#Chaol’s breakup already hurt enough

[acourtofquestions]

Currently reading the Assassin and the Underworld so slowly because I love Sam Cortland so much & I know how this book ends😭

… I just want to enjoy them falling in love (just a little longer) before I can inevitably never re-read it the same or unread his death (which is going to rip me to pieces)😅🖤💀

[elentiyawhitethorn]

Set Me Free

CW: language, Chaol

AN: The prompt from the last ask—“i’m at a bar when i see someone making you uncomfortable so i swoop in as your partner…only to find out that the person you’re with is your actual partner and they broke up with you because they thought you were cheating–my bad?”

Fluff//2215 words

Aelin sighed. This wasn’t going to end well.

“Just listen to me, Aelin. I know what’s best for you.” That sentence right there was enough to make her want to knock Chaol’s teeth down his throat. But she didn’t because… there was a reason. She just couldn’t think of one right now.

No, that was a lie. Aelin knew exactly why—she stayed with Chaol and put up with all his overbearing asshole tendencies because she was expected to. Because her mom liked Chaol. Because her father said he was a loyal man from a good family. Because Chaol’s mother was already wedding planning for them despite neither having yet proposed. Because society decided that they were a good match and a breakup would be unheard of and unwelcome.

And Aelin was too much of a coward to end it. To stand up for what she wanted. It’s not that Chaol was a bad person, but he was not at all someone she was interested in spending her life with. He was possessive, arrogant, sexist, and annoying. But he was also her boyfriend, and while she would never love him, he did have a small amount of respect from her.

“Chaol, I know what’s best for me. I’m doing it. I’m going back to college.” Aelin had dropped out of college after she met Chaol. It was the worst decision of her life, a choice born of feelings of worthlessness and longing to belong somewhere.

Chaol frowned. “Aelin, I can give you everything you want. I can provide for you. You don’t have to do that.”

“But I want to, Chaol.”

“Well I don’t want you to.” Chaol crossed his arms, as if that was the end of the conversation.

Huffing, Aelin rolled her eyes and stalked to the other side of the room in frustration. They were at some high-class bar, nothing like the trashy, cheap, homey places she used to visit. Aelin missed herself. She missed how wild she used to be.

Done with Chaol for now (and only for now; they always made up later), Aelin found a nice corner to lean against, so sick of wasting her life. She felt like nothing she did was consequential, like she was just a little blip in the universe, destined to make no difference before she died. Aelin had wanted to be a psychiatrist, and this is what she wanted to go back to college for.

She would have to fight Chaol on it, that was for certain.

Aelin groaned in frustration, her eyes fluttering shut. Before she could yell at the universe and cause a scene, she felt a hand grasp her elbow.

Startled, Aelin looked over to find Chaol. “Not right now.”

He frowned. “Aelin, I understand you’re upset, but—”

“I said not right now,” Aelin snapped, her voice low but sharp.

The surprise on Chaol’s face gave her an opportunity to walk toward the exit, intent on leaving. She made it to the door, her hand just brushing the handle, when Chaol spoke right in her ear, “You’re not going anywhere, babe.” His hand wrapped around her wrist.

She was furious, but honestly kind of scared. Not of Chaol; despite the asshole shit he displayed sometimes, he would never hurt her, let alone in a public place. Aelin was just frightened that this was going to be the rest of her life. Unnerved and needing some air, Aelin tried to edge away from her boyfriend.

“Leave me alone.”

“No, babe, let’s just talk—”

“What’s going on, baby?” a voice asked.

Aelin turned to see a silver-haired god-looking man with a delicious tattoo running across his face and down his arm. She wasn’t sure why he had called her baby, but she couldn’t say she minded it.

The man sauntered the last foot of space and wrapped his arm around Aelin’s waist. “Do you have a problem with my girlfriend?”

Oh. Oh. The man was covering for her, covering because Chaol grabbed her and tried to stop her from leaving, looking like the classic skeeze chasing down women in a bar, not like a loving boyfriend, and fuck was this not going to end well, and—

“Your girlfriend?” Chaol asked, his voice like ice.

