The city was sleeping beneath a heavy blanket of fresh snow as the thief nimbly made his way to the huge mansion. The moon was hidden behind a thick layer of clouds, cloaking the world in darkness.
When he reached the mansion, he pried open a window and slipped inside. The hallway was cloaked in darkness, and was cold and deserted. Everyone most likely kept close to a heat source unless they absolutely had to go somewhere. Perfect, getting out wouldn't be too hard, even with an extra person.
He kept to the shadows as he made his way to the solitary tower, where he was told he would find his target. The sound of soft footsteps reached him from down the hallway. He quickly hid behind a red curtain, and waited until the sound receded into the distance.
He reached a flight of stairs that spiraled up, and he silently hurried up. Pale light shone at the top of the stairs, and he hunched down to stay hidden. One guard. It would have been a problem, if the guard hadn't been sound asleep.
He quietly unsheathed a dagger, and snuck closer to the guard on near soundless feet. He raised the dagger and swung it hard hilt first into the guards head. That would keep him down for a bit. He quickly found the keys in the guards pocket, and silently unlocked the door.
He closed the door behind him and surveyed the room. Small, a fireplace, a desk and a bed. That was all. He went over to the bed where a small figure slept, and he clamped his hand over her mouth.
The girl startled awake, but he kept his hold on her mouth to keep her from screaming. «Hush, please be quiet, my Lady.» he hastily whispered and the girl stopped squirming, she stared at him. «I'll explain later, pack some clothes, we need to move quickly.» he said and removed his hand from her mouth.
«But the chain...» she whispered, and gestured to her foot. Right, that had been mentioned in the letter he received, and he had brought some tools to try to cut it. He hastily fished out the small saw from his jacket, and behan working on the chain link closest to her ankle. The metal band around the ankle would have to be dealt with later.
He finally got the long, rattling chain off, and glanced at the door. It was silent outside, so far. «Pack your clothes. Hurry.» he whispered to her, but she was already on her way as soon as the chain was of. He went to the door while girl changed her clothes and packed. He cracked the door open to look outside. The guard was still knocked out, but that could change any second.
«Ready.» the girl said. She held a small bag, apparently she didn't have much. He removed his cloak from his shoulders and flung it around hers, pulling the hood up to hide her face. He motioned for her to follow, and keep quiet. He locked the door to the tower room and put the keys back in the guards pocket, then they quickly went down the stairs.
At ground level he opened a window, hopped out then help her climb out as well. Then they hurried away from the mansion and towards where he had a horse ready. Snow had begun falling again. Good that would cover their tracks.
«Who... who are you, sir?» she said between panting breaths, as they hurried through the streets. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
«Nox Owen, Master Thief of Perranth, my Lady. I received orders from our Princess to get you away from your uncle.» he quickly explained. Her breath hitched.
«She... the Princess is... is alive? You met her?» she stuttered.
«I haven't seen her. I got a letter with the royal seal and her signature.» he said. They had reached the horse now, and he quickly made sure that everything they needed was in place, then he tied her belongs to the saddle too. He mounted and offered her hand up. She grasped it after hesitating slightly, and he pulled her up in front of him.
«Where are we going?» she asked, as he urged the horse out of the stable and towards city gates.
«Rifthold, that's the rendezvous. She's with the rebellion there.» Nox answered, then he set the horse into a gallop going south.
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Ever since she had kissed Rowan a few days ago on the balcony, she was constantly feeling giddy. Especially when he was in the room. Like he was right now. They were in a meeting with Dorian, Chaol, Ren, Aedion, Lysandra, Wesley, Sam, Manon and Rhiannon. But she found it hard to pay attention.
Sam had recovered from his injury, even though it still pained him to walk on it. She felt him look at her from time to time, and once she even caught his eye and he tried to suppress a smile. He had noticed her lack of attention as well, and her cheeks heated slightly.
«We need to get the Khaganate on our side. So, Chaol, you will go there as an ambassador and plead our case to the Khagan.» Dorian said as he looked at his friend. «I also need you to place an order for their firelances, they will be detrimental in the fight against the demons.» Chaol nodded. When had they gotten to this topic? Last she remembered they had been talking about when the rest of the Crochans would show up.
She glanced at Rowan, and found him staring at her with a raised eyebrow.
You're not paying attention. He seemed to say.
What makes you think that.
It's not that hard to notice. In fact many here has taken note of it, Fireheart.
Then stop distracting me.
I've done no such thing.
Brute.
Brat. His lips tilted upward in a smile.
«Aelin!» Manon hissed and snapped her fingers to get her attention. Aelin tore her attention away from Rowan and faced the pissed off witch.
«I'm sorry, my mind was elsewhere. What was it you said?» she gave the witch an apologetic smile. Manon pressed her lips into a tight line, and Aelin noticed Lysandra and Sam struggled to keep a straight face. Apparently Rowan had been right about her not so discreet absentmindedness.
«You said Elide had been taken care of. I need more than that.» Manon said in a flat voice.
«They should be arriving within a week or two.» she said.
«Who is she travelling with.» Manon narrowed her eyes at her.
«A man by the name Nox Owen, he is the Master Thief in Perranth. I sent him orders to get her after Rowan told me about Elide's situation.» Aelin told her. Before Manon could say anything, Sam spoke up.
«I didn't know you knew Nox Owen. I've barely heard about him.» he said.
«I met him at the Kings Champion competition.» Aelin said slowly. Manon hissed at her, anger rolling off of her.
«So you remember a thief, but not your own court member.» Manon practically growled at her. Aelin shot to her feet and glared at the witch, struggling to keep the fire from coming out. But she knew her eyes were glowing like liquid gold fire.
