After Everything

Chapter 1

Sam Cortland was growing bored of the prison cell. 

It had been days, or perhaps months. Maybe even years. He lost track a long time ago. 

He had forgotten. After all, what was the purpose of truly living when the love of his life was a million miles from him?

Was Celaena still in the Keep? Was she still alive?

God. No. He didn't want to think about that.

Was he still alive? Was this a dream?    

The creak of the old iron door opening echoed throughout the cell, jolting him out of his thoughts.

His head turned towards the noise, his thick brown hair tickling the back of his neck from the movement.

His eyes narrowed.

Long, dark hair, ivory skin, and large emerald eyes, framed with thick chocolate lashes.  

Lysandra.

"What are you doing here?" he growled, his voice unfamiliar to himself from a long time of not using it.

Lysandra looked down at him from the end of her nose, her stare piercing and cruel.

She tossed her ebony hair over her shoulder. "I've come to collect you. Arobynn wants to see you"

He froze.

He tried to calm his heart, beating wildly inside his chest, but the attempt was in vain.

"And why would he want to see me? Finally going to confess his sins? Or just to rub in the fact that he will always win?" He spat the last words, aching memories surfacing in his mind as he desperately tried to push them down.

"He has decided that the year you have spent down here is enough. He is going to offer you your freedom."

No.

A lie. It was all a cruel, horrible lie. A lie meant to taunt him, to tantalise him with something he could never have.

Sam stood up, brushing off a years worth of dirt and dust off his tunic. He had been down here for a year. A gods-damned year. Where was Celaena?

He looked at her spitefully, hatred spiralling around his brown eyes, shining like black diamonds in the light of the underground. "I don't believe you. I don't believe that Arobynn Hamel could ever have enough of a heart to do that."

Lysandra looked at Sam. Truly looked. Looked at him like he was a person, not Arobynn's toy.

She sighed and sank to the floor, laced with cracks and moss that twined around the cold, grey stones. 

Her eyes now looked old and were lined with silver, words of sadness and regret written across them. 

"You're right," she said, running her hands through her hair. "He doesn't. He didn't send me."

Sam looked at her curiously. "So what are you doing here? If it's for company, you could have come a little earlier."

A ghost of a smile graced her lips. "It's not for company. Sure, there were times when I was gong to come here, but I thought that I was the person you would least like to see. Well, aside from Arobynn."

She closed her eyes and sighed, lips parting. "Arobynn doesn't want to give you a chance at freedom. I do."

He looked incredulous. "And why would you want to do that, Lysandra?"

"Because," she said. "I believe you deserve better than what you got. I don't know why Arobynn kept you alive all this time, or why he told Celaena that you were dead."

Her name. His heart ached.

"He . . . He told her I was dead?" The words came out quiet and bruised.

Lysandra nodded. "But I want to help you, Sam. I truly do. I . . . I do not apologise for my past actions, as it was not always my choice, but I do want to make it up to you. I know . . . I know that Celaena and I never got along, but-"

Sam snorted. "If getting a dagger thrown at your head counts as getting along."

Lysandra frowned at him but continued. "But, in all honesty, I admired her. Her determination, her dedication, her power and confidence."

Sam raised a brow. "So how exactly, Lysandra, are you going to help me escape?"

She straightened. "I got news from Rifthold. The king is trying to find himself a Champion, somehow who will defend him and his kingdom.

"There is a competition, though. Twenty-four of the best assassins and thieves of Erilea will be competing for the title. If you win, you will become his Champion, and, after six or so years, you will be freed,"

"And if i lose?"

"You will be sent back here, and there will be no hopes of getting you out again."

He swallowed. "But if I go . . . Surely they will know who I am, who I worked for. I know I am not as infamous as Celaena, but I am still known. Won't they not trust me?"

Lysandra shook her head. "You will be going under a different name. Everyone will have sponsors, and Wesley has offered to be yours."

Sam's eyes widened. "Won't he be killed if Arobynn found out?"

She shrugged. "We'll all be killed if Arobynn finds out."

"No. I cant let anyone sacrifice themselves for me."

"We may as well try and save one of us, even if it means the rest of us won't live. You deserve more than this, Sam. Do it for me. Do it for Celaena. She would want this."

A thought crossed his mind and he grasped at it. "Do you . . . Do you know where she is, Lysandra? Is she . . . ?"

Lysandra looked torn apart, grimacing as she spoke. "She's . . . She's still alive, if that's what you're asking, but . . ."

Sam's head jerked up at Lysandra's uncertainty. "Don't even try to keep things from me."

She sighed but nodded. "After she got the news that you . . . Well, that you died, she was in so much pain. Grief. They betrayed her, Sam. Arobynn. They sent her . . ." Her words got caught in her throat. "They sent her away, Sam," she whispered. "They sent her to Endovier. And this is where she has been the entire time."

Words and memories crashed into Sam, thoughts reeling in his head, spinning and spinning around until he could no longer focus.

He collapsed to the floor, temple hitting the cold stones. He vaguely felt the slickness of blood over the broken promises crashing like waves in his head.

He felt Lysandra's hand on his shoulder; A desperate attempt at comfort. "She's alive, Sam. After a year. The expectancy is a month. Maybe she'll survive more."

Sam's breathing raced and waltzed to the rhythm of death he had grown far to accustomed to.

He managed to look at Lysandra.

"When do we leave?"

Lysandra just smiled.

Hiya people!

This is my first fanfiction so yeah fun :)

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Thank you for reading!