Aelin, despite herself, laughed. Bad, bad move. But gods, she just couldn’t help herself.

The man glanced over at her curiosly, and not wanting to deter the kind of people who tried to help people in need out of the goodness of their hearts, Aelin just smiled reassuringly.

Chaol exhaled loudly, and said, “I should go, I suppose.” Aelin froze when she realized how serious this situation was. He really thought Aelin was cheating on him, despite not even having asked her for the truth. So much for loyalty.

“You’re blocking the exit,” Chaol added when neither Aelin nor the man responded.

Knowing that Chaol would need some time to cool down before they could have a reasonable conversation and she would get a chance to explain herself, Aelin just stepped aside. The man, still holding her waist, did the same. And Chaol left.

Aelin felt hollow. She honestly hadn’t expected him to go. Despite the fact that he thought his girlfriend had been cheating on him, that wasn’t enough to make him want to stay. To yell. To be angry and let everyone know. No, they would save that for later, in the privacy of their own home were no one else could judge them.

Aelin laughed mirthlessly.

The man let go as soon as Chaol walked out the door. So not a guy looking to save a woman for the sole reason of later seducing her. He genuinely had wanted to help her out. Well, he’d done quite the opposite.

“Thank you,” Aelin said as he looked back at her. She didn’t feel like explaining her mess of life to a stranger, and she definitely didn’t want to risk being judged after hearing that her boyfriend had been the one manhandling her. So she would stick with “thank you” for now.

The man smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“Do you have a name?” Aelin asked impulsively.

“Rowan.” The man—Rowan—smiled.

Aelin grinned back at him. “Rowan, okay. I’m Aelin.”

He extended his hand, and Aelin shook it. “Thanks again, but I should be off.”

He nodded and gave one last smile. Aelin returned it, feeling probably less upset than she should be, knowing that Chaol was going to yell at her soon enough. It was just that… Rowan had seemed really nice. He made her want to smile.

Scolding herself for the thoughts, Aelin hurried out the door, knowing Chaol took the car and she would have to walk.

—

The house was dark, but the car was in the driveway, so Aelin knew Chaol was likely sulking in their room. She went in as quietly as she could, then took the stairs.

“Chaol, babe,” Aelin called softly, padding toward the bedroom. Light was shining underneath the crack. “We need to talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” his voice replied. It was hard and unforgiving. “You cheated on me. We’re over.”

Aelin sighed. “That’s not what happened. He didn’t know you’re my boyfriend.”

“Obviously,” Chaol snapped.

Aelin tried the handle. It was locked. “We were arguing and Rowan decided to step in and help me out. He didn’t realize we’re a couple; he just thought someone was bothering me.”

“Well we aren’t a couple anymore, so I guess he was right.”

Aelin pulled a bobby pin out of hair, knowing Chaol wouldn’t let her in. “Babe—”

“Are you seriously claiming that you don’t know that man? That he was just some random guy butting into our business?”

“He thought he was helping, but yes. He’s a total stranger. I don’t know him at all.” One of the pins clicked in the lock.

“Then how did you know his name?”

“What?” Aelin kept snaking the piece of metal around the tumblers.

“You called him Rowan. How did you know his name?”

“Oh, that’s simple. He told me before I left.” The lock clicked and Aelin opened the door. Chaol was sitting on the floor against the wall. He looked surprised to see her. He frowned.

“Why the fuck would I believe you?”

Aelin laughed incredulously. Chaol didn’t curse often, and when he did, he was really pissed. “How about becasue I said so? Because I’m your girlfriend and I have never been unfaithful and because you have enough trust in me to actually listen?”

A scowl was all she got. “I don’t know if I can ever trust you again, Aelin.” His tone was quiet. Final.

