Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7)

by Sarah J. Maas

Gavriel asked after a moment, “Why didn’t Aelin offer me the blood oath?” The male hadn’t asked these weeks. And Rowan wasn’t sure why Gavriel inquired now, but he gave him the truth. “Because she won’t do it until Aedion has taken the oath first. To offer it to you before him … she wants Aedion to take it first.” “In case he doesn’t wish me to be near his kingdom.” “So that Aedion knows she placed his needs before her own.” Gavriel bowed his head. “I would say yes, if she offered.” “I know.” Rowan clapped his oldest friend on the back. “She knows, too.” The Lion gazed northward. “Do you think … we haven’t heard any news from Terrasen.” “If it had fallen, if Aedion had fallen, we would know. People here would know.” Gavriel rubbed at his chest. “We’ve been to war. He’s been to war. Fought on battlefields as a child, gods be damned.” Rage flickered over Gavriel’s face. Not at what Aedion had done, but what he’d been made to do by fate and misfortune. What Gavriel had not been there to prevent. “But I still dread every day that passes and we hear nothing. Dread every messenger we see.” A terror Rowan had never known, different from his fear for his mate, his queen. The fear of a father for his child. He didn’t allow himself to look toward Aelin. To remember his dreams while hunting for her. The family he’d seen. The family they’d make together. “We must convince the khaganate royals to march northward when this battle is over,” Gavriel swore softly. Rowan nodded. “If we can ...