Scars, tattoos, and slavery

Part 3

A/N finally i updated don't worry i fell off the planet for a while but i'm back now :)!!!!!

Aelin-

I am sitting here in my cold room, as soon as Rowan left so did I. He said I didn't deserve it that no deserves to be treated like that, but he's wrong I'm the only one who deserves this I'm supposed to be the queen of a once proud fair country that is now suffering. I abandoned my own people to face the cruelties of the world alone. That's why I deserve it. All the slaves that were by my sides in that awful salt mine they are the ones who don't deserve to be treated like this, but I abandoned them as well I left them the first chance I had. I left them to go play a sick twisted game for the very person that made them slaves the very person who cause them so much pain. So if there is anyone on the planet who deserves to be treated like a slave it's me. Slowly I feel tears start to come down my face. I let my self fall to the ground next to my bed, I reach up and pull the threadbare blanket down and wrap it around myself as I let the tears fall trying to gain whatever warmth and comfort it has to offer. The tears start to fall faster as I think about how now Rowan has had proper time to think thing over, and how after the original shock he to will come to the conclusion that I did deserve it; that every time one of those cursed whips fell upon my back it was because I deserved it. As I think of the whips my breath picks up I remember the first time it happened, I remember the sound of my own unhinged, cold laugh. I mostly remember why I was laughing it was because despite all the people I had killed Celaena did not deserve this but, Aelin, Aelin she deserved it because it was her who abandoned her kingdom. So they thought they were punishing Celaena but really they were punishing Aelin and they did not even know it. So the one thing that wretched man they call a king has done right he didn't even try to do.

                                                                                                       •<=>•

Rowan

I return to my room expecting to find Aelin but instead it's empty everything was as it had been minus Aelin. She had left and I need to talk to her he need her to understand how what happened to her was wrong and not her fault. I need her to know that I'm sorry for the things I've said. I can't think of where  she would be at first I thought maybe she had gone to the kitchens but no she would not want to have to deal with Luca and Emrys right now.Then I think that she might have gone somewhere she could be alone so that leaves only private quarters because Wryd knows that every other crack of this place is filled with demi fae.  With that thought I shifted and flew out my window. I saw her window was slightly open so I dive for it. I shifted as soon as I was in the room. I may have what is considered to be a "heart of stone" but what I saw broke it. Aelin was curled up into an impossibly small ball, tears are streaming down her face, her shoulders heaving with silent sobs, and the pathetic excuse for a blanket  was wrapped haphazardly around her and she was clinging to it for dear life. I walk over to her slowly she hasn't looked over at me yet but I know she knows I'm here. I squat down in front  of her and say "Aelin?" She looks up at me but says nothing. "Aelin." I repeat hoping I'll get some sort of response this  time but no such luck. I look at her straight in the eye and say once again, "Aelin." She sniffs but still says nothing staring at me with an empty look and for a moment I fear that made I was wrong earlier maybe she was shattered. I through my arms up in mild frustration,  but that was a mistake because she all the sudden jerks back violently, hitting her head on the frame of the bed and then if possible she curls in on herself even more. At first I'm confused but then it occurs to me that she must be thinking of her time as a slave so she thought I was going to hit her. At this realization I feel the calm killing rage wash over me again but I quickly shove it back down because Aelin needs me here not killing the men that hurt her with my bare hands. I was pulled from my thoughts suddenly when I heard her say "I ran once, I ran to the wall I got three inches away everyone else gets three feet or less I got hundreds, most days I wish I had made it only three feet like the others that maybe the world would be better for it one less assassin one less incompetent queen one less coward. Thats what I was thinking when I ran." I had nothing to say, these men they had driven her insane they had broken her spirit so much that she had been seeking death on her own terms. "I'm sorry, I was wrong they did shatter you but I over looked the fact that you are strong and the fact that I will help you I will pick up every shard even if it means my hands are bloodied and shredded (every time i hear the word shred i think of the shredder from teenage mutant ninja turtles k back to the story;)) and even if I have to fly across continents to find all the pieces I will. She looked up at me, shocked, and said "Why would you do that I'm not worth that I'm not even worth a trip to the kitchen, let alone cross country." I can barely take the hurt in her eyes which are filled with tears making the blue look like a ocean raging around molten gold. All the sudden I feel a tug in my chest and then a snap like something just popped into place and with no little amount of shock I realize where I had felt this before the last time this happened was when I was with Lyira. I look back up at Aelin still in shock and see she has sat up suddenly and is holding her chest and sounds like she is short of breath. She looks up at me once more and those beautiful are still shining with tears when she says "What just happened?"  I took a deep breath and said "First I am quite sure that that was a mate bond snapping into place." I said as calmly as I could manage "And secondly you are worth a thousand trips across a thousand seas." Then I gently grabbed her chin and said "Close your mouth princess you look like a fish." When she failed to comply I leaned in and kissed her a soft, gentle kiss." when I pulled away I heard her mumble something under her breath so quiet even my fae senses didn't pick it up "What was that" "I said it's impossible I'm not want to be happy." I looked at her and with our newly formed bond I noticed for the first time that she was truly truly beautiful so I say "If I can be happy so can you now I have you and you have me so don't worry you will be happy because you won't have to bare your troubles alone now or ever again. She smiled a true genuine smile one I had never seen before one that made my heart flutter like I was young again. She leaned in and hugged me and I hugged her back to let her know that I am here and I was will be then she leaned over to my ear and said impossibly softy "I believe I was going to get a tattoo before this whole mess started." I smiled and said "Is that so?" She nodded and leaned in and pecked me on the cheek. "Well I guess that can be arranged but only if you tell me a story." "Oh?" she said "And what story would that be?" I look at her and say "yours"