107 Stories of Rowaelin

19

I'm tired of making up titles, they'll probably just be number from now on.
     Lysandra hadn't heard the plans, but she knew the Fae Prince would be Arobynn's first target. Rowan would die---Rowan had to die. She'd seen it in Arobynn's eyes as he watched the queen and her prince holding hands, grinning at each other despite the horrors around them.
     Little did the courtesan know, that as she sidled closer to Arobynn and pulled the stiletto free, a hooded, shadowy figure slipped out the door of the Assassins Keep.
           •                    •                    •
      Aelin grinned, breathless and more than a little reckless. Seeing that dungeon room tonight, she'd realized she was tired. Tired of death, and of waiting, and of saying goodbye.
     She lifted a hand to cup Rowan's face.
     So smooth, his skin, the bones beneath strong and elegant.
     She waited for him to pull back , but he just stared at her---stared into her in that way he always did. Friends, but more. So much more, and she'd known it longer than she wanted to admit. Carefully, she stroked her thumb across his cheekbone, his face slick with rain.
     It hit her like a stone--- the wanting. She was a fool to have dodged it, denied it, even when a part of her had screamed it every morning that she'd blindly reached for the empty half of the bed.
     She lifted her other hand yo his face and his eyes locked onto hers, his breathing ragged as she traced the lines of the tattoo along his temple.
     His hands tightened slightly in her waist, his thumbs grazing the bottom of her ribcage. It was an effort not to arch into his touch.
     "Rowan," she breathed, his name a plea and a prayer. She slid her fingers down the side of his tattooed cheek and--
     Faster than she could she, he grabbed one wrist and then the other, yanking them away from his face and snarling softly. The world yawned open around her, cold and still.
     He dropped her hands as if they were on fire, stepping away, those green eyes flat and dull in a way she hadn't seen for some time now. Her throat closed up even before he said, "Don't do that. Don't---touch me like that."
     There was a roaring in her ears, a burning in her face, and she swallowed hard. "I'm sorry. I didn't---didn't mean... I'm sorry."
     She was still whispering "I'm sorry" when an arrow slammed into Rowan's chest. 
     The world was still. Rowan's eyes were open in surprise and pain as he slowly fell. Aelin heard a woman's scream. She stretched out her arms to catch Rowan.
      And the world was moving and it was her screaming, just his name, over and over, and Aedion was there, clad only in a nightshirt.
       "What ha--- oh gods."
       "We are getting a healer. Right now." Rowan would be alright, he would, they just needed a healer. He would be fine. He would.
       Rowan tried to speak. She instantly bent down. "What. You're going to be alright."
      He tried again. "No, I'm not. Please, please don't let me die alone. Please, stay."
      So she did. She cradled him in her arms as blood trickled out of his mouth. "Aelin," he whispered. "This changes nothing. Reclaim Terrasen. For me. For your people." He raised a hand to wipe a tear that ran down her cheek.
      "I will. But you're going to do it with me because you're going to stay. You're going to live." Aelin clutched her Fae Prince tighter ad his lips formed her name. Aelin. His eyes closed.
     Inside her, something snapped. She got up, changed into the suit, grabbed as many weapons as she could, and took to the streets. She tracked the assassin, running like the wind of her carranam. He was her carranam no longer.
     She found him. His black cloak flapped behind him as he slunk through the streets. She dragged him into an abandoned building, muffling his shout of surprise. And she made him scream.
     Arobynn had taught her torture. He'd taught her pain. But this was different. For hours Tern screamed and begged, Aelin deaf to his cries. Finally she leaned forward. "You want me to kill you, don't you."
     "Please." It was a rasp.
     "Well I'm not. I'm going to stay here and watch you bleed out." She leaned in close, to whisper in his ear. "And I'm going to like it."
      He coughed, and smiled. "Well if I go, I'm taking you down with me." And Aelin Ashryver Galathynius gasped as he slid a dagger into her chest.
      Her last thought as she fell was that she hadn't fulfilled her promise to Rowan.