Manon swallowed hard, her throat achingly tight. “If we defy them, they will come after us, and they will kill us.”
“I know. We all know. That’s what we wanted to tell you the other night.”
Manon looked at her cousin’s shirt, as if she could see through to the brand beneath. “That is why you’ve been behaving this way.”
“I am not foolish enough to pretend that I don’t have a weak spot where witchlings are concerned.”
This was why her grandmother had pushed for decades to have Asterin demoted.
“I don’t think it’s a weak spot,” Manon admitted, and glanced over her shoulder to where Abraxos was sniffing at the wildflowers. “You’re to be reinstated as Second.”
Asterin bowed her head. “I am sorry, Manon.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” She dared add, “Are there others whom my grandmother treated this way?”
“Not in the Thirteen. But in other covens. Most let themselves die when your grandmother cast them out.” And Manon had never been told. She had been lied to.
Manon gazed westward across the mountains. Hope, Elide had said—hope for a better future. For a home.
Not obedience, brutality, discipline. But hope.
“We need to proceed carefully.”
Asterin blinked, the gold flecks in her black eyes glittering. “What are you planning?”
“Something very stupid, I think.”
64 
Rowan barely remembered anything of the agonizing trip back to Rifthold. By the time they had snuck across the city walls and through the alleys to reach the warehouse, he was so exhausted that he’d hardly hit the mattress before unconsciousness dragged him under.
He awoke that night—or was it the next?—with Aelin and Aedion sitting on the side of the bed, talking.
“Solstice is in six days; we need to have everything lined up by then,” she was saying to her cousin.
“So you’re going to ask Ress and Brullo to just leave a back door open so you can sneak in?”
“Don’t be so simpleminded. I’m going to walk in through the front door.”
Of course she was. Rowan let out a groan, his tongue dry and heavy in his mouth.
She whirled to him, half lunging across the bed. “How are you feeling?” She brushed a hand over his forehead, testing for fever. “You seem all right.”
“Fine,” he grunted. His arm and shoulder ached. But he’d endured worse. The blood loss had been what knocked his feet out from under him—more blood than he’d ever lost at once, at least so quickly, thanks to his magic being stifled. He ran an eye over Aelin. Her face was drawn and pale, a bruise kissed her cheekbone, and four scratches marred her neck.
He was going to slaughter that witch.
He said as much, and Aelin smiled. “If you’re in the mood for violence, then I suppose you’re just fine.” But the words were thick, and her eyes gleamed. He reached out with his good arm to grip one of her hands and squeezed tightly. “Please don’t ever do that again,” she breathed.
“Next time, I’ll ask them not to fire arrows at you—or me.”
Her mouth tightened and wobbled, and she rested her brow on his good arm. He lifted the other arm, sending burning pain shooting through him as he stroked her hair. It was still matted in a few spots with blood and dirt. She must not have even bothered with a full bath.
Aedion cleared his throat. “We’ve been thinking up a plan for freeing magic—and taking out the king and Dorian.”
“Just—tell me tomorrow,” Rowan said, a headache already blooming. The mere thought of explaining to them again that every time he’d seen hellfire used it had been more destructive than anyone could anticipate made him want to go back to sleep. Gods, without his magic … Humans were remarkable. To be able to survive without leaning on magic … He had to give them credit.
Aedion yawned—the lousiest attempt at one Rowan had ever seen—and excused himself.
“Aedion,” Rowan said, and the general paused in the doorway. “Thank you.”
“Anytime, brother.” He walked out.
Aelin was looking between them, her lips pursed again.
“What?” he said.
She shook her head. “You’re too nice when you’re wounded. It’s unsettling.”
Seeing the tears shine in her eyes just now had nearly unsettled him. If magic had already been freed, those witches would have been ashes the moment that arrow hit him. “Go take a bath,” he growled. “I’m not sleeping next to you while you’re covered in that witch’s blood.”
She examined her nails, still slightly lined with dirt and blue blood. “Ugh. I’ve washed them ten times already.” She rose from her seat on the side of the bed.
“Why,” he asked. “Why did you save her?”
She dragged a hand through her hair. A white bandage around her upper arm peeked through her shirt with the movement. He hadn’t even been conscious for that wound. He stifled the urge to demand to see it, assess the injury himself—and tug her close against him.
“Because that golden-haired witch, Asterin … ,” Aelin said. “She screamed Manon’s name the way I screamed yours.”
Rowan stilled. His queen gazed at the floor, as if recalling the moment.
“How can I take away somebody who means the world to someone else? Even if she’s my enemy.” A little shrug. “I thought you were dying. It seemed like bad luck to let her die out of spite. And …” she snorted. “Falling into a ravine seemed like a pretty shitty way to die for someone who fights that spectacularly.”
Rowan smiled, drinking in the sight of her: the pale, grave face; the dirty clothes; the injuries. Yet her shoulders were back, chin high. “You make me proud to serve you.”
A jaunty slant to her lips, but silver lined her eyes. “I know.”
“You look like shit,” Lysandra said to Aelin. Then she remembered Evangeline, who stared at her wide-eyed, and winced. “Sorry.”
Evangeline refolded her napkin in her lap, every inch the dainty little queen. “You said I’m not to use such language—and yet you do.”
“I can curse,” Lysandra said as Aelin suppressed a smile, “because I’m older, and I know when it’s most effective. And right now, our friend looks like absolute shit.”
Evangeline lifted her eyes to Aelin, her red-gold hair bright in the morning sun through the kitchen window. “You look even worse in the morning, Lysandra.”
Aelin choked out a laugh. “Careful, Lysandra. You’ve got a hellion on your hands.”
Lysandra gave her young ward a long look. “If you’ve finished eating the tarts clean off our plates, Evangeline, go onto the roof and raise hell for Aedion and Rowan.”
“Take care with Rowan,” Aelin added. “He’s still on the mend. But pretend that he isn’t. Men get pissy if you fuss.”
A wicked gleam in her eye, Evangeline bounded for the front door. Aelin listened to make sure the girl did indeed go upstairs, and then turned to her friend. “She’s going to be a handful when she’s older.”
Lysandra groaned. “You think I don’t know that? Eleven years old, and she’s already a tyrant. It’s an endless stream of Why? and I would prefer not to and why, why, why and no, I should not like to listen to your good advice, Lysandra.” She rubbed her temples.