Saviour of Ashes

Chapter 34

In the darkness, golden fire and sapphire water danced.

Aelin watched as they sparkled and bound themselves together.

I have officially lost it.

Aelin watched as a white stream of magic engulfed the fire and water. She panicked at the thought that the beautiful dance had been ruined but then the white stream joined them. Twisting and platting themselves together.

Aelin smiled in the cold dark.

The water stopped as if it was looking at her. I need you, it told her. Do not give up.

The white power, cold and icy paused behind the water. I will not lose you again. Come back to me.

The fire cut through both streams of magic. Fight it, the fire told her.

The water and the ice stood to her right,  creating hands carved of their magic that they offered out to her. To her left...a dark world waited.

Shimmering figures stood in that dark world, waiting for her.

The fire magic stood in front of her waiting her decision. You cannot stay here.

It is your choice, some of the shimmering figures told her.

You have earned your place here, others said.

You've earned your right to live, a voice that sounded like Sam's told her.

The dark world seemed so peaceful. No more fighting, no more struggling.

'Left you let go, right you fight,' Manon had warned her.

Don't let that light go out, Nhemia's voice pleaded.

A life of peace with her loved ones who have long passed, or a life of mistakes and hard work with her loved ones relying on her for a better world?

Aelin reached for the fire's out stretched hand. It pulled her up out of the iron coffin.

The fire shifted to reveal her own self looking back at her. "That's my girl," she said.

Aelin gripped her hand tight and took a step towards the water and ice waiting for her. She looked over her shoulder the now fading figures.

"Not yet," she told them. "Not yet."

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Aelin's eyes shot open.

She wasn't in an iron coffin. Maeve had been killed. She was Queen of Terrasen. She was with Rowan.

She turned to face her husband, who had laid his head in his arms on the bed.

Aelin licked her dry lips. She whispered, "Buzzard."

Rowan lifted his head, tears rolling down his tattooed face. "Aelin?" He asked as she sat up. "You were dead."

She shook her head, "Not quite."

"Your heart stopped beating," he said, moving closer but not touching her. "I used my magic to bring you back. It didn't work. I pounded on your heart." He shook his head.

"I...I was given a choice," she whispered.

He put his head on her stomach and wept. She had chosen to come back for him and their daughter.

Yrene came in and her mouth dropped. "Its not possible."

Aelin smiled at her. Gods her body ached and hurt. "Stop the pain will you," Aelin ordered the woman.

Rowan moved to let the woman heal his wife. He made her drink a whole goblet of water and then another.

"I thought Maeve had tricked me," Aelin admitted in a quiet voice. "When I saw that darkness...I touched the cold walls, I felt the iron shackles."

Rowan swallowed. "We put iron shackles to stop your power from losing control again. Our daughter..." He shook his head. "She stopped you from killing yourself."

Aelin gaped at him. The cold wall she felt must have been the bath. The iron...
Aelin asked, "Where is she?"

"Nesryn gave her to Lysandra," Rowan told her. "Everyone is sitting in the gardens, they took the news..." He shook his head.

Aelin looked down at herself. Blood and other fluids stained dress and the bed sheets. She frowned. "I need a bath."

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Rowan had followed her into the bathroom and scrubbed her back. They hadn't had the chance to fix Aelin's tattoo. She scrubbed with lavender soap and told him to stop fussing now.

The clock chimed six in the morning. The sun would be rising any minute now.

Yrene had stripped the bed and gathered the ruined sheets into a pile by the door. Aelin burned the sheets as she walked past into the dressing room. Aelin chose a simple, loose gown that was an off-white colour with medium length sleeves.

Rowan escorted her towards the garden, passing shocked servants and guards on the way. Yrene closely followed in case Aelin was going to collapse.

She didn't.

As she approached the Garden of the Brave, she could hear the others. Her daughter was screaming and crying.

"Try bouncing her," Manon suggested.

"I am," Lysandra snapped.

"This isn't helping," Chaol said.

"Back off," Gavriel said. "We're all grieving."

"I can't imagine what Rowan is going through," Dorian said.

"I would imagine he feels like the luckiest male to ever live," Lorcan said as he looked at Aelin on his arm.

"What?" Elide said and looked towards her and Rowan.

"Oh my Wryd," Fenrys said and bowed.

Nesryn smiled at her. I knew it, she seemed to say.

"Perhaps she needs her mother," Rowan said as Lysandra turned to Aelin.

Aedion's moist and red face stared as Aelin took her daughter from Lysandra. "They said you were dead."

"I was," Aelin said as she lifted her daughter up. She grinned at the girl's tiny button nose and turquoise eyes, rimmed with gold. The child instantly stopped screaming as Aelin cradled it. "There," she said, "That's much better."

Rowan wrapped his arms around Aelin's waist.

"What's her name?" Lysandra asked, stroking their daughter's cheek.

Aelin looked to Rowan, who nodded.

Aelin smiled at her little girl as she said, "Princess Elentiya Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius."