The gentle breeze was soft on her face as Aidan stepped out onto the receiving patio where all important guests to Adarlan started and finished their stay. It had been two days since her father had practically sold her to the Femorians, and she hadn't talked to him since, but she didn't really care.
Queen Aelin and her sons were checking the straps on their horses; Aelin's mare was beautiful as it flounced its head. It was the first Asterion mare that Aidan had ever seen, and Aelin was stroking its black mane. The queen caught her eye and waved her forward.
"Her name is Merchwynt. It means Daughter of Wind. I have a weakness for Asterion mares," Aelin smiled at the beautiful white horse. "You can pet her if you want. She only bites a little." Aidan felt the soft hair of the mare under her hand and studied the legendary turquoise-ringed- with-gold eyes of the queen before her.
"You're different from the stories, you know," Aidan stated simply.
"How's that?" Aelin asked as she moved around the horse, checking the straps and bags one last time.
Aidan couldn't put her finger on it so she just shrugged, "I don't know. You're just different than I thought you'd be."
"Well, that's to be expected. Most of this continent thinks I'm dead," Aelin laughed as she effortlessly hauled herself up onto Merchwynt.
"Is it easier being dead?"
"Sometimes. Sometimes not. I'm an extraordinarily vain and selfish beast, so it takes a lot of restraint in situations like your father's feast for me not to toast him or others like him like marshmallows. Other times, I remember that it keeps people from bothering me or my people. People think I'm dead, and they don't ask me for things."
Aidan nodded and said, "Thank you for saving me. It means a lot to me and my father."
Aelin waved her off, "It was nothing."
The heir to Adarlan grabbed Aelin's hand and said, "Thank you anyway." She tried to step back from the horse, but Aelin pulled her closer.
"Things are changing again. I can feel it in the wind. If you need something, don't hesitate to ask me. Doranelle is always open to you. I would love to teach you, but more than that, I feel like we'll meet again sooner than you think." Aelin let her go, and she took a step back from the riding party. The queen pushed her horse to a walk and looked back at Aidan only once with a small smile before riding out through the castle gates with her sons.
Although Aidan hadn't known her for very long, Aelin's absence weighed heavily on her heart. They were only distantly related, but Aidan felt a kindred connection with Aelin, with her magic or her soul, she didn't know.
The only sounds in the castle hallway were her own quiet footsteps. With a sweep of her hand, she opened her bedroom door, trying to let go of some of the magic that she had only recently tapped into. She could feel the magic pulsing in her core, and with it, a mix of fear and curiosity.
The day went by slowly without her golden-haired teacher. Magic was the most fun lesson by far, even though she was only able to do small things with it. The other classes were dull in comparison. She was glad to be done with them and slumped onto her bed. A maid brought in her dinner after she complained of a headache.
Through the balcony window, she watched as the sun finally set over Adarlan. Aidan wondered what the sunset was like in Doranelle and Femora, and quickly rationalized that the Femora sunset had to be ugly since it was a horrible country on the Southern Continent that no one ever went to.
Aidan was playing with the flame on the candle near her bed when a loud bang sounded down the hallway. The sounds of steel on steel filled the room and panic clenched her heart. She ripped off the covers and picked up the candle, moving as far from the door as possible. Utter fear set in when the door opened with a swish and quickly closed. Her long time maid and nurse rushed towards her, carrying a pack, a basket, and a cloak.
Aidan backed up until the cool smooth stones of the wall pressed into her back.
"Aidan, you have to hurry. The Femorians have taken the castle. You have to leave before they get here. I brought you these, and a cloak to hide your face. They're making their way down the hallway now."
"What do you mean 'They've taken the castle'?"
"They have your father held in the throne room and are demanding that you are brought before them. The guards engaged them, and now the fighting is everywhere. You have to leave through the passages. There is no other way."
"But where would I go? You're coming, right?"
The old nurse opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by the sounds of splintering wood.
"You have to go before it's too late," her nurse pushed the basket and cloak into her hands and towards a tapestry in the wall. Another crash echoed closer and thump landed on the large wooden doors of the bedchamber.
The nurse pulled on the door handle behind the tapestry, but it didn't budge. She continued to pull on it, whispering words under her breath that Aidan couldn't hear and making symbols she didn't recognize. Aidan gasped. Wyrdmarks.
A foul curse flowed out of Anisa's mouth just as the bedchamber door flew open, and a triple of Femorian soldiers poured in.