Only You

Fire and Ice

Aelin woke the next morning feeling surprisingly light. Her mind wasn't weighed down with Sam, or with court politics... or even the fact that her mate was here. No. She woke and was excited for the day.

She bounded out of bed before the maids had arrived in her rooms and quickly washed and dressed herself. She hadn't bothered with fancy clothes, she had picked out a simple tunic and pants. If she was training with Rowan then she wanted to be practical.

She didn't waste time with going to the dining hall, Orlon and her parents already seated and sipping their tea. None of them said a word as she sat at the table and piled her plate with pastries. The silence did not last long as her father finally put his tea down and looked towards her.

"We should talk about what happened yesterday, Aelin." Her mother gave her a smile of apology.

"We already did." She shrugged, her excitement turning into something that felt a lot like dread.

"We never discussed a way forward. How we will deal with your mating and—"

"I appreciate your concern, but this is something that I need to navigate on my own. I will keep you updated on things you need to know, but let me do this by myself." Her parents looked to each other, Orlon still chewing on his breakfast. "I am old enough to look after myself." She smiled softly at her parents, her mother looking like she might cry.

"If it's any consolation Aelin, I think Rowan Whitethorn would make a delightful King consort." Orlon grinned, knowing his words would ruffle her.

"On that note, I'm going to the training ground. I will speak with you all later." She snatched a couple of pastries from her plate and left, stopping to say good morning to a few people as she did.

She had made it all of ten steps when Aedion fell into a walk beside her. "So you have a mate?"

"Don't you have somewhere else to be, Aedion? Like tormenting Lysandra or dealing with stuffy royals." She kept walking straight, down the steps and into the crisp morning air.

"I believe stuffy royal duties don't start for another hour."

She huffed.

"Are you really not going to talk about it?"

"Theres nothing to talk about." She spotted the stone archway that led to the training ground, the spot thankfully empty of any prying eyes.

"So I shouldn't start making banners for your mating ceremony?"

She glared at Aedion who was smiling from ear to ear. He knew exactly how ro rub her the wrong way. "Stay out of it Aedion. When I want to talk about it, I will."

He put his hands up in surrender, retreating a few steps. "I just want to make sure my cousin is okay; you can't get angry at me for that." He turned back towards the palace, his golden hair glowing in the sunlight. "Let me know if I need to have words with him." She watched as he retreated back into the castle, no doubt to update her parents.

She continued the short walk to the training ground and immediately spotted Rowan on the far side. He was dressed similar to herself, plain white tunic and pants that she couldn't help but notice hugged his thighs spectacularly. And though neither of them had accepted the bond, she could feel the pull of him. The way her body and soul was drawn to the silver-haired male. She hadn't even got half away across the grounds when he looked up and gave her a smile that may have affected her more than she wished to admit.

As she approached she got a whiff of his scent and she shivered at the smell. Pine and snow.

The smell of Terrasen.

She struggled to find words as she stopped before him. But she managed a smile and he returned it with his own.

"I didn't know the extent of your abilities so I thought maybe we could start out simple. Just throw our magic at each other and shield?" She nodded and they took their places in the middle the courtyard. She summoned her flame into her hands and Rowan looked pleasantly surprised as she pushed the flame forward, towards him. It bounced right off his shield and the flame flickered out as he suffocated it with his magic. He sent daggers of ice at her next, she barely had time to summon a shield as they smacked into it and tendrils of steam floated up as they hit the shimmering shield.

Fire and ice. It was poetic in a way, two opposites bound together by fate.

They continued sparring until Aelin could feel the tug of a burnout. It never took much, but she always knew when to stop. Rowan sensed her imminent burnout too and halted his spear of ice. A cool breeze— curtesy of Rowan she realised— blew around the courtyard, cooling the fire in her veins.

"For someone who claims to be trained, your burnout came on fast." He went to the small fountain and splashed water over his face, the droplets running down his neck, further, she had to turn away before he noticed a shift in her scent. From the subtle cough from Rowan, she knew he had probably already done so. "You have some control over the fire, but you need to be quicker. The shields are too slow to appear and too weak to really defend yourself."

"Good thing I don't actually need to defend myself." She strutted over to the same fountain and copied his movements. Splashing some water on her face and arms. "I only use my fire for practical purposes." It was Rowan's turn to turn away she noted with a smug smile. He recovered quickly and looked to her once again.

"You always need to know how to defend yourself."

"Terrasen hasn't seen a war in hundreds of years."

"War isn't the only time you might need to defend yourself. What if you are attacked whilst out riding, or in the city, or—"

"I get your point." Aelin perched on the bench and watched as Rowan stretched. "I suppose you'll have to teach me then." She had enjoyed their training this morning, it had been easy and almost natural falling into the sparring. Their magic had danced around each other, had sung to the other. And if she was being honest, she had enjoyed his company.

Rowan continued his stretching as he replied. "I'll be here every morning. We can practice then."

And they did. For the next week Aelin and Rowan would meet by the archway and they would train for two hours each morning. Neither said much, but it was comfortable. They had slipped into the routine easily. Some mornings Aedion would watch, sometimes Rowan's cousins would spar alongside them, other times it was just the two of them. It was the only time they had really spent together alone. She had made a point to avoid any chaperoned walks or rides or whatever her father was deeming appropriate. She didn't need the eyes of guards and her parents watching her every move with Rowan.

On the second day of training they had ended up in the morning room, where they had drunk tea and discussed their lives; they never went too deep, but she liked the way Rowan told stories, she liked hearing his voice and how his eyes would brighten when he talked about his friends in Doranelle. Conversation seemed to flow easy with them. And every day they spent together, the tug she felt got stronger.

Despite their new routine, they had never spent much time outside the palace, or at least anywhere that would allow them to be completely alone. Which is why, when Rowan had knocked on her door that evening asking if she would like to go for a walk, she agreed.