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She didn’t have it in her to feel a spark of surprise, to eance he’d exacted Not as the words sank in Not as her lungs opened up once again

"I couldn’t risk bringing hi her face "Or risk leaving hi the unmarked, empty skin

Cairn had done that Had shredded her apart so badly they needed to put her back together again Had wiped away all traces of who and what she’d been, what she’d seen and endured

She lowered her hands to her sides "I’lad," she said, and the words were true

A shudder went through Rowan, and his head dipped slightly "Are you …" He seeht word "Can I hold you?"

The stark need in his voice ripped at her, but she stepped back "I …" She scanned the cave, blocking out the way his eyes guttered at her retreat Across the chareat lake flowed, smooth and flat as a black mirror "I need to bathe," she said, her voice low and raw Even if there wasn’t a mark on her beyond dirty feet "I need to wash it away," she tried again

Understanding softened his eyes He pointed with a tattooed hand to the trough nearby "There are a few extra cloths for you to ith" Dragging a hand through his silver hair, longer than she’d last seen it--in this world, this truth, at least--he added, "I don’t kno, but they also found soht the on her tongue

Herher bones Out, it howled Out

Soon, she pro, as if she could keep it in

So she turned away, aih but the lake beyond

The air stirred behind her, and she felt hileaned where she intended to bathe, he warned, "That water is barely above freezing, Aelin"

She just dropped the cloak onto the black stones and stepped into the water

Steaoing, e the water’s bite with each step, even if it failed to pierce the heat of her

The water was clear, though the gloom veiled the bottoid surface

The water was silent Cool, and welcome, and calm

So Aelin loosened the leash--only a fraction

Flaid water Consu of heat Soothed and chilled until thoughts took form

With each stroke beneath the surface, out into the darkness, she could feel it again Herself Or whatever was left of it

Aelin She was Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius, and she was Queen of Terrasen

More rip Not all--not yet

She had been captured by Maeve, tortured by her Tortured by Cairn, her sentinel But she had escaped, and her mate had come for her Had found her, just as they had found each other despite centuries of bloodshed and loss and war

Aelin She was Aelin, and this was not some illusion, but the real world

Aelin

She swa lip of stone along the shore’s edge

She dropped beneath the surface, letting herself sink and sink and sink, toes grasping only open, cool water, straining for a bottom that did not arrive