RowAelin One-Shots

Snowy Afternoon

 

          The room was bathed in a light glow from the weak flickering of the flame inside the hearth. The stillness was unusual, but not at all awkward. The two of them lounged with a lazy air on the couch and enjoyed one another's company. The only sounds that could be heard were the noises coming off of Aelin, occasional shuffling of paper in her hands, or nervous coughing to clear the silence. Her throat tired of the unnecessary interruptions and she relaxed against the couch. She closed her eyes against the gentle light of the room, the slight crackle and shuffle of the logs in the fire as they collapsed on one another and the fire died down.

          The shift in the stillness drew Rowan's attention, and he drew himself up from the couch with a grunt. Shuffling across the room with eyes half asleep, he picked up a few logs from the pile with ease and threw them onto the pile, waiting for Aelin to start a small spark with her magic. She aimed a quick glance towards the fireplace, the effort used on lighting that small fire less than what it had used to be. Snow was coming down in small tufts around the castle, drifting at a gentle pace past the window to their room. Rowan glanced down at the fire, gauging how much longer the fire he had just put in would last.

          Leaning himself against the mantle he shifted his body in the slightest, now facing Aelin as she shuffled some more between the stack of papers. Feeling the intense gaze on the crown of her head, she glanced up under lowered eyelashes to find Rowan's fierce eyes piercing into her. The light reflecting off the snow outside glimmered, highlighting his hair and face. The tattoos that covered half his face also stood out more with the beams that filtered across the warm room. The sleepiness he had just exhibited a few moments ago had vanished completely from his gaze; the Fae warrior's relaxed posture told her he was comfortable, but his gaze said anything but.

          Looking back down, now a little uncomfortable under the fire of her carranam's gaze, she flipped through the papers at a faster pace until she stumbled across a page with a mistake on it. Cursing under her breath, she sets aside the paper to fix later and continues to flip through, not daring to look up again lest her gaze meet Rowan's. Aelin didn't think she could handle one of his intense gazes at the moment, not when she was so precariously balanced between sleepiness and work.

          Her concentration tipped when Rowan strode across the room with gentle precision, setting himself back down on the couch close to her own position. His calloused hand reached up to her hair, patting down a few tufts that were persistent in their station atop her head. The queen of Terrasen peeked at her mate from behind the papers; the same papers she seemed to never put down. The snow outside was erratic, picking up at times so that only white was visible outside the window, and yet other times slow and lofty just enough so the line of trees near the castle could be seen.

          Moving his hand to caress her chin, Rowan murmured something in the Fae language that she didn't recognize. With the amount of time the two had spent on it, Rowan mentoring and Aelin learning, confusion settled into her mind at the words she had yet to learn. A stroke of familiarity tickled at her brain, until she was tempted to ask.

          "Rowan," Aelin started, putting her papers down for a moment, gathering herself into a more comfortable position to look at him. "What did you just say? I recognized some of the words." She murmured with an absent mind, her concentration piqued with the slight amount of color rising into his cheeks. His gaze was on the carpet beneath the couch, then it flickered to the fireplace, and finally back to her with a renewed glint. He held back the urge to smile.

          "It is nothing, do not worry yourself," he replied, his fingers drumming the couch while Aelin stewed over his words.

          "Of course it is something, otherwise you would not say it all the time. Come on, tell me!" She whined, drawing out the 'ee' sound longer than necessary.

          The high pitched noise coming from his queen caused his cheek to twitch with annoyance, her pitch lingering in his ear. He continued to ignore her questions, seeming to occupy himself with picking under his nails. Aelin grunted in dissatisfaction, and switched her focus from reading papers. She would get the answer out of him, one way or another. She knew exactly where to start, too.

          Rowan recognized the look in her face. Their uncanny ability to communicate with one another came in handy in other ways as well. Ever since they began, the skill only improved. It became a fixation for both of them, the source of many challenges over the months.

          "Before you get any smart ideas, I will tell you. You have pushed my hand," he sighed with exasperation, and Aelin grinned like a madman in response.

          Unable to resist smiling back, a small chuckle escaped him accompanying his grin and he scooted closer to her on the couch, pulling her into the crook of his arm. Usually, Aelin limited the amount of moments she had like this. After all, she had to stay focused on running her country. Yet, at the moment, she sucked in a breath and nuzzled in further, enjoying the company.

          Rowan smiled down at her before he continues. "If you must know, it means 'brightest star in my sky', Fireheart."

{A/N: Hey! Thanks for reading. I know this is really late but I've just been busy. I also seem to have a little bit of writer's block, so that's probably why I've taken so long to just finish this chapter. In any case, hopefully over spring break I can get a few more chapters done. If you have any prompts you'd like me to write about please feel free to comment them, I'll see what I can do!}