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Aelin closed her eyes, shutting out the queen above her, the mask, the chains, the iron box

Not real

This was not real

Wasn’t it?

"I know you’re tired," Maeve went on, gently, coaxingly "You gave and gave and gave, and it was still not enough It will never be enough for the she had ever done, or would do, would be enough Even if she saved Terrasen, saved Erilea, she’d still need to give ht of it already crushed her

"Cairn," Maeve said

Strolling footsteps sounded nearby Scuffing on stone

Treait, knew--

Cairn’s hateful, sneering face appeared beside Maeve’s, the two of the her "How shall we start, Majesty?"

He’d spoken the words to her already They had done this dance so many ti She knehat he’d do, how he’d begin Would never stop feeling it, the whisper of the pain

Cairn ran a hand over the rim of the coffin "I broke some part of you, didn’t I?"

I name you Elentiya, "Spirit That Could Not Be Broken"

Aelin traced her ers over her palm Where a scar should be Where it still remained Would always remain, even if she could not see it

Nehe for Eyllwe And yet …

And yet, Neheht of her choices Still wished to be free of her burdens

It had not htest

Cairn surveyed her chained body, assessing where he would begin His breathing sharpened in anticipatory delight

Her hands curled into fists Iron groaned

Spirit that could not be broken

You do not yield

She would endure it again, if asked She would do it Every brutal hour and bit of agony

And it would hurt, and she would screaainst it

Arobynn had not broken her Neither had Endovier

She would not allow this waste of existence to do so now

Her shaking eased, her body going still Waiting

Maeve blinked at her Just once

Aelin sucked in a breath--sharp and cool

She did not want it to be over Any of it

Cairn faded into the wind Then the chains vanished with him

Aelin sat up in the coffin Maeve backed away all of a step

Aelin surveyed the illusion, so artfully wrought The stone cha The stone altar The open door and roar of the river beyond

She made herself look To face down that place of pain and despair It would always leave a mark, a stain on her, but she would not let it define her

Hers was not a story of darkness

This would not be the story She would fold it into herself, this place, this fear, but it would not be the whole story It would not be her story

"How," Maeve sied beyond theer in the stone chamber Climbed from the iron coffin

Maeve only stared at her

"You should have known better," Aelin said, the lingering eht "You, who feared captivity and did all this to avoid it You should have known better than to trap ain "How did you not break?"

"Because I am not afraid," Aelin said "Your fear of Erawan and his brothers drove you, destroyed you If there was ever anything hile to destroy"