Realm Of Ashes (Throne of Glass #7)

Chapter 6

The pain had ceased by the time Aelin rose to consciousness again. She could not remember what had happened, only that there had been such terrible pain and such rushing relief all in a short amount if time. She sighed into the darkness, wishing she could just go back to sleep. No point living another day. She had no idea of the  time anyway, it could be midnight for all she knew, for all she cared.

If she was being true to herself, which was not a usual event to occur, she wanted to live. She wanted to see the world with Rowan, wanted more of their conversations that lasted into the early hours of the morning. She wanted to eat chocolates with Lysandra, have water fights with Aedion, start a book club with Dorian. She even wanted to play Billiards with Chaol and have some of Nesryns home made goodies. She knew, in her brain, that those things could never happen. This was war. She would die here, alone, malnourished and freezing. And they, her friends and her court, would die for their freedom.

A cold stone settled on her already dying heart. She was going to die here and no one would save her, no one would come offering freedom, just as Chaol and Dorian had, no one would tell her to shut up when she made one of her witty comments, just like Aedion and Rowan had. She was going to die and then be damned to a pit of hell for the rest of eternity.

She didn't know why it hit so hard. She had been expecting it. She had known this was going to happen. She had let it happen for the sake of Terresan, for Erelia. She had know, had realised that this was to be her fate. But why did it suddenly feel wrong, as if she was being tipped upside down and was not viewing the world in the right way.

The weight of the realisation was crushing her. She had to get out, had to survive. For Rowan, for Aedion, for Terresan. She had to. She needed to, wanted to. The tears started welling, a lump forming in her dehydrated throat. No she didn't. She had sealed her kingdoms future. Had sealed the fate of her friends. They would die in the gods damned war and the world would burn and burn and burn. It didn't need her; just another lighter in the room full of candles.

The tears had slowed to a small trickle and she had begun the cycle of drifting in and out of sleep when a light filled the room, blinding her. She heard voices but couldn't distinguish them as she was overwhelmed with the sudden action of the world around her. This was it, they had finally come to kill her. She couldn't see but she hardly cared. This was where fate had led her, where all her scheming and planning had finally ender her. She didn't have the emotions to care anymore. The throbbing in her head dulled as the world around her became less if a blur.

"Is this where you kill me?" She asked, the usual bite in her voice lost by her swelling throat.
The answer was deep and male, almost familiar and it said
"No, I've come to take you home."