DISCONTINUED A Court of Blood and Night Rewritten

14

This is the last chapter I'm posting for a while unless I get lucky-- I'm gonna be up in Idaho for two weeks with my grandfather, who is tough as nails and is a fan of keeping me really busy. I'll probably be flying planes and building stuff so I'll post when I return. You guys may even get unwanted pictures. :)

For a moment, we all assessed her, this Queen. The way she held herself, the confidence and poise, spoke of not just royalty, but something else, too-- it was a similar way to how Ilias held himself. An assassin. Had they perhaps trained together? What Queen trained in the art of killing?

And the casual hand on Rowan's shoulder-- that was not just a friendly greeting. Even if I was new to all of this, I knew enough about ruling that it was a polite, public-friendly touch between a married couple. Why hadn't he mentioned it earlier?

And her eyes. As she surveyed us again, I saw the same eyes that Aedion and Galan shared: azure, with a ring of gold around the pupil. I wondered again if this was a family trait.

Before we could ask any questions, the servant Rowan had sent earlier came bustling back with a clay cup in her hands. She was still pale, with a greenish tint to her skin, now, and she set it in front of Amren gingerly. She scurried away to the corner of the room and didn't move again. I wasn't sure she was even breathing.

Amren sniffed at it once. "At least it's warm," she grumbled, and tipped some of the contents into her mouth.

"Good," the Queen continued breezily, "Everyone has food."

Rowan glanced at his companions, then the Queen at his side. "They've agreed to help us for a price. I say we work with what the gods have granted us." The Queen didn't even bat an eyelash at the fact that he knew more about what was going on than her. She just listened quietly. I wondered if anyone else noticed the strangeness of that.

Aedion raised a brow. "I never pegged you to be the religious type, Prince."

He stared back at Aedion with emotionless eyes. "Our Queen has had enough run-ins with them that I've been swayed." Both males, along with Dorian, grimaced as if remembering such a "run-in." The Queen's lips just tightened.

Ansel frowned after a moment of silence. "I want to see what they can do, first. Before we agree to work with them."

Galan and the others nodded in agreement. Rhe Queen still was silent. Aedion made a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat. "I'll see if I can set aside some time in the training ground for later. Maybe not today, but once we get them on a regular eating schedule, and once they've regained their strength, we'll test them."

Finally, the Queen nodded. "That's likely the best idea," she agreed.

"And the ones who haven't learned to fight?" Rhys asked. I couldn't see him, but I knew he had narrowed his eyes.

"How many in your group can't fight?" Galan asked.

"Two." Rhys didn't so much as glance at my sisters, but Elain was obvious enough. The Queen looked them over with a new interest while Galan continued.

"Then we'll teach them."

"And if they don't want to be taught?" I asked. "What will you do, then?"

They all exchanged glances. Then a voice hoarse from lack of use spoke. "We can find other things for them to do." I looked up at Ilias to find him looking at Elain. His sea green eyes were oddly gentle for someone with his profession, but I didn't comment on it.

"Thank you," was all I said, and the assassin nodded once. Tamlin took my hand as a sign of his approval. It was en effort to not grind my teeth.

Rowan looked away from us quickly, a muscle feathering in his jaw, and instead glanced to Aedion. "See when you can set aside some time. Testing them will be important. Dorian, Ilias, will you figure out what to do with the ones unable to fight?"

They all nodded.

"Good. Aedion, come with me; I have some questions. The rest of you... do whatever it is you normally do at this time. Ansel, would you--"

Ansel cut him off with a roll of her eyes. "We'll take the prisoners somewhere-- though I hope you don't mind that we won't be sticking them in the throne room again, Rowan."

I watched Aelin as the interaction continued. No effort to jump in and give orders herself, or to remind them that she was in charge. Something was wrong, here.

Everyone except the aforementioned woman and the Courts left the dining hall, and they sat down in chairs and waited. I wasn't the only one who sighed in relief when the cold temperature left with them.

We hastily finished eating, though I was more focused on water than anything else, and the woman silently led us out of the dining hall. We narrowly missed the onslaught of people that had come in from training, and I was glad for it. We'd had enough drama already.

We were lead up stairs and navigated through twisting hallways until we finally got to our destination. "You'll have to share a room," Ansel explained unapologetically. "It's large enough that you'll have your own space to sleep, so I'm sure you lot will manage."

She opened the door for us and we all filed in, even Tamlin subdued after the talk in the dining hall. As if he finally figured out we had no leverage against these people, that we were nothing more than prisoners in a gilded cage.

So nobody fought as we entered the room and saw where we'd be living for a while. Nobody fought as we were told which doors lead to what. And nobody fought when Ansel closed the door behind her, and we heard the unmistakeable click of a lock.

So two enemy Courts of Prythian stared at each other as we realized we might not come out of this alive. So we realized we might have to push aside our quarrels, no matter how much we hated each other.

No matter how much we'd wronged one another.