Rowaelin FanFic: Real Nightmare

The Nightmare

She was strung up by her wrists, thick manacles encircling her forearms and shins as she knelt on the hard grey stones of Endovier. She was completely naked, her dirty hair hanging limply on her bleeding shoulders. Freezing wind whipped around her, chilling her to the bone as she shivered uncontrollably, her teeth chattering, lips turning blue. There was a crowd of people around her, the majority dressed in clothes of slate grey, hollow eyes looking her way and then shifting back to their bare feet. Others were dressed in clothes black as night save for the gold emblem on the breast. Weapons and swords of all manner hung at their side, with probably more concealed under their clothing. Their faces were ruthless and merciless as they watched her kneel in the courtyard.

The thud of boots behind her made her flinch as the whine of a blade became unsheathed. Then a cold knife was pressed against her throat as someone bent to whisper in her ear.

"I'm going to hurt you Aelin, I'm going to break you down until you are nothing but a begging mess on the floor," said the King of Adarlan, "Then I will force you to watch as I torture everything you love, and after I kill them, I'll kill you." she gulped and felt the blade nick her throat; a bead of blood ran down her neck and splashed onto the cobblestone. She couldn't breathe, not without the blade going through her skin. Instead she went utterly still and closed her eyes, not a whisper of breath escaping her dry, cracked lips.

She knew the King was sneering as he removed the knife from her throat. As soon as she felt the freezing metal lift of her skin she gasped, gulping down lungfuls of that frigid air.

"What would your Prince would say, what would your kingdom say if they could see you now, keeling before me like an obedient slave?" the king jeered, his voice echoing around the courtyard.

"I am not obedient, and I am not your slave." She hissed.

"We'll see about that." the mocking tone sent a white hot flame of lethal rage spiraling up from the pit of her magic but as it got closer to the top it recoiled as if it had hit some dark wall and sunk back into the endless well of her power.

What had they done to her?

She reached down and down into the endless pit but found nothing but ash. Not a single ember flickered to light up the dark.

A whine of metal told her that the king had put away the knife but and all too familiar noise followed after. The hiss as a whip was uncoiled from its sheath.

"I will break you Aelin. I will shatter you just like you shattered the glass castle," the kings rough voice suddenly changed to a sultry purr - she knew that voice. Erawan, "Get ready to say your goodbyes Fire-Bringer."

Aelin didn't scream as the whip tore through her flesh and let the darkness claim her once more.

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She awoke, eyes flinging open as tears streamed down her face. She could still feel the blinding pain of a whip at her back. She tried to scream but no sound came out, like the tortured noise had been wiped from her mouth with a whisper of wind and carried far away where no one would ever hear it. Where no one would ever find her.

"Did you enjoy that Aelin?" Maeve said as she walked up to the coffin and placed a hand on the iron mask, stroking it as if it were Aelin's face and she were a comforting mother. But there was nothing comforting - or human at that - in those black eyes of the Fae Queen and her blood red lips stretched into an evil smile.

"Don't worry, it wasn't real, although what was said was true. I do intend to shatter you and everything you love and I will enjoy seeing you watch when I put a black collar around your Prince's pretty throat. And after I have enslaved every single one of your friends and court, I will put one on you too," Maeve's eyes glinted with suppressed glee, "No longer will you be Aelin of the Wildfire, the lost Queen of Terrasen and the salvation of the world. Instead you will be the cause of their destruction and my slave."

Tears streamed down Aelin's face as she took in those words. He body shook inside its iron cage as she stared up at Maeve, turquoise eyes lined with silver meeting those inky black of the heartless Fae Queen. They looked at each other for a long time until the whine of the giant wolf nearby cut through the air.

Aelin looked away and cast her eyes to the sky, knowing that somewhere, somehow, her prince was watching the same sky too. And that maybe he was flying under that sky to rescue her.

As if reading her thoughts Maeve said, "He's not going to find you, he's not coming to rescue you," she purred, "and if he is, he'll die before he can say your name. What is it he calls you... ah yes... his Fireheart. But what will he call you after every ember in your heart is gone, what will he call you when he is dead and you are nothing but a whisper of ash." Aelin squeezed her eyes shut and willed her ear to block out Maeve's voice. She tried to fill it with the laughter of her Prince, the words of her cousin and the sarcasm of a shifter but those words still got through.

"But for now I'm going to break you until you forget their names." Maeve hissed.

But what the Fae Queen didn't know was that Aelin had already forgotten them. Had forgotten the scent of them, the feel of them, had forgotten everything.

Had forgotten her Prince.

So when Maeve pressed down on the iron mask and unleashed her dark magic upon the young queen, she didn't scream, or yell or beg for mercy. Just looked at the star studded sky and watched as a silver haired Prince flew through them, and didn't look back.

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So this story is when Aelin is captured by Maeve but the time it takes for Rowan to find her is longer (you'll know how long in the next chapter). If you liked this chapter comment and vote - it would mean a lot to me if you did. Hope you like this story!

Keep reading,

Bookworm_1312

:)