World of Dreamers (TOG/ACOTAR crossover)

Chapter 10

Author's Note: I have not excuse this time other than that I have been super busy. Thank you so much for reading and for being patient. You all deserve an award for the amount of time you have had to wait! I sincerely apologize for not posting sooner. The next chapter is on it's way soon because I finally have some free time. Thank you again for reading and for being patient with me! Enjoy!

Side note: this is a pretty long chapter because I feel bad for not posting

Ansel stared at Lysandra. "Where is Aelin?" She asked. The red-haired assassin let herself into the room, eyeing Chaol and Yrene. "Why are you pretending to be her?"

Lysandra grimaced. "That's...a long story."

Ansel plopped down on the couch next to Yrene. She nodded to the young healer, crossing her legs. "I've got time. Start talking Lysandra."

All of the talking had attracted others to the room. Ilias opened the door, Galan and Edna following. "What's going on?" He asked. He looked at Lysandra, who still wore Aelin's skin, and raised an eyebrow. "What's Ansel so upset about, Aelin?"

Aedion entered the room next and Lysandra met his eyes. She begged him for help, pleaded with her eyes for a way out of this situation. She was failing Aelin. Her one job was to pretend to be Aelin and make sure no one else knew but Aedion. One look around the room proved how good she was at keeping promises. Nesryn and Sartaq followed Aedion, standing near the door. "What's wrong Aelin?" Nesryn asked.

Lysandra shook her head and let Aelin's skin fade away, her hair returning to it's dark color. People gasped through the room, all of them asking where Aelin was. Aedion stepped closer to her. "There's something that we need to tell you guys," he said. "Aelin isn't here."

"Before you start yelling," Lysandra cut in, "let me explain." They all stayed quiet, waiting for an explanation, and Lysandra took it as a sign to continue. "Aelin hasn't been with us at all this past month. I took her place before we left the beach. She talked to me a few weeks before Maeve attacked us, asking for a favor. She wanted me to practice acting like her so that just in case something bad happened to her, she would still be able to lead the army in Terrasan. Somehow she knew..." She trailed off looking at Aedion, who continued for her.

"She somehow knew that Maeve would be waiting for us. She had used all of her fire the days before and she had nothing left in her when Maeve confronted her. Maeve chained her and whipped her before throwing her into an iron box, leaving before Rowan could reach her." Aedion took a deep breath before continuing. "Maeve took Aelin with her and Lysandra took her place to make sure that Aelin would be here to meet Galan and his armies and Rowan left to go rescue her. You guys know the rest of the story from there."

"Back up," Sartaq said, holding up a hand. "Aelin is with Maeve?" Aedion nodded and Sartaq shared a look with Nesryn.

"This is really bad," Nesryn said. "This is really really bad."

Aedion raised an eyebrow. "Rowan is on his way to get her along with an army of witches, they should be fine."

Sartaq shook his head. "You don't understand. Aelin is in more trouble than you think."

"How so?" Ansel asked.

"Because," Nesryn said. "Maeve is a Valg Queen."

Lysandra stared at her. Everyone was silent, processing what Nesryn had just said. Then all at once, they started speaking, all of them trying to talk over each other.

"How do you know?"

"What does this mean?"

"Are we going to do something about this?"