Aelin narrowed her eyes. “Seriously? This is it? There’s a small misunderstanding and you decide to break up with me because you can’t find it in yourself to trust me despite the past five years I have spent dating you, being there for you, doing what you ask of me—”

“That’s enough!” Chaol yelled. He rose, moving toward Aelin. “How am I supposed to trust you when you don’t listen to me? I tell you not to go back to college, and you only disrespect me by rolling your eyes. You’re clearly not satisfied with me. I’m just surprised I didn’t realize this sooner, that you would want to cheat. I shouldn’t be half as shocked as I am.”

Aelin was breathing fire. “Get. The fuck. Out.”

“Me?” Chaol asked, laughing humorlessly. “You spread your legs for some random guy and I’m supposed to leave?”

Aelin clenched her fists. “Leave, Chaol.”

He smiled viciously. “Fine. But I paid for this house. You better not be here when I get back.” With that, he walked around Aelin, who was shaking with disbelief and fury and sadness, and started down the stairs.

But those weren’t the only emotions she was feeling. There was a small part of Aelin that felt… free.

She moved to the dresser and started packing.

—

“Scotch, neat,” Aelin called.

It had been almost a month since Chaol had sent Aelin packing. In that time, she had gotten a job, moved out of her friend Lysandra’s house, where she’d been staying temporarily, and into an apartment, and applied for college.

Now she was finding herself. Trying, not to turn back into the woman she’d once been, but to become who she wanted to be. Things had been so easy since her breakup with Chaol. And Aelin was having fun. Especially now, at her favorite bar—not the one she’d been to with Chaol—after she’d taken a seat and ordered.

“Aelin, right?”

Aelin turned, almost gasping as she recognized the voice that spoke, as well as the man it came from. “Rowan. Well I’ll be damned.”

He grinned. “How have you been?”

“Good, actually. Really good. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” she added. “And certainly not in a scene like this.” This bar was nothing like the high-end one Chaol had brought her to. She wondered how he had ended up in both.

Rowan chuckled. “I was only there for a work thing. This is more my usual haunt. What about you?”

Aelin smirked, taking a sip from the drink that arrived in front of her. “My boyfriend made me go.”

Rowan blinked, then scooted back slightly. He’d been edging his way closer, but wasn’t going to do anything now that he knew Aelin was taken. If only he knew.

“I didn’t realize.” Was it just Aelin’s imagination, or did Rowan sound disappointed?

“We’re not together anymore.” Aelin was smiling.

Rowan visibly brightened. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” He sounded anything but.

“He broke up with me because he thought I was cheating on him,” Aelin continued.

“Were you?”

“I don’t know, was I?” In response to Rowan’s confusion, Aelin added, “You were the one who told him we were dating after all.”

It was an effort not to laugh at the expression on Rowan’s face. A split-second of confusion, and then horrid clarity as it clicked. “I told your… he broke up with you becasue I…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Aelin took another sip from her drink.

Rowan was still stuttering. “Aelin, shit, I’m so sorry. So, so sorry. You can call him, and I’ll tell him. Oh gods. This is all my fault.”

Aelin laughed, a bright, merry sound. It distracted Rowan enough that he stopped speaking. “That relationship should have ended long ago. You did me a favor.”

He still looked uncertain. “But I still… I…”

Aelin smiled. “You look cute when you’re flustered.”

Rowan blinked.

“Thank you, really. I never had the courage to break things off, and even if it didn’t happen the way I’d imagined, you still did that. Thank you.”

Aelin’s voice was so sincere that Rowan stopped apologizing. “You’re welcome, then.”

Another chuckle left Aelin’s mouth. She pulled a slip of paper from her purse, as well as a pen. “I have to leave now.” Indeed she did. Aelin hadn’t planned on being here for very long. She finished her scrawling writing and slid the paper to Rowan. “This is my number. Use it.”

Then Aelin downed her drink, tossed a couple of bills on the bar, and got up and walked away, smiling to herself all the while.

