Chapter Text
They stood before the doors to Maeve’s palace at last. They had heard rumors that Aelin had joined Maeve’s court, that the queen had taken the heir of fire under her wing, it had no doubt messed up Lysandra’s ruse back in Terresen but Rowan didn’t care about that right now. Right now all he cared about was his mate.
They walked through the doors and through the halls, they had been prepared for a fight, but just as no one had stopped them at the city gates no one stopped them now. The palace was empty. Save for the throne room.
Rowan could feel her presence before they entered and saw Maeve sitting on her throne, grinning at him. She sat there on her stone throne, skin pale as marble and hair black as night, wearing a dark gown of silk. The wolf at her feet was black as night and glowering at Rowan as he approached. Maeve looked like death and watched them like a cat watches a mouse as it toys with it before eating it.
“So, you’ve finally come to see her. I wondered how long it would take.” It had been three years since Aelin had been taken. Three years of restless nights, of non-stop travel and endless searching. They had only heard Aelin was in Doranelle a month ago and it had taken Gavriel and Lorcan holding him down to keep from flying straight here.
“Where is she?” His voice was quiet as he did his best to restrain himself from attempting to murder the Queen sitting atop the dais. But that would only get him and his companions killed, or worse. No, he could not defeat this Queen of darkness, he had to play by her rules.
“I’ll let you see her, I’m not that cruel.” Maeve gave a smirk, willing them to contradict her, willing them to try her patience. She knew he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t risk losing the opportunity to see her. “But I’m afraid I have to warn you.” Rowan went stiff, “At first I wasn’t going to tell you, let you figure it out on your own, but I don’t want you ruining all those months of effort Cairn put into breaking her.” Rowan growled but the Queen continued, “Her mind is broken,” his heart shattered at the words, “she doesn’t remember anything since the fall of Terrasen, she thinks that I had my warriors rescue her from the King of Adarlan when her parents died and then raised her here, she doesn’t remember you.” Maeve emphasized that last part with a cruel grin. He wasn’t going to lie, it hurt, it hurt to think of his mate not knowing who he was, forgetting him and everything they had been through together, though he knew it wasn’t her fault. “You won’t tell her anything, you won’t try to fix her or bring her back to reality. If you do, I'm afraid I’ll have to put her back into that Iron coffin,” Maeve mocked an expression of sadness and he wanted to rip it off her face. “And as much as Cairn would enjoy breaking her again, I’m afraid it would be a nuisance to explain her sudden absence from my court. But if it comes to it I will not hesitate, but I’ll let you watch.” The queen’s feline grin was blood boiling. “Do we have a deal?” She knew he would agree, knew he would agree to almost anything to see her. Knew that the only thing stopping him from handing over the location of the wyrd keys in return for Aelin’s safety were the males behind him.
“Yes.” he barely managed to grit out the words.
“Good.” she clasped her hands together, “The rest of your companions will be escorted to the rooms where they will stay until dinner.” The males behind him growled at being denied the chance to see the Queen but Rowan wouldn’t lose this chance. Maeve then said, gesturing to a side door, “Cairn will take you too her '' Cairn entered and the only thing that kept Rowan from ripping out the male’s throat was the reminder that he needed to see Aelin. Cairn’s smile was fraying the edge of his self-control anyway.
Cairn walked him out of the castle and into the gardens at the edge of the grounds. The whole way Cairn spoke of the days he spent with Aelin, of what he’d done, of how she’d screamed and the only way Rowan managed to not drag the male down a forgot corner of the gardens was reminding himself of Aelin. Her fate, their fate, depended on his behavior. Eventually they reached the edge of a forested section of the garden. It was still walled in on all sides of course, bewitched or not Maeve likely wasn’t letting Aelin out of the grounds of the castle, but it gave an illusion of freedom. Or it must for her, then again for her it likely didn’t seem like an illusion. He walked to the edge of the forest and stood there, unsure of what to do next. Cairn stood a few paces behind him, watching his every move, making sure he didn’t try to run with Aelin.
“She’s in the clearing.” He turned and found Fenrys. He might have snapped at the male but he saw the dark sorrow in the male’s eyes. He looked hollow, the normal light and humor gone from his expression. Rowan wondered what he had seen and endured in the past three years.
“Thank you.” He murmured to the wolf before striding into the trees to find his mate.