A Perfect World

Chapter 12

AELIN POV

Even though being kidnapped by a band of gross male pirates was entirely worse than waking up in the middle of the ocean, on a dinghy, with a friendly shapeshifter and adorable eleven year old, Aelin was in a better mood than yesterday.

What she had since realized was that the whirlwind that had become her life was not something she could control. The resurgence of her fire magic, whatever secrets her parents were keeping from her, the schemes random people had that might affect her kingdom? As much as she hated to admit it, there wasn't really anything she could do about any of those things. And that was terrifying.

But if there was one thing she had learnt from Lysandra's story, it was that worrying about the things she couldn't control was a waste of time. So when Aelin found herself faced with a group of illiterate, Vitamin C deficient, greedy pirates, she realized that this situation was one of the few that she actually could control. And that was empowering.

Aelin grew up in a royal court, meaning that she had learnt the art of manipulation before she was even taught how to read. Then came the reading, then came writing and with that came figuring out which hand was her dominant one. As soon as that was uncovered, her father's men had begun thrusting weapons into her right hand. She was only meant to learn basic self defence. "That's all a princess needs to know," Quinn, her father's Captain of the Guard, would say. She hadn't really disagreed back then, but after realizing that she was the most talentless magic-wielding demi-Fae in all of Terrasen, Aelin felt like she had no choice but get good at something else—something equally as impressive. What was being able to dance or play the pianoforte compared to wielding magic? Since then, she had decided that she needed to be deadly in other ways. Just as Elide was deadly in her own right with her sharp mind, Aelin soon learnt how to dance to a different beat. She realized that her graceful steps and musical mind made for a surprisingly impressive combination, especially where combat was concerned.

So Aelin found that she actually wasn't all that worried when she and Evangeline were put behind bars in the lower deck of a pirate ship. Not at all. She was a walking weapon and, better yet, a woman. In other words, she was both talented and underestimated, the best combo one could possibly hope for in this type of situation. The crew hadn't even bothered to restrain her limbs, which were all she would need if it came down to a fight.

As menacing as people made pirates out to be, they were just shitty thieves and even shittier fighters. She witnessed that almost half of the crew were missing at least one body part. "Warriors don't lose body parts." That was another one of Quinn's maxims. It was funny how all of Quinn's wisdom was suddenly coming back to memory—not that she was complaining. After the last two days, she was utterly grateful. Those memories reassured her of her capabilities. They grounded her. Just like Lysandra's presence did.

Not that the shifter was actually present. The ladies had quickly realized that there would be no escaping the pirate ship—their paddling would only get them so far. Lysandra made the brilliant move of shifting to a spider and stealthily hid herself in one of Aelin's inner pockets... The same one which now contained the Amulet of Orynth. As soon as Aelin and Evangeline were ushered into their little holding cell, Lysandra had crawled out and went to work, trying to deduce where the ship was headed. The shifter hadn't made it back yet when a tall, gruff, one-armed pirate came and opened their cell, making deft work of his lock with his different ability.

"The captain will see you now," he said.

Aelin and Evangeline followed obediently as the pirate led the way to the Captain's Quarters.

"What's your name?" Evangeline asked the pirate.

No response.

"You're being very rude," the girl continued.