———

Tag List:

@aelin-bitch-queen

@evolving-dreamer

@feysand-loml

@flora-shadowshine

@infernoqueen19

@lemonade-coolattas

@live-the-fangirl-life

@midsizewitch

@realbookloverproblems

@rhysandswingspan

@sleeping-and-books

@story-scribbler

@swankii-art-teacher

@thenerdandfandoms

[aelin-queen-of-terrasen]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 | 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤

Rowaelin modern AU ▶ Masterlist

note: before you start, my sincerest apologies to your heart. i tried to postpone the real angst for as long as I could; this made my heart hurt.

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Aelin Galathynius didn't know what possessed her when she let Lysandra drag her to a party on school night. She didn't know how her best friend had managed to convince Aedion to throw a god damned party in his house. She didn't know why she called up Rowan to extend the invitation, and she certainly didn't understand why she was still disappointed he couldn't make it.

She'd managed to hide her marks from Arobynn and he'd been too drunk to remember anything of use himself. She'd be surprised if he knew his own name with the condition he was in.

That was one of the reasons she was out tonight: it was rare that Arobynn wasn't home and rarer that he was home and too gone inside his head to give two fucks about where Aelin went. She planned to make the most of it.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" Dorian asked, drinks in both hands. He offered her one.

Aelin accepted it, already having lost count of the amount of alcohol she'd consumed. "Mm, can't wait to turn eighteen and move out of the damn house." She didn't like the way Dorian looked back at her, with pitiful eyes. But it was soon replaced with his usual dazzling smile.

"Where is Sam?" he asked.

Aelin furrowed her eyebrows. "He's here?" She'd been hanging around the diner a lot since he asked her out. He was going to ask her to be his girlfriend soon, she could tell.

It was a strange realisation. His advances were far from unwanted, she liked it. She liked him. But there was no excitement, no ecstacy. Her face didn't light up with a smile every time she saw him. That was just all of Lysandra's romance talk getting to her.

She tried not to be envious of her cousin and her best friend. It was hard when they looked at each other like no one else existed. She thought dating Sam would quell that discontentment but it only worsened when she realised that even though she was in a relationship, she didn't feel any of those things her friend gushed about.

Maybe Lysandra had exaggerated.

Or maybe she was broken?

Aelin wasn't an idiot.

She saw how Sam looked at her, at least. It was the same lovesick look on Aedion's face. It just didn't make her stomach flip in excitement.

God, she was too sober for this.

Aelin refilled her cup, then went to find her soon to be boyfriend. He grinned when his eyes fell on her. "I've been searching for you. You should've told me you were coming here tonight." The words were delivered in a joking manner, though she could detect a hint of hurt beneath them.

She smiled apologetically. "It was a last minute plan. Plus, I didn't think this was your scene."

Before their conversation could turn even more awkward, she was interrupted by a familar voice. "Oh. Hi, Sam. Aelin." She turned towards Rowan, grinning like a fiend.

"I thought you weren't coming."

Rowan said, "I wouldn't have."

"Then why did you?" she quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Fenrys dragged me out here." Her smile dimmed a little at his words. What else did she want to hear? He added: "I figured if you started throwing vases at people again, I'd better be there to capture it in a video."

Aelin gasped. "Did Rowan Whitethorn just make a joke? A historical moment."

Rowan rolled his eyes. Sam was engaged in a conversation with someone from his school when she turned around. So Aelin accompanied her friend to get more drinks with every intention to return to her unofficial boyfriend. But one drink turned into more until she was hammered.

Rowan remained a dedicated babysitter by her side all through the night.

Aelin laughed and danced and sang and drank and danced some more. When it was time for everyone to leave, most of her group decided to crash on the couches in Aedion's living room, none of them wanting to go back home, exhausted as they were.

She convinced Rowan to stay with them, even though he was sober and fell asleep snuggled next to him on the couch. Sam Cortland didn't cross her mind even once until she woke up to a text from him: You disappeared through the party and won't pick up your phone so I returned home. Sorry. Hope you had fun. She told herself it was all the alcohol. She would have remembered him otherwise, and that he must not have tried to search for her hard enough. But then why did she feel so guilty?

