Aery flinched at the sight of Celaena's mask, remembering her own, crushed under the heel of one of their tormentors.
She shook the thought off. Checked her remaining daggers. She wished she'd not thrown the one away, but in the moment she'd not had a chance to think.
As they approached the gates of the city, she could tell something was wrong. The guards on the city wall were holding their weapons too tightly, like they weren't used to the feel of them. And the city, usually so loud, was silent.
"Halt! Who goes there?!" one of them shouted. Two sprang in front of the gate, weapons in their hands. Definitely amateurs.
Aery threw caution to the wind, flipped the hood of her cloak back. "It is I, Aerienna Silverheart, and I have returned to claim the throne of my household." Either they'd find her insane and take her inside to lock her up, in which case she'd been betrayed by Axel, or they'd try to kill her at the gate, and she'd know her hunch was right.