A Court Of Shattered Glass

Aelin - Prologue

Aelin wasn't sure how long it had been.

Every day- moment- seemed sluggish in the box. The cage. Seconds marked by the dull thud of her own heart in her ears, by the slow drip of blood into the cold bottom of the coffin. Left like this for hours before being pulled from the coffin and wiped clean. Unsure of what was real and what was false.

She tried to slow her breathing and slip free of her body and her pain but it was hard. Her sluggish and fractured mind stuttered with every attempt made to form more than simple thoughts. She could feel the power build beneath her skin. A power that wished to burst free. Left to slowly push her apart. Straining.
Another breath. Steadier.

Whimpering past the bit in her mouth as she lifted chained hands. Tears straining against skin and muscle. Protesting. Atrophy strung through her- worse. Than before in the mines. Mines so long ago.

A long moment where she gathered thoughts. Stray snowflakes melting on flame-warmed hands- those thoughts.

Struggling to breathe past her bit and see past the mask. Blood touched hands brushing against the lid of the coffin. Hands-tracing paths memorized from a simpler time; libraries and challenges and sweet princes. Princes.
She pushed past pain, for a moment- thoughts of her prince, of pine-kissed scent briefly brushing through her scrambled brain before she shoved the memories deep down. She would not allow the wicked queen to tough on her memories if this was a trick.

She squeezed her eyes tight, scraping those few final symbols. Her mind slowly pieced together the words she could not speak aloud.

I am Celaena- Aelin. I am Aelin Ashryver G- Whitethorn Galathynius.

And I will not be afraid.

She sent out a silent prayer to the very gods who never seemed to listen before the familiar wyrds began to flow through her mind. She scrawled the final marks of the symbols along the lid of the coffin.

Instantly, unhindered by the damper of the iron and fed by the magic in her blood the symbols began to glow. A tug in her stomach was the only indicator of what was going to happen before she began to plummet.
Panic sparked in her bones as the coffin fell with her, trapped in the iron cage as it fell back with such speed that she was lifted from the bottom and rose slightly. There was a yelp from outside, the yelp of a wolf that would follow her to the ends of the earth whether by the commands of the dark queen or by his own loyalty.

Some relief came along, the knowledge that he would be unbound by the queen if he followed her through the portal- that she would not be alone. That he would get her out. It was relief she felt in the few moments before she was slammed into the coffin again, the pain of it tearing a yelp past even with the metal in her mouth before she succumbed to the darkness.

—

AN: as much as I'd like to continue this I can make no promises that it will continue to completion.

Also cover image credits go to me.