Glass of Revenge

~13~

As the Thirteen continued their northward flight, it seemed as though the world was crashing down around the heads of their friends and allies.

But Athril wasn't just worried about what was happening with Dorian in Lyria's hands. He was also worried about what could happen when they reached Orynth. He was worried about how Sam and Aelin would react to seeing each other again after the last four years.

It wasn't that Athril was worried that Aelin would leave Rowan for Sam. No, he knew very well just how very happy she was with Rowan. But he was worried about how she would react to facing Sam again – especially with everything that had happened in the last few months. He knew that Aelin had heard the rumours that Sam was still alive, but there was a difference between hearing something, and seeing it for yourself. Having experienced Aelin's famous temper for himself, Athril had no choice but to assume that it would not end well.

But he was also worried about how Sam would react to seeing Aelin after everything he'd been through in the last few years. He'd believed that she'd abandoned him, that she'd just used him and abandoned him to Arobynn Hamel's cruel and sadistic whims. Even though Sam said that he realised how and why Aelin had moved on with her life, Athril had to wonder whether Sam was really as accepting as he said he was. He wondered how well Sam would react when he saw how happy Aelin was with Rowan, saw how far her pregnancy had progressed.

Athril was also worried about his Manon. He knew she blamed herself for delaying so long the order to pack the encampment and move north. Yes, he'd been furious about it first. She had deliberately put the lives of her coven members – and inadvertently, Sam's life – in danger, just so that she could ensure that she knew that he was safe.

But at the same time, Athril knew that he couldn't blame Manon for that. Not really. That day she had been worried about him to the extent that she hadn't been thinking of anything else. Athril was also slightly flattered at the same time. The fact that she would put everything and everyone she cared about to the side in order to make sure she knew, one way or another, what had happened to him was touching. Heartbreaking, but touching. Athril loved Manon all the more for it.

Athril knew, in that moment, that Manon was the only woman for him. He loved her with all his heart and soul, and could only pray that she loved him back. However, Athril knew that he would not – could not – risk mentioning his true feelings for Manon yet. He could not risk alienating her when there was so much at stake.

***

Deep down, Dorian knew that something was wrong with him. Ever since that day when he'd stormed through the streets of his city, fuming at the world, nothing had been right. It was as though someone else had been controlling his body, his thoughts.

Yes, it was true that he'd already been thinking much of the same thoughts for some time now, but in a way it was as though someone had intensified his anger, his emotions – to the extent that he didn't know what he was thinking, what he was doing. Something was wrong with the way he was thinking, and Dorian didn't understand it at all. And that scared him. And there was no one at all he could ask for help.

In fact, things had been wrong ever since that day when he'd stormed through the city. The way he thought, the way he moved, the way he did normal, everyday things was wrong. And there was nothing he could do. There was nothing he could do to fix things. And even if Dorian was able to ask for help, which he seriously doubted at the moment, there was no one at all left that he could ask.

Chaol had willingly abandoned him weeks ago – Dorian had known, deep down he'd known, that when Chaol left Rifthold with his wife and newborn child, that they weren't coming back. This had then been confirmed by one of the few spies he had that weren't in Athril's pocket. The spy that Dorian had set on Chaol in order to ensure his loyalty and tracked the Westfall family's movements, not west to Anielle, but due north to the border with Terrasen. The Westfall family was no longer welcome in Rifthold, in Adarlan.