Queen of Shadows

Rowan said, “He doesn’t look familiar to you?”
“He looks like me.”
“Yes, but—” He sighed. “You met his father. A few weeks ago. Gavriel.”

Rowan said, “I’m blood-sworn to you—which means several things, one of which being that I don’t particularly care for the questioning of others, even your cousin.”

Rowan’s eyes glittered. “To protect and serve.”

“Brute.”
“Brat.”

Rowan gave a little grin that usually sent Aelin running. “Are you studying them so you can replicate them when you take my form, shape-shifter?”

“You said you wanted to see me in this dress,” she said a bit hoarsely. “I hadn’t realized the effect would be so …” He shook his head. He took in her face, her hair, the combs. “You look like—”
“A queen?”
“The fire-breathing bitch-queen those bastards claim you are.”

“Don’t forget your cloak. You’d feel rather guilty when all those poor mortal women combust at the sight of you.”
“I’d say likewise, but I think you’d enjoy seeing men bursting into flames as you strutted by.”

“Thank you for the oil,” he added. “My skin was a little dry.”

You wicked, clever fox. And here you were, thinking the red hair was just for vanity. I shall never doubt again.

“We’ll keep an eye on things—and if you appear to be heading toward Dark Lorddom, I promise to bring you back to the light.”

“I hear hell is particularly nice at this time of year.”

“I’m never going to sell you off like chattel,”

“I kept thinking about how you might never know that I missed you with only an ocean between us. But if it was death separating us … I would find you. I don’t care how many rules it would break. Even if I had to get all three keys myself and open a gate, I would find you again. Always.”

“With that wingspan, they can probably fly hundreds of miles a day.” He would know, she supposed.

“They tried to shoot my … Rowan through the heart. And I saved her anyway.”

“What if we go on,” he said, “only to more pain and despair? What if we go on, only to find a horrible end waiting for us?” Aelin looked northward, as if she could see all the way to Terrasen. “Then it is not the end.”

“Tell me that even if I lead us all to ruin, we’ll burn in hell together.”
“We’re not going to hell, Aelin,” he said. “But wherever we go, we’ll go together.”

“I know the odds.”
“You and I have always relished damning the odds.”

“Even when we’re apart tomorrow, I’ll be with you every step of the way. And every step after—wherever that may be.”

“You make me want to live, Rowan. Not survive; not exist. Live.”

“Let’s go rattle the stars.”

“I spent centuries wandering the world, from empires to kingdoms to wastelands, never settling, never stopping—not for one moment. I was always looking toward the horizon, always wondering what waited across the next ocean, over the next mountain. But I think … I think that whole time, all those centuries, I was just looking for you.”

We’ll face it together. To whatever end.

Terrasen. And the smell—of pine and snow … How had she never realized that Rowan’s scent was of Terrasen, of home? Rowan came close enough to graze her shoulder and murmured, “I feel as if I’ve been looking for this place my entire life.”