Crossing Paths

28

Third Person POV
Celaena abandoned her shoes at the back exit, and she almost welcomed the wet cobblestone streets that met her skin with a sigh of relief, if it wasn't for the situation they were stuck in. Her eyes scanned, her feet light and quick. Glancing over her shoulder, she brought her arm up and pointed two fingers in the air. The Queen and her son came silently over to her. She placed a finger to her mouth and another to her ear after, and as Hollin looked at her with big blue eyes, she handed Her Majesty a knife. She never went anywhere without her weapons, they were always in reach. Well, almost always.
She grabbed an arrow from the quiver at her back and with her nimble fingers she placed it on the arrow rest, as she still stood in her gown.
She looked at the ground a moment.

"Here." Celaena untied Dorian's cloak and put it on his arm.
"And why are you giving this back to me?" He questioned, a laugh in his eyes.
"Because...it suits you." He waited, and she met his eyes.
"Because when you see it, you see a king. And when your subjects see you in it, that is what they will see too. " He searched her eyes.
"A king offers hope, and we could surely use some of that right now."
He looked down."Not all kings offer hope, Celaena."
"Exactly. But when they look at you, they shouldn't see anything less."

"You are their hope, Dorian. You're the promise of a better future. "

"And it shouldn't matter what you wear when accomplishing that, but damn does it help."

He laughed at that, and a smile reached his eyes, exactly like the time he had led her through the gardens.

"Is that why you came to us in nothing but tatters, then?" He grinned.

"Excuse you, but I was trying to be a good guest! You can't outshine your hosts, now can you?"

Celaena brushed away the memory and squared her shoulders, held up 3 digits as she looked back at her company, and then she smiled at Hollin. Little Hollin who gripped his mother's hand with all of his strength, smiled back at her.

She looked forward again and started out. And the royals behind her waited 3 seconds before they began to follow.

Her gaze swept over the area, her eyes dancing several steps with each step she took of her own. The moonlight bled into the street, a natural light to the dark they'd otherwise be engulfed in. If it had been another night, and God was with them.
Quickening her pace, she dashed behind a wall, her back against the hard surface. The day they needed dark, light was all they got.
"You wouldn't happen to know the quickest route to the castle, would you, Majesty?" The Queen gripped her son to her chest.
"I would, but why on earth would you want to go back there?" They had just been attacked on an outing away from the castle, so clearly going there would be like walking to your own death.
Turning another corner, she looked above her to see if there was some way she could hide them in the shadows on the roof. Not a very good spot, but a place they wouldn't dare look, because my god there were better hiding places. She shook her head. There was a big enough alcove to hide them, surely, but she mulled over her mind for a downside to this. There were plenty, too many for royalty.
Too many for Dorian's family.
Looking back at the Queen, "Because, we're going to need some help."

"I can surely give you direction, but we could stumble right into a tra-"
Celaena took her attention off of the alley she took to eyeing and turned to face Queen Adelaide.
"Your son is in there, by himself, trying to rescue another royal." Dorian's mother paled.
"We need all of the help we can get. And the only way to do that is to go back to the castle, and send a letter to some allies. They can help get your son out of there. Is that not what you want?"
She looked at the assassin dead on. "My Dorian can handle himself. Right now I am worrying for my youngest boy to make it out of this. I have to do what is right for him."

"And this country."

Celaena Sardonthien stepped toward the Queen.
"I am not going to leave your son there. And since I am your only protection right now, you are coming with me."
She met her ferocity in the blink of an eye.
"Is that an order, girl?"

"Well it wasn't a request."

"And if something should happen?" You could hear the worry and disbelief in her voice, even if you couldn't make it out on her face through the very dim luminosity.

"I will get you and both of your sons out of here safely. You have my word, Majesty. It will be done." She spoke as she met a marred reflection of herself in the murky water on the floor, her back turned.

Celaena Sardonthien couldn't verbally add Maven to the rescue list in front of The Queen. She didn't know how far deep she was into her husband's schemes, how far that loyalty ran. Nor did she know what exactly his plan was with Maven, either.
Too much uncertainty, too many ways this could all go wrong.

So she added his name to the list in her mind, looked to the women beside her and asked, "And that route?"
She hurriedly relayed direction after direction, and Celaena shuffled forward on knowing feet and kept her arrow poised.

They mostly stuck to shadow, but shadow, Celaena knew, had betrayed her before.

—

Maven Calore lost his words, all but one.

"Mother?"

"Hello, Maven."

His sword still remained in his hand, but now his hold is loose. After all, who could blame him for being hesitant about running his mother through? And with none of his questions asked? With none of the closed doors being opened? With the uncertainty still uncertain?

"It's about time we met again, dear." She murmured, and Maven was still trying to find his footing.

"...you. That's why you sent the letter." His voice small.
"It is, isn't it?!" Anger took hold almost as quickly as his surprise did.

"It is." She states simply, her eyes practically bored.

"I don't get it." Maven shook his head. "Why send me out and why have me here now?"

The Queen started to pace, her steps slow and calculated as her eyes held something he couldn't quite name. Disappointment, maybe?

Disappointment from what?

"It is clear to me now that I placed my faith in the wrong sources." She hummed, still staring at the floor as if she'd rather busy herself absorbed in that that her own son.

"You make no sense, do you not understand my confusion?!" I yelled, enraged she seemed so flippant. "What are you doing with them?! What is all this?!"

"Such a shame, to fail as you have." She finally met my eyes.

"Well, nevertheless, she'll be quite happy."

A snap of his mother's fingers, and then Maven hit the ground.

A/N- Finally got an update in!! I have everything planned out, I have for a while now, but just executing everything has proven to be a little difficult. But finally something!! I hope you like it. xx