TOG Truth or Dare

Part 14

The Queen sat there, in front of her beloved court and then suddenly fell into a giggling fit.

"Your faces! Honestly, as soon as I walked in! I can't believe none of you guys got it yet!" She blurted out.

"Please. Just. Tell. Us!" Aedion whined each word was accompanied by a timely bang on the table with his knife and fork.

"It's no doing of the Gods, they're gone, maybe wyrdmarks?" Fenrys started his search for a reasonable answer.

"Remember in Rifthold, when you first met Lysandra and Aedion? You somehow managed to instantly figure out that Lysandra was a shifter and Aedion was Gavriel's son! I don't know how you managed to sniff that out-" Aelin began.

"-Fireheart, you underestimated me-" Rowan began.

"-Don't you cut me off, Buzzard! What I don't understand, is how you didn't sniff out what was right under your nose!" She explained.

"What do you mean?" the ancient fae warrior questioned.

"One, the mating bond." She stated smugly.

Rowan replied with an audible: "Love you too," and a mental: "come on! That was ages ago!"

"And two..." the Queen began.

Come on the anticipation is killing me!" Aedion drew out the last word.

Aelin's smile just grew. She was practically grinning like the devil, until the whole room was finally silent, when she turned to Elide, the person directly opposite her at the table, and said: "can you pass the salt please?"

"On pancakes?!" Aedion interupted.

"Sure," the Lady of Perranth reached across the table to hand her queen the salt shaker.

And then it clicked...

"You sneaky-" Rowan began but was quickly interupted by Manon excaliming,

"I knew you did something!" Which was followed by Fenrys, Chaol, Dorian, Lysandra, Yrene, Lorcan and Elide's sighs and exclamations of realisation. Like a contagious virus, nearly everyone across the table made the connection and understood the disappearance of Aelin's tattoos.

"Did you guys really think I would let you all tattoo something on me!? Who do you think I am, some reckless nine-teen year old?"

"Well," Chaol began - stating the obvious and gesturing to the reckless nine-teen year old assassin, now ruler of Terrasen. "Aelin always plans ahead!"

"Yeah, unlike you! I'm so glad the tattoos disappeared, I was not particularly set on living the rest of my life with 'PLAN AHEA' written on my knuckles," the queen retorted.

"WAIT!" Aedion shouted.

Everyone turned in his direction.

"I dont get it." He said.

The whole room burst into hysterics.

"Oh Aedion! Only you wouldn't understand!" Lysandra commented, adding a kiss to Aedion's forehead.

"Ha ha, so funny," the Wolf of the North  replied sarcastically, "can someone please explain to me what salt has anything to do with tattoos?!"

"Well, I'll start form the beginning," Aelin said. "But first of all, welcome to 'Story Time with Aelin', please enjoy your stay," she had to add. "So, first, when I was dared to get tattooed, I went to get the ink. Is everyone following along?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah I was there," Aedion commented.

"Well then, you must have been there when Rowan dropped his glass of wine, when everyone was too distracted, or intoxicated, to realise that the bowl of ink did not contain salt. Now, I think it is common knowledge here that Fae healing is too good for little needle pricks and ink, so salt would be required to slow down the healing, therefore making the tattoo permanent." she explained.

"Ohh!" Aedion realised. "But how could you be sure that the tattoos woould really completely disappear?"

"I couldn't." the queen replied.

"But, what if?" her cousin questioned.

"Well, yeah, that's the fun part, I honestly wouldn't know what to do if I was left with them" Aelin responded with a genuine smile.

"Only you, Fireheart, would do something like that,"

"And only you, Buzzard, would love me for it," she audibly whispered with her eyes locked into his.

"Please! Don't get all lovey-dovey, especially not at the table," Aedion retorted.

"Excuse me!" Lysandra said, giving Aedion a glare.

Terrasen's court finally dug into Aedion's home-made pancakes.