Throne of Glass and ACOTAR Crossover (complete)

Chapter 31 - Feyre

I open my eyes, blinking in the dim light. There's something dripping on my back, something I hope to the mother is water. 

It's been three days, three days since we awoke from the illusion of Aelin's court. I can see her faintly, sitting beside me. She looks horrible. The little of her skin that I can see beneath the bruises is ashen, and her beautiful hair is hanging is tangled chunks. 

I'm not much better. 

I tear my eyes away from the girl when the door opens with a bang. Light pours into the room, stinging my eyes. I try to pull back, but my chains hold me in place, unable to move more than an inch in any direction. 

A guard walks through the door, carrying an almost unconscious Rowan. I can see at least two open wounds on his face, each of them bleeding sluggishly. The sight is almost enough to make me throw up, but there's nothing in my stomach to do it with. 

Aelin starts screaming at the guard, yanking at her bonds in an attempt to reach her mate. She looks half crazy, half wild. Nothing like the sharp witted, calm girl that I have come to know over the past week or so. 

The guard ignores her and bolts Rowan to the wall. When he's done he walks back outside and returns carrying a bucket of water. He then proceeds to dump the bucket on my head. I'm so thirsty that I'm grateful, actually grateful, for the freezing water now flowing into my mouth.

From the High Lady of the Night Court, to this. 

The guard dumps a second bucket of water on Aelin, but she closes her mouth and turns away her face. She, at least, is strong enough to resist. It shames me that I am not. 

The guard chuckles. "Your loss missy." Is all he says before walking out and shutting the door again. 

Suddenly engulfed in darkness once more, I sigh. The cold is even worse now, seeping through my wet clothing and making me shiver. Usually I would be fine, usually I could have dried myself off with barely a though, but chains holding me are of Hybern's special variety, leaving Aelin, Rowan and I utterly powerless. I feel human again. 

I can't stop my thoughts wandering to Rhys and my court, unaware of what has happened to us. As far as they know, we just disappeared. I'm hoping that they're alright, though I know Rhys is probably a mess. It was bad enough when I was in the Spring Court, now ... I don't know what he'll do. 

Aelin pulls me from my thoughts with a loud screech. I look at her, as much as I can in the dark. I don't say anything, but my silence seems to be question enough for her. 

"How the hell are we going to get out of here Feyre?" Her voice is shrill and angry, a sound produced out of desperation. 

"I don't know." In contrast I'm barely whispering, all  my energy gone. 

"Well then what the hell use are you anyways!?" 

Her words sting, but I don't respond. Mostly because I don't have a response. There is nothing I can say that will make this any better. We are trapped, and as soon as Erawan and the king are done playing with us, we will be dead. 

Aelin falls into silence once more, so that the only sounds are once again the drip from the ceiling and our own raged breathing. 

I don't know how much time passes like that, in the quiet and the dark, before Aelin says, her voice much calmer, much more controlled "How did we get here anyways?"

"I wish I knew" I reply. 

It's true. When I haven't been thinking about Rhys and the Court I've been wondering what on earth happened. They might have placed a track on my magic, like they did to Rhys, but that would only have allowed them to know where I was, not pull my out of the middle of my winnow and knock us all out. The only other possibility, the one that has been haunting me, is that maybe they didn't do anything. I was exhausted, maybe I just lost control in the middle of the jump and dropped us into the snow. Maybe they just picked us up. Maybe this is all my fault. The maybes are driving me crazy.

"I'm afraid" Aelin says. 

Her voice is now so soft I have to strain to hear her. 

"Me too." I say, my voice equally low. 

Aelin makes a sound, somewhere halfway in between a laugh and a sob. "My name is Celaena Sardothien, and I will not be afraid."

The words seem to spill from her almost against her will, and they sound familiar on her lips, like something she's said a million times. 

"What was that?" I ask.

"Nothing" Aelin says, "just, a friend of mine once told me to say it when I was scared. He thought it might help. It has helped me, in the past. For a while saying it was the only thing keeping me alive."

"I take it in your lands being queen isn't all about glamorous parties and fancy dinners?"

Aelin sighs "Not quite."

She doesn't elaborate, and I don't push her. I know what it's like to have something in your past that you would give anything to be able to forget. 

After a long stretch of silence Aelin says "I made myself a promise you know, a while back."

"What's that?"

"I promised myself that however I died, it would not be in a dungeon, and it would not be by the hand of a torturer." She laughs slightly, a sound entirely devoid of mirth."Looks like I broke that one."

I don't say anything at all. And so we sit in silence once more, listening to the water drip.

Um, wow. Ok, I did not mean for the chapter to get that dark. 

Anyways I hope you ... well not enjoyed it exactly, but...

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