A Court Of Glass

~~FOUR~~

'Rhys you can't fight him.' I whisper the next morning, I hardly slept spending most of the night worrying about Rhys while lying in bed surrounded by the circle of his warmth.
'I doubt I have a choice.' Rhys whispers back. Am about to respond but there's a knock on the door and two servants walk in carrying one tray each.
We eat in silence while they go into the room with clothes and pick our outfits. After we are done they dress us, surprisingly I am dressed in pants too. Rhys doesn't like that, I can see the worry and fear in his eyes.

The guards escort us to the fighting arena and the lack of shackles on Rhys and me is only a small relief. Aedion is already waiting in one of the arenas and my heart beat quickens. He has a sword strapped to his hip and a dagger strapped to his thigh. Rhys doesn't have a single weapon other than his powers but Aedion might have powers of his own. When we arrive at the fighting arena Rhys is given a sword and a dagger. Another small relief. A few fae worriers came into the arena next to ours, waiting for someone.

A loud clang sounds and I turn around to see that Rhys and Aedion started their fight. They parry and duck and attack both fighting their hardest, moving at full speed and attacking with their full strength. I don't even know when I stoped breathing, I only realise when my head spins slightly and I take in a deep breath. Aedion fakes an attack and kicked Rhys' sword out of his hand the point of his own sword at Rhys' throat within a second. My heart speeds up but Aedion only lowers his sword and asks; 'Again?' Rhys nods moving to pick up his sword. I take a few deep breaths to slow down my heart to normal.
I look around and see the queen walking out of the castle her hands and feet shackled, Lysandra walks beside her but slightly behind and six guards trail them. The queen walks into the other arena shackled and with no weapons about to face five fae worriers fully armed. The king must be a monster to make his wife go through something like this. They are going to beat her up, unless they are going to kill her. Though I don't see how five of them are needed to do that. Maybe the king just wants her to suffer?

I go back to watching Rhys and Aedion fight. There is nothing I can do to save the queen not when Rhys and I are so badly out numbered with no way to get back home. This time Rhys is able to disarm Aedion and points the tip of his blade to Aedion's throat. Aedion grins.
'Aedion, Aelin is board. Come on.' A female voice says, I turn to see Lysandra coming towards us. Aedion's grin widens.
'Come you'll meet Adarlan's assassin.' Aedion laughs. I don't like that.
Rhys. I hiss through the mating bond.
I'll be fine. He says.
You can't fight an assassin. I say. He doesn't reply and we reach the other arena, where the queen stands her clothes and shackled speckled with blood but I can't tell where she is injured. Lysandra shape-shifts into a white-grey leopard, Aedion gets into position with his sword up. He counts to three and he and Lysandra lunge at the queen. She uses the shackles around her hands to stop Aedion from hitting her with his sword then kicks Lysandra away. Lysandra gets up and walks towards the queen while the queen ducks and dodges blows from Aedion. The queen is really really good.
The queen is Adarlan's assassin. Rhys says with astonishment.
She is really good. I agree.
Five minutes later the queen has won against both Aedion and Lysandra. She's breathing hard but she's smiling. Aedion gets up and moves to help Lysandra, he calls for the guards to unshackle the queen but she dropped the shackles without anyone helping her.
'That was fun.' The queen says.
'You were an assassin, your majesty?' Rhys asks queen Aelin.
'Assassin, slave, king's champion...' she responds.
'King's champion?' Rhys asks.
'When I was in Adarlan the crown Prince took me from a slave camp and made a deal with me. I would win the position of being his father's champion and after four year of working for him I would get my freedom back.' She answers as we walk back into the castle.
'So you worked for the king and then married him.' I ask. Queen Aelin, Aedion and Lysandra laugh.
'Oh no, no. Rowan was born a prince but he of a different country and he has cousins who are before him in line to the throne. I killed the king of Adarlan crowned his son king and came back to Terassen.' She says waving her hand in a gesture meaning she came back here.
'And how did you become queen?' Rhys asks her. She turns to look at us an amused expression on her face.
'I was the only child to the crown Prince of Terassen and his wife.' She says like it should be obvious.
'But you were a slave and assassin?' Rhys asks.
'When I was little Aderlan attacked Terassen and took it under its control along with other countries on this continent. I was found half dead by the Lord of Assassins who took me in, he gave me a new name and trained me to be the best assassin-' Lysandra looks at us and rolls her eyes while Aedion let's out a low laugh. 'then he betrayed me when I was sixteen and sent me to the slave camp.' Queen Aelin finishes. 'The guards will take you to your rooms.' She says and two guards come forward leading Rhys and me back to our rooms. The queen, Aedion and Lysandra go in the opposite direction.

Once we get to our room we find two servants are already there waiting with hot water in the bath. They strip us but leave us to bath  by ourselves.
So the king doesn't beat his wife. Rhys says through the mating bond, once we are soaking in the bath.
I guess not. I reply.