Glass of Revenge

~Epilogue~

For Aelin and Rowan, the years after the whole debacle with Sam Cortland and Lyria were a lot more peaceful on the whole for them. They dedicated themselves to Terrasen and its people, rebuilding the kingdom after the Valg war, and the chaos and destruction that Lyria and Sam had brought.

That's not to say that their lives were easy, for life was nover going to be simple for them. Over the years there were other people who wanted to take advantage, other people who attempted to put them out of the picture, other people who wanted them dead. But there were none who ever came as close as Lyria and Sam had that time. None that ever managed to breach Terrasen's borders, or the security of the palace of Orynth.

Despite the threats that stemmed from many different sources, they were dealt with quickly, and for the most part, Aelin and Rowan were happy. Terrasen grew and thrived under their rulership, and its people prospered. Aelin and Rowan's children grew up in the mould of their parents, fiercely independent, more than willing to stand up against what they saw as injustice, and far too intelligent for their own good.

The twins were aware of what had happened the year they were born, and were determined not to let such a threat rise against their parents or the kingdom they all loved ever again. The twins also applied that same protectiveness to their younger brothers and sisters, wanting them to retain their childish innocence for as long as they could. Being the eldest, and therefore first in line for the throne, the twins had been forced to grow up fast, carrying out their duties with the same love and devotion as their parents.

Quite surprising, Fenrys, who had lost his own twin brother in the war, grew quite close to Aelin and Rowan's twins as they grew up. At first, spending time with the twins when they were children seemed to be a form of therapy for him. However, as the years passed, Fenrys slowly grew ever closer to his friends' daughter, with the two of them turning out to be mates when she grew up, shocking them all.

Rowan was beyond horrified by it all at first, unwilling to have, or even see see his oldest friends take advantage of his child. But slowly, as time passed and he grew more used to the idea, Rowan slowly began to accept it, especially after seeing how pure and honest Fenrys' feelings for his daughter were. After many internal and personal battles over the years, Rowan finally felt able to accept his old friend as his son-in-law.

Athril, who had taken the betrayal of Sam Cortland the hardest, took one day at a time and slowly built up the hard won mental strength he had once had during Brannon's lifetime once again. As Athril's mental health began to return to a semblance of normalcy, he truly began to see how much his behaviour that year had been affecting those around him.

And instead of continuing to push those who cared for him away, Athril slowly started to open up about what he had been going through, and to truly let them in. Being the proud man he was, telling his private thoughts and feelings wasn't exactly wasy for Athril, but it did get easier, and it really helped him to feel better. He became a better male for it.

About a year or two after the executions, Athril finally felt well enough, and stroung enough, to resume his duties as the premier leading spy of Terrasen. Thanks to Athril's tireless work, about fifty years later, he was able to prevent the outbreak of another war, not normally work one might have attributed to a spy.

Athril's relationship with Manon Blackbak continued to grow and deepen over the years. Eventually the witches of the Thirteen once again grew used to Athril's presence in their company after his long absence during his depression. After several years of happiness, they decided to marry. Athril's only wish on his wedding day was that he wished his old friend Brannon could have been there, standing by his side.

Lorcan and Elide's marriage, unfortunately, never survived the fallout, with the divorce being final roughly a year after the executions.

Elide may have been the one to have instigated the divorce proceedings, and for perfectly sound reasons, but when the divorve finally came through, many of Terrasen's nobles turned against her, simply because they believed it was scandalous for a Lady of Terrasen to be divorced. Ironically, many of those same nobles were the ones who had first supported her when petitioned the law courts for the divorce. But despite everything, Elide weathered the scandal marvolously well and never let anyone's prejudice break her. She merely picked herself up, brushed herself off, and moved on with her life. And was much, much happier for it.

Lorcan, on the other hand, never recovered from the shock of his wife leaving him. It had never occurred to him to consider the possibility of Elide leaving him to the extent of legally obtaining a divorce. Lorcan had thought that he had Elide to be so completely under his control that she would never even want to consider leaving him. Lorcan had thought that his beloved Elide would want to stay with him ... forever. He had not taken neither Elide's stubborn tenacity into consideration nor the fact that Elide no longer loved him.

However, Lorcan found himself unable to remain in Orynth after the shock and scandal of the divorce. To his complete and utter annoyance and frustration he was unable to secure his freedom from the vow he had made to Aelin. This, added to the fact of the divorce, only increased Lorcan's sense of decreased manhood. Lorcan, unable to bear to remain in the city, yet unable to to leave the kingdom he had grown to hate so intently, moved into a small, self-contained, self-built little hut in the middle of the Staghorn Mountains. It was quite a downfall for the formerly mighty warrior of Queen Maeve of Doranelle. T

he fate of Adarlan after the execution of Dorian Havilliard was an interesting one. Adarlan's southern neighbours of Fenharrow and Melisande had indeed snapped up large chunks of southern Adarlanian territory. Increasing the landsize and population of the two smallest kingdoms on the continent while severely decreasing Adarlan's size and population. Once the southern kingdoms had claimed their share of Adarlanian territory, almost everything south of the Avery River, leaving Adarlan with the cities of Rifthold and Annielle, but very little other southern cities, that left the fate of rest of Adarlan to be decided.

It took months of discussions between the different kingdoms, Adarlanian's temporary interim government and its relatively few surviving lords and ladies to choose a now monarch, a new ruling dynasty for Adarlan. The months of deliberations landed upon Chaol Westfall for Adarlan's next royal King.

Chaol was extremely reluctant to accept the responsibility of the job when it was offered to him. But it was the desire to see his kingdom set on the right path, a desire for a better future for Adarlan that eventually prompted him to accept the position. And so, almost a year after the death of Dorian, Chaol once again travelled south to Rifthold with his wife and small daughter. When Chaol had fled north with his family to Terrasen, he had never thought he would see either Rifthold or Adarlan again. Returning to the kingdom of his birth, knowing what his friend had done, what had become of him, was an extremely emotional experience for him. However, with the support of his family and friends, Chaol weathered his own personal emotional storm well.

And thus, with a new sense of united international cooperation, Erilea began to thrive and prosper. It had been an extremely long time since Erilea had seen this degree of peace and prosperity.