«There are countless things I don't remember, Witch. Like the moment we apparently became allies, because the last thing I remember about you is the fight at Temis Temple. I've only played along because Dorian was all chummy with you, so I knew there was something I didn't remember. Be grateful Rowan told me about Elide.» smoke rolled in her mouth, but she swallowed it down. «I'm doing the best I can with what I have.»
Manon kept her stare, then nodded without apologizing. «If you don't remember us becoming allies, have you forgotten the lock too?»
She would have thought that it was nothing more than another jab to piss her off, had not both Dorian and Rowan visibly stiffened. She glared at both of them, clearly they had planned to keep this from her.
«What lock? What's that about?» she asked them, well more like demanded them to tell her.
The two of them shared a look, thrn Dorian spoke up. «It's a kind of device that will put the wyrdkeys back into the wyrdgate, and ultimately send all the Valg back to their own realm.» he said carefully. Aelin frowned at her friend.
«Why would you keep that a secret? Sounds like something that would give us a great advantage in the upcoming wae with the Valg.» she turned her questioning gaze at Rowan, willing him to explain further. There was something more, there had to be since they had decided to keep it from her.
«The price of forging and using the lock is... the one who makes the lock won't survive.» Rowan eventually said, while he watched her carefully. She looked at Dorian who also seemed to eye her warily. There was still something they were not saying, and it itched at the back of her mind.
Manon crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at them. «Darkness claim me, stop dancing around it.» she said harshly, then fixed her stare on Aelin. «Only the blood of Mala Firebringer can forge the lock, that's price.»
The room went as silent as death itself, and it took Aelin a moment to process what Manon had said. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her heart stopped for a second.
«So, to defeat the demons, to win this war I have to... I have to die?» the words tasted awful in her mouth.
She saw Manon open her mouth to say more, but Aelin had heard enough. Without as much as looking at either Dorian or Rowan, she left the room.
She stalked down the hallway of the castle, trying to shake away the dread filling her heart, her soul.
«Aelin, wait!» she heard Dorian shout after her, but she didn't slow down. That did not stop him though, he just ran after her anyway. He grabbed her arm and spun her around. «Manon wasn't finished explaining. It doesn't have to be you, Aelin. Mala's blood runs in both our families. We didn't say anything because I am going to do it, and we didn't want to worry you unnecessarily.» he hastily explained.
«So the compromise is you dying instead? How is that better, is there no other way?» her heart beat wildly in her chest.
«There is no other way. But it doesn't matter, I want to do this for you, for our countries and for our peoples. Besides I'm gonna live a short, mortal life anyway, while you have a thousand years ahead of you, Aelin. So I will do this, not you.»
Her mouth dropped open, and stared at him dumbfoundedly.
«What?» she almost shrieked it, «I'm immortal!?»
«Oh, uhm, I see you didn't remember that either.» he gave a bit shaky laugh. «Well, you are. At least you will be, you're about six years from settling.»
Rowan came walking towards them further down the hallway, and Dorian let go of her arm. She blinked several times, and just stared at him. Rowan had reached them now and took her hand in his.
«I'm sorry, Aelin, we should have told earlier. I just... didn't want to add to your burdens.» Rowan said quietly.
She just looked back and forth between the two of them, unable to find any words at all.
«Take a deep breath, Fireheart,» she did, she took several actually. «The lock and the keys are still a long way off, we'll deal with it when the time comes.»
«Is there anything else, more I don't know?» she said breathlessly.
«I think we've covered all of it now.» Dorian said, trying to sound cheery, giving her a big smile. «I'll leave you two alone.» he said, and retreated back to the meeting they had abandoned.
She looked up at Rowan, staring into those pine green eyes. «A thousand years?» she breathed out, after a while.
«Yes, maybe more.» he said, still holding her hand.
«And Dorian is getting himself killed so that I could live an immortal life?»
«To be fair, it's not just for you. His ancestor, Elena, made a mistake. Then she sold the life of a descendant of Mala to postpone the war that threatened her people. And instead of choosing her side of the family, she chose you. Dorian wants to correct that, to take the fall for what Elena did.» he said, and stroked her hand in calming circles. Aelin closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close. There had to be another way, she thought. She could not accept that death was the only solution, and she would find a different way.
«No more secrets, Rowan, from both of us. From now on you and I keep no secrets from each other.» she said and lifted her head to meet his eyes. «I know that, in the original timeline, that my secret plannings ultimately lead to all this, and I'm sorry for hurting you like that.»
He stroked her hair behind her ear, then stroked the fresh scar that ran from beneath her left eye towards her earlobe. The tender touch sent delightful sparks through her. «Agreed, no more heart stopping or life threatening secrets between us.» he said while gazing deeply into her eyes. The heaviness in her heart slowly floated away beneath his gaze, and she breathed him in deeply.
«We should probably get back to the meeting now.» she said quietly.
«They can wait a bit longer.» he just said then he tipped her head back and kissed her. Her toes curled inside her shoes as the kissed got deeper and more passionate, as the wonderful taste of him filled her senses.
He broke of the kiss and she almost lost her balance, she didn't want it to ever end. She bit her lip, she wanted more and he knew it. She knew he could scent it on her.
«Do you know what's funny?» she said, and she fought back a giggle.
«No, what is?» he asked, and looked at her quizzically.
«I can vividly remember our, uhm, tumbles. But I'm still a virgin.» this time she did giggle, and hid her face against his chest. Her face was blushing like mad. She felt the rumbling in his chest as he burst out laughing.
«Come on, it's time we got back to the meeting, or we won't be back at all tonight.» he said, voice thick with desire, and her heart leapt at the implications he made.
They walked hand in hand back to the meeting. She smiled up at him as they walked, and he smiled lovingly back at her. A thousand years with him would not be enough.