Aelin Galathynius didn't know how a day could possibly worsen more.

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She woke up on Aedion's couch, her head throbbing and her limbs groaning in pain. Her neck and back muscles hurt everytime she moved. Adding to her agony, she had cheerleading practice in her third period. That meant more muscle exertion. By the time recess came, she was ready to burst into tears.

Except it was about to be worse.

After lunch, she and Rowan made their way to class only to discover they would be working in groups of four. Since they were the last ones to enter, the two of them were grouped together with the only two students left: Chaol Westfall and an exchange student, Elide Lochan.

Rowan gave her a sympathetic look as they drew their chairs together.

The four of them stared at each other uncomfortably. Elide broke the silence. "Sooo what topic are we doing?"

Even Aelin, right in her element, couldn't think of something. She suggested topics off the top of her head but they were all overused. Everytime she tried to focus, she felt her ex boyfriend's eyes on her and her mind turned blank. Should she talk to him like they were friends or pretend they were strangers?

She opted for the latter.

After some discussion, they decided on a topic and their roles. Aelin walked up to the teacher's desk to claim their topic when her ex boyfriend followed. She wanted to shout at him. He hadn't once tried to talk to her in the two months after their breakup and now that she was moving on, he wanted in. She didn't want to hear what he had to say. Not now, not yet.

He shook his head. "If you'd just listen to me once, Ace—" Rowan interrupted them, calling her name.

Aelin shot him a grateful smile as she returned to their seats, directing her attention towards the dark-haired girl with them. Aelin liked Elide Lochan. She was smart, funny and kind as far as she could tell. She listened without judgement, and had a lot of interesting things to add herself.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Aelin had been right in introducing her friends to Elide. She was shy at first, but all of them were accommodating enough that she got comfortable, sitting between Lysandra and her.

Aelin reserved a seat beside her, she didn't know why. It was a pleasant surprise when Rowan ditched his usual corner seat and asked, "Is this seat taken?" Heat rushed to her cheeks and it was all she could do to nod.

She liked having Rowan close. His presence calmed her nerves. Only last period, thrice Chaol tried to start a conversation with her, and thrice Rowan quieted him down.

After calming her heart, Aelin asked, "Where's Lorcan?"

A deep voice said from behind her, "Here, of course," and there he stood, lunch tray in hand and dark eyes fixed on the girl sitting in his chair.

Elide noted with surprise all the chairs on their table were occupied. "Oh—uh, you can sit here, I'll bring, uh, another."

Lorcan smiled.

Either Aelin was having a ridiculous, strangely vivid dream or the sun had risen from the west because Lorcan smiled at a stranger. And gods, that was a faint blush on his cheeks.

She grinned. "Fuck, no! Wait. I'll move; Lor, you sit here." There he sat.

Aelin pushed Rowan's lunch tray into his lap, climbing on the table in front of him. She kicked off her heels, then crossed her legs and placed her own lunch tray in front of her. Elide fit right in with the rest of them, listening with a small smile and adding her own accounts of things occassionally. If the rest of her friends noticed Lorcan paying extra attention to the lunch conversation, no one mentioned it.

"Didn't know you play matchmaker too," Rowan told her.

Her lips twitched upwards. Aelin Galathynius looked down at him from her position with an expression that was borderline inappropriate, she said, "I'm a woman of many talents, Mr. Whitethorn. Many talents."

Rowan's answering blush was everything she'd hoped for.

──────✧❅✦❅✧──────

Aelin Galathynius entered her house, the quiet making her heart ache.

She expected Arobynn to be passed out on the couch where he ended up every morning after a night of spending her inheritance away on drinks and gambling. But Arobynn wasn't there.

He's not home, she told herself. He probably passed out somewhere.

And then there were footsteps. A red-haired man stepped into the living room, sidestepping all the empty bottles on the floor. He wasn't drunk, he looked very much sane. She didn't like that. When he was drunk, it was easier to slip past him. He didn't care about her existence and that was the best she could hope for.

