The Assassin and the Queen

Chapter 1

Celaena Sardothien was happy. It was strange, it felt almost impossible, but it was true. She was truly, actually happy, and had been for the two years since she and Sam came to live in the desert. Everything was going perfectly, until it wasn't. Until it really, really wasn't.

She was sitting alone, eating her lunch. Sam was at the gates greeting a new nobleman, presumably here to hire a  few assassins to do his dirty work for him. Celaena didn't mind. Though she loved Sam, she liked the quiet too. The lovely, peaceful quiet. 

Of course that quiet had to be interrupted. A boy sat down across from her, and smiled wickedly. Celaena looked up at him slowly, purposely giving the impression that she couldn't care less about who he was or what he wanted. She didn't recognize the boy, which surprised her a little. She liked to think that she knew everybody in the camp. 

The stranger smirked at her and said "Hello darling, my name is Anderon, and I'm new here. You seem like the kind of girl who would know what's going on, I was wondering if you might like to, show me around?"

Celaena raised a single eyebrow. The boy must be new if he though he could speak to her like that! Her response was quick "If you do not move, and I mean right now, I will make it my mission in life to separate every one of your limbs from your body very very slowly."

Then she smiled, and it was her smile, not her words, that had Anderon on his feet backing away.

Celaena smirked and returned her attention to the food before her. It was fun watching morons squirm. 

She remained contentedly fixated on her food, until a general fidgeting of the crowd caused her to look up. In the entry to the hall was Sam, and behind him, hidden from her view, whoever it was that he had been sent to escort. She craned her neck to try to get a look at the new comer, but gave it up after only a minute. He would be visible soon enough anyway. Instead she focused her eyes on Sam. 

He hadn't changed much since they had left Rifthold together, except for acquiring a rather endearing tan. He grinned at her when he noticed her gaze on him. She grinned back. But it was at that moment that his companion stepped into her line of sight. 

She felt her smile melt off her lips. It wasn't him, it couldn't be him. 

But it was.

Celaena stood up quickly and pushed back from the table. She felt Sam's questioning eyes on her, but she ignored him. She took a step back from the table, then another. Then she turned and flat out ran from the room. She heard questioning murmurs from the crowd around her, but they hopefully wouldn't ask too many questions. After all it wasn't like it was the first time she had done something they deemed as odd. 

Celaena didn't stop running until she reached the room she shared with Sam. When she arrived she bolted the door and leaned against it, breathing hard.

She hand't felt fear like that in so long, and it made her shake. 

*  *  *

Sam Courtland stared at the retreating blond head in confusion. He looked at his companion. The man was certainly intimidating, and Sam was sure that there were many people who would run from the sight of him, but not his Celaena. As far as he knew the only man Celaena truly feared was Arobynn, and he was safely back in Rifthold. 

The man that Sam was escorting was also looking at the place where Celaena's hair had just vanished around a corner. "Who was that?" he asked.

"Celaena" Sam replied, "Celaena Sardothien".

"Really?" the man's blond eyebrows shot up. Looking at him, it struck Sam as a little funny how much he looked like the girl he was asking after. Same blond hair, and oddly blue eyes. They could almost be cousins, though Sam supposed that the coloring must be common in Terrasen. 

"I've heard the legends" Aedion Ashryver said, his voice contemplative "But I almost didn't know whether to believe them. They always seem a little implausible."

Sam smiled. If there was one word to describe his Celaena, it was implausible. 

"I'd like to meet her," Aedion continued, "if that would be possible."

Sam hesitated. Given the way that Celaena had just run from the room, he doubted that she wanted to talk to the man, but he didn't want to say that outright. Instead he said "I'll ask her."

"Good" Aedion replied, "Now where should I sit?"

Hello!

Welcome all, I hope you enjoyed it!

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