Her Name Was Aelin Ashryver Galathynius (A ToG High School Au)

Some things are more important than cake

Aelin POV

Lysandra swung the door of our room open, and quickly slammed it shut behind her. She was panicking like crazy. Wow, that had happened twice this week, with two different people. I guess there was some serious bad luck going on.

"Cake?" I asked her, holding up a cake I stole from the kitchen. She shook her head, panting. It looked like she'd run all the way back here. She was with Arobynn tonight, so I didn't blame her.

"Arobynn. You. Meeting." She said through deep breaths.

"What? Say it again, slowly. Sit down, get your breath back." She pulled on some sweatpants over the extremely short dress she was wearing, no doubt Arobynn had made her wear it. I definitely wouldnt put it past him.

"I was with Arobynn. He did what we wanted and told me I could leave. So I got dressed but he stopped me before I left. He told me to 'tell my roommate, Celeana, that he expects her for dinner tomorrow night. At six o'clock sharp." I stopped eating my cake. "And then he said, and I quote, 'oh wait, she goes by Aelin now.' Then I left and sprinted here. I never realised how far the assassin's keep is from here." Oh fuck. No. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't know I was here. How? Oh God. I started to panic. Even more so than Lysandra.

"I- I- Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God." I couldn't think straight. My palms were sweating, and I started pacing.

"I thought you'd payed off your debt to him."

"I did. I don't owe him anything. But if I don't go, he'll come after you. He must know we're friends now. He'll probably hurt Aedion and Elide as well. I can't do that to them, I have to go."

"No- we'll find a way around this- I'm not letting you align yourself with him again. You said you wanted to leave the whole assassin thing behind. So do. Don't go."

"I have to Lys. I think you know that, deep down. Who knows, maybe he just wants to catch up, it's been over a year since I last saw him." Lysandra raised an eyebrow at me. I couldn't believe it either. Arobynn doesn't just 'want to catch up'. He wants something, I know it.

Rowan POV

I was sat with Gavriel, Vaughan and Lorcan when all of our phones went off.

Maeve wants to see us all for dinner tomorrow. ALL of us, Whitethorn.

It was Connall. He must be with Maeve now. Kiss ass. He adores Maeve, and I have no idea how. None of us do. She repulsed me. And the others, too. At one point, Lorcan was like Connall, but he opened his eyes when he met Elide.

"What do you think that's about?" Vaughan asked, looking at us all. It looked like Connall sent the message to us all.

"Nothing good." Lorcan said gruffly. Fenrys walked into the room, holding his phone up.

"You guys got the message to?" He asked.

"Yeah." We all muttered.

"Oh, and Whitethorn, your show down with little miss Galathynius? Hilarious."

"You saw it?" I growled.

"Oh yes. I'm surprised the dead couldn't hear you." I rolled my eyes at him. Gavriel chuckled, and Lorcan just got mad at the mention of Aelin. Honestly.

Aelin POV - the next day

I looked into the mirror again, making sure I had made the right outfit choice for this meeting. I know Arobynn, and this is a formal event, which means formal attire. He would refuse to meet me if I showed up in just anything. I had considered doing that but I'm not putting anyone in danger. Apart from myself. I do that all the time, anyways.

I was wearing a black, sleeveless, halter neck dress. It was a mermaid dress, but the tail was made from layers of tulle, meaning that you could just about see my legs. The entire bodice, down to just above my knees was skin tight, not leaving much to the imagination. The bodice had a sweetheart neckline, and it was lace that turned it into a halter neck. It really was a beautiful dress, it was too bad I had to meet Arobynn in it, which meant I would never wear it again. I was kind of saving it for his funeral. Lysandra had helped me with my hair, pulling it up into a stunning updo.

"I still don't like that you're doing this, Aelin. And I don't like that we're keeping it from Elide and Aedion." She said, leaning against the door to the bathroom.

"Neither do I. But I don't want to worry them until I have more information. Aedion is an overprotective ass - he would insist on coming. The less they know about this, the better."

"Are you going to tell them about this?"

"Eventually." She sighed,but gave in. I wished I had something to protect myself with - anything at all. All of my weapons were taken off me when I got thrown in jail, and to no one's surprise, the authorities kept them. It wasn't like I had anywhere to hide them, but anything would feel better than nothing.

"The pins in your hair are sharp. Very sharp. You get close enough to stab someone with them, and it would sting like a bitch. They aren't much, but they will help if Arobynn gets impatient." Lysandra must have read the look on my face. I was taken aback - no wonder she was so careful with them.

"Thank you."

"I didn't want you going in their blind. I know what Arobynn can be like." She knew almost as much as I did. After all, he makes her sleep with him week after week. The sick bastard. Everything he's ever done - to me, to the other assassin's he's trained, to Lysandra - he needs to pay for it all. And I don't care whether it's tonight or 50 years from now, I will make sure he does.

Third person POV

As he walked up to the gates of Maeve's manor house with his cadre, she walked up to the gates of the Assassin's Guild alone. The same dread twisted their stomach up into knots, the same worry was hidden behind the calm and collected exterior. He looked to his friends - almost everyone was with him. Connall was with Maeve, already inside. Rowan thought that Connall spent more time with Maeve than he did with his friends, including his brother, his only blood relative. Connall did. The five of them nodded, the last scrap of encouragement they could give to each other. They were all in this - together. The gates of the manor house swung open, and Maeve and her little lap dog that was the sixth member of the cadre greeted them.

Aelin looked up at the building. Nothing had changed since the saw it last. The same plants, the same windows, the same everything. Yet the atmosphere had changed. This was once home, well as homely as a building full of assassins could be. It felt almost as if she could walk through those gates and the last year would be deleted, Sam would be there, smiling, full of joy to see her, to greet her, and welcome her back. Not Arobynn. That she could stroll through the gardens, or play the piano, or spar with Sam or another assassin. But alas, that was not the case. She scavenged for every last piece of courage inside her, letting her mask slide on once again. The mask she hadn't need to use for thirteen months. And so Aelin pushed open the gates of the Assassin's guild and swaggered up to the front door, where her former master stood, watching her and taking in every last little detail.

"Welcome back, Celeana." Was all Arobynn said, leading her inside.

A/n

There's more where that came from, to be written and uploaded soon :)