many things, but unfortunately stupid wasn't one of them.
At least he hadn't seen fit to set the king's guards on them - not yet.
"And the demon - he expects us to bring it over in our finery?" Rowan queried.
"Another test, and yes," Lysandra confirmed. I could feel her gaze on my back as she added, "I assume you already have a plan to capture one?"
Turning away from the window, I nodded woodenly, suddenly assaulted by the catastrophic wrath practically vibrating from my mate's tense, too-still forms. And I just -
I needed a minute. Just one gods-damned minute to breathe, to master myself, so that I could plan without crumbling under the weight of the pure dread of everything they were about to discover.
Locking eyes with my brunette friend, I said, "I'll walk you to your carriage."
My mates stiffened impossibly further, but none of them argued as I led Lysandra from the room, not speaking until we'd descended the stairs, pausing among the stacks of crates in the warehouse. Leaning against one of them, I tilt my head back, staring at the ceiling until my riotous thoughts were once more under control.
We stand together in a comfortable silence, Lysandra more than willing to give me the time I so desperately needed. Her bright green orbs were soft with understanding when I finally lowered my gaze.
"Are you alright?" she asked softly.
I huffed out a laugh. We both knew I wasn't, that I wouldn't be until this farce of a dinner was over and Arobynn was where he belonged - six feet under.
"What do you think? We both know exactly how this little dinner is going to go, and that's fine, I can handle anything the bastard throws at me, but my guests?" I sigh, continuing softly, "They're going to see a side of me I prayed they never would."
Lysandra's eyes widened, surprised I would admit as much.
But she only hummed thoughtfully, "Alright then, are you ready - for what comes after?"
On more solid footing, I said without hesitation, "More than ready. I don't think the debt could ever be paid for what ... what they all did. But at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing he can never harm another - ever again."
Lysandra's eyes gleamed with something suspiciously like pride, but pursed her lips. "I won't be able to risk coming here again. Not until it's done."
I nodded, understanding entirely. She couldn't, not if our plan was to be a success. And it would succeed, not just for our sakes, but for the good of thousands yet to come.
My voice caught in my throat as I said, "Thank you - for everything."
And I was - so, so thankful that she had made the first move in ending the pointless cycle of us lashing out at the other, both of us broken and bleeding, unwilling to see the other's pain. That we could become what we should have been from the very beginning.
Lysandra smiled wryly, the expression souring on her pretty face. "Times like these, I wish I had your particular skill set instead."
I cocked my head, finally asking the question that had more weight than she knew. "Would you do it - if you could?"
The courtesan grabbed onto my hand, looking anything but agreeable as her eyes bored into mine. Any semblance of a mask was wiped away, nothing but damning, deadly truth in her gaze.
The ferocious beasts trapped beneath her skin rumbled to life with her next words. "It's all I've thought about. Every single day since Wesley died, every single day. I would do it, more than gladly. But I think I'm glad you'll do it. You won't hesitate, won't think twice. I find that comforting."
Good. That was all I needed to hear.
Arobynn was going to rue the day he fished me out of that river.
If it was the last thing I did.