But he wasn't drunk and she didn't know what he planned to do.

Heart racing fast, Aelin spared a look towards the stairs. If she could run fast enough and make it to her room, she'd lock herself inside. But what was to stop him from coming inside after her? The locks weren't strong enough to keep him out for more than a few minutes—

"Don't think about running, Aelin. I want to talk, nothing more," Arobynn warned.

Talk. She didn't believe that for a second. Aelin looked at him, then at the stairs and then at the phone in her hand. She could lock herself inside, then call Aedion or Lorcan or someone. She needed to buy herself time.

"Aelin, stop!"

Aelin made a run for it, tripping on the red carpet that stank of alcohol. It had been her mom's favourite once. She fell face first on the table, the sharpened corner making a cut across her cheek. She swore out loud, her phone fell away from her. She ran towards the closest door from her position, struggling with the lock in her panic.

Arobynn stuck his foot between the door, trying to open it again. She'd once known him to be a kind, caring man. In a different world, where she didn't have to hide inside her house and her biggest problem had been the homework she needed to submit the next day, where her parents still lived and this house wasn't a reminder of everything she'd lost. Sweat beads formed on her forehead and the back of her neck; Aelin pulled the door close with all the strength she had. She locked the door, pushed the drawer with toiletries in front of it and slumped against the wall.

The adrenaline faded, tears rolling down her cheeks and the fear set in.

"Open the door, Aelin," Arobynn said. She hated his voice. "Open the fucking door if you know what's good for you."

She realised with a jolt her phone was still outside, then slowed her breathing down, arms wrapped around her knees.

Eventually, his shouts quieted down. Aelin couldn't tell if he was still there or not but she didn't dare check. She washed the blood away from her face. The sobs subsided but the tears didn't leave the whole night. Sleep didn't come to her at all. It was in the morning, when there was still no sign of Arobynn being home that she sneaked out of the bathroom, heart thumping inside her chest that she left the room.

She grabbed her phone, then ran towards her room. Once she made sure it was locked, she turned her phone on. Ignoring all the missed calls from her friends, she dialled the first number she could. "Aelin, you know how I feel about you not picking your phone. I thought the worst, god—"

"Aedion?" a sob escaped her mouth.

"Yes? Are you okay?"

"Aedion," her voice came out coarse and much softer than she intended, "Please—I can't—Can you pick me up?"

Aedion barked a curse in the background. "Of course, I'm coming. I'll be there in a few minutes, ok? Don't end the call—" his words were drowned out when someone knocked on her door.

"You can't dodge me forever, Aelin."

Aelin sank to her knees, vision growing unfocused as more tears escaped. Before her cousin could arrive, her world went black.

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I'm trying real hard to resist my inner wattpader and not make this a cliche so y'all better appreciate my efforts.

tags:

@thesirenwashere // @courtofjurdan //@fangirltrash74 // @the-dark-swan // @queenofgreenbriar // @clockworkgraystairs // @julemmaes // @rowaelinforeverworld // @mymultiversee // @queen-of-glass // @strangely-constructed-soul // @mijaldraws // @http-itsrebecca // @aesthetics-11 // @lord-douglas-the-third // @flowersinvegas // @towhateverend17 // @aelinchocolatelover // @justabunchoffandoms // @cool-ish-nerd // @faerie-queen-fireheart // @sad-book-whore // @didsomeonesayviolin // @atozfantazyxx // @hizqueen4life // @the-gods-killer // @booknerdproblems // @annejulianneh111 // @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln // @b00kworm // @mysweetvillain // @curlyredqueen06 // @moondancer-204 // @thesurielships // @witchling-leonor // @ladywitchling // @amren-courtofdreams // @ifinallygavein // @jlinez // @faequeenaelin // @df3ndyr // @in-love-with-caramel-macchiato // @bitchy-knees // @superspiritfestival // @xx-fiona-xx // @stardelia // @maastrash // @miihlovesnoone // @totenhamboys20

there's so many people whose tags won't work, I feel bad, I'm sorry.