rowan's pov
rowan held his breath tight and stood completely and utterly still. one wrong move and he would be done for.
"i want updates, cairn." maeve snapped. from where the male was stood, he could see the evil queen and her blood sworn conversing.
maeve was sat in her stone throne, the white owl perched just above her shoulder. cairn was on one knee in front of her, head bowed.
the day after he left his friends to find aelin on his own, he had felt a blast of power to indicate where she was.
it didn't feel like aelin's magic, but it was powerful enough to suggest that something between her and her aunt was happening.
"she is gone, majesty," cairn said, still not meeting the eyes of his queen "i opened the coffin and aelin was no longer there."
what? panic flooded rowan's veins. if his mate was not here, then where was she? but at least she had escaped these evil people.
"she ran away?" maeve was fuming. her moon white hands were gripping the arms of the throne hard enough that the stone was becoming dented.
"no. fenrys said that she was there one moment and gone the next. he cannot lie; he is blood sworn to you."
the queen closed her eyes as if she was calming down, but when they opened, they were full of predatory intent.
she held out her hand and darkness swirled from her palm towards cairn.
one moment he was alive and the next he was not.
rowan ground his teeth together. that was his kill. he was going to make cairn suffer for what he did to his fireheart.
"i know you're there, rowan." maeve suddenly said in the silence.
it was now or never. he had no time to think or plan his next steps, he just acted.
maeve would not see this coming. she would expect rowan to reveal himself and make a bargain, a trade of some sort.
she thought so highly of herself that she did not believe rowan could bring her any harm.
so within a few seconds, rowan charged forward and cut maeve's head clean from her body.