After Empire of Storms

Chapter 10

Aelin felt the box being lifted up by her guards. Maeve's footsteps echoed around the silent room, the queen not making an effort to be silent in her own home. Aelin's guards followed, their soft padding barely making a sound on the stone floor. 

Aelin realized with excitement that they were exiting the room, but she did not know which door they were exiting through. Her guards made no movement to open a door, and Aelin pushed herself off her still-sore back to see through the breathing holes above her. The door frame passed through her vision, then a stone ceiling.

Aelin tried to glance around, but the mask and iron box hindered her sight from seeing anywhere but up. Stone. It was all stone. The ceilings that Aelin could see, the torture room, the first throne room. Stone. Aelin though back to her first encounters with Maeve. 

Doranelle. Holy gods. Doranelle? Was Maeve that stupid? Aelin laughed as she laid back down.

Maeve's footsteps slowed as Aelin laughed. "Shift." 

The words surprised Aelin as she felt her guards slow their walking, too. Shifting meant she was more vulnerable in her fragile human form. Maeve approached, the soft treading of her feet enough to reveal her position to Aelin. 

"I said, shift." This time, Maeve's voice had taken on an otherworldly snarl as Aelin once again ignored her. Her flimsy human form would offer no assistance, no advantages, in this situation, and Aelin was already locked up and chained. 

Without warning, black tendrils shot through the openings above Aelin's head, pausing eye-level with the Queen of Terrasen. The dark radiating from the strands seemed to shy away from the chains . So her aunt wasn't strong enough to reject the bite of the iron. Interesting. 

But even Aelin's chains were not enough to stop the darkness from slamming into her, the darkness penetrating Aelin's skin without resistance, even though Aelin knew that the spears would leave no visible mark. But the pain was very real as the tendrils pulled and stabbed at Aelin's body, leaving behind nonexistent marks. 

The agony was enough for Aelin to change to human form after her aunt screamed to shift again. Maeve's power retreated and the fae once again started walking, Aelin's ragged panting the only sounds accompanying them as the group continued in a straight path. 

The procession stopped and the coffin tilted into a standing position. Aelin braced her legs as she slid down the coffin, the vibrations from the iron hitting the ground still ringing through Aelin's weak form. 

As the lid opened, Aelin saw a flash of torch light before a cool, dark cloth covered her face. Aelin lifted her hands to push away the fabric, but the chain connecting to her neck jerked forward, and Aelin had no choice but to follow or be pulled to the ground. 

"See Aelin," Maeve's soft purr resounded from all around her. Aelin whipped around, reaching out and blindly swinging, hoping to connect with another form. "You don't have my keys." The voice had no echo and came from all around. Aelin had come to rely on her fae senses, and without them felt more powerless than ever. "And you refuse to tell me anything." Aelin crouched and reached to the blindfold once more, surprised when no opposition met her hands. "So let me ask you one more question,"

The sudden light blinded Aelin, and she stumbled backwards, colliding with hard wood. Aelin closed her eyes and blinked as the room started to focus, then went pitch-black, effectively blinding Aelin again. "Will you take the blood oath?" Aelin's heart stopped as Maeve's voice surrounded her. "Or do you need persuasion?" 

Aelin knew this question had been coming, but laughed anyway as she tried to blink away the darkness. The thought of Maeve and Cairn watching Aelin stumble around and laughing at the weak human filled Aelin's head, and she clenched her teeth and spun around again. 

This time, only a dark room met her eyes, lit only by the light of the moon outside. Aelin strode the window cautiously, the open frames flapping in the soft breeze and rain. Maeve's voice was gone, but Aelin's brain fogged up and she shook her head, hoping to clear what seemed to be a wall blocking away Aelin's memories. 

A familiar scent reached Aelin's nose, and she gagged as she turned to face the wood frame her thighs had hit earlier. The metallic scent only grew stronger as Aelin turned in time to see a dark form hunched over a bed. Aelin backed up as she recognized the room. 

The form lunged for the window and flew into the night sky as Aelin turned back to her parent's mangled bodies. Aelin tried to turn away, but her feet would not move as Aelin's stare remained on the blood-drenched bed. This isn't real. This isn't real. Aelin's mind chanted over and over as the blood spread and dripped to the floor. It was like her experiences with the Valg princes in Mistward, the memory frighteningly life-like. 

My name is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, and I will not be-- Aelin's feet finally shifted, and she turned and fell onto another bed. 

Nehemia. Aelin's hands were soaked through with her friend's blood and she barely had time to look to the side as she vomited, throat burning as bile forced its way out of her. My name is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, and I w-- The beds disappeared and were replaced with a stone throne room and-- Rowan. Her mate, held up by Fenrys and who Aelin assumed was his twin, opposite sides of the same coin. One dark, one light. Not real. The chanting had faded to the back of her head, and Aelin could not remember where she was. 

Aelin screamed as the whip hit Rowan's back, over and over. And nothing was going to stop it. Maeve smiled from her throne as Lorcan drew the whip back again--

And turned into Cairn. And suddenly, Rowan was not being whipped, but Aelin was, the stone floors and walls turned into soft sand and blue skies. The whip tore into Aelin's back as Maeve stood to the side, smiling. Aelin looked up to see a dark bird flying towards the beach. Rowan. 

But it wasn't him, and iron shackles clamped onto Aelin as she was shoved into a box, that tipped backwards until the scene changed again.

She was inside this time, and a man crouched next to her prone form. My name is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius-- His hands ran up and down Aelin's body as another lifeless shape appeared in front of her. Sam. His body was marred with red lines and he was almost unrecognizable. Aelin's chanting had all but disappeared inside her head. It's not real. But it didn't matter what was real or not as Aelin's surrounding changed again. 

Aelin dry heaved as shackles were attached to every part of her body and the overseer of Endovier smirked above her. He was standing at a door, the only source of light trickling in from behind him. "Let's see if a few days in here will change your attitude." Aelin lunged blindly for the man as his features shifted into Cairn's.  The scene did not change as Aelin expected it to, and subconsciously Aelin knew she was not in one of the flashbacks. 

The door slammed in time for Aelin to lunge face-first into the metal. The iron chains that wrapped around her dragged Aelin to the ground as she stood up, knees shaking from the weight. The smell and feel of the darkness were identical to those from Endovier. 

The only thing that had changed was her. 

And sitting in the darkness, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius began to cry. The weight of her choices finally hit her.

She would never go shopping with Lysandra or get to pet Fleetfoot. She would never get to see her cousin's eyes or eat chocolates with Dorian.  She would never see Rowan again.

Standing abruptly, Aelin shook her head at the thought. Rowan would not want her to give in. Her mate would want her to fight, as she would want him to. 

And standing in the dark, the Queen of Terrasen began to create a plan. 

Hi everyone!  Sorry for the short chapter. This story started out as a way to help me cope with having to wait for SJM's next book, and I never thought that many people would read it. Now the story had 1K views! I hope you enjoy the story! 

Don't forget to comment on any thoughts or ideas you have to add to the story! It will only make the story better! Thanks to AshFae's awesome ideas for the story!